Case studies / Skedaddle, a day planner for dads and kids
Skedaddle, 2026
Skedaddle, a day planner for dads and kids
As the parent of a neurodiverse child, I rarely had the headspace on a Saturday morning to be creative and plan a day, and I kept missing places near us I did not know were there. Being a dad can be lonely too, which is why I had started a WhatsApp group for South Devon dads. Skedaddle grew from both: it answers "what shall we do today?" with somewhere real and nearby, and lets dads find each other there with their kids. I designed and built it on my own with AI, and it is due on the App Store imminently.
skedaddle.uk↗- Client
- Self-initiated
- My role
- Founder, designer and developer
- Who it's for
- Dads who want something to do with the kids this week, and other dads to do it with
- Built with
- Replit for the prototype, then Claude Code, Expo and React Native, Supabase, OpenStreetMap and other open data, Midjourney
- Status
- Due on the App Store imminently
- Duration
- 2026
- Outputs
- Prototype, iPhone app, UK places catalogue, illustration and design system
Results
The results
What the work produced.
- A full iPhone app, from one designer Product, design, illustration, build and testing, with AI as the build partner.
- Complex underneath, simple on the screen Several databases and APIs, a ranking engine and custom illustration, behind one journey from the first question to a day out with other dads.
- A bike trail we had never heard of It found one near us that I did not know existed, and my son loved it.
- Tens of thousands of UK places and activities Built from open data, so a free app has no cost per search, and it turns up places you would not think to look for.
- 3,524 walking routes, each with real climb The app says "450 m of climb" because it measured it, so a dad knows what he is taking small legs up.
No headspace to plan the day
As the parent of a neurodiverse child, by Saturday morning I often had nothing left for planning. There were loads of places near us, but my mind went blank, and I could never think what to search for while the kids were screaming.
So the app gives the day a shape: say how long you have and who is coming, and it hands back somewhere out in nature, somewhere to eat nearby, and a plan. It finds places you would not have thought to look for, and because my son is neurodiverse, a place has to work for him too, so you can ask for somewhere quiet.
From a WhatsApp group to dads meeting up
Being a dad can be lonely, stood on your own in the playground. I had started a WhatsApp group for South Devon dads, and it became popular, which told me I was not the only one.
So sharing a plan is built in: nearby dads see "3 dads going" and can join you and the kids. No feeds, no profiles, no chat, and block and report on everything. It is kept deliberately quiet.
A rough prototype, out in a week
I made the first version in Replit in about a week: 27 places around Totnes in a spreadsheet, a few quick questions, and a plan with kit, snacks and lunch. I shared it on LinkedIn and with a few friends, and great feedback came back straight away.
Dads liked that it was hyper-local, that they could meet other dads, and that they could add places themselves. Many said the problem was real: dads who are lonely, and who struggle to get out of the house. So I built it properly as an iPhone app, keeping what the prototype had proved: a few quick questions, one plan, and an easy way to bring other dads along.
Battling the data to find where dads would actually go
Hyper-local suggestions need a huge, clean list of places. I started with Google and TripAdvisor, but after a while I realised their places and photos would cost far too much for a free app. OpenStreetMap is free, but searched raw it offered sandbanks in the middle of the sea, five-foot duck ponds and park benches.
So I spent weeks cleaning and cleansing it, training and fine-tuning AI until I had a formula that turned a huge database into just the things dads would do with their kids.
From filtering to ranking
A distance filter returns an empty screen in rural Devon on a wet Wednesday, and an empty screen is worse than an imperfect suggestion. Say 30 minutes and a filter offers somewhere 5 minutes away.
So instead of filtering, the app weighs every place nearby against the weather, the daylight left, the season and the kids' ages, and leads with one top pick. There is always a good suggestion, never an empty screen.
From marketing copy to grounded description
Asked to describe a walk, AI invents a hidden gem nestled in rolling hills. A dad who turns up with tired kids to a muddy field stops trusting the app.
So a description may only use what is actually known about that place, kept short and plain, with no clichés. Where too little is known there is no description at all: better nothing than a made-up hidden gem.
Reflection
What I did not expect
I expected the hard part to be the app. It was the data, and photos had the same problem. So I blended free, licence-free open source images with custom illustrations made in Midjourney. That gives the app a fun feel, with real-world proof of what you will find.
Skedaddle is due on the App Store imminently, and that is where the real learning starts. I will be watching how dads use it and listening to their feedback, then iterating and building on it over time as interest grows.
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