u/javialvarez142

I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but I’m genuinely proud to have £10k saved for the first time in my life

For many people that’s probably not much. But I’m 26, and after multiple failed business attempts (coffee shop, hair salon booking software, clothing brand…) I finally "made it"

I started building mobile apps right at the beginning of the year, spending hundreds every month on Meta ads (always targeting UK audience) and I’ve been getting pretty good results

I now have 3 mobile apps in different niches. I’m not even a developer, but with AI everything is possible

Time to keep scaling

probably the easiest way to grow an app for lazy founders (my tribe):

step 1: study what is already working

apps worth reverse-engineering right now:

• cal ai (food scanning, ~$3m/mo)
• umax (face rating / looksmaxxing)
• pray screen (faith / prayer lock)

what to analyze:

• the emotion they target
• the “aha moment”
• how the paywall is placed inside the flow

take the blueprint, improve execution, and add your own angle

important: direct clones don’t work. apple can reject them or the original founder can report them.

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step 2: sell to a core human desire

the 9 core desires that convert best:

• attractiveness
• health
• wealth
• sex
• status
• intelligence
• identity
• fear
• belonging

key insight: “am i attractive?” converts better than “am i productive?”

people are not emotionally invested in their to-do list.

rule: viral feature + core desire = revenue

if you can capture an “aha moment” in a single screen recording, you have something strong (face ratings, height predictors, food scanners, etc.).

⸻

step 3: pricing that apple consistently approves

• $12.99 / week
• $59.99 / year
• $44.99 / year retention offer (only in cancellation flow)

insight: this pricing feels high, but it works because users are emotionally activated at the point of purchase.

the retention offer is often free money that most teams ignore.

important: only show the retention offer in the cancellation flow or apple may reject it.

⸻

step 4: ads and creatives

best performing format:

before / after

• show the “before”
• then the “after”
• the reveal is the ad itself

do not sell the app. sell the outcome.

how to improve performance:

• use hooks that already work on tiktok
• replace faces using AI tools (kling, nano banana, etc.)

basically use AI human reactions inside proven viral formats (real people)

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step 5: ad machine (tiktok)

setup:

• tiktok smart+ campaign
• optimize for purchase or subscribe (not installs)
• $50/day starting budget
• usa only
• run for 2–3 days before deciding

rule: you only need one winning creative.

find it, then scale aggressively.

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step 6: ad management

target metrics:

• cpi under $2
• ctr above 1%
• cpa below ltv

scaling rule:

• if it works: increase budget by +30% every 3 days
• faster scaling can break tiktok optimization

if it doesn’t work:

• kill the ad
• change creative
• do not touch campaign settings

in most cases, creative is the problem, not targeting.

bonus: hidden advantages most ios founders miss

• tiktok matches your first $6k in ad spend (new accounts)
• apple small business program reduces fees from 30% to 15%
• apple payouts take ~45 days, plan cashflow accordingly

tldr:

1. study apps already printing money (cal ai, umax, pray screen)
2. build a better execution, not a clone
3. target a strong core human desire
4. use high pricing + retention offer
5. create 10–12 before/after ugc variations
6. run tiktok smart+ at $50/day (usa only)
7. find one winning creative and scale +30% every 3 days
8. use tiktok credits and apple sbp to improve margins

I’m building an app in a niche with a lot of potential, but I just got a bit demotivated seeing that many apps in this niche are spending insane amounts on ads ($50k,$100k,$200k...) that are obviously impossible for me. In this case the ad spend is from an app called Learna (I took the screenshot from here)

What’s the best way to compete against this?

I keep hearing that the best ideas come from solving your own problems, but honestly most of the issues I run into already seem to have existing apps for them. In that case how do you even find something worth building?

Update:

After reading your comments, these are the conclusions I came to:

• with AI, 90% is distribution
• always build something that already works and is making money, use platforms like this one or this one to spot apps that are already profitable and replicate them
• look for apps with bad ratings so you have a lot of room for improvement
• focus on micro niches
• build something you actually enjoy building and don’t find boring, otherwise you’ll eventually burn out

I just saw this alarm app reached $200k MRR in just 3 months

It’s not a normal alarm app because to turn it off you have to complete some kind of mission. The idea is good but this growth still seems crazy to me

*Screenshot is from appkittie btw

You can try it for free here

Once you're in, filter by apps running meta ads (we're adding hundreds of apps every day)

Any feedback is welcome!

it’s the first time since i launched this app that i’ve hit $3,000 in the last 28 days

zero ad spend, just posting from multiple tiktok accounts, fully organic. i’ll do the same on instagram soon (although i’ve never managed to go viral on ig)

this is everything i’ve used/am using:

• rork: to build the app, but you can also use antigravity which is free. rork can be expensive depending on how you manage credits, but it’s convenient (at least for me)
• appkittie: this is where i got the idea from (my app is a gym workout tracker). i simply filtered apps making +$30k/mo that were launched less than 1 year ago, got dozens of results and picked one that i used as inspiration
• tiktok: i post from 3 accounts every day, same format on each account, they are 20–30 second videos. i never repeat a video, i always change something, otherwise tiktok can flag it as duplicated content and shadowban your account (it’s happened to me)
• kling and nanobana: the tools i use to create the hooks for my videos. i use them to create ai influencers reacting as if they’re shocked, which helps retain users and makes them keep watching the video (first 3 seconds)

literally the process of how i create the videos could be a whole other post, even a youtube video (i don’t have a yt channel sorry)

next steps:

as i said i’ll start with instagram soon. i’ll just repost the same videos i already post on tiktok, zero extra effort really. not sure if it will convert as well as tiktok

i don’t plan to run ads because tbh i have no idea about it. several people told me you need to invest at least $100/day… too much risk