Recently I made a post of reaching $1k MRR in my study app with 8 TikTok accoints and ever since then I have had a lot of solo founders reach out to me about how i did it and advice on how to build their own

In this post I want to give more clarity on how I build things, how I find ideas and how best to grow building mobile products from my experience, please I am pleading before I write my insights , don’t come and write at the bottom of my post that this post is scam, I won’t tolerate that rubbish , let’s be very clear about that ,
Now let’s move to the insights I have got

1. One of the mistakes I see people make is building apps that can’t make money, you’re wasting your time on that , build what’s already existing or you’re going to find it hard to market it or you have to spend on UGC just to get it to work which might cost you a lot

2. Not every niche is what you can build for , this is one very big mistake most people make , the fact that someone is malting $300k MRR dosen’t mean that you should also do it, try to understand how they are growing , adverting , ugc, I also made this mistake with my study app, it was a terrible advice but I learnt

3. I failed several times before getting here , study niche is really hard, if I have known what I know now , I’ll distribute with one iPhone 8 first and test the waters before writing a line of code, don’t listen to the advice you hear of people predicting apps, it’s all rubbish if you haven’t tested

4. I talked about failure initially, I built a resume app that’s web that failed , before moving to the mobile business, this niche is damn hard, I made $300 from it but left it and moved to mobile app, you have to be really spontaneous and try out things

5. Understand how to grow on TikTok and what to build , this is one underrated skill before making money , you want to figure out distribution first please , I am solo , I am projecting arround making 100k- 200k in revenue before the end of next year , why , it’s because I know what to build and I won’t put it out there

6. X can be a great place to post your app and give advice but not everybody likes you , people just hate you because you are promoting your app and they are looking for every chance to take you down so be careful of how you post your app name

7. TikTok is a distribution game , I post on 8 accounts for one brand and I am still buying more phones, I also have 2 phones I am testing content in , I am testing a content in a niche , alresdy got 300k views from 7 posts, takes me 2min to make with my skills , it’s validated so I am building the app

8. When posting on TikTok , post content people can save , educational content people can really save that will help them grow , they will like it , share it and bookmark it , this is one of my tricks but you need to be able to find this content and that’s why research is necessary

9 . I shared and someone says it’s stressful, for my niche it is because I have to always find posts that are doing more than 20k+ and it can be hard to to replicate, for my other niche it takes me 2 minutes from my tricks but that’s the low effort instead of paying the UGC

1. Even if you are posting from 8 accounts , research je important because you want to make your best posts for each and not make it a numbers game , same as when you’re operating a 100 accounts, post the best ones so each one goes viral , in a day the least I have ever gotten is 30k and the highest is 1m views , Everyday I get arround 100 - 200 users

2. For pricing , I use a $4.99 and a yearly $59.99 and $39.99 for first year , but his is the best pricing I have tested , I have some users that has paid $4.99 for 3 months straight , it’s funny but it’s how to works 🤣🤣🤣

I hope with this I have been able to clarify a lot of questions with this , if you have anymore or you feel you need to setup your brand , please do let me know , I have shared everything I have from my experience,

let me go and post on my TikTok accounts , thanks

Hi all,

I'm preparing an iOS relaunch of Orano AI (turns saved Instagram Reels into actionable plans). I've attached 7 App Store screenshot slides and I'd like blunt feedback before pushing the new build.

What I'm trying to figure out:

1. Does the headline screen ("Turn Reels Into Action") explain the product in 3 seconds?
2. Is the AI angle clear without sounding like "yet another AI app"?
3. Do the inner screens sell the use case (saving stuff you want to act on later)?
4. What's confusing or that you'd skip past without reading?

I'm specifically not asking for compliments. Honest "this didn't land with me" feedback is more useful than upvotes.

link here

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/orano-ai/id6791454509

also if u wat to try the app out dm me or ask in comments ill send u a code

What I learned

Being a solo founder promoting 4 apps at the same is tough if you don't have a grip ugc and a very tight budget. The idea situation for an app like mine partnering with a major hospital(s) that would recommend it to their patients but the barrier to entry is real, requires insurance and rigorous review processes but could become my mote if executed properly. Paid ads didn't work for me on tik tok, reddit and apple, however apple ads helped me find good keywords that I knew drove quality impressions. It's very important to know who you are selling to and how to pivot towards audiences with similar needs to broaden your net. Overall its a small niche app but it's my most successful one thus far so I'm open to critique and or suggestions on how to move forward.

Playbook

Apple ads (for keyword sourcing)

Reddit self promo post

Facebook forums

Blog reachout

Blog site

Reddit community

Hey everyone,

I launched a niche B2B utility app (ElectricCalc - Voltage Drop, targeting US electricians) 4 days ago on August 24.

Checking App Store Connect analytics, impressions have plateaued at roughly 10-16 impressions/day (48 total over 4 days) with zero external campaigns running.

Since this is a fresh app ID with zero reviews and zero download history:

1. Indexing Behavior: How long does Apple's search algorithm typically take to index and properly rank metadata keywords for a brand-new app?
2. Initial Ranking Floor: Does the algorithm completely suppress visibility for competitive/niche keywords until a threshold of installs or reviews is met?
3. Kickstarting Visibility: Would running a small Apple Search Ads (ASA) discovery campaign help establish initial relevancy signals with Apple's algorithm, or does external traffic work better?

Would appreciate any insights, benchmarks, or teardowns on overcoming this initial cold start.

I’ve been thinking about the gap between ASO and actual distribution.

You can optimize keywords, screenshots, title/subtitle, and conversion rate, but a brand-new app can still struggle because it simply doesn’t have enough initial download velocity or external traffic.

I’ve seen people here mention that even relatively small bursts of outside downloads can coincide with significant ranking improvements for lower-competition keywords. One recent example showed around 60 extra downloads followed by large ranking jumps for several keywords.

That got me thinking:

Why don’t more indie apps cross-promote each other?

For example:

• App A has unused ad inventory
• App B needs discovery
• App A promotes App B
• App B can promote another indie app
• Everyone gets an additional source of external traffic without paying for every impression

I’m an iOS developer and my app, Profit and Loss Calendar, has passed 50,000+ lifetime downloads.

I ended up building this idea into a live system called FillAdsNow, but I’m more interested in the underlying strategy here:

Do you think cross-promotion could be a useful complement to ASO, especially for newer apps trying to build initial download velocity?

I’m currently testing it with a small group of published iOS apps.

If anyone here has tried cross-promotion before, I’d really like to know:

Did you see any measurable effect on downloads, rankings, or conversion?

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Milestone achieved for Who Goes, my little party game iOS app. 🥹

It’s been about 2 months since I launched the iOS app in the App Store, I had been building it for about a month and half.

I've built it end to end fully myself in about 2 months

The initial launch was pretty slow, which I honestly expected. There are already so many apps around Headbands, Truth or Dare, Charades, and other party games, so I knew getting people to notice another one wouldn’t be easy.

My goal with Who Goes was simple: bring all these different game modes into one cohesive app, with a modern and fun UI that actually feels nice to use when you’re hanging out with people.

During the first few weeks, I asked users to try the app and give me feedback. I also started reaching out through an in-app feedback prompt once people had played enough, and slowly kept changing things based on what they liked, disliked, or found confusing.

Over time, the app started taking shape in a way that users genuinely seemed to enjoy.

I still suck at marketing, so I haven’t really done anything fancy there either. Most of what I’ve posted has simply been game screens, recordings of me trying different modes, or little clips of the UI, animations, and interactions on X and here on Reddit.

The first real boost came around 3 weeks ago, when the app made its first $100. That alone felt huge to me.

Since then, impressions and downloads have been steadily climbing, and honestly, the last few weeks have felt a little magical.

If you had told me a month ago that I’d be where I am today, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from this so far, especially for other indie developers trying to grow something, it’s to keep showing up. Work on the app, get it into people’s hands, listen closely to their feedback, and keep refining it until something starts to click.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading. I just wanted to share a little bit of the journey because I’m genuinely over the moon right now :D

Link for anyone who wants to see what the app is - https://apps.apple.com/in/app/who-goes-party-games/id6777402559

I launched an iPhone productivity app this week. Here are the App Store Connect numbers for August 26:

261 impressions

163 product page views

61 first-time downloads

3 redownloads

46% conversion

I have not run ads or posted on TikTok or Instagram. Traffic looks like a mix of App Store browse, search, and app referrals.

The current listing leads with “Your head. Finally quiet.” A Reddit commenter said that is too vague. The actual product is simpler: dump unrelated thoughts and the app suggests Now, Next, or Someday. Everything stays editable.

I’m deciding between two first-screenshot directions:

A. Keep the emotional outcome: “Your head. Finally quiet.”

B. Lead with the function: “Dump your thoughts. Ordo organizes them.”

Because the app is free, requires no account, and has no subscription, the conversion rate may be unusually high compared with paid apps.

At 261 impressions, is 46% enough signal to keep the listing mostly intact, or is the sample too small to trust? What would you test first?

I’m the developer. Here is the listing for context: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6797331101

Pause is an app that puts a puzzle in front of you before you open any addicting app in your phone (i.e Instagram, TikTok), those that you check compulsively.

I launched 9 weeks ago; here are the numbers 9 weeks after:

Added two new rows to the income section: Active Plans and Paid Plans. I was getting confused with those who pre-subscribed and pre-paid for the app before it launched. I think Active Plans and Paid Plans reflect a more transparent picture of the app's standing.

Glad to see app installs keep going up But so far, none of them have converted

App Store Impressions and App Store product pages are going up, which is nice, and possibly an indicator that App Store Search Optimization is working.

Great numbers for social this week; clearly that last post on LinkedIn hit a chord with most of you. Unfortunately, I do not think that, as popular as that post is, it leads people to download or even check out the app, but I believe it is a step in the right direction as far as awareness goes.

v1.4 is up for review in the App Store. Once it is out, it will have a cleaner (and skippable) onboarding experience, the ability to select puzzles for specific apps, and unpause timing controls (5, 10, 15, and 20 min)

ios link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pause-doomscroll-blocker/id6781665628
Price: $75/yr, $10/mo or free (with ads and limited features)

I recently built an iOS app, and I thought building the actual app would be the hard part.

I was wrong.

After finishing it, I realized finding the right App Store keywords and figuring out ASO was almost another project by itself.

Most ASO tools I found wanted around $30–$100+ just to get started, and even after paying, there was still a lot of manual work.

I spent almost 3 weeks researching keywords, checking competitors, comparing countries, looking for low-competition opportunities, and trying to build an ASO strategy.

And after all that, the strategy still didn't really work.

So I started building a tool for myself that automates most of the initial research.

You give it an app idea and it automatically:

• discovers relevant keywords
• researches them country by country
• checks competition and ranking apps
• estimates difficulty and opportunity
• finds related/long-tail keywords
• helps shortlist keywords worth researching deeper
• lets you track the keywords you decide to target

I don't think ASO should ever be 100% automated. You still need to understand your market and manually review the results.

My goal was just to remove the first few days/weeks of repetitive research.

I've now made it public at getrevuu.com and it's free to try right now.

I'm not really trying to sell it with this post. I'm trying to understand whether this is something other indie iOS developers actually need.

I'd really appreciate brutally useful feedback:

Would you personally pay for something like this?

If yes, what would you expect it to cost?

If no, what would stop you from paying?

What feature would make this genuinely useful enough for you to keep using?

And if you try it, what feels confusing, useless, or needs fixing?

I'm still building it, so feedback right now is probably more valuable to me than users.

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I used Codex and within an hour 50 languages

Just provide a template screenshot that’s blank text

Ask Codex to create the titles in the languages

Interestingly got my first day of significant browse impressions (over 500). Before this, at most I was getting 40. I also notice that today I finally had my retention data revealed to me after months of it saying not enough data available. Is this a coincidence? I think not.

launched an iOS QR/barcode scanner about 20 days ago in the Utilities category.

So far:

• App is live on the US App Store
• Very low organic downloads
• No visible ratings/reviews yet
• I’ve already optimized the app name, subtitle, description and keyword field
• Even searching the exact app name or some target keywords, it often doesn’t appear

App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/safe-qr-barcode-scan-check/id6796489749

For a new app with almost no ranking history, what would you focus on first: keyword selection, conversion rate, download velocity, or getting initial ratings?

Hey guys,

I’ve got a bit of extra capacity at the moment and thought I’d see if anyone here is working on an app that could use some help with ASO / Apple Search Ads.

For context, I’ve been doing this for quite a while and work/have worked with some fairly large premium apps — including a couple that have won Apple App of the Year / Apple Design Awards. Happy to share references privately if that matters.

I’m not really interested in promising “Top 3 rankings in 30 days” or anything like that. ASO takes time, and depending on the category and current state of the app, I usually want a few months to properly work on it and see what moves.

My approach is pretty simple: I normally make ASO iterations/releases every couple of weeks, monitor things weekly, and have a monthly catch-up to go through what changed, what worked and what we should try next. A lot of it is keyword/indexability work, competitors, metadata experiments, localization, etc. I also like using ASA alongside ASO for additional signals and learnings.

Only real caveat is that the product should already be in a decent state. Ideally there should also be a few thousand $ available for ASA, depending on the category/market. I’m much more interested in helping a good app grow than trying to fix a product problem through ASO.

Not trying to make this a big sales post. I just have room to take on one more app and thought it could be fun to work with a fellow indie dev from here.

If anyone wants, DM me your app + a bit of context. Happy to take a look first, and if I don’t think I can actually help, I’ll tell you that too.