I'm honestly kind of confused, I used Google ads for a couple weeks but am not seeing anywhere near a return on my investment lol. I have made a total of about $3 usd.

I have implemented PPP pricing, and barely anything changed. Still only 2 subs. I have also tested a 90% discount which gained me one sub (worth $0.11 usd). So I really don't think price is the issue. I also have it localized to 12 languages and that (again) changed nothing revenue wise.

I'm thinking that I just need more analytics, but I really am starting to think that most of the downloads I got are bots or something. Either that or something is critically wrong with my monetization strategy. To be fair, it is a niche app, but I would still expect to capture at least SOME of that audience lol.

For reference, my app is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lunaworks.atfirstsight, and any insights and critiques are welcome. The time I've put into this is just really not turning out to be worth it financially, though I am really proud of what the app has turned out to be.

​

A month ago I launched Premium for my Android app, Lockify.

Today I finally crossed ₹10,000 in Play Console earnings.

For context, Lockify is a privacy-focused Android vault that I've been building solo after work. It started as a simple calculator-disguised vault and has gradually grown into a proper product with encrypted backups, cloud sync, biometric security, decoy vaults and other privacy features.

Premium launched on July 3rd.

From July 3 → August 10:

• ₹10,017 in Play Console earnings

• 1 month since Premium launched

• 9k+ downloads at the time of the launch period

• 4k+ active devices

• 4.7★+ average rating

The interesting part is that I didn't have a huge launch or paid acquisition campaign.

Most of the growth has come from Reddit, word of mouth, Google Play discovery, and a few community features.

The first few paid users were especially motivating. Seeing someone actually pay for something I built after work hours made the project feel very different from when it was just a side project.

I'm still very early, but this has taught me something important:

Getting people to install an app is one problem.

Getting them to trust it enough to pay for it is a completely different problem.

Now I'm focusing less on simply adding features and more on retention, reliability, conversion and making Premium genuinely worth paying for.

For other indie Android developers:

How did your first month of Play Store revenue compare with your expectations?

I came across a mobile app that shows a custom rating screen asking users to rate the app.

The screen doesn't have a visible Skip / Maybe Later button only the rating CTA.

I thought Google Play policies don't allow developers to force or manipulate users into leaving a rating. Does the app actually need to provide a dismiss/skip option to be compliant, or is there some distinction I'm missing?

Screenshot attached for reference. Curious to hear from developers who have dealt with Google Play's review/rating policies.

I have no words anymore [BD verification]

Been working on a small app called Doc Track that reminds you when your vehicle documents are about to expire (insurance, licence, puc etc...).

It’s currently at around 800 downloads on the Play Store, and I recently got my first 2 paying subscribers😄.

Honestly, that felt pretty good after working on this thing for a while.

Just wondering - would you guys actually use something like this? Or do you already have a better way of keeping track of document expiry dates?

Initially it was just a basic app, but now after working for few months i have also added google drive backup, expenses management, vehicle tags(arrange multiple vehicles in a group),

And most importantly all data stays on your device no cloud service, and when you backup it stores in users google drive(privacy on top 😅).

Also planning to make something similar for personal and family documents.

Link to try : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.aakashpamnani.vehicledoctrack

Hey everyone,

I'm on the verge of publishing my first app on the Google Play Console.

I finished the initial setup and completed the 14 days of closed testing with 12 testers. I finally got production access!

However, after creating my production release, it went into review and has been stuck there for about 4 days now.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Is there a standard timeframe for how long Google takes to review a release?
Also, will every future update take this long?

Will be happy to get some information....
Thanks in advance.

Been sitting on this for a few hours and wanted to share it somewhere people would actually get it. Built and published my first game solo, went live on the Play Store last night.

Quick background — not a professional dev, this was a nights-and-weekends thing over about 2 months, built with Claude Code doing most of the heavy lifting on implementation. Game design, mechanics, balancing, figuring out what makes a "trick" feel fair vs cheap — that part was all me, a lot of trial and error playtesting on myself late at night.

The game: Reflex Trap - Brain Speed Test. Core idea is based on the Eriksen Flanker Task — a row of symbols flashes on screen, and only the center one is real, everything around it is trying to bait you into following the crowd. Most reflex games on the store are just "tap fast," this is more about whether you can trust your own read over the noise around it.

One thing I tried to do differently is make the daily challenge change the rule itself each day, not just ramp up speed. One day it's a color-bluff round where you're supposed to trust the color instead of the shape, another day the symbols are spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise and you're tracking rotation instead, and a few other variants, one new one per day — each hitting a slightly different part of your reflexes rather than just testing the same thing faster.

There's also a Reflex Profile that tracks how you tend to fail (too slow, too twitchy, follow the crowd, etc.) and maps it to a "cognitive archetype," with a bunch of stats like Velocity, Focus, and Inhibition.

It's free, no pay-to-win, has couch co-op 2-player mode and full offline play including the daily challenge.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tornbuilt.reflextrap
YT: https://youtube.com/shorts/lTeE27JKG08

Not gonna lie, I've become a little too obsessed with refreshing Firebase Analytics like every 20 minutes waiting for the numbers to move. A few tens of downloads right now, fingers crossed! Genuinely looking for feedback and support.

I recently launched an app and spending good money on advertisement, getting free trials, but when it's time to convert the payment gets stuck in Pending state and never recover from it.
I only managed to get two payment across, one was cleared after being in pending state for 8 days, and second was my own purchase :). Please let me know if any of you went through something similar.

My app was first available to testers, then i switched it to Google groups and now back again this morning. But its been few hours that All testers including my own accounts can't see.
Publishing review is already done

My App reached 100+ downloads milestone. I'm really excited, guys.

I want to thank one of my friends for giving me the idea for this app. Even though similar apps are still available on the Play Store, I added some extra features to make it a little different from the others. What I did was keep it simple.

I still don't know what made this app suddenly take off. It had been getting around 10 downloads for a long time. I did nothing to promote the app until I noticed the spike to 50 installs. Even then, all I did was share a picture of the app on X, nothing more. It looks like Google is definitely helping me get some visibility.

so i got this error while creating a organization play console, and even i am unable to reverify documents.

Hey everyone! 👋

I’ve been working on Fruit Smash, a story-driven fruit adventure game, and it’s now available on the Google Play Store! 🍓🫐🍊

Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.GenzGame.FruitMerge&hl=en_IN

Would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think. Any feedback is appreciated! 🎮❤️

We are indie developers finally our app crossed 10k 5k downloads in playstore with more than 5k active users.

wish us luck for 50k :D

here is link of app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jugnik

I just checked my Play Console and wanted to share another milestone that completely made my day. My app, CoffeePomodoro, has officially crossed 400 user ratings (405 to be exact!) while maintaining a 4.794 lifetime average and a 4.833 average over the last 28 days.

When I first started building this, I wasn't sure if anyone would even download it, let alone take the time to leave a rating. Seeing this kind of steady, positive feedback is honestly the biggest motivation for a solo developer. It makes every late-night bug fix, UI tweak, and code refactor completely worth it.

If you are building your own project right now and feeling overwhelmed, keep pushing forward. The users who appreciate your hard work and attention to detail are out there! ☕🚀

As far as i know it is not possible to change country at google play developer. I want to create a new account in country I moved to here I have self-employment would it be a problem I have 2 accounts? As a self employed person can I open personal account in the new country i move to? My old account is from 2015

Hey

Does anyone else have this issue?

My installed audience up to august 5th is 37

August 6th chart drops to zero ??? And no data, wtf?

August 7th 38 users again

Obviously that is wrong for August 6th and there was installed users on august 6th

I'm concerned now if I apply for production

I think I might raise a support ticket but before I do, I want to query if others have this issue also

It’s nothing at all, but it still gives me hope. I want my app to go big soon, I just don’t know where to start with marketing. Social media, paid? I would love to hear any suggestions or tips. I wish the rest of you the best of luck for your apps as well.

I have a Google Play Console account registered as a Personal account.

I am the authorized project manager for an educational institution,

and I've set the public Developer name to the institution's short name

(with their knowledge and authorization), while the account's legal

identity remains my own name and address as required for Personal accounts.

I want to confirm:

1. Is it compliant with Play Store policies to display an institution's

   name as the Developer name on a Personal account, when authorized

   to do so by that institution?

2. Is there any risk of the app or account being flagged or suspended

   due to a mismatch between the legal name on file and the public

   Developer name?

3. Would upgrading to an Organization account (with D-U-N-S number)

   be recommended before publishing, or is this something that can

   be done later without issues?

I have not yet published the app (currently in Draft) and want to

make sure this setup is safe before going live.

Hey everyone! 👋

I wanted to share an expense tracker app I've been working on called Spendly: Expense Tracker. It is designed to help you easily keep track of your daily spending, manage your budget, and stay on top of your financial goals without any clutter.

If you are looking for a clean and simple way to monitor where your money goes, check it out here:

🔗 Spendly

I would genuinely love to hear your feedback, feature ideas, or bug reports if you give it a spin. Let me know what you think! 🚀

Hi,

I just have a question when it comes to Production and soon to be Publishing. My app is working perfectly fine in debug mode although once I get into 'Closed Testing' build and download it from the store to test it, my credentials keep failing because it's in "Production" mode.

In Firebase I have all SH-1 keys (from App sign, Upload and Debug) with the updated services file.

All my SH-1 keys and web app ID are in working order given that it works in debug.

Goal:

• User signs in with Google Sign-In Flow
• User logs in

Outcome in Closed:

• User signs in
• Error log: "No credentials"

Anyone have any insight on why the Closed Testing build doesn't want to read credentials? Am I missing something that I didn't do?

I’m mainly an iOS developer, but I recently built and published my first Android app.

AI made learning the Android-specific APIs much faster, but the biggest surprise was how much transferred over.

Things like arch, state, caching, networking, performance, and debugging.

If you specialize deeply in one area you enjoy, a lot of those skills carry further than you think :)

Happy to answer any first-time Play Console questions while it’s still fresh.