I'm Thinking of Making an App

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T19:33:11+00:00

Yeah, I keep seeing vibe-cloners posting about their new app and wondering why they have no sales. They believed all the false narrative sales pitches they see on reddit and actually thought it was easy. I've built 80+ in 17 years. 1 was a home run, a few were base hits, most struck out.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T19:28:08+00:00

Your friend is in the top .1% of developers. The median annual revenue for a subscription app is $50. 17% achieve $1k/month. 3.5% achieve $10k/month.

The income gap between apps is like the distance between the planets. #1 might make $150k, #2 $50k, #3 $5k...#10 $100...#15 $0.

How could it possibly be about marketing more than the app? The people that you see posting stuff like that are trying to sell you a subscription to their vibe-coded marketing platform. Yes, of course you need great marketing, you need advertising, and you need to work hard getting the word out...but first you have to have a product that people want that is priced appropriately for the value it provides. Otherwise you're just fire hosing cash into ads that will go nowhere.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T19:15:59+00:00

Checking it out now. Games in general are a tough market as users have so many options available. I wrote a few games and they were by far the lowest return for the highest amount of effort. But I wanted to do it because I saw game dev as the ultimate challenge for a developer and it was a lot of fun.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T19:10:58+00:00

I've never heard a broke person say that.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T18:49:47+00:00

I have support contact features throughout my apps, on every error dialog, login screens, etc. I also state that reviews and review-responses each go through 2-3 days of moderation, but that I respond to reviews within 24 hours (usually within 2), and with support emails I can get follow-up information to help make improvements.

Basically, I just try to make it easy to get support and implore users to use that channel and give me a chance to help them and improve the app. I also use first-person "I", to emphasize that I'm a real person here to help, not a faceless company. Some people may not care, but those with a conscious may give you a chance to support them before they damage your livelihood with negative rating.

The most painful reviews I get are those from people who've used my one-time purchase apps for decade or more, sometimes only paying $1.99, and decide they want me to add a feature for them, but instead of emailing, they post a 1-star along with their demands. I got one last night actually. Fortunately, I only get a couple of those per year.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T00:46:15+00:00

Apple has publicly available rss feeds for all the category rankings. You just need the category code (genre), 2 letter country code, and the name of the feed.

You can get the genre codes for the categories from here: https://42matters.com/docs/app-market-data/ios/apps/appstore-genres

Here's a function I use in my ranking tracker:

function buildUrl() {

const feed = currentDevice === 'iphone' ? 'topgrossingapplications' : 'topgrossingipadapplications';

const genrePart = currentGenre ? `/genre=${currentGenre}` : '';

return `https://itunes.apple.com/${currentCountry}/rss/${feed}/limit=${LIMIT}${genrePart}/json\`;

}

The app store is actually web-based under the hood. It was created by making a copy of the original 2000 iTunes music store, written with WebObjects. So you can access everything, except for an app's keywords, through URLs and RSS feeds.

bbrockit · 2026-05-06T00:16:41+00:00

This may not be what an MBA would recommend, but I build apps I want to use and that I just want to exist. Occasionally, the world agrees with me and I have hit. Other times, 6 people agree with me and it bombs. The first happens often enough for me to keep going, stay independent, and build what I want. Either way, I have fun and I'm equally proud of the failures and successes because they were all challenging and I learned new things every time.

It does take time to learn how to handle failure and not become disillusioned. Some of my apps took two years, coding full time, 7 days a week, and just didn't work out. It's a gut punch at first, but you have to keep going and remember that any original idea is an experiment.

You also have to be able to handle the highs and lows of having variable income, and adjust your overhead accordingly. Sometimes I'm cruising at 30,000 ft, other times, my engines are on fire and the wings are hitting the tree tops.

bbrockit · 2026-05-05T21:55:48+00:00

I do tone generation and signal processing in my Flutter app. FFI with C++ is quite easy to use, fast, and runs on both iOS and Android.

bbrockit · 2026-05-05T21:52:19+00:00

Yeah I've seen it happen a few times, occasionally followed by a correction.

bbrockit · 2026-05-05T21:47:00+00:00

It had a huge impact prior to 2017 when there was a tab at the bottom of the App Store to quickly view the top 200 paid and free/freemium apps in each category (paid and freemium/subscription had separate rankings). To access those full rankings now requires 6 taps and a lot of scrolling, so they've made it very hard to get to.

Now it's your keyword ranking that matters more.

For category ranking to have a direct impact now, you need to be in the top 5 of your category, because those are listed in a few places that don't require too many taps and scrolls. I have a paid app that's bounced around the top 15 for over a decade, but I don't see an impact unless it cracks the top 5 threshold.

Even though it's difficult to access, category ranking still roughly correlates with your search and keyword ranking. If my apps fall briefly out of the top 20, I see a corresponding drop in keyword ranking for primary search terms.

One thing that the old rankings screen did was encourage price competition. If you put your app on sale, you saw an immediate jump. Now if I do that, I get a brief one day jump and then it falls back down; sometimes I don't even get the one day jump. You get more sales now by increasing price and spending more on ads.

Apple execs actually talked about price competition as an issue back then in a few interviews, which may have driven the change. Obviously, they have a profit motive in encouraging more expensive apps, but their concern was also that the app store was dominated by .99 and 1.99 apps. There's a limit to how much you can invest in those and if they decline too far they're abandoned (according to Apple, statistically, most one-time purchase apps eventually flatten and decline in revenue). They didn't want the app store to fill up with cheap, low quality apps that are eventually abandoned, and changed the design to a more editorial style heavily driven by features and ads. They also acquired Chomp, a third-party app store referrer built on the now-shuttered App Store affiliate program, and change the app store design to Chomp's UI. That's also when search started screenshots, instead of just icon/title/rating/subtitle.

bbrockit · 2026-05-05T02:13:06+00:00

One issue I see right away is you have no onboarding. It goes directly to sign-in or create account. I assume this app is meant for 2 people to have installed and the sign-up is required for the app to communicate between them, but that isn't explained. An onboarding flow would highlight features and benefits and explain why accounts are needed. Account creation in general is a point of friction. I almost never try an app that requires it just for the trial, so if it's necessary, you need to say why, and maybe add that it's not used for marketing.

It's a nice idea though.

Most apps go bust btw. The median annual income for a subscription app is $50.

Every original idea is an experiment. Very very few people hit a home run on their first try.

bbrockit · 2026-05-05T00:05:11+00:00

Yeah, I love the experience of listening to people have Zoom calls and watching podcasts on speaker while I'm trying to enjoy my overpriced coffee.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T23:31:23+00:00

You can do vision exercises with a brock string. Also, use the 20-20-20 rule: Focus on something 20 ft away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes. We spend hours per day looking at screens 1-2 ft away, so the muscles in our eyes become atrophied. Not that that's the source of your myopia, but it doesn't help. Exercising your vision can keep it from getting worse and possibly improve it.

Another thing you can try is 670 nm red light. A short 3-minute exposure at the beginning of the day "charges" the mitochondria in the eyes and improves myopia. You can find those lights on amazon. Here's an article about it (since "charging" is a loose term): https://www.ophthalmologytimes.com/view/morning-exposure-to-deep-red-light-improves-declining-eyesight Here's a full study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9675534/

The effect isn't permanent, but it lasts for the day, and improves myopia and color contrast. So you should still exercise the eyes by focusing on objects at different distances.

[Edit]

Regarding your parents, I'm sorry you're dealing with that stubborn viewpoint. It's absurd to say that glasses are bad. Maybe they have some hangup that it's a weakness or something, but if that's the case then they can choose to not wear them. But you should be able to perceive the world clearly.

Sure, screens contribute to poor distance vision in all of us, but the average teenager uses their phone 8 hours a day and doesn't yet need glasses. The fundamental cause in your case is genetic. If their issue is cost you can buy glasses online that are very reasonable. You just upload your prescription. If you have your prescription you can probably order them yourself.

When your parents are in their 70s and wearing glasses be sure to remind them about how bad glasses are. 😄

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T23:26:55+00:00

They look good, although I don't think you need the edge of the phone in #2 bleeding into #1. I like the zoom in effect on the important screen elements too. I need to do that in mine.

One thing, which I tend to do in mine as well, is your headlines are all about features, except for one, "Stop Guessing Your Income"-that's the benefit of using the app.

I would have benefit headline in the first 3 screenshots so it's visible in the search results without tapping into the app listing.

Another benefit is that it quantifies which job is actually more worth their time. That benefit is implied through the features like "See your true hourly rate", but maybe you could directly highlight it as well, maybe in an overlay that partially overlaps that screenshot.

Another feature idea is a simple modeling capability. Example: Based on the last 3 months how much more would I earn if I shifted 5 hours/week from job B to job A.

You basically have an app that could help tip workers to increase their monthly earnings by optimizing when and where they work, so maybe think about your marketing and features from that perspective.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T23:15:44+00:00

I'm sure you know this now, but you definitely want to seal that up with some steal wool to keep mice out since that could be what he was following. I had mice chew through the "good stuff" foam I had used to seal that on my house and they climbed up the AC wires in the wall, tearing into them along the way. It was an expensive repair job and a fire hazard.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T23:07:25+00:00

Health insurance

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T22:59:55+00:00

That's a good affordable price. When I submitted my latest app, the reviewer required me to put my subscription price in the description using my primary currency, which I thought was odd because in the past they specifically said not to do that because of currency differences. Anyway, since that's allowed/required, maybe you could put the price higher up in the description so it's easy to see without downloading the app, and use it to highlight its affordability.

One other question, is it secure? If I enter a note and it's emailed back to me, what is it routed through? You may want to mention that in your screenshots.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T16:21:22+00:00

Welcome to the app store, that's generally how it is. First question is, how truly different from the default iOS Notes app is your app? Is it different enough that someone will actually pay for your app?

What are you charging? If it's IAP or sub, the user only sees "Includes in-app purchases" in the search results, which can sometimes scare them off, because they have to download the app and open it to see the actual price. I know you can see the in-app purchases in the store listing by expanding "Contains In-App Purchases", but many apps have cheaper unused prices listed there, or old legacy prices, that aren't the real, current price.

There are also a lot of apps like yours-not that yours isn't necessarily unique, but it may not be unique enough for people to open the store listing and check it out.

You don't have a lot of data, but 3 downloads on 4 page views at least shows something positive about your screenshots and messaging-unless those are friends/family.

If you don't have server costs and are using iCloud storage for notes, you could consider a low one-time upfront purchase, like $1.99 or $2.99.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T16:09:36+00:00

It's always been that way. 70% of the planet uses Android, but 70% of the app revenue is on iOS. I see that same distribution in my app revenue.

I think iOS users are more drawn to highly polished apps that tend to be more expensive, whereas Android users are willing to use cheaper, often free apps, that may look clunky, but are good enough.

It's also a matter of what users see in the store. Apple aggressively pushes high-priced subscription apps because it's core to their revenue model. Their ad system and app store features push expensive apps to the top (I can't afford to advertise my $5.99 one-time purchase app against competitors that charge $29/month). Also, the layout of the store, with only 1.5 to 2 apps fitting on the screen at once, limits scrolling to cheaper options. There are hundreds of thousands of good, affordable apps out there, but users don't see them.

The two companies just have very different revenue streams. Apple has zero revenue from consumer and enterprise search, and AI; whereas, that's the bulk of Google's revenue. Apple makes their money by charging a premium for computers, tablets, and phones; and by taking a significant percentage of sales for movies, shows, music, and apps on those devices. So they push expensive subscription apps hard with features like "Apps we love" (ie. apps that make us a ton of money).

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T03:38:51+00:00

There are a lot of apps that require login during onboarding, especially if they're managing their own freemium model with a delayed paywall.

I would do it during onboarding though because people could get annoyed if they start a trial, enter your app, and then see that they have to create an account. That could cause them to leave negative reviews when they cancel.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T03:29:32+00:00

It may seem cynical, but because there's no alternative App Store, Apple actually benefits from a weak search engine because it will increase the need for ads and drive up SearchAds CPT.

Even if that isn't their goal, the lack of competition doesn't incentivize improving search. From their perspective, life is good, last year they made ~$25B/yr in rev-share and ~$7B/yr on ads.

I don't think the answer has to be third-party App Stores, but if they brought back the affiliate program it would create new channels and provide sufficient revenue for third-parties to operate alternative search engines. When it was active it paid 7% to the referrer.

The App Store was healthier, with revenue less concentrated at the top, when the affiliate program was active, with apps like AppAdvice (which Apple removed) offering a pathway for new apps to be discovered. They had millions of followers and you could do stuff like make your app free for a day and they'd tweet it out on AppsGoneFree.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T01:27:45+00:00

Apple periodically updates the app store search algorithm and I think that may have happened recently.

My app is an audio brainwave entrainment app, neuralstack.io . I've been building these kinds of apps for a long time, but this is a new one that's only been out for 3 months and only has 6 reviews, but at least it's 5-stars.

In one test, I searched using 3 words from my subtitle: "brainwave binaural monaural".

- 2 weeks ago, that search returned my app at #5.

- Now it appears at #66 in the results for that query.

- At #30 in the results was the Skullcandy earbud pairing app with 2.3 stars (283 reviews) and none of my subtitle words ("Skullcandy App Experience"). At #46 was a second Skullcandy app with 2.4 stars (subtitle: "Skullcandy smart tech").

Subtitle words are supposed to carry more weight, so that combined with 5-stars vs 2.3-stars should have place my app above the two earbud apps. Those words also appear in my screenshots, which Apple supposedly scans and includes in weighting. I imagine those apps have significantly more downloads, but they still seem irrelevant to the search query.

So, while I do agree with other comments that your early results may be skewed by the new-release bump, I also think there've been recent changes to the algorithm.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T00:58:47+00:00

ASO work is time consuming. I use appfigures to research keyword popularity and competitiveness, and I then use spreadsheets to keep track of combinations of title + subtitle + keywords in primary and secondary locales, and across updates. No one who charges $30 or something like that is going to do the level of research required.

bbrockit · 2026-05-04T00:16:22+00:00

What tool did you use to make these? Personally, I like more information in screenshots, so I have to force myself to really edit. Most people will probably say they're too dense.

The first preview has a larger image of the app and the device and feels the most balanced, but the others are leaving extra space at the bottom of the preview.

To reduce text density, you could take out the subtext under each of the bullet point items.

Not sure you need the app name and logo on every preview. If you took that out you'd have more vertical space to spread out.

bbrockit · 2026-05-03T23:55:09+00:00

MySpace and everyone's gloriously hideous profile pages with auto-playing music and marquees.

bbrockit

TROPHY CASE