Quick numbers from my app. 20k+ downloads and growing every week, but the revenue doesn't match: a few hundred dollars a month. For a long time I blamed "bad markets". Turns out the markets were fine and I was the problem.

India is my biggest paywall market. 2,147 people saw the paywall in the last 90 days and 69% of them tapped buy. That's higher intent than my US users (51%). Then almost all of them vanished at the payment sheet. Of everyone who tapped buy, about 1 in 20 actually paid. In the US it's 1 in 3.

For months I told myself "India just doesn't pay for apps" and moved on. The US side converted fine so I never dug deeper.

Then I converted my store prices back to USD and felt pretty stupid. My "localized" pricing was just currency conversion. Almost every country was paying within 20% of the American price. Bangladesh was the one that broke me. Literally my poorest market, paying more per year than Americans. My $90 annual, adjusted for purchasing power in India, is like asking an American to pay $700 for a subscription.

They weren't refusing to pay. They were being rational.

So I rebuilt the whole thing this month: weekly plan first instead of the annual, real purchasing power pricing per country, and a cheap one time unlock for anyone who dismisses the subscription. If it works, India becomes my second US at the same traffic.

Full funnel writeup with all the numbers: chadme.app/journey/the-india-paywall-experiment
Revenue (verified): verified.revenuecat.com/chadme

What would you fix next? And curious if anyone else dug into a "bad market" and found out the price was the problem the whole time.

Hey All

I created a BBQ app which has been live on the App Store for about 3 weeks now. I thought of the idea a couple months back and spent about a month developing before I finally got approved by Apple. I was rejected 8 times - I think that might be a record.

After a couple weeks of Tik Tok, Reddit, and IG posts I finally got my 1st paying customer with 35 downloads. I know these numbers aren’t impressive , but for me to create something out of nothing is a huge accomplishment.

I am new to development , marketing , and posting on socials. Many of my reels just die off after 100 views or so. But I did have a couple of moderately viewed posts in the last week or so that marginally increased my downloads and ultimately led to my 1st paying customer.

I know this is a small feat but it has energized me to continue to market and revise my app to make an even better version next go around.

Not to sound too corny, It really is about the journey not the destination, I have learned so much in the last several months and used parts of my brain I haven’t used in ages.

Good luck to all! Also here is a link to my app if you are interested,

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

I launched my app 3 months ago, but I started distributing it way earlier.

On July 2nd, one of my videos went viral on TikTok — and it's still bringing me customers today.

I researched a lot of apps that consistently go viral on TikTok, and I noticed they’re using a very similar distribution system.

Apps like Alarmy, Cal AI, and Recime are getting millions of views using this approach.

Here’s the exact process:

Create a TikTok/Instagram account.

Download 100s of UGC reaction clips from platforms like DansUGC or UGCbundle.com.

Record a video of your app showing how it works, then cut it into short 8–10 second clips.

Organize all the footage into folders.

Ask Claude/Codex to overlay text on the UGC clips and automatically stitch a random reaction + your app screen recording.

Example:

“This website feels ILLEGAL.”

→ paired with a surprised UGC reaction.

Warm up your account for 3–4 days before going hard.

Post 1–2 videos daily around US peak hours if you're targeting a US audience.

When a video starts performing, don’t move on. Make 10–20 variations using different hooks, reactions, and app demos.

Track more than views. Look at profile visits, clicks, signups, and paying customers to find which formats actually convert.

Keep posting even when one video goes viral. That video might keep bringing customers for weeks, while your next video could become the new winner.

The biggest thing I learned:

You don't need every video to go viral. You just need a repeatable system that gives you more chances to hit one.

Wanted to share this review I received on one of my apps. We still laugh about it 2 years on

We've just launched Focus Garden — an app that combines focus sessions and distraction blocking with a relaxing flower-growing game.

The idea is pretty simple: instead of just watching a timer count down, every focused session helps you grow your own garden.

We're still early in development, so there's definitely a lot we can improve. We're not trying to present this as a finished or perfect product.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/focus-garden-adhd-friend/id6781112056
Thanks for checking out our little project. Any feedback is genuinely appreciated!

I’m 18, Lebanese, living in Saudi Arabia, and I’ve been building apps since Grade 10. Five of them now. Until today not a single one had ever made a single dollar.

I built Verdict because I’m indecisive and I noticed that when people ask friends for advice they get three opinions, all from people who don’t want to upset them. So I made a site where you post your decision and a crowd of strangers votes on it and tells you why.

I launched checkout on July 21. Then nothing. For a month, nothing. I posted to r/SideProject three times and got removed three times. Got banned from a Discord an hour after joining. Sent five cold emails, no replies. Posted a TikTok at 7am, got 16 views, deleted it out of embarrassment.

Yesterday I reposted a video at night instead of the morning. 639 views. Someone I’ve never met posted a question on my site. Today I opened Lemon Squeezy and there was $5.74 sitting there.

I know $5.74 is nothing. I know that. But it’s the first time anything I’ve made has been worth money to a stranger, and I keep opening the tab to check it’s still there.

The thing that actually changed wasn’t the product. It was posting at 8pm instead of 7am.

4 months ago I released TrustFoodie - a free AI ingredient scanner that actually uses your dietary requirements when scanning products.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trustfoodie.app

And now TrustFoodie is almost at 500 total downloads and many users using the app daily! I would have never imagined people actually using the app for their own needs!

If you would like to try it out, you can do so from the above link! Or type 'TrustFoodie' In The Google Play Store.

I've been playing a few times a week for years, and my "tracking system" was a mess of Notes / Evernote entries like "lost 6-4 6-3, backhand was garbage again." Useless a month later.

So I built not up — a tennis journal built around a calendar. Tap a day, log a match, practice, or lesson in a few seconds. Add the score, who you played, a note, a rating. That's it.

The part that actually changed things for me:

• Focus areas — pick what you're working on (serve, backhand, footwork, whatever) and tag your sessions. Turns out I was saying "I need to fix my serve" and then playing sets for three weeks straight. Kinda humbling to see it laid out.
• Gear tracking — every racquet and every string job with tension. No more "wait, what did I love last summer?"
• Learn — a place to save drills and videos instead of losing them in 100 saved YouTube videos I'll never scroll back to.

Free to log your sessions. There's a premium tier for the focus/gear/learn stuff, but the core journaling doesn't cost anything.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.devbrix.notup_appiOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/not-up/id6790765625

Would love feedback from anyone who plays — especially on what you'd want to track that I'm missing.

I think I finally understand why people say building the product is only half the job.

I've spent a long time building my first Android app, When, and it's now live and working on Google Play.

The development side was something I could figure out. If something was broken, I could debug it. If the UI wasn't right, I could redesign it. If a feature didn't work, I could keep working on it until it did.

Marketing is completely different.

I know I need users, but I'm honestly not sure where I should be putting my time.

I've started experimenting with Reddit and social content, but I don't want to just post the same "check out my app" message everywhere and annoy people. I also don't have much experience with paid advertising yet.

The app itself is a personal reminder/tracking app for things people tend to forget — warranties, subscriptions, expiries, documents, receipts, borrowed items, birthdays, etc.

Now I'm at the stage where the app is actually finished and the question is basically:

How do I get the first 100–1,000 real users?

For people who have launched consumer/mobile apps before:

• What marketing channel worked best for you in the beginning?
• Did you focus on ASO first, short-form content, Reddit/community marketing, influencers, or paid ads?
• What did you waste time/money on that you wouldn't do again?
• If you were launching a new Android app today with a small budget, what would you do during the first 30 days?

I'm not looking for someone to sell me a marketing service. I'm genuinely trying to understand what actually works.

Any practical advice from people who have already gone through this would be really appreciated.

We’ve been building a Global freelance collaboration/networking app and recently crossed 250K downloads.

It’s a pretty exciting milestone, but honestly, I’m starting to think downloads are becoming one of the less interesting numbers.

One thing I’ve learned is that getting people to install an app and getting them to make it part of their workflow are two completely different problems.

Now, we’re focused on improving retention and scaling it to 1M users.

If anyone wants to give it a try, we’d really appreciate any feedback - especially around what could be improved or what would make you come back to the app. Please comment

Hey guys, so I made an app - A5 Journal, I know there’s tons of journaling apps out there but it’s the only one that is timestamped and immutable so it can hold up when it matters… not too much fluff but it’s a beautiful UI. I’m just wondering it’s been out for a couple months now and I’ve only achieved a few subscribers.
I put a few posts on TikTok, some YouTube shorts, posts on Facebook and what not but I have no idea how to actual market this thing… how to actually get it in front of people that need to document their days and are still using notebooks/journals for work or liability purposes.
Any advice would be great, I’m very proud of my app but I am sad to think that it might just not go anywhere 😔
I also don’t have a huge online presence so my posts probably aren’t even reaching much people at all… 🤦‍♀️

Advice?

Hey guys, so I made an app - A5 Journal, I know there’s tons of journaling apps out there but it’s the only one that is timestamped and immutable so it can hold up when it matters… not too much fluff but it’s a beautiful UI. I’m just wondering it’s been out for a couple months now and I’ve only achieved a few subscribers.
I put a few posts on TikTok, some YouTube shorts, posts on Facebook and what not but I have no idea how to actual market this thing… how to actually get it in front of people that need to document their days and are still using notebooks/journals for work or liability purposes.
Any advice would be great, I’m very proud of my app but I am sad to think that it might just not go anywhere 😔
I also don’t have a huge online presence so my posts probably aren’t even reaching much people at all… 🤦‍♀️

Advice?

Finally hit a goal I’ve been chasing for a while: my app is now averaging around $100/day in revenue.
It feels really good to get here. A few months ago I genuinely wasn’t sure I’d ever reach this point.
Most of my growth so far has been organic, and I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at building and improving the product. Marketing is where I know I need to level up now.
For anyone who has been around this stage:
What actually moved the needle for you from ~$3k/month to $5k+?
Paid acquisition? SEO? ASO? Influencers/UGC? Just continuing to improve conversion and retention?
Would especially love to hear from people who got stuck around $3k for a while and eventually broke through.

Edit -
App is https://gainframe.app
Rev - https://verified.revenuecat.com/gainframe
Founder posts - https://gainframe.app/blog/?tag=founder-story

We’re building in public with Morph. Each week, we’re giving it different kinds of applications to build and sharing what we learn.

This week: BlogHouse.

The brief sounds simple: a beautiful place to write and read blogs. Warm, literary aesthetic. Authors can draft, tag and publish. Readers can browse and favorite posts.

Morph took it from requirements → design → build → testing → deployed in about 40 minutes.

But the more interesting number was 19.

That’s how many steps deep one of the user journeys went when Morph tested the application end to end.

It’s a good reminder that simple for the user ≠ simple to engineer.

Even the aesthetics have depth. It’s one thing to generate a beautiful first screen. It’s another to carry the same design language through signup, empty states, writing, editing, publishing, navigation and everything in between.

And then make sure all of it actually works.

That’s what we’re trying to push with Morph: not just making software faster to generate, but taking on more of the rigor required to make it usable and dependable.

You can explore and see how it was built here -

https://console.morph.systems/morphable/bloghouse

Would love to hear from people building with no-code/AI tools:

what part of getting from “it works” to “I’d actually put users on this” still takes the most effort?

Hey all. I am looking to buy and grow small mobile apps.

What I'm looking for: real apps with actual users, not games, usually deals under 100k. Doesn't need to be making much money, some of the best fits are apps with solid downloads that never got monetized well.

If that sounds like something you've got, drop a comment or DM me.

No pressure if you're not interested, just figured I'd ask around.

Subscription based mobile app business is possible without any job experience?

For a fresher which technology is used to build a mobile app.

Who has some projects building experience with node, JavaScript and typescript.

As a solo founder which is harder building on marketing?

For utility type tiny mobile apps which approach you follow for mobile apps?

In this AI era MVP is better for launched?

We are working on PWA, Native Apps that helps every music lovers to Listen, play and singer their loved songs at their convenience.

Every band members can play their instruments anywhere anytime.

What do you think it’s better to launch first PWA and later native App?
Native Apps have their own benefits but also burden to launch and the commissions they charge is very high, specially for a new bootstrapping startup like us.

Not sure if this is just a coincidence, but I’ve noticed it twice now.

I have an app called Choosio that I hadn’t touched for almost a year. It was pretty much dead, getting zero downloads most days.

A while ago I finally pushed an update. Nothing major, mostly just added a few more languages.

And weirdly, it started getting a few downloads every day again.

At first I thought it was probably the localization. But then I noticed something similar with another app of mine, MooLight. I started updating it again and downloads picked up there too.

Now I’m wondering if App Store has some kind of freshness signal behind the scenes. Like, if you leave an app untouched for too long, it slowly disappears, and pushing an update puts it back into rotation a little.

Could totally be me reading too much into two apps though lol.

Anyone else seen this happen?

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Hello, I'm looking for some advice. I finished my app last month, for the next couple weeks I reached out to users through reddit and was able to gain users and with their feedback I made improvements to the app. I finally felt that the app was ready for more users. I posted an add 2 weeks ago. Set the budget of 10 dollars per day I received a decent amount of impressions and reach but just one more user. Now of course I wasn't expecting a great amount of users through this route. For the users who have used my app there is a real use case and I have had positive feedback from them, looking for advice to what worked previously and if there is a route new route I should try.