From an Android handwriting planner to iPad and Apple Pencil. A long-awaited milestone in my indie development journey.
After years of development, dozens of releases, a cross-platform rewrite, and ten days in Apple’s review queue, I’m happy to announce that Scribble Calendar & Planner is now available on the Apple App Store!
Get Scribble Calendar & Planner on the App Store
This is a big milestone for me as an independent developer. But to explain why, let me go back to where it all started.
It started with a simple idea: a calendar you can actually write in
Most digital calendars are great at managing appointments. But when it comes to planning your day, capturing ideas, sketching out a plan, or simply thinking on paper, they can feel a little restrictive.
I wanted something different.
I wanted the flexibility of a paper planner combined with the advantages of a digital calendar. Something where a day isn’t just a list of events, but a whole page you can make your own. You can write notes, draw connections, sketch ideas, organize tasks, and see your calendar appointments alongside everything else.
In other words, a canvas for your life.
That idea became Scribble Calendar & Planner, a handwriting-first digital planner designed for tablets and stylus users.
More than just a calendar
Over time, Scribble grew into a complete personal planning space.
You can switch between yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily views, write directly on your planning pages, and use virtually unlimited space for notes and sketches. Calendar integrations let you bring your Google Calendar or Outlook appointments into your handwritten plans.
But planning isn’t only about deciding what to do. It’s also about understanding how you spend your time and how your days feel.
That’s why Scribble also includes a time-boxed daily planner, habit tracking, and a mood and health tracker. You can give your day a structure, keep track of routines, and reflect on your progress in your own handwriting.
The philosophy behind it can be summed up in three words:
Plan. Focus. Reflect.
I want Scribble to feel less like another rigid productivity tool and more like a personal space where you can organize your thoughts and shape your days.
From Android to Kotlin Multiplatform
Scribble originally grew out of my Android development work. The Android version has been available for quite some time, and I’ve continued to improve it through many releases.
Eventually, I wanted to bring the experience to Apple’s ecosystem too, especially the iPad and Apple Pencil.
Rather than maintaining completely separate implementations, I migrated the project to Kotlin Multiplatform with Compose Multiplatform. This allowed me to share much of the application logic while building for different platforms.
It was a significant engineering project, but it opened up exciting possibilities: Android tablets, iPads, and eventually other desktop and tablet environments.
The iPad version is particularly important because handwriting is such a natural fit for a large screen and a precise stylus. You get the space to work with a full planner page instead of squeezing everything into a conventional mobile interface.
Testing, polishing, and waiting for Apple
Getting the app ready was only part of the journey.
Before submitting the first iOS release, I went through external TestFlight testing and collected feedback from people who tried the app. That helped me validate the experience and prepare the release.
The first iOS release is version 1.9.0, matching the Android version number.
Then came App Review.
The status changed to Waiting for Review, and stayed there. For ten days.
As an indie developer, waiting for a review is a strange experience. You’ve done the work, prepared the build, written the description, checked the privacy information, and submitted everything. Then you wait, without knowing exactly when someone will look at it.
I suspected there might be a wider review backlog, but whatever the reason, the wait felt much longer than the actual development work needed to get through the final steps.
And then, finally, the status changed.
Approved. Ready for Distribution.
And now the app is live.
Privacy and simplicity
One of the things I wanted to preserve when bringing Scribble to iOS was the idea that your personal planner should remain personal.
The current iOS release doesn’t require a Scribble account. Your handwritten planner data stays on your device, and you can use the app without signing up for another service.
There is no advertising or in-app subscription in this first iOS release. I wanted to get the core handwriting and planning experience into people’s hands first.
For me, a planner is a very personal thing. It contains not only appointments, but also unfinished thoughts, private notes, daily routines, and reflections. The tool you use to organize your life shouldn’t make that feel complicated.
What’s next?
Publishing on the App Store isn’t the end of the journey. It’s the beginning of a new chapter.
I’ll continue improving Scribble, listening to user feedback, and working on the wider cross-platform experience. There are plenty of ideas for the future, but for now, I’m excited to make the iPad version available to people who prefer writing and drawing over typing everything into forms and lists.
Building an app independently means switching constantly between product design, programming, testing, infrastructure, documentation, and all the little details that come with publishing software. It’s a lot of work, but seeing the app available on another major platform makes it worthwhile.
And, of course, there is something special about seeing your own app on the App Store for the first time.
Try Scribble Calendar & Planner
If you use an iPad, especially with an Apple Pencil, and enjoy handwriting your plans, notes, and ideas, I’d love for you to give Scribble a try.
Scribble Calendar & Planner is now available on the Apple App Store.
Your life is your canvas.
Thanks to everyone who tested the app, shared feedback, or supported the project along the way. And if you try Scribble, I’d love to hear what you think