The problem to be solved was that adults, ages 19 to 27, living busy school and work routines had trouble keeping track of when or how often they watered their plants. This led to over or under watering plants, both of which could be detrimental to the survival of the plant. Each plant also could vary in the specific amount of water it needed per week.
I wanted to create an app that served as a watering-tracking system to help users keep track of how often each of their plants got watered, which would assist in predicting the state of health for their plants. Ideally, this app would allow the user to add in plants to a Tableview list. Then, it would store instances of the plant being watered and how much time had passed since the last-recorded watering. All the user would have to do is click a button on the app to record when they completed the action of watering a respective plant.
"Plantome helps you keep your plants in good health by tracking how long it’s been since each one was last watered. Receive feedback on when you should water next and how your plant is doing over time. Add new plants to your manager and access detailed information for each plant. Say goodbye to the hassle of managing each plant’s watering schedule! Plantome’s got you covered."
I ran user interviews with 5 individuals on my concept and ideation before beginning development of my app. By doing so, I was able to gain an understanding of pain points in tracking plant watering, as well as, wishlist features to included in the functionality of my app.
Some of these features included: upload capability from camera roll, notifications and daily banner reminders, incorporating additional information for the specific plant-type's care beyond user entry, filtering by plant type, and plant identification via "formal name/family" beyond the user's personalized name entry.
Using Apple's Developer, XCode, and programming language, Swift, I created a storyboard + developed code to construct a table with several table cells to capture personalized information for each plant added to a user's plant family. Beyond the home page table, I created layouts to 1. add a new plant to the list, and, 2. to view or edit an existing plant in the list. Much of my XCode development experience involved learning how to create tables, personalizing table cells, connecting storyboard with detailed-view code, and coding various form / table elements, including form fields, buttons, drop-downs, algorithms for time-tracking, functionality for filtering / sorting, and saving core data to a device.
For final stylized touches, using SwiftUI, I added brand colors and minimal details for features such as filtering/sorting and uploading photos of plants from one's camera roll. Then, I tested my app with 5 users and gained feedback on its functionality + user interface. My delivery consisted of an app store-esque product page and a prototype of my app. (Publishing to the app store was an optional task within the final delivery, due to $$$.)
Out of scope adds: Would have loved to include watch kit and widget kit into the development of my app if I had more time.
