The Month I Lost My Data… and Found My Spark Again

I wanted to share a small indie dev moment from this last month. A few weeks ago, I hit a moment most indie developers eventually run into… even if we hope we never do.

I was coding on my personal iPhone, trying to wrap my head around widgets, making little chunks of progress here and there… and I completely misunderstood how CloudKit treats local data when paired with a (widget-required) App Group.

The Moment Everything Disappeared

I accidentally wiped all of my data. Everything I had logged for months... gone.

It was one of those quiet heartbreaks where you stare at your screen thinking,

That… can’t be right.

Hindsight is always clear and now I know I wouldn’t make the same mistake and even how I could've recovered the data but... in the moment, all I knew was that I needed to pause.

The Honest Frustration

At first it felt awful, frustrating, and so very draining. The kind of moment where you keep coding, but your heart isn’t really in it. I kept going… but something in me shut down, and I stopped caring just a little bit.

I still knew, however, that widgets were the next step for Simply Remember It. So I let myself step away from the why of what happened, added new sample data, and moved on to connecting the widgets properly... fetching tasks, showing them, and making everything look pretty again.

Just realized while writing this that this... along with the navigation rewrite is what led to my last post When the Fix Isn’t in the Code.

Why It Hit So Hard

The whole goal of Simply Remember It is to make life feel a little lighter with those micro-moments:

Oh yeah... it’s been two months since I replaced that.

Pight... I changed my sheets Tuesday... I can wait a bit longer.

Oh wow, I didn’t realize this was happening so much. Look at the pattern!

It’s simple, gentle clarity. And losing my own data reminded me just how comforting that clarity really is.

The Turning Point

Between cooling down, creating the widgets, and seeing how my data could look again, the spark came back. I decided it was time to finally tackle why my data disappeared and then how to solve it safely.

And I did... and suddenly the entire puzzle clicked.

Once I understood the why and how I was able to test the migration process properly... first on one simulator, then more, and more. There was even a moment where I tested it on my phone, hoping I could get my old data back. I couldn’t... but only because earlier, when the widgets weren’t updating, I had deleted and reinstalled the app a few times which meant Apple had already cleared the old data.

But the migration process itself was solid. I finally borrowed my husband’s phone, an untouched real-world test, and confirmed I had a solution I trusted.

A Fresh Update (Your Data)

Version 1.0.4 of Simply Remember It is out now!

With the safe path figured out, I released the update so everyone can move to the new shared data system and have the foundation the upcoming widgets need.

Your data remains private, safe, and fully in your control… just stored in a smarter place that your widgets can also access.

As of November 20, 2025, if you’re on version 1.0.4, your data already migrated quietly and automatically. New installs since then have used the new location from the start.

The Unexpected

With the migration solved I could finally keep building the widgets without worrying about data safety. And with that I suddenly remembered exactly why I built Simply Remember It in the first place.

Those tiny moments.

Those little patterns.

That quiet feeling of life making more sense.

It all came back.

Video: A Little Indie Dev Moment

I recorded a short video about this tiny reset. It's raw, honest, and hopefully encouraging for anyone building things slowly and quietly in real life.

Going Forward

Even though everyone else’s data is already safe, I’m adding optional backup and import tools to the app’s roadmap, just in case, for extra reassurance for both you and me.

But first… widgets!

A Quiet Reset

Losing my data ended up being a small gift, though definitely not in the moment, but in hindsight.

It reminded me that tiny, personal tools can make life feel steadier.

It reminded me that slow progress still counts.

And it reminded me that even when things break, there’s always a path back to clarity.

Thank you for being here.

More coming soon.

💕 Kyra