April 16, 2026. Morning.
Why it needed users
I worked once again on the Personal Best Tracker app, the PB Tracker. I think it will be quite beneficial for regular people. To begin with, the app had no security or user credential system. I would just open it to the home page, which had a tab for inputting a new exercise type or personal bests. Recently I added the import and export function, and in that tab I can also synchronize with the cloud.
The problem I had today was when I thought, what if I give this to a friend who owns a gym, and get her to give it to some people at the gym to trial? They can’t really do that, because if I give them access to the app, they’re going to log into my personal bests. I needed a way to create separate users, and each user would have their own personal bests, which meant they’d need a password and a profile.
Username, password, then email
I got working on that this morning with Claude. Claude created the username and password interface, and it actually worked. I uploaded it to the server using Node.js, and it was all working and synchronizing.
But I also wanted the option where people sign up with their email, so I could send them emails. It would allow me to do marketing if it comes to that. It wasn’t strictly necessary, since all the login credentials were stored hashed in the database, but I thought, everyone logs in with an email. How else are they going to cancel their account if they don’t have an email?
I added the email layer, and on top of that I got Claude to send a verification code to my email. That was an even more complicated request, but it all works so smoothly. When I register now I need my email plus a username and password, and then I have to type in a six digit code within 15 minutes. I was just amazed at how effortless it was. I was able to build this awesome app within a few days.
A money spinner, maybe
Realistically, I would love to serve ads on it. If there are 1,000 people logging in every day, there’ll be 1,000 ads viewed every day. This will be a nice money spinner if I can get it to people: a simple app where people can check their personal best.
App Features Log: April 16, 2026
- Separate user accounts with username and password
- Email added to registration
- Six digit verification code sent by email, valid for 15 minutes
- Import, export and cloud sync tab
Photos from today
Some of these screenshots were captured a few days after this entry and show the same features.
Log your personal bests, plan your weekly routine and build a workout streak you will not want to break. Download the app on Google Play.
Read what happens next in the dev diary: the next entry.
Diary Of A Mad Chaos is a daily diary written from March 1996 until today, of which individual books and book series have been created, namely “The Lost Years” an exploration of young, entwined love, the “Wubao In China (猎艳奇缘)” book series which provides an extensive comparative analysis of the cultural differences between Eastern and Western societies, and the book titled “Foreigner (华人)” an exploration of race relations in Australia.
