Achilix Hoops™ — Vision Pro Free-Throw Trainer (Looking for Feedback)

[moradcliffe]

Hey all — I recently launched Achilix Hoops, an immersive basketball free-throw trainer for the Apple Vision Pro. It surrounds your real hoop with defenders, crowd noise, and light flashes so you can practice focus under pressure. It also tracks your shooting streaks and percentages, so you can see your progress over time.

I am looking for some initial users to test it out. If you’ve got access to a Vision Pro and a hoop, could you give it a shot (no pun intended) and leave a comment? All feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Please note that a subscription is required, but there is a 30-day free trial at the link below!

App Store (Free Trial): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/achilix-hoops/id6751231988

 

[axantas]

Hey all — I recently launched Achilix Hoops, an immersive basketball free-throw trainer for the Apple Vision Pro. It surrounds your real hoop with defenders, crowd noise, and light flashes so you can practice focus under pressure. It also tracks your shooting streaks and percentages, so you can see your progress over time.

I am looking for some initial users to test it out. If you’ve got access to a Vision Pro and a hoop, could you give it a shot (no pun intended) and leave a comment? All feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

App Store Link Here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/achilix-hoops/id6751231988

Hi moradcliffe - I am very bad in ball throwing, so maybe...
I will just give it a shot - hold on. ;-)

**EDIT: Yo do force users to sign up to a (ok free) plan to try the app? I do understand that there is maybe no trial mode with restrictions, but it could make new users to refrain from using the app at all. I would add an open door here.

 

[Rnd-chars]

Congrats on building an app! I imagine you learned a lot doing it!

While I enjoy playing basketball and shooting alone, I personally can’t ever imagine taking a Vision Pro to a basketball court to try this out, especially since that’s where I go to get away from technology.

I think the idea of a free throw trainer is totally viable, but this implementation seems like it focuses on a very narrow audience:
- Vision Pro owners (already small)
- who shoot basketball
- who would take this to a basketball court / hoop
- who struggle with free throws in a setting where people are taking tons of flash photography
- while players perform backflips

But maybe I’m wrong and there’s a great niche of college and pro players who would love this. Hopefully so!

 

[moradcliffe]

Hi moradcliffe - I am very bad in ball throwing, so maybe...
I will just give it a shot - hold on. ;-)

**EDIT: Yo do force users to sign up to a (ok free) plan to try the app? I do understand that there is maybe no trial mode with restrictions, but it could make new users to refrain from using the app at all. I would add an open door here.

Thank you! Oh yes, good call. I will edit the post to make sure people know there is a subscription/free trial. Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it. Hope you give it a try!

 

[moradcliffe]

Congrats on building an app! I imagine you learned a lot doing it!

While I enjoy playing basketball and shooting alone, I personally can’t ever imagine taking a Vision Pro to a basketball court to try this out, especially since that’s where I go to get away from technology.

I think the idea of a free throw trainer is totally viable, but this implementation seems like it focuses on a very narrow audience:
- Vision Pro owners (already small)
- who shoot basketball
- who would take this to a basketball court / hoop
- who struggle with free throws in a setting where people are taking tons of flash photography
- while players perform backflips

But maybe I’m wrong and there’s a great niche of college and pro players who would love this. Hopefully so!

Yes, I did! Completely agree that this app is not for the mainstream audience yet haha (and some of the features are a bit over the top). I do think AR could be a really useful technology for basketball players (allowing them to be able to practice in an in-game environment), but the tech is definitely too cumbersome to move around and play in right now. This free-throw app is already testing its capabilities lol. Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it!

 

[Rnd-chars]

My pleasure! I was thinking some more about it, and since Homecourt is already a thing, you might just go totally absurd with it and lean into the craziness.😁

For example, you could try playing around with:
- virtual environments (e.g., change the background behind the hoop to show Venice beach, a pro court, the moon, whatever)
- replace the other players with zombies, robots, etc
- throw some wild environmental effects in there (e.g., asteroids, lightning)

And if you go down that road, it's a bit easier to pivot (e.g., if you want wanted to use these virtual environments to create an app for when someone is gaming on the big screen)

Anyway, I've built a lot of software over the years and always found it helpful to think about foundational pieces or features that I could carry with me to the next idea in case this one didn't pan out. It helped direct my learning and allowed me to build a toolbox of skills and artifacts that I could carry forward. So, if you have other ideas (and I'm guessing you do), you might consider what features/tech stacks/whatever could apply to both of them and hedge your bets.

Also, if you're not already playing around with Claude Code, I highly recommend it. I'm on the Pro plan and I'm able to try out so many more ideas than I would if I were hand coding all of this.