Coding is caring: When your techie husband’s love language is creating customized apps for you

One day in 2024, software program developer Hafizuddin Sharif Umar Sharif was searching for concepts to construct an app as a private ­mission. He requested his spouse, Nur Iffah Abdul Halim, if there was an app she needed.

“She talked about how we have grocery items at home but by the time we decide what to cook, some of the ingredients may have already expired.

“She said, ‘If only there’s an app that could suggest what to make based on ingredients we have at the time’. And not just any random recipes but from creators or videos that she actually likes,” says Hafizuddin Sharif throughout an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

Not lengthy after, the concept hit ­nearer to residence. While making an attempt to recreate a tom yum pasta recipe from a social media video, Nur Iffah discovered herself always pausing, rewinding and replaying clips simply to maintain up with every step.

As he may hear Nur Iffah’s video looping within the kitchen, Hafizuddin Sharif realised that the problem wasn’t discovering recipes: “Nowadays, most people turn to social media for recipe ideas. The ingredients and instructions are in the video, but there usually isn’t a clear, step-by-step guide you can follow while you’re cooking. You end up replaying the same video over and over.

“That’s when I thought, ‘What if I could extract the cooking information from the video and turn it into an easy-to-follow guide in an app?’”

So Hafizuddin Sharif determined to start out creating the app for his spouse.

“I have to decide on the app’s core features, with the first being the ability to import or extract recipes from social media platforms. Second is the meal planning feature so you can select a recipe to cook for a particular day and let the app generate a list of things to buy under Groceries. Then the third is the Browse feature to see recipes from content creators in Malaysia,” he provides.

He believes that includes recipes by native creators provides the app a singular flavour and helps set it other than different recipe apps out there.

It took a couple of 12 months for Hafizuddin Sharif to develop the app, from writing the code to discovering the appropriate synthetic intelligence (AI) instruments to assist with producing the recipes and ­substances listing on the app. He additionally labored carefully along with his spouse by incorporating her concepts and suggestions.

“We named the app Kerisik: Recipe Manager. She has been an integral part of the development process. During the early prototype stage, I’d show her early versions of the app to get her feedback and to see if she was okay with the design and features. Essentially, I’d call her the product owner,” he says.

Kerisik: Recipe Manager was launched to the general public in 2025 and has been downloaded greater than 10,000 instances on the Google Play Store. Hafizuddin Sharif says the app has acquired optimistic suggestions from customers, notably throughout Ramadan. “Remember when Khairulaming’s recipes for Ramadan went viral on social media?

“I saw users saying the app helped them buy the ingredients they needed and follow the recipes more conveniently. They thanked us for making cooking at home easier. It’s amazing to think that an app which has gone on to help so many people started with an idea from my wife,” he says.

Touch of code

Freelance software program programmer Ahmad Saiful Bahri Mat Amin has spent years constructing purposes resembling digital ­programs for shoppers within the small and medium enterprise phase. But he had by no means considered his spouse as a shopper since he began freelancing in 2016.

Then in the future, Ahmad Saiful Bahri discovered ­himself excited about how he may assist his spouse, who would usually spend evenings engaged on her lab stories after time for supper at residence.

“She works at a hospital in Selangor where the test results are generated by different machines that have not been fully integrated into a single system. So she had to manually gather results from each machine and compile them into a report,” he says.

As the method might be time-­consuming, Ahmad Saiful Bahri began trying into how he might help her automate the method.

“Why don’t I use AI to help my wife? Before AI, you could use OCR (optical character recognition) to scan a document and extract the text, but it did not understand what the text represented or what the document was about.

“With AI, the system can read and understand the document, identify important information and place it into the correct data fields. So when you ask it to enter the information into a system, it knows where each piece of information belongs,” says Ahmad Saiful Bahri.

Because the paperwork comprise confidential lab information, he says that he arrange a neighborhood AI mannequin on his spouse’s laptop as an alternative of counting on a web-based service.

He developed a program referred to as AI Document Scanner, which runs on her PC, permitting her to add a doc, extract the related data utilizing AI and generate a lab report ­with out the info leaving the pc.

“This process that used to take her about an hour can now be done in less than 10 minutes. Of course, she still has to validate the data because I’ve told her AI can make mistakes. More importantly, she gets more time to rest at home,” he says, including that this system, developed in 2024, is just for his spouse.

Ahmad Saiful Bahri has additionally developed a web-based utility referred to as Certificate Generator to assist his spouse together with her further duties at work.

“She would help organise ­training sessions and then had to prepare certificates for participants. It was a time-consuming process because she had to ­manually key in each name.

“So I created this application for her, which allows users to ­create certificate templates, ­im­­port participant names from an Excel spreadsheet or existing database, and automatically ­generate certificates. She can even use the tool to email the ­certificates directly to participants,” he says.

Certificate Generator has been launched to the general public in 2024 as nicely, the place he would add new options primarily based on responses.

The third answer he developed for his spouse was designed to simplify expense monitoring. It permits her to scan receipts, whereas AI reads the small print and routinely categorises the spending to assist handle funds.

The function has turn into a part of a web-based utility referred to as Invois.Online which is on the market for the general public as nicely.

“I thought about how if it works well for my wife then it could be useful to others as well. So I released the apps, charging a monthly fee of around RM20 for users to get features like no limit on the number of times (one can) generate new files, and more ­storage space,” he provides.

Good vibes

At a restaurant in Puchong, Selangor, self-professed full-time vibe coder Christopher Cheah Wen Feng is happy to share how he makes use of Cursor – an AI platform – to develop, take a look at and overview code that he can flip right into a cell app.

“Since AI became more accessible, I got to explore some tools and make apps that I personally want to use,” says Cheah, whose prior skilled background was within the animation trade.

He explains that his course of begins by speaking to ChatGPT and sharing his concepts for an app with sure options or functionalities.

“Essentially, vibe coding is all about giving prompts. The AI will come up with a structure and from there we will start ­developing this app. I will test it on devices like my smartphone. AI can help you build an app in a short period of time but fast doesn’t mean good. So you have to keep testing and work with AI to ­figure out the flaws,” he says.

In 2025, Cheah shares that his spouse Moon Hor had a well being ­is­­sue and was advisable surgical procedure. At the time, she additionally wanted to take remedy usually.

“My wife keeps forgetting to take her medicine on time. She also can’t remember if she already took them. Then she felt bad because her medication at the time was not cheap,” says Cheah.

He says that Hor tried some reminder-type apps however didn’t like how most of it appeared and likewise didn’t wish to pay to make use of the options.

“Then she asked if I can create an app with a similar feature,” he says.

He got here up with Smart Reminder, an iOS app that pushes notifications for reminders resembling when to drink water and naturally, take drugs. There’s an additional function to test off the duty within the app as soon as it’s accomplished. According to him, it was a easy app so it took solely two days for him to develop and have the app prepared for Hor.

“There’s real satisfaction in building an app that solves every­­day problems, no matter how small. I think it’s wonderful to see my wife using the app,” he says.

At her request, Cheah says he has additionally developed CaloriAI, an app that makes use of AI to analyse energy and dietary consumption in meals photographs.

“Yes, there are other apps like this in the market. But she just wants something that is her own and I can develop it for free,” he laughs.

Cheah has additionally developed one other app for his eight-year-old son, referred to as SketchHanYu, to assist him discover ways to write and browse Chinese characters.

“My son goes to a Chinese school and I made this to help him with his studies where it has an AI tool to recognise handwriting and audio features to help him pronounce the characters,” he says.

Cheah’s apps can be found for different customers to obtain without cost within the Apple App Store.

“When you’re creating something that matters, you naturally want to share it with everyone. But I do recognise that there are already many similar apps out there. As I’m also not creating something truly special, keeping it free is a practical choice,” he says, including that the apps include adverts.

Real worth

While there isn’t a price for his or her wives to make use of the purposes, the husbands say the initiatives nonetheless require ongoing investments in software program subscriptions, internet hosting and different improvement instruments.

“There is some cost. For example, it’s only RM50 monthly to pay for web hosting. Of course, you have to pay a subscription fee for some of the AI tools if you want the more advanced features,” says Ahmad Saiful Bahri.

For Hafizuddin Sharif, one of many ongoing prices for Kerisik: Recipe Manager app is sustaining the server infrastructure that powers the app, processes consumer requests and helps its AI options.

“It goes through a server as you don’t want the user’s phone to do all that ‘heavy work’. The cost is about RM500 monthly,” says Hafizuddin Sharif, including that Kerisik: Recipe Manager has a Pro plan with options for customers to entry the app on iPad.

He shares that the Pro plan prices RM5 month-to-month, or customers can go for a one-time fee of RM60.

As for Cheah, he says one of many greatest prices is to pay for the AI instruments, notably for entry to superior options.

“I also have to pay for the server costs for each project. Some have features that will autoscale the bandwidth to support more users. I pay about a few thousand ringgit per month. It’s not cheap as I’m also doing app development projects for clients, not just for maintaining the apps that my wife wants,” Cheah says.

Next, Cheah says his spouse desires a gaming app.

“She likes those rush-style games in a kitchen setting and has actually paid to get features like extra time. So she said I should develop one for her. I think it’s an exciting project but it’s going to take time,” he provides.

For Ahmad Saiful Bahri, the expertise along with his spouse has bolstered the significance of making expertise with a function by creating options that genuinely enhance individuals’s lives.

“We’re always thinking about developing technology that we believe can help people. But we never really thought about whether it would actually benefit others beyond our own needs.

“When I see hundreds of people using the applications I developed for my wife, I realise that I’m not just helping her, but others as well. I’m really thankful to my wife because she’s the reason I had these ideas,” he says.

As for Nur Iffah, she by no means anticipated her husband to develop Kerisik: Recipe Manager app or every other instruments for her.

“When he first showed me the app, he said ‘Sayang, look at what I’ve made’, and I was impressed. I was also touched to know that he would integrate my feedback or preferences into his work,” she provides.

Nur Iffah says the app is ­“perfect” and has no notes for extra options, including that she’s additionally conscious that her husband is cur­­rently engaged on one other app.

“So I want him to just focus on that,” she provides.

But Hafizuddin Sharif says he’s at all times open to new concepts or suggestions for the app he made for her.

“My wife is my No. 1 user. If there’s anything she wants, I’ll get to work right away!”