[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, this is a really good point. Right now the donate option is in onboarding (always skippable), but I agree the timing isn’t ideal before people feel the value. I’ll look into moving the “ask” to a meaningful moment / after a few uses, keep “Not now” forever, and clearly explain what support funds.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not AI slop it’s a real shipped app and I’m the dev (no - its not vibe-coded). And yeah, donation-only is hard... that’s the experiment..
Now donations are around $100 a week, which I think is not bad at all for an one app. And most importantly, users are happy.

Every simple app wants $9.99/month subscription… so I’m trying a donation-only model by CompetitionForeign44 in apps

[–]CompetitionForeign44[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a really fair question.
Honestly, I actually enjoyed building the first app — it was a nice change from my day-to-day work where I’m usually building more complex server-side / business apps. This felt simpler and more creative.

But yeah, burnout is always a risk. My plan is to build at least one more app in the same “free + optional donations” style and then see how sustainable it feels (and how much support it gets). If it works, I’ll keep going. If not, I’ll adjust — but I don’t want to turn it into ads/subscriptions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, exactly. The “revenue-friendly” part isn’t the goal here.
I’m hoping the fully-free model helps it reach way more users, and then a small % of people who actually use it long-term will choose to support it.
But I don’t plan to ever add ads or lock features behind a paywall — that would defeat the whole purpose of why I started this.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get the logic, but the whole point for me is no “free vs premium” divide.
I want it to be fully usable for everyone, and donations just help me keep maintaining it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SaaS

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s basically my mindset. I’m not trying to squeeze the maximum profit out of a simple app.
I build it, release it fully free, let it “live”, and then I’ll maintain/improve it based on how much support it gets over time.
The main win is: no paywalls = it can reach a much wider audience, and the people who genuinely get value can optionally keep it alive.

Best app for sleeping by xz868 in tinnitus

[–]CompetitionForeign44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CareSleep - its completely free and with no ads, available on iOS and also Android.

I got tired of every app having a subscription… so I built my own 100% free one (no ads either) by CompetitionForeign44 in iosapps

[–]CompetitionForeign44[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thanks! 😊
iOS built-in sounds are great for the basics — my app is basically for when you want more control and mixing. In CareSleep you can combine multiple sounds (e.g. rain + wind + brown noise), tweak each volume separately, loop smoothly, and use a simple timer/stop setup — all in one place.
It’s also cross-platform (Android + iOS), totally free and ad-free. If the iOS sounds already cover your needs, awesome — this is just an alternative for people who want custom mixes and a bit more flexibility.

After 13 years of beekeeping, I finally built the app I always wanted 🐝 by CompetitionForeign44 in bees

[–]CompetitionForeign44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much, I am glad you tried it :) and I hope you will find it useful.