What it is
FindMe is a mobile app that lets you share your live location with people you trust. It runs on iOS and Android via Expo, sends location updates to a Node.js backend, and powers the /whereisyasir page on this site.
Why I built it
I travel a fair bit and wanted a way to let family know where I am without having to text "landed safely" every time. Every existing solution — Find My, Google Maps sharing, WhatsApp location — has some combination of privacy issues, battery drain, or friction I didn't want. So I built my own.
How it works
The Expo app reads the device's GPS on a configurable interval and POSTs the coordinates to a Node backend. The backend writes the current location to a JSON file that the portfolio reads. Simple, no database required.
Phone (Expo) → POST /location → Node service → location.json → portfolio
Stack
- Expo / React Native — cross-platform mobile
- Node.js + Express — location receiver
- TypeScript throughout
- JSON file storage — deliberately simple for a personal project
What I'd do differently
Use WebSockets instead of polling for the map view. The current approach refreshes on a page reload, which is fine for "currently in [city]" but limits a proper live-tracking experience.