THE POLAROID I COULDN'T FIND.

I didn't set out to build a camera app. I set out to find a Polaroid. I wanted that feeling of a photo you could hold, frame, and come back to. Something that felt more permanent than a camera roll and more personal than a story that disappears in 24 hours. But I couldn't find a Polaroid camera in Accra. So I did what made sense: I designed and built one myself.

Join TestFlight

Afterglow is a polaroid-style camera app for iOS. Open the app, point your camera, swipe through filters — Normal, B&W, Vintage, Sepia — and tap to capture. Your photo becomes a polaroid you can make your own. Pick a frame color from the palette, write a caption in whatever font feels right, handwritten, casual, script, serif, and then save it or share it with the people who were there. Every moment you capture lives in your gallery, ready to go back to whenever you want to relive it.

The design language came from the same place the idea did. Warm amber, deep navy, bold illustration on the onboarding screen, a camera shutter that feels satisfying to tap. I wanted Afterglow to feel like the physical object it was replacing, warm, tactile, and a little nostalgic, while still being a modern iOS app that was fast and easy to use.

The whole thing is built in SwiftUI. Every feature is functional. It's currently in TestFlight and getting closer to a public launch.

Some moments deserve more than a camera roll. Afterglow gives them a frame.