[Iter-X] 4/100days

Day4️⃣

Off-topic: Today I came across the word funemployed, and I found it quite interesting. It’s a combination of “fun” and “unemployed”—such a fun wordplay.

I chatted with two people today about an app, and I got some ideas and feedback, including some possible future features. We also talked about competitors. Since I’ve looked into a few competitors before, it’s a good time to organize my thoughts and take a look. Is it too early or too late to analyze competitors at this stage? 😄

App	Advantages	Disadvantages	Notes
行程助手	1. Comprehensive features 2. Relatively complete point-of-interest data	1. Outdated 2. Sometimes very laggy	A product I’ve been using for years, but it feels a bit neglected. No progress means falling behind.
指北旅行	1. Relatively complete point-of-interest data 2. Can import Xiaohongshu notes and auto-generate itineraries 3. Sparse hotel information	1. Takes too long to generate itineraries with many days; I killed the app halfway 2. Only focuses on single-city trips, which is limiting 3. UI/UX still lacks smoothness	It focuses on single-city travel, but its itinerary generation can handle multi-city trips. This behavior is a bit confusing. However, importing Xiaohongshu and generating itineraries works well.
轻舟+	1. Good ideas like memories and collecting stamps 2. Customizable app themes and map styles	1. Subscription model 2. UI/UX is poor	I think the subscription model is a downside. I don’t think products like this should rely on subscriptions for monetization.
圆周旅迹	1. Best UI/UX 2. Most aligned with my ideal app 3. Smooth experience 4. Supports importing Xiaohongshu notes to auto-generate itineraries	1. Incomplete point-of-interest data	This product provides the best overall experience—smooth and polished. It aligns most closely with my ideal app. The only downside is the incomplete point-of-interest data, and Xiaohongshu itinerary imports aren’t as effective as Guide Travel’s.
小旅星			Haha, I’m unilaterally forcing it to withdraw 😅

First, the Trip Assistant is excluded from ranking. I’ve used it for many years, so I’m used to it, including its lag. I usually use it to plan basic itineraries, then move them to Notion. Haha, I wonder if the product is still being maintained. I hope the team can kick me if they see this, just to let me know.

On RedNote, when searching for travel planning apps, I mostly saw Round Trip Tracks, and it truly lives up to expectations. It’s the best app among these, in my opinion (waiting for mine to come out 🙇🏾‍♂️). It’s smooth, with very few lags, and many operations are aligned with my ideas for my app. The only drawback is incomplete point-of-interest data and less powerful AI. If they focus on these areas, it could improve even more. Feel free to reach out to me, the wild player, for a chat 🧑🏿‍💻.

I found Guide Travel through RedNote ads. I’d say it’s the second best among these apps, but personally, I wouldn’t use it. Light Boat+ was recommended by someone, and it’s just okay. The subscription model made me turn away right away. Little Travel Star—let’s not talk about it.

None of these apps support internationalization. They don’t even have basic language switching.

After reviewing, I’ll continue designing my prototype at my usual turtle pace🥺

Current situation summary:

Prototype design: 3%, ideas are in place, currently progressing with 2️⃣
UI/UX design: 3%, it’s in progress
Backend (Go) development: 10%, holding steady for now, need to prioritize 2️⃣ and 4️⃣ first
Client-side (Flutter) progress: 0%, waiting for 1️⃣ & 2️⃣ to be completed, today a part-time developer joined 😻

In the next few days, I’ll focus on 1️⃣ and 2️⃣.

If you meet the following criteria, feel free to reach out:

Can persevere
Have dreams
Are interested

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