A few days ago, something unexpected happened.
I published a small indie project on itch.io — a lightweight, offline habit-tracking app I built for people who want fewer distractions and more consistency.
Within hours, the page was automatically placed under quarantine for additional review. No takedown, No warning.
Just… quarantine.
🧠 What the App Is (and Isn’t)
Focus & Grow is a fully offline Windows habit tracker.
- No accounts
- No ads
- No trackers
- No background network activity
Tech stack
- TypeScript for app logic
- Tauri (Rust) for packaging
- Distributed as a zipped Windows
.exe - Includes a clear README explaining usage and intent
Nothing obfuscated. Nothing hidden.
🤔 Why This Probably Happened
If you’ve shipped a Windows executable before, you know the struggle:
- Unsigned
.exe - New project with no reputation
- Automated security heuristics doing their thing
I completely understand why platforms do this — but it raises a real question:
How do indie developers establish trust when starting from zero?
🧪 Why I’m Sharing This Here
I’ve already contacted itch.io for a manual review.
In the meantime, I’m doing the most transparent thing I can:
Opening the project up to the dev community.
- Curious? Take a look.
- Cautious? Inspect it.
- Been through this before? Share your experience.
Feedback, comments, or even just engagement genuinely help — both for improving the app and for signaling legitimacy.
🔗 The Project
The app is called Focus & Grow — a simple habit tracker designed to stay out of your way.
If you check it out and have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.
Building in public isn’t always comfortable — but it’s worth it.
Let’s talk.
Top comments (1)
Been through this with unsigned executables on itch.io. The automated quarantine is frustrating but expected — new project, no reputation score, Windows .exe. The fastest path out is usually a combination of the manual review request (which you've done) and getting a few real users to interact with the page.
One thing that helped in my case: adding a short video or GIF of the app running directly on the itch.io page. It signals to both the automated system and reviewers that the app does what it says. Good luck with the review.