About

Hi, I'm Josh. I make utility apps, and this is the real reason why.

I spent years working on big consumer apps, the kind with millions of users and names you'd recognize. That work taught me how those companies actually think. Every screen has a number attached to it, and every change is graded on whether it moves that number: more visits, more time, more spend. I'm not describing villains. Most of the people I worked with were thoughtful and meant well. But the incentives only ever point one way, and over time even good teams get pulled toward the number and away from the person in front of it.

What finally bothered me enough to do something about it was watching that same logic show up in tiny tools. A timer that makes you sign in. A converter that hides the convert button behind a subscription. On something that simple there is no real excuse for it. The account, the tracker, the paywall aren't there because the tool needs them; they're there because a business wants them. I understood exactly how a small app ends up like that. I just didn't want to keep nodding along with it.

So in my own time I started making the opposite kind of app. A Josh Approved app does one thing, your data stays with you, and then it gets out of your way. No account unless the feature genuinely can't work without one. No analytics watching you use it. No ads. No "pro" tier hiding the part you needed. No paywall. The whole app is the whole app.

It isn't a company. It's me, on the side, putting my name on things I'd be comfortable handing to my own family. That's what the little check means: I stand behind this one. If an app ever drifts, if it starts tracking you or nagging you or holding a feature hostage, it doesn't get to keep the badge, and I'd rather pull it than pretend.

I also write about the patterns I'm pushing back on, in plain terms, trying to be fair to the other side. That's the writing section.

One last thing: how this stays alive. Josh Approved is supported by the people who use it. No ads, no subscriptions, no data harvest. What keeps it sustainable is whether it's worth a few dollars to you. If it is, please consider donating. If it isn't, the app is exactly the same. That's the deal, and it isn't going to change.