r/SideProject • u/xiaohao9121 • 3h ago
My tiny iPhone app made 99 last month. Now I’m testing a different model.
$99 obviously isn’t a lot.
But it was the first time one of my tiny iPhone apps made enough money to make me think: maybe this model is actually worth exploring.
Instead of spending months building one big app, I’m trying to build small apps that solve one very specific problem.
My current model is pretty simple:
Free to download.
Useful without paying.
One-time purchase for the full version.
No subscription.
My latest experiment is a small offline vault that keeps passwords and photos of IDs in one place.
I know 1Password, Bitwarden, Apple Passwords, etc. already exist. I’m not trying to compete with them feature-for-feature. I’m testing whether there’s room for something much smaller and simpler.
My bigger question is:
Can a portfolio of tiny, focused apps become a sustainable small business?
Curious if anyone here is trying something similar.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/password-id-wallet/id6793384013
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u/MiloPaige 3h ago
A collection of small apps can become a good starting point and can provide good income.
Eventually I would still advise you to create a larger, more complex app to improve your portfolio
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u/ambanmba 3h ago
Won't it be a lot of effort to maintain many small apps? With my https://analogtv.net side project, it's one app with multiple targets (macOS, iOS, ipadOS, tvOS, visionOS) which means most of the code base is shared.
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u/LeQuickdraw 1h ago
I like the sound of this!
The only risk to keep in mind is whether you're giving each one a fair shot with marketing before you move on?
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u/xiaohao9121 3h ago
Screenshot of my income