Zagreb Painter Creates Android App Using Artificial Intelligence
Darko Banović, a Bug reader, explains how he developed EchoBlink, an app that connects nearby people without internet, using Gemini and Claude in seven months.
Darko Banović, a Bug reader, explains how he developed EchoBlink, an app that connects nearby people without internet, using Gemini and Claude in seven months.
When someone at 57, without formal programming education, creates their own Android app, that's already noteworthy. When they do it with the help of AI tools, the story becomes even more interesting. Darko Banović, a qualified painter and long-time Bug reader, has done just that, developing the EchoBlink app.
Banović told Bug.hr that developing the app was a return to his roots. He first encountered computers at age 13, when he learned BASIC on a ZX Spectrum 48K. By 14, on a Commodore 64, he started learning assembly language for the MOS 6510 processor. However, life took him in a different direction, toward the Construction School in Sopot and the painter-decorator trade.
His restless spirit didn't fade even in school. "I didn't know how to have fun like other kids with a ball in the park; I had a restless spirit. At school, I connected wires in a junction box and activated the school bell," Banović recalled for Bug.hr. He used that knowledge to avoid being quizzed, but a short circuit revealed his secret, and the maintenance staff spent seven days looking for the fault.
He returned to computers more seriously after 2000, when he replaced his typewriter with a computer and Office. He went a step further in 2018, creating his own "smart spreadsheet" in Google Sheets for calculating measurements and generating quotes. Before EchoBlink, with the help of ChatGPT, he also built a web tool for scanning QR codes from receipts.
EchoBlink is an app that connects people in close proximity using Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Users enter what they offer or need in their profile, and the app searches in the background for matches with other devices. The basic connection system doesn't require internet, servers, or user accounts.
Additional features include digital flyers, which are sent via Bluetooth to other users within a 100-meter radius, and SOS Radar, designed for situations without mobile network coverage. Activating SOS sends a distress call to other EchoBlink devices nearby.
Banović is candid about the role of AI in developing the app. "Without Gemini and Claude, I wouldn't have been able to do absolutely anything. That's a unique and honest answer. I installed Android Studio and got all the instructions and code snippets from Gemini to place in the right spots," he told Bug.hr.
Although he carried programming logic from his childhood, he left Kotlin syntax and Android architecture to AI. The process wasn't always smooth. The biggest pivot came when, after two months of work, he abandoned the GATT protocol and, on AI's suggestion, switched to L2CAP. Later, the Antigravity tool, which allowed Gemini to work more directly with project files, made development easier.
"From my first encounter with Android Studio to publishing the app took about seven months. I worked a few hours a day, alongside my regular job, with occasional breaks. There were days when I didn't even open Android Studio," says Banović. He's aware that the biggest challenge now is attracting enough users, but he's already working on new improvements and has ideas for future features.
