28 KiB
Future — ideas & improvements backlog
Non-blocking ideas: things that work today but could be better, plus feature ideas. Actual bugs
(broken/incorrect behavior) live in ClaudeReport.md, not here.
Backup, restore & E2EE (follow-ons to R24)
- Option B — relay-and-delete for messages. Now that E2EE backup + restore exist (R24), make the Room
conversation_cachethe source of truth and flip Firestoremessagesto a transient relay (TTL / delete-after-delivery), plus back up media into the snapshot (sincechat_mediawould then be relay-deleted). This is the payoff the R24 backup unblocks. Rewire the chat read to local-first + live-merge (additive, flag-guarded — dedupe Room∪Firestore by message id). - Backup trigger hardening. Backups currently run opportunistically from
HomeViewModel.loadHome(throttled). Move to WorkManager (deferred, retried, network/battery-constrained) + an app-background trigger for reliability; add a resumable, paginated initial backfill for very large existing histories. - Settings visibility + control. "Last backed up: {time} · {N} messages" indicator + manual "Back up now" /
"Restore history", and an opt-out toggle for users who want zero server retention. Include a dedicated
"Recent restore activity" list — the R24-b
restore_self_alertentries already land innotification_queueas the raw audit; this surfaces them so the owner can review restores on their account in one place. - Email-verification challenge for partner-assisted restore (strongest anti-account-takeover control). Before a restore request is honored, send a code to the account's registered email and require the recipient to enter it. A phished-password attacker who lacks inbox access can't complete it (the couple-email match that defeats the on-screen identity check does NOT defeat this). Needs mail infra (SendGrid / a Firebase Auth action) — deferred for that reason. R24-b shipped the on-screen identity + confirm + owner self-alert as the pragmatic interim.
- Restore-request lifecycle cleanup. A
restore_requestsdoc left atREADY(partner wrapped the key but the recipient never completed) leaves an ECIESkeybox— ciphertext sealed only to the recipient, useless to anyone else, but untidy. Add a scheduled cleanup of expired requests (and their keyboxes). R24-b already enforces expiry at fulfil time and deletes any stale request before a re-request. - Owner-alert precision. The R24-b "was this you?" self-alert also reaches the requesting device (harmless). Optionally exclude it via a client-written token hint on the request (would add a rules-allowed field).
- Couple-key rotation / forward secrecy. A couple-key compromise exposes all history incl. backups (no FS today). Add rotation (both devices re-key) — hard but the right long-term hardening.
- Server-independent anti-rollback freshness. A malicious server could serve a stale manifest to hide recent
messages; today mitigated by the
generationcounter + a Phase-1 Firestore cross-check. Add a signed/monotonic freshness signal for the Option-B world.
Today widget (Batch 3.2 follow-ons)
The Glance "Today" widget shipped (R29): content-free daily-question state + streak, app-lock →
generic mode, taps into the daily question via MainActivity's app_route extra. Verified: provider
registers, the HomeViewModel → TodayWidgetUpdater → today_widget DataStore bridge writes, headline
logic unit-tested, no crash. Remaining:
- On-home-screen render check. Binding a widget to the launcher isn't adb-scriptable; confirm the
Glance composition renders (light/dark) on a device, or add an instrumented test that binds via
AppWidgetManager. - Remote Config kill switch (
widget_enabled). Deferred: the app has no RemoteConfig wrapper yet despitefirebase-config-ktxbeing a dep. Build one shared wrapper once (fetch/activate + defaults), then apply the kill switches the plan wants across the widget, solo mode, and deep links. Until then the widget degrades safely on its own (generic card + taps into the app). - Day-rollover refresh. Covered today by
updatePeriodMillis=30m+ app-open updates; a WorkManager day-boundary trigger (plan's suggestion) would make the "Tonight's question is ready" flip crisper.
Solo / pre-pairing (Batch 2.2 follow-ons)
The core of the pre-pairing experience shipped (R29): unpaired users can answer the daily question solo
(DailyQuestionViewModel.submitAnswer already saves to LocalAnswerRepository and skips the Firestore
sync when there's no couple), reach it via the Home secondary card, and see an honest UnpairedLockedCard
on the Play hub instead of a silent bounce to invite. On pairing, SoloAnswerMigrator offers a one-time
"bring your answers along?" consent dialog (PairingSuccessScreen) that writes the solo answers into
Couple Lore (encrypted) or discards them. Remaining, deliberately deferred:
- Read-only date-ideas browse when unpaired. The Date Match / Plan Date tiles still route unpaired users
to invite (they need a couple for swipes). A standalone read-only date-ideas list (the seed is client-side
and
date_ideasrules already allow any authed read) would let a solo user browse while they wait. Pairs well with the Firestore-backed catalog work (Batch 4.2). - Remote Config kill switch
solo_mode_enabled. Not yet wired;firebase-config-ktxis already a dep. - Convert the remaining silent bounces to
UnpairedLockedCard. Wheel / Messages / Answer-history / the daily-question "Discuss" button still redirect unpaired users toCREATE_INVITEwithout explanation; reuse the newui/components/UnpairedLockedCard.kton those surfaces for consistency. - Migrate-on-pairing robustness.
SoloAnswerMigratoris best-effort per entry (a not-yet-ready couple key leaves the answer local for a retry), but there's no later retry trigger beyond the pairing-success screen — add one if telemetry shows keys aren't ready at that moment.
UI
(No open UI defects. The P0 onboarding/auth crash filed here 2026-06-28 was fixed + verified live and moved to
ClaudeReport.md as O-ONBOARD-001 — root cause was painterResource on the <bitmap> ic_launcher_foreground
(not the background, as originally guessed); fixed both OnboardingScreen.CtaSlide + AuthVisuals.AuthLogoMark to use
the raster closer_launcher_foreground. The "Add to Bucket List mixed dark/light" item is also fully resolved — dialog
tokens R16, add-FAB Color(0xFFB98AF4)→primary R18.)
QA
From R31 (2026-07-09) — QA-environment observations (not app defects)
- Add the RevenueCat
test_SDK key tolocal.propertieson the QA emulators. The paywall currently can't load real offerings there (RC_API_KEYabsent →InvalidCredentialsError→ graceful "Couldn't load plans / Try again"). Now that RevenueCat is configured (Test Store +closer_premiumentitlement, corrected this cycle), seeding thetest_…key would let QA drive the live paywall (plan pills, purchase flow via the Test Store) instead of only the gate + the error state. The gate itself (free → Paywall) is verified; this unlocks the money-adjacent surface short of a real device. - Minor: reinstalling the debug APK rotates the FCM token; the app re-registers a fresh one on foreground but stale tokens linger for ~33h until
pruneTokensclears them on a real send.qa/qa_push.jsnow selects the newest token (wasdocs[0]), so the entrypoint smoke no longer false-FAILs after a reinstall.
From R29 games review (2026-07-07) — reconciled 2026-07-08 after R30 (C1–C4) + the functions v2 deploy
✅ Shipped since filed (R30 batches C1–C4 + f2321d35; server-side pieces live as of the 2026-07-08 deploy):
server daily-question pool seeded and selection made server-authoritative, mode-aware, deterministic
(mirrors the client's DailyModeResolver weekday modes + epochDay offset — kills the DQ-MISMATCH class and
cross-timezone partner splits at the root) · banner lifecycle BANNER-LIFE-001 (entering a session consumes
its banner via GamePromptController.consumeForSession; stale banners replaceable — C1) · retention set:
HowWell role-swap rematch CTA ("Your turn — let {name} guess you") · NextBeatCard return-tomorrow beat under
every game's results · Desire Sync per-couple seen-question memory (SeenDesireQuestionStore) · deterministic
per-couple Date Match deck shuffle + skip-already-swiped · daily_fun_mc excluded from the HowWell prediction
pool · Challenges "Day N unlocks tomorrow 🌙" teaser instead of spoiling day-N+1 (C2 statusDay).
Still open:
- Generic session-game engine — ThisOrThat/HowWell/DesireSync embedded VMs are ~80% clones of one ~250-line state machine (load/create/join/submit/retry/observe/abandon) and their data sources are structural copies (
EncryptedAnswerMapDataSource<T>). Migrate one game first (ToT), full live regression, then the rest. - Generic replay VM/screen — 3× ~60-line clones (ToT/DS/HW replay).
- Shared waiting/length-picker/error composables — each game re-implements WaitingForPartner/length chips/error screens despite shared components existing.
- Premium-check invocation helper — CouplePremiumChecker is invoked 4 different ways across ~10 call sites with inconsistent failure fallback.
- GameConstants — divergent ADVANCE_DELAY_MS (420 vs 380), QUESTION_COUNT, SPIN_DURATION_MS per file; follow SessionLength's pattern.
- DispatcherProvider injection — Dispatchers.IO/Default hardcoded everywhere (testability).
- Error-surfacing standardization — BucketList/MessagesInbox/PlayHub/AnswerHistory/WeeklyRecap/Onboarding VMs swallow load errors (blank screens); adopt uiState.error + ErrorState for reads, _events snackbar for writes (ConversationViewModel pattern).
- Retention analytics — first-answer / reveal-viewed / waiting-abandoned / notif-tap events: the one piece of the R29 retention list not built.
- Content retag —
daily_fun_mcrows still carrysex='neutral'in the asset DB; after C3's HowWell-side exclusion this is purely Desire Sync pool hygiene (benign today via the binary filter). 48/150 sexual_preferences items are non-binary configs (Wheel-only) — intended? - npm audit — 9 moderate remain after the 2026-07-08 firebase-functions v7 bump (retry-request/teeny-request via @google-cloud/storage, i.e. firebase-admin transitive — untouched by the functions bump); revisit on the next firebase-admin major. (Re-verified 2026-07-11: still 9 moderate, unchanged set; deliberately not running
npm audit fix— no lockfile churn on the production backend for documented moderates.) scheduledOutcomesReminderscaling cap — the daily cron scanscoupleswith a flat.limit(200)and no pagination (functions/src/couples/scheduledOutcomesReminder.ts:35), so couples beyond the first 200 silently never get 30/60/90-day outcome nudges. Fine pre-launch; before the userbase approaches ~200 couples, paginate with the sameorderBy(__name__)+startAfterpage loopassignDailyQuestionalready uses (seeassignDailyQuestion.tsPAGE_SIZE pattern).- Compose stability: adopt
ImmutableListfor*UiStatelist/set fields (codebase-wide). Strong-skipping (K2 default) is on, and the Home refactor added@Immutableto the Home card models — butList<>/Set<>params still only reference-skip. Add thekotlinx.collections.immutabledependency (JetBrains, first-party) and switch*UiStatelist/set fields toImmutableList/ImmutableSet(with.toImmutableList()at each VM construction site) so repeated card/list params become structurally skippable. Do it consistently across all ~20 screens in one pass — not per-screen — to avoid a snowflake.ui/home/HomeModels.ktis already partly there (@ImmutableonHomeAction/PendingActionCard/HomeCategorySummary), so Home is the natural reference implementation.
Improvement & feature ideas surfaced while QA-testing as a consumer (each works today — none are defects).
-
Tier 3: Compose screenshot diff for visual regression. The static scanner in
scripts/theme-scan.shcatches ~80% of light/dark theme mismatches, but it cannot detect compositional failures: a theme-token color used on the wrong surface, a gradient with hardcoded light stops, or subtle contrast collapse. Implement a screenshot pipeline with Roborazzi / Shot / papAROS that renders everyAppRoutein both light and dark, pixel-diffs them, and fails on unexpected white backgrounds or invisible text. When done, run it in CI against every UI PR. -
🟡 STARTED (R20) — Instrumented / on-device test coverage (was 0 androidTest). First cut shipped:
app/src/androidTest/.../ui/FirstRunRenderSmokeTest.kt— an on-device Compose render smoke of the first-run screens (CtaSlide+AuthLogoMark, light + dark), the exactpainterResourcelogo sites that crashed every fresh install in O-ONBOARD-001. It's the net for the "composes fine, crashes on first paint" class the JVM unit tests + static scanners structurally can't catch. Proven (R20): passes green on-device, and FAILS with the originalIllegalArgumentException: Only VectorDrawables…when the bug is reintroduced. Infra added:testInstrumentationRunnerui-test-junit4(build.gradle.kts); also un-blocked the androidTest source set (the staleCanonicalVectorCaptureInstrumentTestcouldn't compile againstprivate deriveKey→ made it@VisibleForTesting internal). Run:./gradlew :app:connectedDebugAndroidTest. Still to grow: it's Hilt-/Firebase-free leaf-composable rendering only — extend toward a fuller sign-in → pair → answer daily Q → open a game → send a message flow (needs a Hilt test runner + fakes), and wireconnectedDebugAndroidTestinto the per-round gate / CI alongsideqa/entrypoint_smoke.sh. Prompted by: the QA-plan render-coverage gap (O-ONBOARD-001 escaped because nothing rendered a composable).
-
✅ DONE — Consistent brand glyphs across game cards + waiting surfaces. G-set + G2 (17 glyphs) in
res/drawable-nodpi/glyph_*.xml; 13 wired + verified live: every Play-hub card (This or That, How Well, Desire Sync, Connection Challenges, Memory Lane, Date Match, Plan Date, Question Packs, Bucket List, Past Games — Spin the Wheel keeps its full illustration), WaitingForPartner per-game glyph, and Settings (Subscription/Security/Privacy/ Delete). 4 unused have no clean slot (notif usesic_notification_closer; Today uses hero art; quiet-hours uses its illustration; no export-data row exists). Full map inClaudeBrandingReview.md. (This-or-That backdrop redesign is Codex C-DARK-UI-001.) -
Minor proactive-notification gaps (low priority).
No push when a partner joins your active game (→ BUILT + LIVE (deployed 2026-07-08 with the functions v2 round): the non-starter opening an active session writespartner_joined_game)joinedByUsers(rule-gated),onGameSessionUpdatenotifies the starter " joined your game" with the joiner's avatar (one-timejoinNotifiedAt); foreground shows the standardized in-app banner. (Same deploy also stopped the false "X finished — see your results!" push for abandoned/quit sessions — a real completion requires both uids incompletedByUsers.) Still open: no push when a partner ends/abandons a game (game_ended/game_abandoned) — the other partner sees it in-session / on WaitingForPartner, so nothing's broken, just less proactive. Prompted by: Pass E (R8) inventory. -
Clarify Connection Challenges day-progress when partners are out of step. If one partner catches up a missed day ("Pick it back up") while the other doesn't, the two devices show different "Day N of 7" (seen R10: QA Day 4 vs Sam Day 3) even though the 🔥 streak stays in sync on both. Not broken (plausibly individual-pace-through-the-series by design), but two people in the same shared challenge seeing different day numbers is confusing — consider a shared "you're on Day N together" framing or a clearer caught-up/ahead indicator. Prompted by: Pass B (R10) Connection Challenges playthrough.
Security hardening (defense-in-depth — not vulnerabilities; rules already hold)
Canonical security doc:
SECURITY.md(2026-06-29) — full threat model, what's protected vs. exposed (metadata), known caveats, and the prioritized hardening roadmap. The P0 there (enforce App Check on the backend, independent audit, release hardening), P1 (encrypt profile metadata, opt-in telemetry, recovery-phrase UX, biometric re-lock), and P2 (cert pinning, multi-device keys, data export, key rotation) are the authoritative list; the two items below are the older notes that fed into it.
- Enforce App Check on Firestore (currently OFF). Round 7 raw-API test: an authenticated request with no App
Check token (raw Firestore REST) returned
200for a member — so rules are the sole gate. Rules correctly deny non-members/cross-couple (all403), so this is not a live hole, but enabling App Check enforcement on Firestore would block non-app clients entirely (defense-in-depth). Prompted by: R7 D3 raw-API angle. - ✅ DONE (R21) — Biometric app-lock now re-arms on background/timeout (was: only cold-start/process-death).
MainActivityobserves the lifecycle: while the lock is on and the session is unlocked, it records when the app is backgrounded and re-locks if it returns after >60s away (BIOMETRIC_RELOCK_GRACE_MS) — so a picked-up, already-open phone re-prompts, not only on Activity recreation. The grace window avoids re-locking on quick task-switches (the biometric prompt, photo picker, share sheet). Code-complete + compiles; live re-lock not yet driven — emulators have no enrolled biometric/PIN, so verify on a physical device. (SECURITY.md rec #7.)
Artwork to generate (ChatGPT prompts, house-style-matched) lives in
ClaudeBrandingReview.md, not here.
Backend — Cloud Functions v2 follow-ups (migrated + deployed 2026-07-08)
All 34 functions run as 2nd gen in closer-app-22014 (plus onUserDelete, intentionally v1 — gen 2 has
no auth.user().onDelete). Deploy-day learnings + deferred items:
- Restore full vCPU + concurrency at launch (quota). The project's default Cloud Run regional CPU quota
can't fit ~35 services at v2's default 1 vCPU/instance — deploys failed container healthchecks with
"Quota exceeded for total allowable CPU per project per region", so
functions/src/options.tspinscpu: 'gcf_gen1'(gen1 fractional tiers, 256MiB → ⅙ vCPU),concurrency: 1,maxInstances: 5. Costless at dev scale. At launch: request the Cloud Run CPU quota increase (console → IAM & Admin → Quotas, us-central1), then drop thecpu/concurrencyoverrides to restore 1 vCPU + concurrency 80, revisitmaxInstances, and considerminInstances: 1on the cold-start-sensitive callables (checkDeviceIntegrity,createInviteCallable,acceptInviteCallable— app startup + pairing are first impressions). - Deploy-failure recovery pattern (keep for ops). A background-trigger create that fails mid-deploy (quota,
Eventarc propagation) leaves an orphaned
httpsservice; retries then error "Changing from an HTTPS function to a background triggered function is not allowed." Fix:firebase functions:delete <name>the stray, then redeploy it. Diagnose withfirebase functions:list— healthy Firestore triggers showgoogle.cloud.firestore.document.v1.*, strays showhttps. (First-ever gen-2 deploy also needs Eventarc service-agent IAM to propagate — the "retry in a few minutes" failures were this.) - ✅ DONE (2026-07-08) — Node runtime bumped 20 → 22. All 35 functions redeployed in-place on nodejs22
(incl. the gen-1
onUserDelete— accepted cleanly); bothbackend-ci.ymlnode pins bumped to match. Verified:functions:listruntime column, callable cold-boot smoke (UNAUTHENTICATED JSON = our code running), clean logs. nodejs24 was evaluated and rejected: 2nd-gen only, and the runtime is codebase-wide (gen-1onUserDeleteblocks it). Next forced bump: Node 22 is deprecated 2027-04-30 / decommissioned 2027-10-31 — by then either nodejs24 supports gen 1, oronUserDeleteneeds migrating off the gen-1 auth trigger first. - RevenueCat webhook deploy (gated on the signing secret). The v2
revenueCatWebhookis code-complete and its export is now live infunctions/src/index.ts, but it is not deployed yet — deploy waits on the secret. Auth is HMAC-SHA256 (RevenueCat's webhook signature verification): the handler readsX-RevenueCat-Webhook-Signature: t=<ts>,v1=<hex>and verifiesHMAC-SHA256("<ts>.<rawBody>")againstREVENUECAT_WEBHOOK_SECRET, constant-time, with a ±5-min timestamp replay guard. Because thatdefineSecretis validated codebase-wide at deploy (a missing secret fails every function's deploy, even with--only), the secret must exist first. To deploy: ① in the RevenueCat dashboard create the webhook + enable signature verification, copy the signing secret, ②firebase functions:secrets:set REVENUECAT_WEBHOOK_SECRET, ③ delete the old dormant v1revenueCatWebhookfirst (still deployed; same-name v1→v2 is blocked in-place), ④firebase deploy --only functions:revenueCatWebhook, ⑤ point RevenueCat at the function URL and send a test event. (Thecloser_premiumentitlement already exists in the RevenueCat project.)
Roadmap — features & strategy (consolidated from the old FUTURE.md, 2026-06-28)
Unbuilt games (Play Hub is live; these remain):
- Would You Rather / Truth or Dare — tiered sweet→spicy, consent-gated; reuses the deck + match engine. Strong premium "spicy" tier lever.
- Daily Sync / Rose-Bud-Thorn — one-tap emotional check-in, see partner's; small/new, free retention driver.
"2026, not 2019" differentiators (strategic):
- AI-personalized prompts — server-side (latest Claude) generate/weight prompts from the couple's history/season/unexplored topics; add a
generatePromptscallable (Cloud Functions already in place). Biggest modern lever; pairs with content-metadata routing below. - Async + real-time hybrid — partner-presence ("they're here now") for live co-play, everything still async-friendly (long-distance).
- Multi-modal answers — voice/photo answers (esp. Memory Lane + daily check-ins).
- Home/lock-screen widgets / live updates — glanceable today's-prompt + partner status (Glance/Wear surface).
- Gentle gamification — forgiving "gentle streaks" (grace days) + shared wins, not loss-aversion/guilt.
- Consent-first spicy content — Intimacy/Dare tiers opt-in, double-confirmed, reveal-only-on-overlap.
Cross-platform: Android-first is fine for MVP; iOS is the strategic gap (couples split devices). Decision + plan live in ClaudeiOSPlan.md — don't start before release/trust polish.
Product polish (consolidated from the old FUTURE.md)
- Skeleton/loading states over bare spinners (P8).
LoadingStateexists but many screens still use a bareCircularProgressIndicator. Add skeletons for question lists, game histories, home modules, paywall offerings, sync/reveal waits. Acceptance: no primary route shows an isolated spinner on an otherwise blank screen. - Paywall / store value framing (P12). Paywall has benefits/restore/legal/RevenueCat; needs stronger value framing, real offering/trial clarity, screenshots/previews, and test coverage before release. (Overlaps Pass K/O.)
- Content metadata & personalization (P13). The bank is clean; the next leap is routing, not more questions — tag mood/depth/relationship-stage/conflict-safe/intimacy-level/time-needed and extend the selection APIs so prompts adapt to skipped topics, relationship length, and recent answers.
- Copy convention + i18n gate. The app renders copy from hardcoded Compose literals; a half-built
strings.xmlcatalog (55 unwired entries) was purged (2026-07-09), and voice copy is being centralized into typed Kotlin catalogs (ui/brand/CloserBrandCopy.kt= privacy rotator,ui/brand/CloserCopy.kt= product/paywall voice) — one reviewable home, compile-safe, nostringResource()friction. Convention: voice copy → catalog; generic chrome ("Continue"/"Restore") stays inline. Deliberately NOT localized. Hard pre-localization gate: the day translation is on the roadmap, migrate the Kotlin copy catalogs →res/values/strings.xmlin one pass (retrofitting i18n across hardcoded Compose after launch is far more expensive). First slice done: paywall + subscription; remaining voice copy (onboarding, invite share, age-gate) migrates incrementally as those screens are touched. (Also surfaced: the paywall vs. subscription benefit lists diverge — noted inCloserCopy.ktfor a copy decision.)
Release / pre-ship (consolidated + re-verified 2026-06-28)
- Real release config before any store submission. Confirmed still open:
app/build.gradle.ktsversionCode = 1/versionName = "0.1.0"andcore/navigation/ExternalLinks.ktlegal URLs are placeholder TODOs (https://closer.app/privacy|terms|subscription-terms). Already done: a release-blocking Gradle check now fails the build ifRC_API_KEYis unset/placeholder (build.gradle.kts:106–110), so the old "add a gradle guard" sub-item is closed. Remaining: set real version, real legal/support URLs, real RC key + verify offerings/purchase/restore on internal testing. (Tracked by Pass O release-readiness.)
Help & support surface (consolidated — old "Notes to Consider")
A future Help/Support screen could include: contact support · report a bug · send feedback · FAQ · subscription/billing help · pairing help · recovery-phrase/account help · app version + build number · optional "copy diagnostics" button.