We’re live on the app stores

Howdy friends!

RiseOhana is live on the Google Play Store. We’re also approved on the Apple App Store. This is one of those milestones that sounds simple when you say it out loud but was anything but.

I’ve been building this app with AI at 40x speed, running from the bear and pouring everything I have into making this thing real. Getting through app store review? That was its own beast entirely.

AI can build your app. It can’t submit it for you.

Here’s something nobody talks about. Claude Code helped me build features, debug crashes, architect systems. It was there for all of it. It was even useful during the submission process, helping me draft responses to rejections and figure out what certain policy requirements meant. But it can’t click buttons for you. There’s no API for navigating compliance forms, uploading screenshots in the right dimensions or filling out content rating questionnaires.

The other problem? These interfaces change faster than the LLM training data can keep up with. Claude would tell me to go to a specific menu or setting and it just wasn’t there anymore. We spent a good amount of time going back and forth discovering where things had moved to. “Try Settings > App Content.” “That doesn’t exist.” “Ok try Policy > App Content.” “Nope.” “How about Store Presence > Content Rating?” “There it is.” That kind of thing. Over and over.

Apple surprised me

I went in expecting Apple to be the difficult one. Everyone warns you about Apple review. Strict guidelines, slow turnarounds, mysterious rejections.

My experience? Genuinely pleasant. When they had issues, they sent screenshots showing exactly what they were looking at. Their explanations were clear. They gave me a channel to respond where I could actually write a detailed reply, not some 500 character text box. I could explain my reasoning, provide context and have a real back and forth.

Was it perfect? No. But I always knew what the problem was and how to fix it.

Google Play was a black hole

Google, on the other hand. I love you Google. I worked there. But your Play Store review process brought much pain to my heart.

RiseOhana got rejected more than five times. For the same issue. Every single time the rejection came back with the same generic explanation and zero guidance on what specifically needed to change. No screenshots. No “here’s what we saw.” Just a wall of policy text and a “try again” button.

The worst part? The rejections were about authentication and our waitlist flow. Let me walk you through the saga because it’s genuinely unbelievable.

We support OAuth. So I created a Google account for the tester. Fully set up, ready to go. I disabled 2FA. I tested it across multiple browsers and regions, even when I was visiting Canada. It worked everywhere. I submitted the credentials with the app.

Rejected. I checked the telemetry. The Google tester never used the account.

Ok fine, maybe they don’t want to log into a Google account. So I created an infinite access code to bypass the waitlist. I could see from the telemetry that they landed on the waitlist page. They never entered the code.

Rejected again.

So I created a magic URL that would instantly drop them into the app with the test account, no login required. Claude suggested I include the Google credentials again alongside the link, just in case. I submitted.

Rejected. Again. Because of “user access.”

At this point I was staring at my screen trying to figure out what was left to try. I submitted one more time. Removed the password from the notes (maybe that was somehow the issue?), generated a QR code that pointed to the same magic URL they could have just clicked from the submission notes, and included that instead.

It worked.

I still don’t know what specifically made the difference. But we’re through.

We’re live, but we need your help

Here’s the thing. We’re on Google Play right now, but we’re not fully open yet. We’re in an early phase where we’re looking for the right families to help us make sure this thing actually works the way it should.

If you’re a parent of a kid between 6 and 17 who is open to them using technology, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. We want families who are willing to try the app, give us feedback and help shape what RiseOhana becomes. Download it on Google Play or the App Store, create some quests for your kids and tell us what works and what doesn’t.

For everyone else, please sign up on the waitlist at riseohana.com. Even if you’re not in our target group right now, knowing you’re interested helps us understand if our direction is right. Every signup tells us something.

What’s next

We’re heads down on making the experience better for our early families. The feedback we get in the next few weeks is going to shape everything. If you’ve ever wanted to get in on the ground floor of something and actually have your voice heard, this is it.

I’ll keep sharing the journey here. The wins, the rejections, the bear chasing me. All of it.

Keep on coding on, friends!

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RiseOhana is my startup, a family engagement platform where parents create quests, kids share their adventures and everyone levels up together through gamified parenting and quality time rewards. Built by a nerdy dad of three who spent 28 years helping machines communicate better and decided it was time to build something that helps families do the same. If that sounds like your jam, come find us at riseohana.com.