What happens when GPS does not work in an underground car park?

Plan for it rather than treating it as an error. Save the last known fix with its accuracy attached, show that accuracy honestly instead of a confident wrong pin, and lean on the photo and the level note. An app that says "location approximate, level 3, bay 41, here is your photo" is more useful than one that insists it knows exactly where the car is.

Does it need background location tracking?

No, and adding it is a mistake. Background location triggers a much stricter review, drains battery, and buys nothing here — the user taps a button when they park. Request foreground location only, and the permission prompt stays easy to say yes to.

How to Build a Parking Spot Reminder App with AI

What a parking spot reminder app needs

One-tap save with GPS, photo, and a level or bay note
Meter expiry countdown with a notification before it runs out
Walk back with distance, direction, and a map link
History of recent spots at frequent locations
Works with no signal — everything stored locally

The screens

Screen	What it does
Home	Big save button, or the active spot with a countdown if parked
Save Spot	Auto-captured location, camera, level and bay fields, meter timer
Find My Car	Distance, compass bearing, the photo, and an open-in-maps button
History	Recent spots with dates and cost
Settings	Default meter duration, alert lead time, units

The data model

Spot: latitude, longitude, accuracyMeters, photoUri, levelNote, bayNote, savedAt, endedAt
MeterTimer: spotId, expiresAt, alertMinutesBefore, cost
Settings: defaultMeterMinutes, alertLeadMinutes, distanceUnit

The build prompt (copy this)

Paste this into ShipNative and it becomes a working React Native app with these screens, navigable in a live preview, in about two minutes:

“A parking spot reminder. The home screen is one large save button when not parked, and the active spot with a meter countdown when parked. Saving captures GPS coordinates with their accuracy, opens the camera for an optional photo, and offers two short text fields for level and bay — the app must save successfully even when location is unavailable or wildly inaccurate underground, treating the photo and notes as the primary record rather than a fallback. An optional meter timer takes a duration and schedules a local notification a configurable number of minutes before expiry. Find My Car shows straight-line distance and a compass bearing to the saved coordinates updating live, the photo at full width, the level and bay notes large enough to read at a glance, and a button that opens the coordinates in the system maps app for walking directions. History keeps ended spots with date and cost so the user can see what parking is costing them. Everything works with no network connection. Screens: Home, Save Spot, Find My Car, History, Settings.”

Then iterate with small, screen-specific prompts (“make the primary button bigger”, “add an empty state”), preview on your own phone, and export the full Expo project whenever you want. The full method: how to build an app with AI.

How it makes money

Honestly, thin. This category is crowded with free ad-supported apps and the utility is worth about $2 once. The realistic plays are a one-time ad removal, or building it as a small feature inside a bigger driving app — treat it as a portfolio or first-ship project rather than a business plan.

Implementation and the revenue math for every model: how to make money from an app. When you’re ready to ship: App Store and Google Play publishing guides.

Build it now

The prompt above is free to run at shipnative.dev — working parking spot reminder app on your phone today, full code export, no credit card.