Tally

Tally is a Flutter-based personal finance app designed to help you track income, expenses, savings, and more. Built with a clean, minimal aesthetic and BLoC state management, it offers a smooth, native-like experience across platforms.

Like most students and creatives, I tracked money in spreadsheets… until I got tired of using spreadsheets to track my finances, so I decided to build my own app. I wanted a tool that:

• Gave me visibility into my savings and expenses
• Was mobile and simple
• Didn't need to send my data to a third-party service

Challenges

Despite solid progress, I hit a few roadblocks:

• No access to a Mac limited iOS testing/building
• Real-device testing was inconsistent due to hardware availability
• Solo development meant slow progress on implementation + testing

Lessons Learned

Tally was a fast-paced solo project that gave me room to build and think clearly. Because it was scoped small, I could move quickly, experiment with ideas, and focus on what mattered without getting stuck in overengineering.

I learned how to plan and prioritize features based on what was realistic for one person to ship. I mapped out data models in a way that supported future scalability, especially around personal finance tracking. I implemented local storage for real-world persistence and learned how to use SharedPreferences efficiently.

The project helped me design responsive UIs that felt natural across devices and encouraged me to constantly ask: if this works on Android, will it work just as well on iOS? While I couldn't fully test iOS due to hardware limitations, it pushed me to think more cross-platform.

I didn't rely on AI while building Tally. Most of the UI was designed directly in code from scratch. I barely touched Figma, using my instincts and experience to make layout and motion decisions on the fly.

Using the BLoC pattern helped me manage state in a clean and predictable way. I focused on error handling, smooth data flow, and making sure user input was handled consistently throughout the app.

The roadmap is in place, and I know how I'd return to it when the timing and tools align. Whether I continue in Flutter or rebuild it in React Native or native Swift, Tally is the kind of project that sharpened how I design, plan, and ship products that matter.