Support the Trace apps¶
NutriTrace, LiftTrace, CookTrace, and NoteTrace are free to self-host and always will be. No paid tier, no feature behind a donation, no telemetry. They're built and maintained by one person.
If you want to help, there are two ways, and one of them costs nothing.
The current goal: the Trace apps on iPhone and in the app stores¶
None of the Trace apps run properly on an iPhone, and the Android apps are only available as APKs on GitHub. The web app works in Safari, but nobody has tested it on real hardware, and there's no native iPhone app, because building and testing for iOS needs Apple hardware and a developer account. Listing on Google Play needs a Play developer account. That's what this fund is for.
| What | Why | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A Mac | Xcode only runs on macOS. There is no way around this. | $600 |
| An iPhone, used | Testing on a real device, not just the simulator. Used to keep the total down, and recent enough to keep getting iOS updates for years. | $500 |
| Apple Developer Program | Required for TestFlight and the App Store. Renews yearly. | $99 |
| Google Play developer account | So the Android apps can be listed on Play, not only as APKs on GitHub. One time. | $25 |
| Sales tax and payment fees | Tax on the hardware, plus roughly 3% taken by the payment processor. | $105 |
| Total | $1,329 |
The goal is set at the round $1,300. The rest is covered either way.
Where it stands: the live total is on Ko-fi, and this page lists each thing as it's bought.
Milestone 1, $750: the Mac and the developer accounts. Building and testing can start in the simulator, the PWA can finally be checked on macOS Safari, and the Android apps can go on Google Play.
Milestone 2, $1,300: the iPhone. Real-device testing: layout, gestures, notifications, storage limits, and how the installed web app behaves when iOS evicts it.
The same Mac also builds Fathom, a Jellyfin client from the same developer, for macOS and iOS.
Anything past the goal goes to the yearly Apple fee and the monthly costs of development: the demo instance, the domain, and the tools the apps are built and tested with.
Monthly support¶
The Mac and iPhone above are a one-time goal. The monthly costs are separate: right now, that's the tools the apps are built and tested with, about $100 a month. GitHub Sponsors covers those, from $1 a month, and takes one-time amounts too. Once that's covered, the next step is a public demo instance and a domain, so people can try the apps before installing anything.
Helping without money¶
These matter more than they sound, and they're free:
- Star the repos. NutriTrace, LiftTrace, CookTrace, NoteTrace. Stars are how self-hosted projects get found, and it's the single cheapest thing you can do.
- Report bugs, with detail. A clear issue is worth more than a donation. It fixes the app for everyone who hits the same thing.
- Give a 👍 to the issues you want. It's the quickest way to tell me what matters to you, and I look at those counts when picking what to work on next. It takes one click.
- Translate. See Translations. Every language makes the apps usable for people who can't use them today.
- Tell someone. A comment on a forum thread where someone is looking for a self-hosted alternative reaches more people than any post from the project itself.
Where the money goes¶
Running and building these apps costs real money. In order of what the fund covers:
- iOS hardware and the developer accounts (the current goal), including the $25 Google Play account.
- The Apple Developer Program renewal, $99 a year, ongoing.
- The public demo instance, so people can try the apps before installing anything.
- Development tools, the monthly cost of the tools the apps are built and tested with.
Nothing here funds a salary. When something is bought, it's listed below.
Bought so far¶
Nothing yet. This list gets updated as the fund does.
What support does not buy¶
- No features locked behind donations. Everything is AGPL-3.0 and free, forever.
- No donor-only builds, early access, or priority support.
- No influence over the roadmap beyond what any user gets by opening an issue or giving one a 👍.
Support is a thank-you for work that already exists, not a purchase.