NewsApril 2026
The morning briefing writes and records itself.
- Real-time sourcing from X and the open web
- One, three or five minute briefings
- Single narrator or a two-voice conversation
- Four tones: Academic, Storyteller, Sarcastic, Skeptic
Mobile app studio · İstanbul
We design, build and run
our own consumer apps.
Product strategy, interface design, iOS engineering, AI integration and the App Store launch, all in one place. Nothing gets handed off halfway, and nothing gets abandoned after release.
Pody · Moto Trip · HomeAI · GuiGo
Product strategyInterface designDesign systemsiOS engineeringAI integrationSubscriptions & paywallsApp Store launchOnboardingRetentionLocalisationAnalytics
What we do
Everything an app needs, from concept to launch.
One studio for the whole chain, so the person who decided the scope is the person who ships it.
01
Product strategy
Deciding what the thing is before a screen gets drawn. Scope, the core loop, what ships in v1 and what gets cut without regret.
02
Interface design
Screens, motion and the design system underneath them, built to survive the next twenty features rather than just the launch screenshot.
03
iOS engineering
Production apps for the App Store: strict layering, typed error handling, offline states, and the unglamorous work that stops a release going wrong.
04
AI integration
Generation, retrieval and speech wired into a product where they change what it can do, and left out where a plain function is faster and more predictable.
05
Launch & App Store
Listing copy, creatives, review submission, subscriptions and pricing. The last mile that decides whether anyone ever sees the app.
06
Growth & retention
Onboarding, paywalls and cohort analysis after launch, because the first release is where the work starts rather than where it ends.
Selected work
Proof, not promises.
Products we scoped, designed, built and launched ourselves, and still run today. Every one of them is on the App Store where anyone can check the claim.
NavigationJune 2026
A route planner that understands why you took the long way.
- Routes shaped by terrain: forest, coastal, mountain, city
- Waypoints, fuel stops and viewpoints you place yourself
- A library of rider-curated routes, filtered by distance and difficulty
- Group riding that keeps the crew on the same road
LifestyleJanuary 2026
Redesign a room, a facade or a garden from one photo.
- Interiors, exteriors and gardens from a single photo
- 20+ styles including Modern, Scandinavian, Japandi and Coastal
- Photorealistic renders, not illustrations
- A full redesign in under ten seconds
Travel
Say where you are going and how long you have. It plans the days.
- Day-by-day itineraries built from destination, length and travel style
- Road trip routes optimised for the drive, not the arrival time
- Pin the places you care about and let the route form around them
- Family and kids-friendly planning, down to baby-friendly stops
How the work happens
Sketch to App Store, without a handoff.
Strategy, design and engineering sit in the same conversation, so a decision made on Monday is in a build by Wednesday. Everything below is how the work actually runs, not a service menu.
01
The model is the product, or it stays out
HomeAI is a generative image pipeline with an app around it. Pody chains retrieval, scripting and speech synthesis into a few seconds. Moto Trip and GuiGo use a model to produce structured plans, waypoints and day-by-day itineraries, which are then validated against real routing data before a rider or a traveller ever sees them. Where a plain function does the job, it stays a plain function.
02
The boring parts are solved once
Every app runs on the same foundation: the same layering, the same backend, the same paywall. Accounts, analytics and localisation are shared infrastructure rather than per-project work, so a new product starts most of the way built and the effort goes into the part that is genuinely new.
03
Ship narrow, then find out
A first release covers one job properly rather than six badly, and then keeps moving: every product here is several releases past its launch. Real usage settles arguments that another week of planning only postpones.
04
We stay on after launch
The support inbox and the one-star reviews come back to the same desk that shipped the release. Owning the consequences turns out to be the most efficient quality process available.
Why we bothered
Nobody was going to fund the first version.
Upside exists to find out how far an idea can get without a client, a committee or a round in front of it. Everything on this site was picked, funded and shipped from inside the studio, which means we choose the problem, carry the mistake, and keep whatever comes of it.
The second reason is harder to write down. Mobile product teams in Türkiye are still almost entirely male, and the shortage has never been talent. It is who gets asked first. Öznur co-founded this studio and runs it as CEO, and most of what is on the App Store ships under her name. We put that on the homepage rather than burying it on a team page, because anyone wondering whether this industry has room for them should be able to see the answer without digging.
01
Ship it, then find out
A week of real usage settles arguments that a quarter of planning only postpones. We launch narrow and early and let the numbers do the deciding.
02
Small on purpose
Growth that means taking work we do not believe in is not growth. We would rather stay small and profitable than large and busy.
03
Hold the door open
We answer cold messages, speak where we are invited, and pay attention to people nobody has taken a chance on yet, mostly women starting out in mobile.
The studio
Who you will actually be working with.
Öznur runs product and design, Doğukan runs engineering and architecture. Both of them are still in the codebase, so whoever replies to your email is the person who can change the answer.
Before you ask
The things everyone asks us.
What is Upside App Studio?
Upside App Studio is an independent mobile app studio in İstanbul, shipping since 2026. It designs, builds and operates its own consumer iOS apps rather than taking commissions: Pody, Moto Trip, HomeAI and GuiGo. The studio is woman co-founded and keeps strategy, design, engineering and launch in-house.
Which apps has Upside App Studio built?
Four, all for iOS. Pody is a daily news briefing that writes and voices itself. Moto Trip is a route planner for motorcyclists. HomeAI redesigns a room, a house facade or a garden from a single photo. GuiGo builds day-by-day travel itineraries.
Where is Upside App Studio based?
İstanbul, Türkiye. The studio works remotely with partners elsewhere, and the contact inbox is read by the two founders rather than routed to a support desk.
Are you an agency?
No. The products on this site are ours: chosen, funded and still run from inside the studio. Nobody commissioned them, which is also why we can be blunt about what works and what does not.
Do you ever take client work?
Occasionally, when the problem is close enough to ours that we would learn something too. Tell us what you are trying to build and we will say plainly whether we are the right studio for it.
Where does AI actually sit in your apps?
In HomeAI it is the entire product: one photo in, a photorealistic redesign out. In Pody it is a chain that decides what mattered today, writes the script to a chosen length and tone, then voices it. In Moto Trip and GuiGo a model produces structured plans, waypoints and day-by-day itineraries, which are validated against real routing data before anyone sees them.
What does the studio actually do?
The whole chain: product strategy, interface design, iOS engineering, AI integration, App Store launch and everything after it. Strategy, design and code sit in the same conversation, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Are you raising, or open to grants?
Yes to conversations. We are a woman co-founded studio and we talk to funds and programmes backing small independent teams. Ask and we will send the deck and the real numbers.
Are you hiring?
Rarely, and never through a job board. If you have built something you are proud of, send it. We read everything, and we pay particular attention to people nobody has taken a chance on yet.
Still reading?
Then you probably want to say something.
No form that routes to nobody. Write and you get an answer from someone who can act on it.