APP DEVELOPMENT, UI/UX DESIGN, BRANDING, WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
SORTMYDUMP
SortMyDump - From an Idea to an iOS App
From camera roll to carousel.
SortMyDump is a free photo and video sorting app for iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad, designed to take the hassle out of creating photo dumps and social media carousels.
What started as a little idea after a few holidays turned into my first independently developed iOS app. Over roughly three months, working on evenings and weekends around my full-time job, I brought it to life through branding, UI/UX design, development and eventually launching it on the App Store.
And the funny thing is, I'd never actually developed an app before!
After coming home from a few holidays with hundreds of photos, I found myself constantly putting off posting them because the thought of sorting through everything felt overwhelming. Picking favourites, comparing almost identical photos and figuring out which ones looked good together could easily take hours.
I started wondering why there wasn't something that could do the sorting for me. After having a look around and not finding quite what I wanted, I thought, why not try making it myself?
With a background in graphic design, web development and some app UI/UX experience from university, I had a decent foundation to start with, but absolutely no experience actually developing an app. With the help of Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT, plenty of experimenting and a lot of learning along the way, SortMyDump slowly became a reality.
The Idea
Branding & UI/UX Design
Being a graphic designer definitely helped when it came to creating SortMyDump's identity.
I wanted the branding to feel approachable, playful and professional, with a subtle nod to photo carousels and the familiar social media gradient colours.
For the app itself, simplicity was my biggest priority. I wanted it to feel familiar to Apple users, incorporating native interface elements, system typography and intuitive navigation, while adding my own touches through colours, buttons and a dark interface.
The goal was to make sorting photos easier, not create another complicated process.
Development & Learning Along the Way
Developing my first iOS app was definitely a learning curve, but I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible Apple makes the process through Xcode and its development tools.
Using Xcode, alongside AI tools like Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT, I was able to learn as I went, test the app directly on my own iPhone and gradually turn my designs into something functional.
Originally, I'd imagined SortMyDump could even create draft posts directly in Instagram. However, after learning more about the limitations of third-party integrations, I had to rethink the user experience. Instead, SortMyDump saves the sorted photos and videos into a new album in the Photos app, ready for users to post wherever they like.
One of the biggest things I learnt was that an app is never really finished. I'd fix one issue, discover another, then think of something else I could improve. Being a bit of a perfectionist certainly didn't help! Even now that it's live, I'm still finding ways to enhance it and keep it compatible with new devices and iOS updates.
Privacy was also important throughout development. SortMyDump processes photos and videos on-device, without uploading them to external servers or requiring an acc
Website Design & Development
Alongside the app, I also designed and developed sortmydump.app.
With my background in web design and development, this was a familiar and enjoyable part of the project.
I wanted a simple, responsive website that clearly explained what the app does, how it works and how it handles users' photos, while also providing the necessary privacy and support information. It was also important it matched the app design/branding/etc.
I also wanted to make it easy for people to share feedback, report issues or suggest improvements, as SortMyDump is something I plan to continue developing.
From an Idea to the App Store
One of the coolest moments was getting SortMyDump running on my own phone for the first time, even when it could only do the most basic sorting.
But nothing quite compared to getting that App Store approval from Apple. After roughly three months of learning, developing, testing and working on the app in my spare time, seeing it officially live on the App Store in September 2026 was pretty surreal.
What started as a personal frustration after a holiday had turned into a real app that other people could download and use. There's still plenty I'd love to explore, from audio and caption suggestions to making the entire experience even more post-ready.
For now, I'm just enjoying learning, improving the app and seeing where it takes me. Sometimes you just need an idea, a bit of curiosity and the willingness to figure things out along the way.
Explore SortMyDump
You make the memories. We'll sort them.
SortMyDump is free to download for iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad.