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I Released an App. It Did Not Go Well.

Gradman February 27, 2026 2 min read
I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. /// I RELEASED AN APP. IT DID NOT GO WELL. ///

I’m a die-hard AI maximalist. I concluded months ago that agentic tools write better code than I do. So I pivoted a 25 year career in software and hardware engineering, and now I’m obsessed with automating myself. If Claude Code is going to do everything I do, I might as well be the one to teach it.

The App

AI still screws up, and needs me to make decisions. So I made Extendo: an iOS app + CLI + agent skill that lets my agents (Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, etc) use push notifications to my phone with a voice-first, beautiful native iOS interface. Buttons, kanbans, checklists, markdown plan reviews. It’s amazing for software development. I used it to write itself! I set it going on a task, went to the gym, and let my agent ping me on my phone when it needed my precious human judgement.

The Launch

Didn’t go well you say? Well, I am not a gifted marketer. Nonetheless, I produced a pretty slick video (if I do say so myself), a website, and a launch strategy. Tuesday morning I woke up early, got everything ready and SHIPPED.

Four hours later, Anthropic released “/remote-control.” A way to teleport your running Claude Code session to your mobile device. Does it do what my app does? Not exactly. But it sure sucked the air out of the room. Being on the cutting edge sucks!

Would my app have succeeded absent this poor timing? No, probably not (see: not a gifted marketer). But now I have a great excuse, and a great story to tell.