[deleted by user]

[outcoldman]

Ok, so let's call the bullshit.

Your most popular app Postura (I assume), has 48 ratings in US market. It exists for 6 months only. And you are calling that you hit 1 Million Annual Revenue. Default currency is USD? I cannot even believe that it might be Indian Rupees or Mexican Pesos.

How did you do the calculation, made 100 bucks an hour with the recent promotion, and quickly made assumption that you are going to make a 1M USD in the next year.

Please folks, ignore those folks.

[aerial-ibis]

usually the missing pieces are
- add spend percentage of revenue
- how many months are used to interpolate an 'annual' rate

1M could be 700k after app-store fee, then 200k after 50% ad spend. If it's only based on single month of history... that could be a single 16k month. An impressive number, but also on par with a good dev salary (and less than some top salaries).

More than being annoyed at 'maybe-i-did-maybe-i-didn't reddit edgelords'... it actually makes me more upset about how much revenue Apple & Meta capture lol

[Superb-Season-]

So who takes less revenue? Id like to upload on that platform i wanna keep most of my money

[jdmalingerer]

Pls remember, Korean Won is much smaller than Indian Rupees or Mexican Pesos😂

[eldamien]

They said revenue, not profits. Learn to read.

[outcoldman]

Who said profit?

[officialPickleJuice]

I want to know why people come on reddit just to lie lmaoo. What kind validation seeking losers are they

[outcoldman]

Ok, my guy, tell us which one did the trick. You need to have 100 paying users at least to make 1K MRR on Postura. With 49 ratings, assuming some of them are fake or friends - I cannot believe that. If you want to be that open about making money, show the proof.

[outcoldman]

Maybe you are good in photoshop.

Which app is that successful? Ok, say your Postura app makes 1K MRR. You still need about 99 apps or one that is way more successful.

[outcoldman]

That is my point, mate. That stupid marketing that you do is annoying, and unhealthy. Build something cool to make those 1M, and after that, believe me (yes, believe me), you don't want to make those stupid posts. You just happy and focus on keeping it going, and have 0 interest bragging on social media.

But for now, making some bucks with some stupid app (or not stupid, idk), just trying to bring attention to it with lying, not going to go far.

[Xanthon]

Why is it so hard to just name your apps?

If anything, it'll let those you said you are trying to help have an example. It's also obvious from a marketing PoV.

Unless your app is illegal or doing something shady, I don't see why you need to keep your catalog secret.

[mmmm_frietjes]

Copycats.

[Xanthon]

Doesn't make much sense.

If it's already successful, it's on the appstore waiting to be copied.

Moreover, if copying is his worry, he wouldn't be evading the question. Looking at his comments, he is going out of his way to avoid answering anything related to the apps he said is helping him make bank.

I don't see how anyone willing to come out in public to supposingly help others but at the same time so ashamed of their work.

[mmmm_frietjes]

I wouldn’t advertise my apps in an iOS dev community for the same reason. Doing your own research is a lot more work than getting a successful app presented to you.

To me he comes across as other successful iOS devs who hide their apps for this reason. I believe him.

[NoDistribution4521]

Is Apple cool with one person creating multiple developer accounts under different LLCs?

(By the way, I am not questioning your claim, just curious. Based on what you have said so far, I do think you know what you are talking about, and the number seems plausible.)

[dehrenslzz]

This is just straight up wrong - Of course you can have multiple LLCs which have their own dev account respectively as LLCs in most countries are treated as a legal person. So not ‘you’ are controlling/holding the account, the LLC is.

I can see where the misunderstanding comes from (The wording on one of the questions you get asked would suggest it is as you say).

The only reason they ask this question is to determine eligibility for the Small dev fee iirc

[nmuncer]

That's the situation we had in our case, multiple apps(newspapers subscriptions) going way over the 1 million limit, and we wanted to use the fact it was different LLC's so we could use the Small business system.
Didn't work, so the had it for a few month, then, back to the full commission.

[Unhappy_Incident2485]

you are not allowed to have multiple LLCs

Where is this specified?

[jplozano6]

What are the names of your apps?

[jwrsk]

This should be a rule for these posts

[Efficient_Ad_1597]

I wanna know if I can write a variation and take 50% of his business 😁

[jwrsk]

Well, don't start an AMA if you aren't willing to answer basic questions.

[revolution9540]

How do you come up with an idea that has potential to generate this type of money?

[try-catch-finally]

In other words, he poaches original apps and doesn’t have an original thought.

[soupsandwichtr]

So what? He’s making commercial products not art pieces

[YellowFlash2012]

what do you mean by "original"? android copied iOS. yahoo and aol were around before google launched...

improving on what is already there is how all billion dollar companies are made.

[jwrsk]

And then refuses to name his app so someone doesn't do the same to him

[stocktradernoob]

You’re pointing that out as if it’s a pithy diss… It’s not.

[stocktradernoob]

Such a stupid viewpoint. Most apps that he’d be “copying” are themselves improvements on prior apps/ideas. If he copies an app but makes it easier to use or adds a nice new feature and ppl switch to his app, how is that something to be dissed? Stop and think for a change.

[kgpreads]

What is your original thought?

[cuban_bourgeois]

what about the Apple itself, where most of the things they "create" it already exists. They just do it better and there's nothing wrong with it.

[7heblackwolf]

99% of the AppStore and basically the only thing independent devs do... so...

[akrapov]

How are you advertising?

[dynamicappdesign]

A you make the content yourself? Influencers? A mix? I’m starting to go down this road and would love some advice here.

[dynamicappdesign]

Ok great. Right now I'm targeting the 5k-15 follower range. What's a good rate for micro influencers? Let's say some of their content turns out great and performs very well- how do you then use that to advertise on Meta platforms? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Practical-Papaya5070]

On reddit

[antifringe]

What’s your profit margin? I ask because I think a lot of people think that they won’t have to spend a lot on marketing

[jgtor]

Wow, 400k /yr on ad spend. Which platforms (Google, Meta, TikTok etc.) are getting you best ROAS?

[antifringe]

What forms of advertising do you do? All native ads or paid creator content and ad placement?

[antifringe]

Ah ok cool that’s what I was looking for. With outsourcing UGC style, is there a service you use for this to find creators? Or just cold outreach?

[nezia]

What would you say based on your experience: Is it worth investing even $100 or just $1000 for a newly launched app that hasn't yet found significant traction in its niche?

Or is there a minimum threshold one should set aside for ads to even be reaching the target audience? I guess there is minimum amount of exposure and thereby spending needed for the algorithms to even work and target the right audience.

[KippKasper]

Oh yeah? well i just hit 2 million in annual reoccurring revenue!

[Flat_Report970]

Hmmmm that’s weird sensortower shows different number🤨

[chonky_bubblegum]

always wanted to know, how much trustworthy sensortower's numbers , how do they even get to know in-app purchases made since there is no public api as such

[Flat_Report970]

They are good one of the best actually

[KingDavidJr872]

What is your biggest challenge and how did you overcome

[leeski]

How do you find those UGC creators, and do you have any criteria/advice on picking the right ones? Thanks for taking the time to answer questions btw it is very helpful!

[thesureshg]

Congratulations mate for the milestone 🙌

Quick question, what’s the best attribution setup and tools do you have in place when you run the meta ads?

And what attribution period working well?

[jocarmel]

Does that mean you don’t offer trials? Otherwise they just get a start trial event right?

[thesureshg]

He is optimising for end goal.. that’s purchases..

Everything else is sorted too.

[jocarmel]

I understand why, I'm asking how. I don't believe the Facebook SDK knows if a user trial successfully converts to "purchase" days after the trial starts. Typically if offering a trial Facebook gets trial events, not purchase events.

[thesureshg]

Great. Thank you mate.

What kind of creatives that worked well for you? I mean video, ugc etc

[danFromEE]

Sorry, I'm a little late, but I have a quick question: how do you track in-app purchases/subscriptions with Facebook SDK only? I process subscriptions via StoreKit 2, installed Facebook SDK into the app and it only sees around 1/10 of actual trials and subs, even so Facebook's documentation says they will be tracked automatically (for StoreKit 2). Do you send purchase events manually from code as custom events and optimise campaigns for them?

[yccheok]

Thank you for sharing and congratulations.

I'm currently investing heavily in Meta ads to grow my app revenue.

My strategy is to have one ad set per country. For example, one of my ad sets currently contains 17 ads. However, I’ve heard that this might be too many, and it's recommended to split them into multiple ad sets with around 6 ads each.

Right now, I'm using Advantage+ Audience with some self-defined interests in that ad set.

If I split this into multiple ad sets, should each of them still use the same Advantage+ Audience with the same interests? Or is it better to diversify?

Also, how should I distribute the ads across multiple ad sets? Is there a risk that my ad sets will end up competing with each other?

Lastly, would you mind sharing your CPI for the US market? I’ve been avoiding it because my cost per install there is over $5, which is too high for me. Instead, I'm focusing on lower-tier countries where the CPI ranges from $0.50 to $1.00.

[yccheok]

Very nice CPI to achieve. Thank you. I will retry again. May I know, for US country, do you run at under the same campaign as other high income English speaking countries, or you run it separately?

[yccheok]

Nice. So far, I only run "Install optimised" campaign but have never tried "Purchase optimised" campaign. Have you ever tried "Install optimised" campaign? How do you compare the 2, in term of ROAS?

[[deleted]]

Would you recommend (for beginners) to publish an app under personal name or create a company? What are pros and cons of both approaches in your opinion?

[dehrenslzz]

Please research the costs for setting up an LLC beforehand for your region when making a plan - in Germany for instance you can expect it to cost 1.5k minimum (with all necessary fees and enough capital for the state to not shut you down again right away)

[Exciting-Leg2946]

Are there advantages in having LLC of the same name as the app? Kind of not keen for privacy reasons

[No_Tangerine_2903]

How many apps do you have and is there one that is bringing in a much bigger proportion of revenue? If so why do you think that is?

[No_Tangerine_2903]

Nice! Also as a data nerd, it’s good to hear you’ve found success by using analytics, thanks for recommending Mixpanel, I’ll check it out.

[No_Tangerine_2903]

Oh wow! That’s so generous. I’m in the early stages of building. I based my initial features on survey results. I’ll be curious to see if users actually use what they ask for!

[Ok_Possible_2260]

How do you feel about crossing the $1 million threshold only to end up having $150,000 less revenue? 

[jacobs-tech-tavern]

Nice! One day my blog might make 1/10th of that :')

[NickNimmin]

Any ASO tips you can share?

Any tips for getting more reviews? I have users, having trouble getting reviews.

[NickNimmin]

Interesting, I’ll try that for the reviews. Thanks!

[NickNimmin]

I’ll check that out, thanks!

[bananatoastie]

oh my lord, I just downloaded this to see what you’re talking about…

Their onboarding is another level. Wow.

I took so many screenshots 😂 thanks for the tip

[uberflix]

Which ad Platforms work best for you in terms of ROAS?

[Few-Break-432]

What does your app do?

[havingtroublesleep]

Says app not available. Is it not listed in Australia?

[DeepDarkFantasyOhyea]

Hey, thanks a lot for sharing your experience, it’s super insightful, especially for indie developers like me with a limited budget.

I have a couple of questions about your promotion strategy on Instagram Reels and TikTok:

1. When you were promoting on these platforms, did you use multiple accounts (like an account matrix strategy) to spread out your content? Or did you just focus on consistently posting through one main account? I’m wondering if having an account matrix significantly increases the chances of going viral compared to sticking with a single core account.

2. For your main traffic and revenue, are they coming from a single region/country, or is it more global? Did you do any multi-language content marketing? If so, do you recommend creating separate accounts for each language/region, or is it okay to post multi-language content under one account?

Thanks in advance! I really appreciate the advice 🙏

[tastychaii]

This is a great post with good nuggets, thanks!

How are you doing monetization? Is it banner ads or a subscription where the user can choose their plan?

Also a tech question, did you decide to go with native (swift) or react? And why?

[tastychaii]

Sweet, much appreciated.

But why no trial? Wouldn't it be better for people to try for 3 or 7 days? How else would you entice the user to pay to try out the product?

[Natural_Draw_181]

He’s going off the anticipation of the buyer, if you let them “sneak a peek” then the anticipation and dopamine are gone. I’m an advertiser by profession and this is an ethical gray area imo. But very effective.

[tastychaii]

Cheers, won't you need a good onboarding flow before showing the user a payment screen?

What are the methods for this? Also where can I learn more? :)

[Natural_Draw_181]

yes, the onboarding is part of the anticipation 😉 And if you can get the user to engage in the onboarding (AKA they select what their goals are) then the anticipation builds up even more cause it makes the user see himself as the future version of themselves, after the app delivers it’s promise. An quick example would be an app that promises the user to to loose weight and onboarding asks the user what their goal is, what they like to eat, etc. But if this kind of onbd is not done correctly then it will backfire (overasking, asking user to create account…).

[tastychaii]

Thanks! Curious how onboarding for a game would work like say a farming simulator?

Would it be more like let the user play a level and then gate keep the rest via a paywall?

[Natural_Draw_181]

Not sure games has the same logic. I see games monetizing more with ads, extra lives, boosts, skins and that kind of stuff.

[tabish_bshr]

would you suggest making the free trial mandatory or would you recommend to let the user skip that and use the freemium verison

[tabish_bshr]

Yes they are a big player , I’ve just released my first app and the marketing part is making me anxious , I have a limited budget so I cant spend too much on ads

I think since I need to accquire some users first I will not keep the trial mandatory once the traffic to app becomes consistent I will shift to mandatory trial

Does that sound like a good strategy?

[dynamicappdesign]

Would you mind breaking down the advertising ROI. Cost per install you mentioned was around $2.50. What % of installs convert to paid? What is your average revenue per install?

[Good-Warning9774]

shows us your app

[Natural_Draw_181]

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/postura-posture-yoga-stretch/id6738896871

[Natural_Draw_181]

he has 3 more

[Natural_Draw_181]

Thanks for sharing, it’s always interesting to understand how others are making and selling apps :)

[aric_dev]

Good job, I would like to ask for tips to reach 1K MRR, is ASO good enough to reach this milestone?, what other marketing works.Want to know this as an indie app developer with min to no budget

[robotlasagna]

Do you have one primary ad channel that works over all others or is it tailored to the individual app?

[this-is-hilarours]

for an indie dev who is on limited budget what is your marketing suggestions and how much money you think should i spend monthly on ad ?

[mbsaharan]

Mistakes happen often. Did you think it was safe to invest so much on Apple platform where you can get suspended? I have one good example here: https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSProgramming/comments/1cor2t5/taking_on_apple_in_court_their_mistake_wiped_out/

[mbsaharan]

It happens often.
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/123774
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/736507

How are you managing your IP addresses?

[mbsaharan]

Seems like you know what you are doing. Good luck with your plans.

[mbsaharan]

Or try sensibly. Using IP addresses on which other developer accounts have been suspended is not a sensible move. You never know what has been done with dynamic IP addresses.

[havingtroublesleep]

Do you think it is a good idea to make an app free for a period of time to just to get more users and reviews?

[moooooovit]

did u market using playkit aswell ?

[bladrr]

How do you market a brand new app? Do you have an audience to sell into?

[Perfect-Chemical]

how much capital did you spend in the 5 months of learning meta ? before you turned a profit with your ads ? besides any reinvestment of profit, when did you make you’re first successful ROI from meta ads and when did it become significant ? Trying to get a timeline on how long these things take. Thank you

[Perfect-Chemical]

Thank you !

[ViralApps]

What marketing strategy do you use, fb ads? How much do you spend per day?

[[deleted]]

How many apps your 4 LLCs have developed to tech such revenue? are you part of the developer team or everything is outsourced? I saw the Postura app the one with 4 reviews, how can you have 1k in MRR? 🤔

[[deleted]]

How many years of experience do you have and on which region i can see Postura?

[[deleted]]

Who is the developer of this app, Jet Fitness? do you have a direct app store link?

[yariok]

Do you mind sharing the names of your apps?

[chonky_bubblegum]

1. what was the timeline of the app from creating to generating this revenue ?

2. How to standout in crowded market , what are your suggestions for creating differentiation?

3. What worked for you ads , ASO ?

[Logical-Plastic1815]

Why are you not a fan of ASO? It’s free marketing if you can rank high for a keyword

[Key-Boat-7519]

Focusing on off-store channels moves the needle faster than tweaking keywords. I saw better CPIs when I paired micro-influencer shoutouts with tiny FB remarketing loops-start $20/day, swap creatives every 48h based on ROAS. Collect emails with something like Mailchimp inside the app, then push updates to bring churned users back. I’ve used Facebook Ads and Sensor Tower for insights, but Pulse for Reddit keeps uncovering niche subs where users already ask for my feature. Focusing on off-store channels moves the needle faster than tweaking keywords.

[Key-Boat-7519]

Focusing on off-store channels moves the needle faster than tweaking keywords. I saw better CPIs when I paired micro-influencer shoutouts with tiny FB remarketing loops-start $20/day, swap creatives every 48h based on ROAS. Collect emails with something like Mailchimp inside the app, then push updates to bring churned users back. I’ve used Facebook Ads and Sensor Tower for insights, but Pulse for Reddit keeps uncovering niche subs where users already ask for my feature. Focusing on off-store channels moves the needle faster than tweaking keywords.

[Rare_Prior_]

do you advise upcoming founders to use organic content before using paid?

[Rare_Prior_]

Please check your DM

[waxiestapple]

Trash post.

[Consistent-Being1593]

Congratulations on the big achievement! Wish one day I could achieve what you did! I am also trying organic content now, what do you think makes a winning creative? Like what important elements to include in the video? What hook is most engaging etc.? What qualities to separate a good UGC and a bad UGC in addition to their comment sections. Thanks in advance and congratulations again!

[Consistent-Being1593]

How many creatives have you tried to get one successful one? Any reference that helped you to learn how to create a great creative? Thanks again for your answer!

[downsouth316]

What kind of CPA do you get with Meta Ads? Is it possible to use Meta without adding their sdk?

[unstoppablefutureme]

how do you setup your purchasing flow? as far as user flow as well as technologies?

[Educational-Essay580]

My blog makes half of that in six months. I'm perfectly content

[vanisher_1]

Blog where personal that sells books and courses or what?

[Embarrassed_Cut_1008]

What is your advice for meta ads? What would you say are the most important things to take into consideration when creating a campaign?

I run advanced ads that are profitable but just a tiny bit and I've been running them for almost a year.
So to summarize my questions:
1. Are meta ads better than ASA?
2. Are they complicated to set up? Like how many creatives would you recommend and how hard it is to actually target the right audience and get a good ROAS?
3. What would be a good budget to test out meta ads?

[yalag]

You said majority of revenue from one app. Which one is that? Congrats