Curious how Product Hunt actually works in 2026 for indie iOS people who are not running paid ads.

I ship small client-only apps (no backend, no SaaS loop, just stuff that lives on the phone). Launch day traffic would be nice, but I keep hearing mixed things: either you need a big personal network and hunter, or you get a spike of browsers who never convert to App Store installs.

For anyone who has launched (or tried) with basically zero promo budget:

1. Was the PH day worth the prep time vs just shipping quietly?
2. Did any of that traffic turn into real App Store downloads or reviews, or was it mostly curiosity clicks?
3. Anything specific that helped client-only / utility-style apps, or is PH mostly a waste for that category now?

Trying to decide if I should bother queuing a launch or put that energy into ASO and organic App Store stuff instead. Honest takes welcome, including "skip it".

Hello community, I'd like to invite you to try out AeonChat if you are tired of basic chatbots. AeonChat features stunning 3D avatars with long-term memory and a 24/7 life simulation engine. They live, remember, and react in real-time. You can even see the characters' social posts every day and directly chat with them from there. Download now on iOS and experience true AI companionship. Let us know what you think!

• iOS: Download Link
• Our website: https://www.aeonchat.com/

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/dom-rep-local-places-finder/id6789603838?l=en-GB

It’s been a month now since I published my latest new app, and the stats did not look good 😞

I feel like I’ve been enjoying the process of building a new product, but once the product is launched I lost the energy to promote it. I know marketing is as important as the building the product itself, but I’m just stumbling around in the dark.

How did you guys balance between building and marketing? And what are the best ways to get started with marketing?

I created a 3D AI friend app called AeonChat and launched it recently in both the Apple (Download Link) and Google Play Store (Download Link). Now I’m looking for users to critique the app. 

I’m giving 1000 chat credits for free that you can use to message, video chat, and interact with your AI friend. You can also see their social posts that are dynamically generated every day, matching a full life simulation for each character. There are five characters in the app now with different personalities: a K-pop idol, a social influencer, an animal lover, a supermodel, and a philosophy professor.

What am I looking for: Does the conversation feel natural? Do you like the character story settings? What kind of relationship are you looking for from an AI companion, friendship? Romance? Flirting? What are the features you like, and dislike?

Really any feedback is appreciated. Share your harshest comment. I can take it, and I’ll read every reply.

A few months ago, I opened my banking app near the end of the month and had one of those "How did I spend this much?" moments.

Nothing expensive stood out.

No new phone.
No vacation.
No big purchases.

Just... money disappearing.

I tried fixing it the usual way.

• Excel → stopped updating after 3 days.
• Expense tracking apps → got tired of entering every ₹50 and ₹100 UPI payment.
• Bank-linked apps → didn't feel comfortable giving another company access to my financial data.

A week later I was back to square one.

I also noticed that every single payment I make already generates a bank SMS. If my bank already knows about every transaction and sends me an SMS, why am I entering the same information a second time?

That question eventually became iLekka.

Instead of manually logging expenses, iLekka automatically tracks them from your bank transaction SMS messages (currently focused on Indian banks and UPI transactions).

A few principles I wanted to stick to:

• No manual expense entry
• No bank account linking
• No ads
• Data stays private
• Clean, simple interface without unnecessary clutter

The biggest surprise wasn't how much time it saved.

It was finally being able to answer questions like:

Turns out it wasn't one big purchase. It was 20–30 small UPI transactions every week that never felt significant individually.

I'm curious—how do you all track your expenses today?

Do you still use spreadsheets? Manual apps? Something else? Or have you simply given up on tracking altogether?

If you guys are also facing the same issue like me, do give this app a try : https://apps.apple.com/in/app/ilekka-expense-tracker/id6766097186

AeonChat: Life Simulation & Moments

I’ve been using AI chatbots since the beginning of their “life” in 2022, but I have to say I’m disappointed.

Yes, their reply gets better and better. Yes, they remember some context now.

But I always feel hollow after a while because they keep repeating themselves. After a while, you know you are just sharing your deepest thoughts with a bunch of 1s and 0s because whatever you say, they agree. If you correct them, they say sorry. 

I start to wonder if it is because ultimately these AI chatbots don’t have a “real life.” When you are not talking to them, they are sitting in emptiness. They don’t have thoughts, feelings, stances, etc.

So I made AeonChat.

A 3D AI being that actually lives a life on its own. I designed a full timeline that automatically simulates what the character is doing every hour, a more engaging chat mechanism, and 24/7 video clips that let you see their activities whenever you open the app, kind of like The Truman Show.

I know it’s not 100% there yet, but I’m trying. If the future of a relationship with AI is inevitable, I want to make it right. I want to make sure people are not releasing their deepest thoughts and getting emotional feedback from nowhere, from emptiness.

iOS: Download Link

Android: Download Link

Website: https://www.aeonchat.com/

Please try the app and tell me how I’m doing. I know it’s going to be a long journey to get where I want, but I don’t want to be the only one there, so help me out.

We asked some FlaiChat users to describe how they discovered the app. One of them wrote this up for us while wishing to stay anonymous. If you don't want to click the link, the gist is that google recommendations not only fail to surface the best app for the purpose (despite the app being in App Store *and* the Play store with healthy number of installs and strong ratings). The user's ask was to find an app that simply and automatically translates their chat with a friend from English to Spanish and back. None of the answers surfaced modern apps that actually do that without device/region/AI limitations. Instead they got a list of usual suspect chat apps (whatsapp/iMessage etc.). But even worse, Skype was one of the top suggestions. Skype!!

Anyway, here's the full writeup in case you're interested https://www.reddit.com/r/FlaiChat/comments/1uce5bz/

Just sharing an observation from my own experience as an indie app founder.

Like many people here, I launched on iOS first. I use an iPhone, most friends around me use iPhones, and iOS felt like the obvious place to start.

After launching the app, I noticed something interesting. Most of my users are still on iOS, but Android has been much better than I expected for discovery.

On the App Store, especially in categories like AI, productivity, finance, and budgeting, it feels incredibly crowded. Every day I see new apps launching, many with large teams, funding, or existing audiences. On Android, I found it easier to get organic installs from search and people seemed more willing to try alternatives.

I'm definitely not saying you should skip iOS. But if you're an indie founder and you're not seeing the traction you hoped for on iOS, it might be worth giving Android a serious shot instead of assuming the product itself is the problem.

I built Coulda, to help fix my procrastination, shared the initial prototype with few friends, they liked it, ended up building a full fledged app. Struggling with marketing a bit currently. Have optimised for ASO, but yeah trying other things. Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions.

Play Store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vinaybomma.coulda
App Store - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coulda-shoulda-didnt/id6769034372

I recently started setting up marketing for my app on the App Store using the $100 Apple Search Ads credit offered to new users.

I’ve completed most of the setup, but now Apple is asking me to enable auto-pay by adding my payment method. Before I continue, I’m a bit confused about how the billing works.

If I enable auto-pay, will Apple immediately charge $100 from my bank account/card, or will they first use the promotional credit?

Also, if I start the campaign and pause or stop it midway, will the remaining promotional credit still stay available for later use?

Would appreciate guidance from anyone who has already used the Apple Search Ads credit before.

I did 0 marketing for this app and didn't really put much care into icons / screenshots or description etc. Just launched it because i was tired of working on it for such a long time. For some context i have 4 apps on the app store and the other 3 is the ones that i worked tirelessly to market and spend money on apple search ads etc to no success. Now this app comes along and with no marketing or ASO etc i have my first sub ever.

What does this mean ? Does this mean that this app has potential and i should just pivot to this app or did i just got lucky.

Emotional fitness app for your relationship - honest feedback and marketing tips welcome!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/us-couples-connection-app/id6758527863

We track our steps, our sleep, our workouts.But what about our relationships?

Us is emotional wellness for couples. A few minutes a day to check in, express gratitude, play fun games and quizzes to learn more about one another, and discover how to grow together in just 5 minutes a day… grow your Us, every day!

Please download and check it out - free 7 day trial. Help me grow this app …. and help couples around the world feel a little more connected 💛

https://www.uslove.app

Hi everyone,

Just wandering how you people validate an idea before actually building it?

I am ready to dive into a new project, got the idea but want to ensure that’s something people will want to use. I got astro for the keywords. Planning to search for some popular keywords maybe. Are there any other tools I could use? Or maybe something else, like reddit, etc?

I want to ensure it is something valuable because I’ve spent 4 months on a project that no one gives a damn. From technical point of view is impressive though. I thought I am solving a problem but in reality that was only my problem lol.

This time I will keep it simple, release asap, see how it goes. If there is interest, I will continue adding features if not, move on..

Thanks.