[App Development Journey #1] Building My First Android App with Claude Code During Parental Leave

Turning my own idea into an Android app with Claude Code

I am on parental leave.

Here in Finland, fathers also get a long period of parental leave. I had seen colleagues around me take six months off, so when our third child was born this year, I planned my own leave and told my company about it six months in advance.

I had heard stories about other people collecting small pockets of free time during parental leave to relieve the stress of childcare—finishing long-postponed home renovations by themselves or building a small playhouse in the backyard. While wondering what I should do, I decided to try something I had always been curious about but never managed to pursue: my own side project.

— Sorry, the truth is that I am a developer. —

But as a programmer who works with advanced calculations and algorithms for B2B software in a specific industry—not software for general users—I had only ever been a devoted app user. Could I try building an app experimentally with Claude Code, which I had started using earlier this year? Could I actually make one? And what if I could even release it, list it in an app store, and monetize it?

With those hopeful thoughts running through my head, I launched Claude Code.

The app idea was simple. Since caring for our third child had made it much harder to meet the requests of our second child, our four-year-old princess, as attentively as before, this was a lazy dad’s shortcut to automate at least a little of that work. The first step was having the app read storybooks to her in my place.

Going forward, I want to share the journey of using Claude Code to take this idea all the way to the Android market.

I had never developed for Android. I did not even know what language Android apps used.

But I had Claude Code, and now the app is installed on my phone.

And my first user—my little princess—asks for the app every single day.

If you have ever thought, “I need an app like this. Why won’t someone make it? This could be a huge success, so why doesn’t it exist?” then now it is your turn to step forward.

The app has now entered the closed testing stage on Google Play. I plan to guide you alongside me by sharing everything from the first development steps to app registration and even monetization with advertising, so that your idea might bring someone else a great deal of convenience.

All you need is an idea, less time than you might think, and a Claude Code—or Codex—plan.