Howl & Hearth Studio is a solo app studio building mobile and web experiences that are simple, intentional, and genuinely useful. Real apps. Real care. No fluff.
Howl & Hearth Studio was founded in 2025 with a simple belief: apps should solve real problems, not create new ones. Every project starts with a genuine need — something missing, something frustrating, something worth fixing.
The studio is the work of David Long — a customer success professional turned app developer who brings a decade of understanding what users actually want. No VC pressure. No growth hacking. Just thoughtful software, shipped with care.
The official iOS and Android companion for TEDxMinneapolis — a year-round community platform for attendees, speakers, and fans of ideas worth spreading. Built in Flutter with Firebase and WordPress API integration.
Coming Summer 2026Find real pubs near you — not generic bars or cocktail lounges. Pub Mate uses smart filtering to surface proper pubs built for conversation, community, and a well-poured pint.
Download on iOSSeveral projects are actively in development — including a Chrome Samurai mobile game and a wedding event companion app. New ideas are always in the works.
Stay in touchEvery feature that isn't necessary is a feature that can break, confuse, or slow someone down. We design for clarity first, and add complexity only when it earns its place.
Good software starts with genuine curiosity about the people using it. We bring a decade of customer experience to every product decision — because understanding people is the hardest part.
Perfect is the enemy of useful. We'd rather put something real into people's hands and refine it than spend years polishing something no one's seen yet.
I spent over a decade in enterprise software and customer success — helping companies understand what their customers actually needed and building processes to deliver it. Along the way I realized I wanted to be on the building side, not just the advising side.
Howl & Hearth Studio is where I build. It's where customer insight meets product craft. I'm not a computer science grad or a career developer — I'm someone who learned to code because I had ideas worth shipping, and kept going because I love it.
I'm also a four-year volunteer and board member at TEDxMinneapolis, where I serve as Secretary, Volunteer Coordinator, and Speaker Coach. The TEDxMinneapolis app is my most ambitious project to date — and the one I'm most proud of.
Get in TouchHave an app idea? Questions about our work? Want to follow the TEDxMinneapolis app launch? Reach out — we read everything.
Based in St. Paul, MN · Available for select collaborations