My employer (a large university) recently adopted a new parking portal. To pay for parking every morning, I have to open my browser, navigate to a webpage (there is no mobile app), and tap eleven times to pay for parking:

1. Tap "login", taking me to the login page.

2. Tap the "login" button on that page.

3. Sign in using 2FA. (A few more taps, but I'm not counting that against the portal).

4. Tap "Redeem Parking Permit"

5. Tap "Redeem use of Permit Pack"

6. Tap the car that I used that day (which is always the same car)

7. Tap "Confirm"

8. Tap the calendar icon to open the date chooser.

9. Tap on today's date (why isn't this the default?!)

10. Tap "Confirm"

11. Tap "Complete"

After a month or so at being annoyed by all of this unnecessary friction, I had Claude write an iOS app that keeps me logged into the parking portal. Now paying for parking requires just a single tap in my custom app. It also shows me a widget, telling me whether I have already paid or not.

I've built a lot with Claude this year, but that simple tool might be the one that brings me the most happiness.