As a solo developer building small, useful tools like Trial Guard, I've learned a thing or two about the importance of managing free trials. I recall a time when I forgot about a trial for a service and ended up getting charged for a whole year - it was a costly mistake. This experience led me to create Trial Guard, a menu bar app that reminds you about upcoming trial endings, so you can avoid unwanted charges.
From a technical standpoint, implementing the reminder system in Trial Guard was an interesting challenge. I used a combination of NSTimer and NSUserDefaults to store the trial end dates and send reminders at the right time. One insight I gained from this process was the importance of handling edge cases, such as when the user changes their system clock or reinstalls the app. By using a robust date comparison algorithm, I was able to ensure that Trial Guard would always send timely reminders, even in these scenarios.
One lesson I learned from building and using Trial Guard is that even small tools can make a big difference in our daily lives as developers. By automating the process of tracking free trials, I've been able to focus more on building new apps and less on worrying about unexpected charges. If you're like me and often find yourself juggling multiple free trials, you might want to check out Trial Guard - it's a simple but effective solution that can give you peace of mind. You can get it for just $0.99 at https://go.sg1-labs.us/trialguard.
