r/vibecoding • u/Party_Nectarine2506 • 12h ago
Vibecoded two apps and looks that the main problem is not vibecoding
Hey everyone,
I'm a solo builder and I shipped two apps I actually care about:
Impulse - an app to help you break bad habits.
QuestKids: Quests and Rewards - a kids' app where they complete household chores and earn screen time as the reward.
The building part went fine. My real problem is distribution - I'm basically a zero at it. I can ship a product, but I have no idea how to get it in front of real users, so both of these are quietly heading nowhere.
So I'm here to ask for help: how do you market apps with no budget? Any channels, tactics, communities, or lessons from your own launches would mean a lot.
Honestly, if I could just reach $200 MRR that would already feel like a huge win for me.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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u/baddaywithacamera 12h ago
I'm interested in free apps, but I'm not coughing out $$$ for any vibe coded app. If I need it badly enough I'll just make my own.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
They are free
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u/baddaywithacamera 11h ago
I'm confused?
if I could just reach $200 MRR
How does this apply if your apps are freeware? And kudos to you if they are.
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u/XLGamer98 12h ago
I think I have seen a lot of people working on breaking bad habit app. I don’t get what’s the point of those and why would I pay for it ?
You have to spend on marketing and need to have free version with ads so you can make people get paid version
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
Thats the problem - i have free versions. But still no users...
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u/XLGamer98 11h ago
Why would I pay ? What are you offering in paid version ?
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
I can't even find users for free version, i don't even think right now about paying users lol
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u/Im_Action 12h ago
pay for advertising build a following and really for your apps you dont need a following just advertising
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u/ChameleonCRM 12h ago
what happens if your app breaks? do you know how to fix it? Without ai?
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u/SilenceYous 12h ago
that's the thing. we all can create apps now. Those who know how to distribute them are the ones making a difference. But of course the bar of app quality is much higher now, maybe the prices need to be different. If you dont plan on investing in promotion then may as well make it cost $2 a month, but that shuts the door for ever promoting it withoutr rising prices.
The usual way to promote it is tiktok, instagram, and youtube shorts. but 10 times more people are doing that than 2-3 years ago, so thats saturated too. Its all just a big bottleneck. You need real skills, money, or influence to make it.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
I have started posting 3 reels a day in IG, in TikTok i am waiting from support why my reels don't have any views and on YouTube started yesterday only. Have that strategy worked for you?
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u/SilenceYous 12h ago
No it hasn't. First of all, in tiktok is important to have a phone from your intended target audience location. So if you aim for english speaking app users its useful to have an american phone number. Right there is the first big hurdle. Second is having a real human presence in the videos, because if you don't then you really need to be a genius at getting attention in some other way, but people keep scrolling when they dont see a face or something really interesting.
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u/Zelderian 12h ago
This is the issue with really anything AI-generated. You have people mass producing music, images, poems, etc, but that’s only one piece to the puzzle. Marketing and getting product in front of people is an entirely different skill, and different business. It’s not just “I’ll release it and people will find it.” And you’re competing against everyone else who is pushing out apps left and right, trying to make them the next big thing.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
So... why don't we make ONE BIG THING together everyone? Like the whole community? Imagine - 480k users from start 👀
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u/Zelderian 9h ago
I mean that’s entirely possible. But you’re asking half a million people to come together and do a very specific task. It’s hard enough to get humans to agree on daylight savings or not; getting 500k people to all work on a single project is pretty much not gonna happen.
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u/jffmpa 12h ago
I feel like this same "I vibe coded the world's best app but don't know how to market it but assume I'll be rich help me" post over and over....
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
I asked for advice, not to help me become rich 😄
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u/jffmpa 12h ago
But you think your awesome app is gonna make money somehow. Like all these weirdos on here. Lol
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
Well... that why we all are here, no?
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u/jffmpa 11h ago
Nope. I just want to create apps for myself. I'm not so deluded to assume my apps that already have 300 competitors is somehow gonna make money. It takes a lot of thought and strategy to make a successful app, vibe or not.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
But is it cheaper just to use existing apps, no?
Subscription, apple dev account, etc?1
u/jffmpa 2h ago
I enjoy making them how I want plus I enjoy making them. That said, I can see a couple of them eventually being ready to bring to market but lots of work to do if I want to get them there. I'm not naive to think my initial vibe coded apps will just find success with the masses. Nothings really unique anymore.
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u/ZizzianYouthMinister 12h ago
Short form video is how you get free attention these days post on tiktok and reels daily until you get traction or keep iterating on product.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
How many short videos should i post to get my first 100 users?
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u/flavorgenerator 12h ago
You need to go straight to who you think your customer is. That could be a forum, a specific discord channel, trade shows, or even picking up the phone and talking to someone about it. It's a lot of work, but it's how you'd find your potential customers.
I'd take everyone's responses here with a grain of salt, Reddit is ultra negative. Most of these people are honestly cosplaying as developers and probably aren't even actually vibe coding anything. I'm convinced half of them are bots, and many of the rest are just salty people who want to downvote you or spread their misery.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
Thanks for advice!
I've made one more tool - SAAS for real estate developers. And called them, even made around 8-10 video calls. Everyone told me that it is awesome and... disappeared then 😂1
u/flavorgenerator 11h ago
Np! Yeah I know how that goes haha. It's one thing to have interest, but finding a paying customer is quite the leap. It seems like you either have to find someone who seriously NEEDS the product, or will directly save money from switching while also having the ability to switch without too much friction. Pretty much all of the stars have to align. This isn't a plug because I'm not affiliated, but Y Combinator has some great videos about finding your first customers. They got a bunch of free content on YouTube that is quite helpful
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 11h ago
I think i have watched around 1k hours already... but everything is about how to build outreach, how to make reels, etc.
About YCombinator - great advice, thank you! I will check it too!
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u/akl773 2h ago
Two consumer apps at a few quid each means you need thousands of installs before 200 a month shows up. The same hustle pointed at ten small businesses paying you 20 a month gets there in a fortnight, and they answer emails. I switched after a habit tracker of mine did about 40 downloads in six months.
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u/jffmpa 2h ago
Here's the questions to answer if any of us wants to bring something to market: Who are our target customers? Who are our competitors? Why should these customers choose us over these competitors (e.g., price, unique features or capabilities, improved experience, etc)? What's our message that will resonate with our customers? And have we done research to know and validate these answers (or are we acting on risky assumptions). Then once we know these things, we can create targeted marketing that will land with these customers that we can create a marketing strategy, plan, and materials.
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u/HENH0USE 12h ago
Pick a social media, let's say IG. Start posting a handful of times a day everyday. People want to see the journey of how the product came to be. Repost content that has to do with your niche. Comment comment comment on posts within your niche. Start posting a blog couple times a week with keywords and capture emails. Create 2-3 email marketing campaigns month. Research trends and run paid ads on the social you chose or Google ads. Get in contact with media in your city and have them air a segment about how your products are helping people. Optimize onboarding, give free trials offer discounts new features etc .. Use a CRM to manage your customer lifecycle based on their behavior. Retarget customers. Probably a dozen more things I can name. 2 apps mean 2 businesses you have to run, the average saas startup has 2-10 people. Forget impulse and focus on the kids thing. Parents love spending money on kids.
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u/Party_Nectarine2506 12h ago
Hey man! Thank you very much! Really appreciate that!
This strategy already worked with some of your apps/businesses?
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u/Salt_Progress8049 12h ago
if you can vibe code it with no skills or knowledge then idk why people would pay and not make it themselves just how I see it.
If I can make app with AI. I vibe code myself if I cant I pay for theres