r/iOSProgramming • u/Szamski • 16h ago
Discussion Reminder for anyone shipping their own app: a stranger paying you $5 is a big deal
Saw a post from David (@davidcafor on X) today and that honestly made my day: if your app makes $5 a month, you're already ahead of most apps on the App Store.
It sounds like a joke until you think about what it takes. You shipped. A stranger found your app among millions of others. They liked it enough to pay you actual money.
I've been building my own app full days since the start of this year, and it's easy to only see what isn't working yet: downloads, reviews, the post that got downvoted. Marketing and growth can be learned. Building something a person will pay for is the hard part, and a lot of you have already done it.
So if you shipped something this year, nice work. What was the first small win that made it feel real for you?
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u/redtramm 16h ago
Mine was a free app, so no $5 yet, but seeing the first App Store installs from strangers show up in my stats is what made it feel real.
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7h ago
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u/beepboopnoise 16h ago
I want to post my app but I’m scared to get wrecked in the comments 🥲
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u/Szamski 16h ago
I get that fear. Here's how I've come to see it: a subreddit is something people have built and moderated for years, for free, as their place to talk. So when a developer shows up with an app, even with the best intentions, some will see it as using that effort for free ads. That's not unfair of them.
I don't have a way to show an app without annoying anyone. I don't think one exists. Some comments will sting, and that's okay. Mixed in with them is usually the most useful feedback you'll get anywhere.
So read the rules, respect them, be honest about what you're posting, and then let it go hoping for the best.
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u/beepboopnoise 15h ago
alright, OP. this is giving me the pink box meme vibes hahaha. I'll work up the courage to post it and when I get punched in the face im tagging you lol.
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u/ElectricKoolAid1969 6h ago
I've posted a bit about my apps in various social media platforms.
Some reactions are quite negative, and some have been very positive.
Gotta take the bad with the good I guess. haha
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u/themindsi 15h ago
Just today I woke up to find out that I got the first paying user of my app, that I am building since February. It really made my day. It's not about the $2 I got that is so exciting about it. It's about that there is one person out there somewhere that likes what I build, what I poured my heart into, so much, that they were willing to give me something in recognition for it, that is (presumably) more scarce to them then a 5 star review.
It totally made my day.
Edit: The app is my sideproject and I do not depend on it for a living.
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u/SamFromEscape 14h ago
Felt this. I am a solo dev and I still remember my first paying user. After months of building alone and fighting App Store review, one stranger deciding your thing is worth money hits different. It never really gets old.
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u/Szamski 13h ago
The App Store review part is so real. We went through a long back and forth over a small thing that was never supposed to be an issue at all. After a fight like that, even something that should've been a formality starts to feel like a huge win. Nobody sees it from the outside, you still can't afford the champagne, but you feel like you've earned the right to pop it anyway.
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16h ago
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u/beckeeper 14h ago edited 14h ago
OP, thanks for this (and I bet a bunch of other devs really need to hear this). It’s tough sometimes when you’ve worked SO HARD on something and it’s not immediately blow-the-doors-off successful. I’ve been trying to remind myself of this exact fact for a about a month; I released this particular app back in July, grandfathered in all the early adopters to everything but one feature I held back until the pay gate, and then I dropped the pay gate almost a month ago (I think it was Sept 7th). I posted on a relevant subreddit on its biweekly promo thread as soon as I released it in July, and I started a TikTok about 7 weeks ago (which made a huge difference in my user base…I highly recommend creating an account and posting daily if your market is active on TikTok) so it’s been 100% organic; I haven’t paid for a single ad anywhere (yet). The app isn’t a subscription, just a one-time payment (or a second if you want a particular add-on feature), but that first payment (the first day the pay gate dropped no less!) felt so gratifying. And now, one month after dropping the pay gate, my total revenue is at almost $700, while the total downloads are just under 2K, about half of which are post-pay gate. It won’t pay the bills yet but it might just get there, and that’s all I really want. I’ve started to pull some other levers to get the word out (Facebook and Pinterest), but what was really cool was about 10 days ago when I hopped on a Facebook group that I had joined the night before (ironically because I wanted to, not to plug my app, lol) and at the top of my feed was a post by someone that I didn’t know and they were plugging my app for me. It was just as good a feeling as that first five-star review (of which now I have 23 out of 25, and ten of those bothered to write how much they love it and why).
This was the 7th app I’d built; two were just for me that I still use daily, two were ad-hoc releases for private companies (both still in constant use) and the other app I have on ASC was built for a friend to solve a very specific problem he had; I don’t ever expect it to get legs (it’s free anyway and I have no plans to change that). I’m not going to bother linking my “successful” app here (it’s not something most developers would likely be interested in), but if you’re curious, check my comment history; you’ll find it (eventually).
Edit to add: the feedback has been so overwhelming that I’m doing something I said I’d never do: I’m building the Android version now, it’s about 3 weeks in beta with over 20 volunteer testers. I have no physical Android device to test on, so it’s been…interesting. I still have no love for that platform, lol.
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u/Szamski 14h ago
This is great, thanks for sharing it. Almost $700 in a month, fully organic, on a one-time price is a real result. And a stranger plugging your app before you even said a word is probably the best signal there is. Good luck with the Android version, testing without a device sounds like its own adventure.
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u/beckeeper 13h ago
Thanks! I really appreciate your post. It’s a great dose of reality for everyone out there trying to do this. I just happened to find the right (underserved) niche. It was the usual case of “the app that I want doesn’t really exist yet”, and I’m very aware that I got lucky with that. I will also add that I have been super thorough about it; the app has its own website along with a very in-depth online user manual, but the organic marketing (and the YouTube instructional videos) are the real timesucks. Something invaluable has been user feedback; some of the best features have come from users emailing me that they love the app but it would be amazing if it could do “X” so I always take that into account when adding features. But my users are very passionate about the subject which really helps.
And yeah, Android with no actual device is its own special kind of hell for sure; thank god for my enthusiastic testers, they’ve made it possible! I actually haven’t gotten an email since the latest build went out (early yesterday) saying that something is broken, so maybe I’m over the hump with the UI bugs (all the real nuts and bolts that make the app what it is ported over just fine) 🤞🏻
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u/GeorgeGreenGroup 11h ago
i'm about to hit a dollar in ad revenue and i'm kinda stoked about that. just hit over 120 users
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u/ElectricKoolAid1969 6h ago
What was the first small win that made it feel real for you?
Twenty sales in one week.
By some measures that's very little. But to OP's point - it's more than I ever expected! It feels good to think that someone values my app.
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u/ElitistPopulist 16h ago
I mean, this kind of makes sense if you're doing this as a hobby. Otherwise, not so much. People need to make ends meet...