The Man Behind the Beard

Building software
worth using.

Independent apps made with care by one developer in Berlin who got tired of apps that don't respect your time, your data, or your intelligence.

Quick Facts

Developer
Carson Booth
Based In
Berlin, Germany
Originally from the US

Carson is an individual software developer operating under the GreyBeardGuy brand. He is a retired tech executive that enjoys keeping his mind active while he pursues his retirement goals. Every app that carries the GreyBeardGuy name is designed, built, tested, and maintained by one person — which means every decision reflects a single consistent point of view: build tools that are genuinely useful, genuinely private, and genuinely honest.

There is no team, no investors, no roadmap driven by engagement metrics. Just a developer who builds the apps he wants to use, and shares them with anyone who might feel the same way.

The Story

How It Started

It started with push-ups. Carson was tracking his workouts and noticed that Apple Fitness, for all its polish, simply didn't record the most basic bodyweight exercises — push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups. Things millions of people do every day, without equipment, without a gym.

So he built a small personal tool to track them. Then he added more activity types. Then charts. Then HealthKit integration. What started as a weekend tinkering project grew into GetPhyt — a fitness tracker that fills exactly the gaps Apple left open.

Why Privacy-First

Carson didn't set out to make a privacy statement. He set out to build something he'd actually trust with his own health data — and that naturally meant keeping everything on-device, private.

The result is an architecture with no servers, no accounts, no cloud sync (unless iCloud backup), and no third-party services of any kind. Not because privacy is a marketing angle, but because it's the only design that made sense. Your fitness data is personal. It should stay that way.

No Ads. No Exceptions.

GreyBeardGuy apps will never contain advertising. Not banner ads, not promoted content, not sponsored integrations. The economics are simple: if an app is worth building, it should be worth paying for — or at minimum worth offering freely without compromising the experience.

Carson uses every app he ships. Ads would ruin that experience as much for him as for anyone else. So there won't be any.

A Passion Project, Genuinely

The term "passion project" gets overused. In this case it means something specific: GetPhyt exists because Carson wanted it to exist. It's not optimized for retention metrics or designed around a monetization funnel. It gets better because he keeps using it, keeps noticing things that could be improved, and keeps shipping updates.

That's the model. One developer, one set of standards, honest work.

Software should serve the
person using it. Full stop.

No engagement traps. No dark patterns. No harvested attention. Apps that do one thing well, stay out of the way, and earn their place on your home screen.

Design Principles

01
Local-First
Your data lives on your device. No accounts required, no servers involved, no risk of a data breach at our end — because there's no "our end".
02
No Advertising
Apps that carry ads serve two masters. GreyBeardGuy apps serve one: the person using them. Advertising will never appear in any app under this brand.
03
Honest Complexity
Simple on the surface, powerful underneath. Features are earned by real use — not added for the sake of a feature list or an App Store screenshot.
04
Long-Term Craft
No rush to ship and move on. Apps get maintained, refined, and improved as long as they're in use. Slow, steady, and built to last.

Apps

GetPhyt
GetPhyt
iOS fitness tracker for the activities Apple Fitness doesn't cover. Local-only, no ads, HealthKit import.

Say Hello

Questions, feedback, bug reports, or just a friendly message — Carson reads everything and tries to respond to all of it.

support@greybeardguy.app

Berlin, Germany · Responses within a few days