Turnover IO

Mobile App Design Rebrand & Development

What started as a UX design exercise in 2022 became a rebranded iOS app on the App Store in 2026. Turnover IO is an AI-powered recipe app that generates meal ideas from whatever ingredients you already have — built by me, solo, from research through submission.

Project Duration: January 2022 – Present
My Roles: UX Designer, UX Researcher, UX Writer, iOS Developer
Tools Used: Figma, Xcode, SwiftUI, Supabase, Cloudinary, App Store Connect

The Origin

This project started as 4 Dinr — a straightforward recipe app I designed to solve a simple frustration: why does finding a recipe online require reading three paragraphs about someone's childhood before getting to the ingredients?

The original design focused on clarity and speed. No blogs, no ads, no friction. Just the recipe. I built it in Bravo Studio as a no-code prototype, published it to the App Store and Google Play in 2022, and learned firsthand what it takes to actually ship and maintain an app.

The Problem Evolved

After living with the app for a while, I realized the problem I actually wanted to solve was different — and more personal. My recipes weren't scattered across the internet. They were scattered across me: photos I'd taken of cookbook pages, notes app drafts, bookmarked links I'd never find again, and AI-generated ideas I'd typed into a chat window with no way to save them.

The core frustration wasn't finding recipes. It was that I just didn't know what I could do with what I had in my fridge. They were things that I was going to eventually throw away.

The Rebrand

In 2025, I rebuilt the app from scratch in SwiftUI and relaunched it as Turnover IO. The name reflects the real use case: taking what you have on hand and turning it over into something worth eating. Something that will surprise you.

The rebrand wasn't just cosmetic. It was a product pivot. Turnover IO adds:

AI-powered ingredient suggestions — type in what you have, get a real recipe back, powered by Claude (Anthropic's API)
Save and organize your own recipes — the personal recipe collection I always wanted
Favorites — so nothing gets lost again
A curated recipe catalog — for when you want inspiration without the AI

The visual identity shifted too. Where 4 Dinr was clean and utilitarian, Turnover IO is warmer — amber and peach tones, a feel that's closer to a well-loved cookbook than a productivity tool.

What I Built

Rebuilding in SwiftUI meant owning the full stack for the first time. I designed the app in Figma, built it in Xcode, connected it to Supabase for authentication and data, integrated Anthropic's Claude API via a secure Edge Function, handled image hosting through Cloudinary, and wired up App Store subscriptions with StoreKit 2.

Every screen, every interaction, every word of copy — solo.

Shipping meant navigating App Store review (twice), understanding Apple's IAP review process, and making judgment calls about what to launch with versus what to defer. I learned more about product prioritization from one App Store rejection than from any UX course.

What Carried Forward

The original 4 Dinr research didn't go to waste. The card sorting exercises that surfaced how users mentally organize meals still informed the category structure in Turnover IO. The usability testing insight — that people want calorie and serving information visible at a glance — is in every recipe card. The lesson that logo-as-home-button isn't intuitive shaped how I built navigation from the start this time.

The problems I was trying to solve in 2022 were real. I just needed a few more years, a real tech stack, and a narrower problem statement to solve them properly.

The Result

Turnover IO launched on the App Store in 2026. It's a live product with a freemium model — free access to the curated catalog and a limited number of AI queries, with a Premium subscription for unlimited AI recipe generation.

It's the app I built because I wanted it to exist. I think that's usually when the best ones get made.

Download on the App Store

Next steps on the product roadmap include Siri integration via App Intents, a Recipe of the Day widget, and Apple Intelligence features as they mature on the platform.

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