We're starting a company. This probably isn't news to anyone reading this—you're on our website—but it feels worth saying officially: Ugly Computer is real.
Who We Are
Three people who met through the New York iOS developer meetup and realized we were all complaining about the same things:
- Apps that prioritize growth metrics over user experience
- Feature bloat disguised as "full-featured solutions"
- The pressure to make everything look like a Y Combinator pitch deck
- The way most apps feel designed by committee rather than by people with taste
So we decided to do something about it.
What We're Building
Our first app is Third Rail — a NYC subway app born from the constant mental translation between "north/south" and "uptown/downtown," plus our data engineer's obsession with making predictions that admit when they're uncertain.
Why iOS
We love iOS development. We love SwiftUI (even when it's frustrating). We love the attention to detail in the platform, the way animations feel, the way widgets integrate into the home screen.
We also think the App Store has room for weirder, more opinionated apps. Not everything needs to be a platform or a productivity suite. Sometimes the best app is the one that does exactly one thing really well.
What's Next
We're aiming to ship Third Rail in summer 2026.
We'll be posting updates here as we build. No marketing speak, no press releases written by committee. Just honest updates about what we're working on and what we're learning.
If you want to follow along, check back here occasionally.
Thanks for being curious about what we're doing.
— The Ugly Computer Team