So the sotry starts like this... I've been building apps while working a 9-5 job, the amount of time I've spent on them compared to the money I've made is pretty depressing lol....

I actually enjoy building things. That's never been the problem

The problem is I keep finishing apps and then realizinggggg I have absolutely no idea how to get people to use them

So I started questioning how I was choosing ideas in the first place

Instead of trying to come up with the next big thing, I spent some time looking through existing apps. Mostly checking which ones had a decent number of ratings, what people were complaining about, and whether I could realistically build something better.

And somehow I ended up making a satellite dish alignment app 💀!

Yeah. Satellite dishes... I know it sounds ridiculous, especially when everyone seems to be building AI apps

But here's what caught my attention!!!

Some of these satellite finder apps have thousands of ratings. And when I started reading the negative reviews, people were complaining about things like inaccurate compass directions, confusing interfaces, and not being able to see the screen properly outside

One thing I found interesting is that a phone compass can be thrown off by nearby metal. Which is pretty unfortunate when you're literally trying to align a giant metal dish

So I built SatAlign around making the process simpler and being more careful about when the compass readings can actually be trusted

Nothing revolutionary. Just trying to make an existing tool less frustrating.

I'm not going to pretend this is some successful business yet. I haven't figured out distribution, and I have no idea whether this particular approach will work.

That's actually why I'm posting

I can build apps. I can spend weeks polishing tiny details nobody might even notice. But getting the first actual paying customers? Still figuring that part outAnd it's an awkward niche too. I can't exactly imagine satellite dish alignment going viral on TikTok lol

Has anyone here built a boring, extremely niche utility app that actually made money?

I'm especially curious how you found your first users without spending a fortune on ads

The funny thing is, this boring little app actually started making some money. Nothing life-changing, but seeing someone pay for something I built was pretty motivating

Now I'm trying to figure out how to reach more people in such a weird niche

Anyone here had success with boring utility apps? How did you find your first customers?

Hey everyone 👋

I’m an indie iOS developer from India. My app PDF Scanner: Scan & Edit just crossed 1,000 ratings with a 4.1★ average on the App Store.

It lets you scan documents, edit PDFs and share them easily. It’s built with Swift and SwiftUI.

I’m improving it based on user feedback, and I’d love your suggestions too!

📲 App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761626831

Thanks for the support! 🙏

if you hired someone to build your app, check this stuff while everyone is still friendly. the source code should be in a repo you own, not theirs. the apple developer and google play accounts should be under your name and your business, because moving an app between accounts later can be a pain. same for the domain, the hosting or cloud account, the database, the email sending service and any api keys, you should be able to log in to every one of them yourself and not through them.

the easiest test is to ask yourself if you could hand the whole thing to a different developer tomorrow with only what you have in hand. if the answer is no then something is sitting in their account. also ask for a short doc on how its set up and where everything lives, even half a page helps.

and do it before the final payment, not after, because thats when you actually have the leverage to get it fixed.

i build apps and sites for work and this is the thing i wish more founders knew, feel free to message me or ask in the comments if youre trying to figure out where yours stands

What Should Do

App Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vogxstudio.moveapp

spent some time on market research lately and pulled ~62K mobile apps (iOS and Android, just what shows up on the charts, not my apps) that made a top chart at some point and checked how many clear $1K a month in store revenue, split by how old the app is.

under 1 year: 9.2%
1-3 years: 20.7%
3-6 years: 23.1%
6+ years: 20.4%

the big jump is right after year one. after that it's basically flat. being old doesn't help on its own.

my read: a lot of mobile apps that "failed" at month 6 didn't fail, they just weren't done yet. rankings want months of retention and ratings before they push you, and your first users are the ones who find what's broken.

the flat part is interesting too. a 7 year old app isn't more likely to earn than a 3 year old one. the old apps still making money are the ones that kept shipping updates.

caveats so nobody has to post them: store revenue only, ad money isn't in here. the under 1 year group includes apps that launched last week, so it's a harsh number. and revenue is modeled, so trust the shape more than any single %.

how long did you give your last app before you moved on?

Hey everyone, I’ve been trying to build an app business for about eight months. My current app has been live for around three months. I spent about two weeks building it as a side project, then started marketing it myself.

The first month went pretty well. I reached around $350 MRR by posting my own Reels, getting roughly 2k views each and bringing in about 50 new users a week overall.

Now MRR is down to around $200. I tried a UGC campaign that didn’t work out, and I’ve been researching influencers, but I haven’t figured out how to make that work either.

After eight months of trying, it’s discouraging to feel like I’m still struggling to figure things out. I honestly don’t know where to focus my effort next.

My goal is still to reach $5k MRR by the end of the year. I don’t know exactly how to get there yet, but I’m determined to figure it out.

If you’ve been in a similar spot, how did you figure out marketing for your app? What actually helped you start bringing in users consistently?

So I am planning to sell my Android app- audio and video ai noise reducer. This app helps user to remove noise from the audio and video. The app has two modes - local processing and cloud processing. Local processing is completely free (as supported) and cloud processing is paid.

Even though the app has more than 100 purchases for cloud processing yet my infra cost is zero(I'll reveal full architecture once the deal is finalised).

It has already more than 4000+ users, admob monetization enabled.

What's included - full source code , existing Google Play app transfer to your eligible developer account, app branding and assets that I own

Hi everyone,

Solo founder, first time asking for help here; please be brutal.

The app is M!RRA.

You scan the ingredient list (INCI) on any cosmetic product, and it scores it for your skin - not a generic “this ingredient is bad”, but what it does for your skin type, your concerns, and the routine you already use.

The scoring engine is my own (Python, own ingredient DB → OCR → web extraction → analysis engine → LLM numbers to text), the app is Flutter + Supabase.

I built it because I was tired of asking ChatGPT about 40 and getting a giant wall of text that still didn’t answer the only question I had: do I buy this or not?

I’ve put a lot of effort into this over the last year, working days, nights, and weekends. I love this product with all my heart, and I need outside eyes.

App Store Connect, since launch (~5 months):

• Impressions: 106,000
• Product page views: 2,190 (2.1% tap-through)
• First-time downloads: 990 (45% page → install)
• Ratings: 32, average 4.9, 5 written reviews, all positive
• Paid ads: none. I honestly don’t understand whom to target or where, so I haven’t dared to spend.
• Biggest organic spike: one launch post in r/KoreanBeauty that hit #1 for a day.

ASO is done for 23 locales (EN-US/UK/AU/CA, ES/ES-MX, PT-BR/PT, DE, FR, IT, NL, PL, CS, SV, DA, FI, RU, TR, AR, JA, KO, ZH), the app itself is translated into 11 languages.

Monetization (RevenueCat):

• Free: 5 scans per week, then a paywall
• PRO: €2.99/week or €34.99/year
• Conversion to paid: 0.5% - about 5 paying users out of 990

So the funnel looks like this: people find it, 45% of them install it, they rate it 4.9 — and then almost nobody pays. That’s the part I can’t explain. Or… maybe that's normal conversion?

What I’ve found so far:

• The paywall only shows up when you try to scan past the limit.
• But the home screen already says “0 of 5, resets in 7 days”, so people see the wall and don’t even attempt the scan; users hit the limit and never saw a price.
• The limit dialog also leads with the reset date, with the Pro button underneath.
• I fixed it all a week ago, but I believe that’s the only thing I can see by myself

Store page, so you can judge screenshots/description yourself: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/beauty-cosmetic-scanner-mirra/id6745415201

My questions:

1. Is the free tier the problem - people scan their whole shelf in one evening, get what they need, then leave?
2. Is weekly pricing wrong for this category? Monthly + annual only?
3. Is there a trust gap? Would you pay €35/year to an app you’ve never heard of for skincare advice, even if it’s accurate?
4. Or is the honest answer that this is a feature, not a product? People love it, but it’s not worth the money to them?

I’m not going to quit; I’ll keep building this either way. Thank you for reading, and I'll be happy to hear any advice!

I'm currently a college student applying for internships, and one thing that kept annoying me was trying to reImember where I'd applied.

Some applications were through LinkedIn, others through Indeed, Workday, or company websites.

Then I'd completely forget which ones I needed to follow up on.

So I built Avenor Apply.

It's a simple web app where you can track applications, organize interview stages, save application links, and keep track of follow-ups.

I'm not trying to build some massive AI platform. I just wanted something simple that actually solves this problem.

It's free to use, and I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from anyone currently job hunting.

Would love to know what features you'd want in something like this.

​Ciao ragazzi, vorrei chiedervi un parere e un consiglio.

​Da poco ho sviluppato la mia prima app: si tratta di un gestionale dove gli utenti possono inserire i dati dei propri clienti (numero di telefono, fatturato mensile/annuale, ecc.).

​Tengo molto alla privacy, quindi l'applicazione è completamente offline:

​I backup e il ripristino dei dati avvengono solo in locale sul dispositivo.

​Non richiede nessun accesso a internet.

​Non richiede alcuna registrazione o login per il profilo.

​Ora però mi trovo "bloccato" perché non so bene come affrontare il discorso del GDPR. Visto che i dati restano esclusivamente sul telefono dell'utente e io non raccolgo nulla sui miei server, come mi consigliate di muovermi per la documentazione legale e la privacy policy (spesso richiesta comunque dagli store per pubblicare l'app)?

​Rivolgermi a un avvocato?

​Fare da solo usando dei format/generatori precompilati che si trovano online?

​Far generare il testo dall'AI basandomi sulle normative in vigore?

​Qualcuno si è trovato in una situazione simile? Vi ringrazio molto per l'aiuto!

I built a fully working and tested App that I just don't have the time to promote due to health changes.

Is there a place to sell it to recoup at least some of my development cost?

https://www.travelplantracker.com

I've been developing my app since March and it's been growing very steadily, however most of my purchases is lifetime even though I offer monthly/yearly aswell. This is not really an issue since the average user uses the app for 12 weeks or so.. there's a constant influx of new user.

Is an app like this worth anything even if it's not MRR?

I’m currently promoting my motivation app through two TikTok accounts, posting around 2 times a day on each.
Some of my previous posts reached 5K–47K views, but lately a lot of my content struggles to get past 200–800 views, even though I’m using similar formats.
I’ve been experimenting with different hooks, images, and slideshow styles.
Has anyone experienced something similar? What helped you get your views growing consistently again?
I’d appreciate any advice from people who’ve used TikTok to market their apps.

I’ve seen a lot of people selling their apps here, and I’m curious how app valuations work.
I have an app I’m planning to grow and potentially sell in the future. Right now, I have:
A TikTok account with 33K followers
An email waitlist with 2,000 signups
I’m not looking to sell yet, and my goal is to reach at least $500/month in revenue.
How much could an app like this be worth now vs. at $500/month? And how do you actually value an app? (The app launch was 2 days ago)

¡Buenas a todos!

Soy un estudiante de ingeniería en Argentina y, junto con un compañero, estamos preparando el lanzamiento de nuestra primera app.

Mi mayor desafío en este momento es conseguir nuestros primeros usuarios fuera de nuestro círculo de conocidos, intentando mantener los costos de marketing lo más bajos posible. (Tenemos un presupuesto limitado)

Tenemos pensado invertir en publicidad, pero también me gustaría explorar estrategias de crecimiento orgánico y otras formas de llegar a potenciales usuarios.

¡Cualquier consejo o experiencia que puedan compartir me ayudaría muchísimo!

As simple as the title sounds, assuming you have an app that gets you $100 - $200 per month over the last 12 months at least, how much would you sell it for if you ever got the chance to?

Never thought that this side project of mine would have an actual use case where people will end up buying the full version.

Initially I had not planned to monetize the product but then the cost of running Google Cloud functions and Firebase was getting difficult to manage so I thought of adding a small charge that unlocks the full version for lifetime. So glad that people found it was worth paying for. 😃

Here is a short description of what I've built and what it does.

I built Chronica because I kept wanting to dig deeper into history

Whenever I learn about an interesting event, I end up asking: What happened before it? What else was happening around the same time? How did we get here? 🔎

That curiosity inspired me to build Chronica - a timeline-based knowledge app where you can start at the Big Bang and move through time, exploring events across billions of years, ancient civilizations, world wars, scientific discoveries, influential people, and much more.

🗺️ You can explore historical timelines, browse an Atlas, discover people and events, and jump between different eras and topics. AND ALL OF THIS COMPLETELY OFFLINE!!

📱 Try Chronica on Google Play Store

Hey everyone!

I've been building BillBandhu, an AI-powered billing and business management app designed for Indian shop owners, traders, and small businesses.

The idea is simple: instead of spending time manually creating bills and managing registers, shop owners can use voice-based billing, scan invoices, generate GST bills, track inventory and udhaar, and get insights into their business.

But now comes the difficult part: getting people to actually use it.

Building the product is one thing. Convincing a shop owner to try something new when they're already comfortable with their existing billing software or physical registers is a completely different challenge.

I'm trying to figure out what I should focus on first:

Finding the right audience: Should I approach local shop owners directly, target specific business categories, or focus on online communities?

Getting the first 100 users: What actually works for a bootstrapped app without a big marketing budget?

Building trust: How do you convince small business owners to trust a new app with their billing, inventory, and business data?

Monetization: Should I focus entirely on getting users and collecting feedback before pushing paid subscriptions?

Differentiation: AI voice billing and invoice scanning are useful features, but how do I communicate their value to someone who just wants to run their shop without hassle?

I'm not expecting overnight success. I want to figure out how to reach the right people, understand their actual problems, and build something they'll continue using.

For founders who've built SaaS products, B2B tools, or apps for small businesses in India:

How did you get your first 100 active users?

Did direct outreach, referrals, content marketing, or paid ads work best for you?

What would you do differently if you were launching from zero today?

I'd genuinely appreciate honest feedback, including criticism of the idea or my approach. I'm here to learn from people who've been through this.

Thanks!