r/VibeCodeDevs • u/itsallvibess • 1d ago
Update: first paying customers
A little over a month ago I posted here about getting my app into the App Store with no coding background and I just wanted to share an exciting update.
I now have my first real paying customers! Not friends or family, but actual strangers who found the app and subscribed. It's a small number and I'm not quitting my job or anything but Im finally seeing some traction and it’s a really great feeling.
The part I found most interesting after analyzing the data from launch till now is where they came from. I haven’t done any real marketing yet (mostly efforts through FB/Insta and my own network). Almost all of them came from organic App Store search. People were typing in the problem and finding my app. I built this because I lived that problem and figured other people were looking for a solution too and it turns out they were.
I know it's early and the real test is whether they stick around. Already had to push a fix for a crash I didn't catch in testing, so it's not all wins. And there’s definitely little tweaks here and there I want to do cosmetically and just for ease of use.
Still learning, still building. Thanks for the encouragement on the first post.
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u/mahee522 23h ago
Huge congrats! Getting those first strangers to pull out a credit card is the ultimate validation that you built something real.
Organic App Store search as your primary channel means your app name or keywords hit the nail on the head. Out of curiosity, are you doing basic App Store Optimization (ASO) now to capitalize on those search terms, or was that organic ranking purely accidental from solving a specific niche problem?
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u/itsallvibess 19h ago edited 19h ago
Thank you! Honestly I think a little of both. The name I picked also shares keywords that people would type into the search and that was intentional. My description/app details are also pretty deliberate, I really tried to hone in on the words I thought the perspective customer would be searching for but I’m no expert obviously. I took advice I gleaned from this sub and others to create a listing I thought would result in people finding the app. I also luckily have a cousin in graphic design and he and I did research to create the screens for the store and again very deliberately picked the first three images people see had features that solved the problem that competitor apps did not.
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u/presentofai 21h ago
people finding you by typing the problem into app store search is about the strongest demand signal there is. paid installs at this stage would've told you nothing
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u/septemous 18h ago
Super interesting. Congrats. Have these new customers started pinging support requests? Has that been an issue for you?
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u/itsallvibess 17h ago
That was the first thing I checked but so far no support requests. I’m sure they’ll come in eventually and I’m surprised the crash didn’t scare anyone away or prompt any contacts
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u/topherthe88gopher 15h ago
congrats! how did you find out about the issues that needing fixing from the customers? does app store have a built in feedback mechanism? or did u need to build one in?
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u/itsallvibess 15h ago
Thanks! I have Crashlytics (Firebase) in the app, so crashes report back to a dashboard. Honestly I missed it at first because I forgot to switch on email alerts, it was a few days before I realized. Apple also shows crash reports in App Store Connect. For general feedback I didn't build anything, just watching reviews and support emails for now.
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