Independent systems builder for Apple and Web products
I build really complex apps and the systems that make them work.
I am an experienced app builder. I understand the full technical architecture: app, interface, data, APIs, backend, platform rules, release path, and future updates. I stay with the full lifecycle, from product shaping and demos to App Store submission, launch, updates, adaptation, and growth. I use AI carefully, as a coding accelerator, not as a substitute for judgment.
Who you are hiring
A direct senior builder for the app, the web layer, and the connective tissue between them.
My name is Andrei Gora. Since 2011 I have worked as an independent systems builder on Apple apps, web tools, full-stack product systems, demos, experiments, and ongoing production work.
Before freelancing, I spent six years supporting enterprise Windows server infrastructure for CIBC branches across Canada, which still shapes how I think about reliability, support, and systems that have to keep working after launch.
I am useful when the project needs someone who can understand the product, talk clearly with the owner, make technical decisions, build the app, shape the web/API layer, connect the backend, and keep pushing when the path is not obvious.
AI-era development
AI moves fast. Experienced architecture turns that speed into a real product.
Years of development judgment shape the system.
Product boundaries, app state, data models, API contracts, security assumptions, and failure paths come from experience. AI is powerful, but architecture decides whether the result holds together.
AI makes the experienced builder faster.
Fast prototypes, demos, POCs, scaffolds, migrations, tests, admin tools, scripts, and alternate UI flows can move dramatically faster when the person steering the work knows what good looks like.
Clients need coherence, not just generated code.
I review, connect, simplify, and harden AI-assisted work so it becomes a usable app system instead of a pile of plausible fragments.
Services
Where I can help
Apple Product Systems
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, and Apple TV products built around real workflows, custom UI, device APIs, backend services, and production reliability.
Web and API Systems
Web tools, dashboards, custom scripting, API integrations, upload flows, databases, operational panels, and the glue that keeps a product moving.
Complex Technical Prototypes
Depth cameras, 3D capture, AR demos, media workflows, sensors, device integrations, and unusual ideas that need a working path before they need a large team.
AI-Accelerated Prototypes
Years of development architecture, armed with AI, to move faster on prototypes, demos, POCs, admin tools, scripts, migrations, tests, and product experiments.
Modernization and Rescue
Legacy Objective-C, UIKit, Swift, SwiftUI, brittle integrations, abandoned prototypes, and apps that need a senior developer to untangle the hard parts.
Technical Product Partnership
A direct freelancer relationship for founders and small teams who need clear technical judgment, fast iteration, and honest communication.
Selected work
Production apps, unusual hardware, and difficult integrations.
iPad and iPhone
KiwiTrueScan
Custom TrueDepth 3D scanning for orthotics
A recent iPad and iPhone 3D scanning app for a custom orthotics company, with a native scanning pipeline built around TrueDepth capture, a heavily modified and improved StandardCyborg framework, OpenCV-based camera/lens calibration, C++ point-cloud meshing, and Metal performance work.
- Reworked and improved StandardCyborg's public scanning framework around the product's orthotics capture flow, device constraints, and scan-quality requirements.
- Built custom camera/lens calibration with integrated OpenCV logic for improved scan alignment and reliability.
- Created a custom point-cloud meshing algorithm from scratch in C++ for performance-critical scan processing.
- Connected Swift app UX, C++ processing, Metal rendering/performance work, and TrueDepth capture into one production scanning module.
- Supported testing, App Store submission, review, launch, updates, and refinement.
iPhone and iPad
Self-Scanner
3D foot scanning from TrueDepth camera data
A production iOS scanning solution that captures a foot with the front-facing TrueDepth camera, turns depth and color data into a usable 3D model, and uploads sessions for review and fabrication.
- Proposed, prototyped, and built the production scanning workflow from scratch.
- Combined color and depth imagery into point clouds and meshes suitable for custom 3D printed insoles.
- Integrated secure session tracking and scan uploads through a central API.
iPad and iPhone
Kiwi 3D Scanner
iPad scanning with external Structure Sensor
A clinical workflow app that connected patient management software with external 3D scanning hardware, secure uploads, media attachments, and orthotics fabrication.
- Worked as sole developer on the iPad scanning app and its connection to the Kiwi patient-management backend.
- Built scanning functionality around the Occipital Structure Sensor SDK for 3D foot capture.
- Delivered the first version in Objective-C and later rewrote the app in Swift.
- Built major hardware-dependent functionality from documentation and remote testers without constant physical access to the scanner.
- Supported clinical workflows, secure data handling, and scan submission for orthotics fabrication.
iPad
DeltaVision Elite
Augmented reality microscope demo
An internal AR demo app for a high-end GE Healthcare microscope, using live image target detection, interactive 3D model viewing, and embedded media for product presentations.
- Combined Unity, Vuforia, C#, and native iPad UI at a time when AR tooling and Unity/Xcode integration were still immature.
- Built a hybrid workflow so the AR scene and native interface could behave like one product.
- Supported offline demo usage for trade shows and internal global events.
- Created transitions between the 3D experience, high-resolution image layers, and native media screens.
Mac
Calm Radio for Mac
macOS streaming app
A macOS version of Calm Radio with a custom scrolling station browser, membership-aware playback, subscription-tier stream logic, and backend integration.
- Recreated a complex multidirectional station browsing UI on macOS with visual parity to the iOS product.
- Handled multiple simultaneous audio stream states based on membership, subscription tier, and station access.
- Integrated the app with an existing client backend for accounts, content, and stream access.
- Added fallback handling for interruptions and network edge cases.
iPhone and iPad
RotoShoot
Image-based 3D object capture
An early mobile and web system for capturing physical objects in 360-degree rotations and sharing interactive object views online.
- Built capture logic for turntable-based auto capture and handheld orbital capture.
- Used CoreMotion, live gyroscope data, and quaternion math to coordinate automatic image capture.
- Connected the iOS media pipeline with an AWS EC2/MySQL backend and a web viewer for interactive 360-degree objects.
- Created the mobile app, worked as part of the team, and participated in feature design and app growth.
iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, and Web
RotoBooth
Live 360-degree event capture system
A custom event photography installation for a multi-day cosplay convention, built around the RotoShoot engine and designed to capture, preview, display, and upload 360-degree attendee shots in a live venue.
- Architected an iPad check-in and control station, an iPhone camera device mounted to a rotating turntable, and Apple TV display output.
- Built private WiFi communication between devices so capture, preview, promotional playback, and upload flow could work as one system.
- Connected final media to cloud storage and backend access for event delivery.
- Handled hundreds of users over the event with a stable public-facing workflow.
iPhone, Web, and Backend
Sisters Thrift Boutique
Inventory and reservation system
A small-business digital system for browsing inventory, reserving items, managing stock, and keeping online interest connected to in-store operations.
- Built the iOS browsing and reservation app, plus a lightweight web admin interface for staff.
- Created the backend API on AWS EC2 with Ubuntu, PHP, and MySQL.
- Kept item status synchronized between customer browsing, reservations, and in-store workflow.
- Provided ongoing support, upgrades, tuning, and refinements for more than five years.
Apple, Web, AR, and Backend
Confidential Systems
NDA-restricted product work
A range of NDA-restricted work across healthcare, logistics, finance, social platforms, and interactive web experiences.
- Built a second AR product demo for a pharmaceutical client using Unity3D, Objective-C, marker tracking, and product interaction.
- Created a logistics app for driver paperwork capture, offline reliability, and PDF generation.
- Developed an iOS client for an international money transfer platform with multi-step verification and API integration.
- Designed core UI and architecture for an early social-networking prototype and built interactive HTML5 animation work.
iPhone and iPad
Digital Runes
Experimental SwiftUI app
An experimental SwiftUI app exploring random number streams, pattern detection, symbolic interpretation, and a more playful edge of software craft.
- Generated and analyzed high-frequency random number sets.
- Mapped statistically unusual patterns into rune interpretations.
- Shipped as a personal product on the App Store.
Workflow
From rough technical uncertainty to a product people can use.
Map the unknowns
Clarify the product goal, platform constraints, risky integrations, and what must be proven first.
Build the proof
Prototype the hard part quickly: sensor flow, capture logic, API contract, media pipeline, or AI loop.
Shape the system
Turn the working path into maintainable app structure, interface states, backend flows, and deployment habits.
Ship and refine
Harden edge cases, improve clarity, support release, and keep the next iteration grounded in real use.
Good fit
I am strongest when the project has real technical uncertainty.
If you need a standard brochure site, there are cheaper options. If you need an app that touches cameras, sensors, depth data, streaming, custom APIs, existing legacy code, or a strange product workflow, that is much closer to my zone.
Working principles
- Respect the product owner’s vision and constraints.
- Prototype quickly, then harden the parts that prove worth keeping.
- Communicate honestly about risk, cost, and unknowns.
- Build for production, maintenance, and future developers.
Technical range
Tools and platforms
Contact
Tell me what you are trying to build, fix, or prove.
Send the product goal, current stage, platform, budget range if you have one, and where the risk feels highest. I will reply with a practical next step.
Remote, worldwide. Home base: Vancouver Island, British Columbia.