r/AppBusiness

So I started building this app earlier this year and shipped v1 a couple weeks back had to wait on Apple review longer than expected .

Then tried marketing it , mostly on Reddit and one small community WhatsApp group . Skipped instagram and youtube because the niche is tiny and ads would just burn cash on the wrong audience . Saw barely anything , 1-2 trials started ,both cancelled within a day . The audience was off .

So I stopped pushing it . But out of nowhere , a user who cancelled the trial earlier came back and subscribed . It feels like I have actually made something worth paying for .

Now I am confused on how to get more . I have started doing App store optimisation but what else can I do to actually boost downloads and revenue ??

The app is a community focus tool and has a hard paywall after onboarding .

This sub gets the assignment better than most so I'll be direct.

The no-code movement solved half the problem. You can build almost anything now without knowing how to code, which is genuinely incredible and wasn't true five years ago. But there's still a gap that nobody talks about. Even with the best no-code tools you still have to know which tools to pick, how to connect them, how to write copy that converts, how to set up ad accounts, how to source products, how to structure a funnel. The learning curve didn't disappear, it just moved.

Most people in this sub know exactly what I mean. You've spent a weekend deep in Zapier trying to get two things to talk to each other that should just work. You've rebuilt your Webflow site three times because the first two didn't convert. You've watched your Notion dashboard get more elaborate while the actual business stayed the same size.

That's the gap Locus Founder closes.

You describe what you want to build. The AI handles everything else. It sources products directly from AliExpress and Alibaba (or sell YOUR OWN digital services, products, or content), builds a real storefront around them, writes conversion-optimized copy, then autonomously creates and runs ads on Google, Facebook and Instagram. No Zapier. No Webflow. No piecing together eight tools that half work. Just a running business.

If you don't have an idea yet it interviews you and figures out what makes sense for your situation.

We got into YCombinator this year and we're opening 100 free beta spots this week before public launch. Free to use, you keep everything you make.

For the people in this sub specifically, this isn't a replacement for no-code tools for people who love building. It's for everyone who wanted the outcome but never wanted to become a tools expert to get there. Big difference.

Beta form: https://forms.gle/nW7CGN1PNBHgqrBb8

Happy to answer anything about how it works under the hood.

This started as a random idea I kept coming back to. I wanted something simple where you can save small things you might want to try someday. Foods, hobbies, places, or just random ideas that usually end up buried in Notes and forgotten.

I built it using Expo and React Native and tried to keep it as lightweight as possible. The goal was to avoid making it feel like a to do list. There is no pressure and no productivity angle, just a space to collect ideas.

I also recently added widgets, which has been one of my favorite additions. It makes the app feel more present without relying on notifications, which fits the low pressure vibe much better.

The biggest thing I have learned is that simple is actually really hard. Every extra tap or bit of friction becomes obvious very quickly. Onboarding also matters much more than I expected, even for a small app like this.

It is still early, but seeing around 600 people using something I built is a great feeling. It has made about 50$ so far, which is not huge, but it feels like real validation that the idea resonates with at least some people.

Any feedback is welcome, whether positive or critical.

AppStore: Malu: Idea Journal

Hey everyone,

We recently crossed almost 1,000 downloads and around $300 in revenue.

Still small numbers, but enough to start learning real things from real users. Here are the biggest lessons so far:

1. ASO matters way more than I expected
Around 80–90% of our downloads come from App Store search. For a mobile app, ASO is not optional. Better keywords, screenshots, translations, and conversion rate can slowly compound into more visibility.

2. Always make it easy for users to give feedback
Some of our best product decisions came from users who reached out directly. A simple email, form, Reddit post, or feedback button can be enough.

3. Onboarding is probably the biggest revenue lever
If users don’t understand the value quickly, they leave. Small changes in onboarding, copy, screen order, and paywall timing can have a real impact.

4. Track everything that matters
You need to know where users come from, where they drop, what they use, what they ignore, and where they convert. Without analytics, you’re mostly guessing.

5. Translations can unlock unexpected markets
We translated the app into 8 languages and were surprised to see traction in places like Russia. Even when revenue is lower, more users means more feedback and more behavioral data.

6. US users monetize much better
For us, the US install-to-payment conversion rate is roughly 2x higher than the rest of the world. Other countries help us learn, but the US is where most of the revenue potential is.

7. Test a paywall during onboarding
Around 68% of our conversions happen before users even sign up. I know onboarding paywalls can be controversial, but for us it clearly matters.

8. Reviews are harder than they look
It took us several attempts to find a review prompt logic that actually worked. Timing matters a lot: not too early, not too late.

Main takeaway: the more data you have, the less you rely on your own assumptions. What you want as a founder doesn’t matter as much as what users actually do.

Our app is Paintly, a small app to learn art history through one artwork a day, in around 2 minutes.

Paintly is available on iOS and Android here if you want to try it:
https://taap.it/getpaintly

Happy to answer questions or debate any of this in the comments.

My app is launched and in the App Store. Making progress and up 196 users since launch. I’m marketing across social channels - Instagram, tik tok, niche discussion groups, etc.

The problem I’m having is I have no idea where the users are coming from. I can see where there is engagement on socials, but that doesn’t seem to track directly to new users. How do you all track what marketing is working and where users are coming from?

Hey 👋

I've been working on Foldwise for a few months and today v1.0 is live.

What it does: watches your folders in the background and automatically

sorts files using IF→THEN rules you define. No cloud, no subscription,

everything runs locally on your Mac.

Some things it can do:

- Move files by type, name, extension, size, date, or PDF text content

- Rename with patterns like {date}_{name}

- Schedule daily/weekly cleanup routines

- Preview exactly what a rule would do before enabling it

- Undo any action from the activity log

- Suggest rules automatically using on-device AI (macOS 26+)

Free plan includes 1 folder and 3 rules. Pro is a one-time €24.

Would love honest feedback from this community — especially on

the rule builder UX, which was the hardest part to get right.

→ foldwise.pro

Really excited and wanted to share with Reddit and people who support these kind of achievements. Ive worked on this app for a little while now and im excited to share it with others. Its pretty cool to see it on the AppStore. Would love for any feedback and reviews will help! Now on route to getting users

Heads down building, shipping, and talking with users that’s how today’s going.

A user told us: “When I feel bored, I open your app.”

Not sure if that’s a good thing, bad thing, or somewhere in between :))

Photo reveal of the whole team once we hit 100 members in this community 👀

PS - This is the current photo while I was writing this post

Orangeinvest

Hi Guys, ı am an indie dev. and developed a subs. tracker app. There is an algorithm app that uses math rather than ai. The app Basicly does everything a subs. app does and additionally gives real saving advices according to your spending habit. ı havent been succesfull so far and need feedback from you guys.

Can you check and give feedbacks?

here is the link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yula-subscription-tracker-ai/id6759402076

​

Hey r/appbusiness,

I recently launched my Android app called Nearfolks.

It’s a private relationship notebook that helps people remember the small details about the people in their life — birthdays, interests, personal notes, follow-ups, gift ideas, and things mentioned in past conversations.

The core idea is simple: not every “relationship management” tool needs to be a sales CRM. Some people just want a private, personal place to remember friends, family, community members, clients, and people they genuinely care about.

I positioned it around privacy and simplicity:

- no account

- no cloud

- no tracking

- works offline

- data stays on the user’s phone

For monetization, I avoided subscriptions because I felt this kind of personal app should have low friction.

The app has a free version, and the upgrade is a one-time optional purchase for unlimited people, extra themes, and backups. No subscription.

I’m now trying to think through the business side:

- Is “private relationship notebook” clear enough positioning?

- Would you market this as a personal CRM, relationship journal, memory notebook, or something else?

- Is a one-time purchase model a mistake for this type of app, or does it fit the privacy-first positioning?

- What acquisition channels would you test first for an app like this?

Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nearfolks.notebook

NoThink is my second iOS app. 7 weeks live. Total revenue: $10. About 6–20 App Store impressions per day. One subscription. I'm a solo indie dev with a full-time job and studies, English isn't my first language, and I need to share something honest.

This week I sat down and audited my own ASO from scratch. It was bad.

My title was "NoThink: Pause, Reset, Unwind" — three emotive verbs, zero high-volume search keywords. My description never named a single one of my actual features (Box Breathing, Panic Relief, Do Nothing, Deep Thinking, Binaural sounds). My Turkish title had a typo — "Anskiyete" instead of "Anksiyete" — that one transposed letter was blocking the entire Turkish App Store from finding me for 7 weeks.

So I rewrote everything from scratch:

- New title: NoThink: Anxiety & Breathing

- New subtitle: Panic Relief & Mindfulness

- Keyword field: 14 single words tuned to actual search data (meditation, stress, calm, box, breathwork, binaural, sleep, focus, zen, deep, reset, nothing, grounding, detox)

- Description rewritten naming every feature

- Fixed the Turkish typo

- Optimized listings for UK, AU, CA, Spain, Sweden, Traditional Chinese — instead of 5 markets falling back to English

What floored me in the research: the top result for "anxiety" in the US App Store is Rootd, with only 10K ratings. Apple's algorithm rewards topical relevance, not just rating count. The wellness category looks impossible because Calm and Headspace dominate, but at the body/long-tail keyword layer it's wide open.

I'll come back to this subreddit in exactly 2 weeks with real numbers — impressions, conversion, revenue, win or lose.

Side note on the $10 story: a few days ago I posted here and accidentally wrote that the "lifetime" purchase was $6.99, but App Store was showing $6.99 monthly. One redditor pointed it out. I felt horrible. He was incredibly kind, accepted the corrected price, and bought lifetime. Next morning I woke up to my first real subscription notification. After months of nights and weekends, that "cha-ching" felt huge.

If you've ever struggled with overthinking, racing thoughts, or panic — free 3-day trial, no signup:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nothink-pause-reset-unwind/id6759533620

If it helps even a little, an honest App Store review would mean the world. And if you have ASO ideas I missed, please tell me — I'd rather hear hard truths now than learn them at $20 in revenue.

Thanks for reading. Have a calm day 🌿