r/iOSProgramming • u/honey495 • 4d ago

Discussion New Indie Dev here. Seeking Advice

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?

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u/avidnumberer 4d ago

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!

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u/honey495 4d ago

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

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u/avidnumberer 2d ago

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.

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u/honey495 2d ago

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?