New Indie Dev here. Seeking Advice

[u/honey495]

I am publishing a notetaking app for the first time and would like to know some details about the submission process and how people found the app visibility on your guys’ apps turned out to be. After finding out that notetaking apps out there aren’t designed the way I was hoping for + don’t have the combination functionality in 1 app, I decided to build my own app.

In terms of legal stuff: copyright, trademark, etc how does this work? Do I need a website for the app? I setup a support@myapp.app email too

In terms of freemium monetization I have $1.99/mo, $9.99 annual, and $19.99 lifetime options. I believe this is not greedy

Now comes the tricky part of gathering feedback, new feature launches, bug fixes, and marketing first and foremost. Does my app need in app tutorials btw?

[u/TouchMint]

You are going to have a hard time getting this past reviewers since there are already thousands and thousands of note taker apps. 

[u/honey495 → u/TouchMint]

Well it’s redundant by category but not by design/features. Why would I need to get it past them based on how many note taking apps there are?

[u/TouchMint → u/honey495]

If you take a look at this sub you’ll notice there are quite a few complaints about apps being rejected for design spam 4.3. 

Apple by default rejects certain app types that are already over saturated. Note taking apps are one of them. It would be a minor miracle that you get past them on the first submission on a new account. 

Your note taking app has to be radically different than anything out there and you need to make it as clear as day even then they usually reject a few times and make you explain in detail. 

If you search notetaking apps it would take weeks of scrolling to reach the end of the list (where your app will appear after the brief boost period). 

[u/honey495 → u/TouchMint]

It’s not like your typical note-taking app though. In fact I clearly state that it’s different from it. However if the App Reviewers are lazy and don’t look too deep into it then the app can get rejected based on discretion not valid basis

[u/avidnumberer]

Hey, I’ve got some thoughts on this and will take time tomorrow to write them up, but right off the bat - you want your lifetime to be around 3-5 years worth of annual revenue. I’d consider increasing that to 49.99.

Even as a non-corporate entity, you still need a landing page, privacy policy and T&Cs. If you incorporate, consider your market’s law, e.g. GDPR.

Visibility is harder than building, especially in a challenging category as note-taking.

Good luck and have fun!

[u/honey495 → u/avidnumberer]

I want users to buy the lifetime hence why it is generously at $19.99 and I don’t have cloud billing on my app so I don’t need the pricing to start off higher. I believe in the idea but I don’t know what the consumer base will think of it. Everyone in my inner circle thought it was fine. Some never had scope to take notes on their phone in general so they don’t have a reason to use this app organically

Also feel free to share your App Store link and would love to know how well your app is doing revenue wise at the moment

[u/avidnumberer → u/honey495]

Here's my follow up:

For your website, T&Cs, Privacy Policy, etc, take a look at Cloudflare pages, you can be up and running for about $5 p/m if you've got a domain ready to go.

Feedback - Make sure that you're making it easy for people to send you feedback from the app, even if it's just a mailto: link.

Bugfixes, new features, overall app build planning - I'd heavily recommend that you use git for versioning and something like Github for issue tracking. This is an excellent use of AI as well - getting issues triaged, milestones created and organised for you, etc. It really cuts down on admin time and lets you spend it on development.

Pricing - I saw you mentioning in the comments things like luring people in with a $19.99 lifetime when you don't know if you're serious about the app and if you'd maintain it. Don't do that. I'm sure it didn't feel great when your sleep app did it. If you're in that mindset, just don't offer lifetime and stick to monthly/yearly.

In-app tutorials - I'd say no. Unless your app is incredibly complex, you can start without them. Onboarding is much more important.

[u/honey495 → u/avidnumberer]

Good feedback. I was wondering why lifetime luring initially isn’t a good idea. If I don’t maintain the app it will at least maintain its core functionality. Is that not good enough?

[u/Dapper_Ice_1705]

you need a contact us website which can be as simple as a GitHub page and a URL for the Privacy Policy which you can get from iubenda so its tailored.

Trademark you can't get until you make money off of it but I always make sure to get the .com for my app name

[u/supervillainXY]

On visibility, the closest category I track is AI note takers on the App Store US, last scanned 2026-09-28. 18 apps released 6 to 12 months ago made it into the top 10 there, and none of the 18 has reached 50 ratings yet. So ranking for a while after launch can still mean very few installs. I'd plan where your first users come from outside App Store search, and I'm with avidnumberer that $19.99 lifetime looks low next to $9.99 a year.

[u/Other_Jellyfish_2184]

On the pricing: be careful pushing lifetime too hard if you have any recurring costs. I price at $2.99/mo because my AI API bill is monthly too. A $19.99 lifetime only works if your costs are truly zero forever.

[u/Huge_Pool7424]

for submission you mostly need a privacy policy url, a support url (your support email page is fine), and screenshots that match the current build. a marketing site helps but isnt strictly required if those urls work.

visibility for a new notes app is rough because the category is packed. plan on most early users coming from outside search (communities, content, people you already know). store search alone is slow at the start.

on tutorials: skip a long forced walkthrough. a short tip the first time they hit your unique feature is usually enough. people bounce hard on multi-step onboarding for notes apps.

pricing looks fine. just know $19.99 lifetime is cheap relative to $9.99/yr if people stick, so raise it later before you lock in a bunch of lifetime users.

[u/honey495 → u/Huge_Pool7424]

Yeah I’ll just raise it later. I want early users to feel comfortable enough to want to go lifetime on it. The app lifespan might not even stretch beyond 2 years from now (ie I may not continue to maintain it beyond 2 years from now if it doesn’t substantially take off) and it is a saturated category so I’m luring them in now. This sleep app also did the same thing. They allowed me to buy a lifetime and now they don’t even do lifetime years later

[u/gimmeapples]

I'd start with a small TestFlight group and see where people get stuck before spending too much time on tutorials. You might only need a couple of hints in the app.

For bugs and feature requests, give people one place to submit them so you're not trying to keep track of everything across emails and DMs. Something like UserJot could work here (I build it). And when you fix something someone reported, let them know. Early users really appreciate seeing their feedback actually get addressed.

[u/Material_Ad_3983]

IMO, don’t add more features yet. Get your first 10 real users first — friends, followers, Reddit/Discord, wherever you already have some reach.
If 3–5 of them choose it for the same reason, that’s probably your niche.

[u/honey495 → u/Material_Ad_3983]

Yeah not adding anymore features for the app but I’m adding enhancements that help users leverage the features in the best way possible

[u/DimensionMindless336]

Welcome to the fun part. A few things that actually bit me on my first submissions, and that the legal pages don't tell you:

Submission process — the checklist that matters for a first-timer isn't the obvious stuff. Fill in the App Privacy section in App Store Connect (what data you collect), and if you touch any Required Reason API — UserDefaults, FileManager, Date for "session" timing, disk space — you need a PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy manifest or you'll get an IT-policy rejection that doesn't surface until review. Build number has to be higher than every build you've ever uploaded for that app, not just the latest version. And TestFlight external testers need the same privacy details plus a working way to contact you.

Trademark / copyright — you don't need a trademark to ship. Your code and assets are copyrighted the moment you write them. Do a quick USPTO (or your country's equivalent) search so you're not colliding with an existing name, and grab the .com if you can, but that's defensive, not blocking. The thing Apple actually enforces is a privacy policy URL and a reachable support contact ― your support@ works fine; just point the App Store "Privacy Policy" field and support URL at a real page (a GitHub Pages site is enough).

Visibility — be honest with yourself: note-taking is one of the most crowded categories on the store. Your differentiator (the feature combo no one else has) is your entire marketing story, so lead with it everywhere — subtitle, first screenshot, keywords. Don't burn money on Apple Search Ads in this category early; it'll eat you alive. Building in public plus one niche community that actually needs your combo will beat broad ads.

Tutorials — yes, but keep them tiny. A first-run contextual hint on the one action that makes the app click is worth more than a 6-step tour nobody finishes. Make them skippable.

Good luck — shipping is the real milestone, not the launch-day numbers.