u/Double-Handle-4916

https://preview.redd.it/ft84s90mkb2h1.png?width=2382&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d8821cd34c9c4ba2ec363d5671805ac0fcfe0bd

Launched my first app about a month ago, kind of disappointed in the results honestly, but after scouring other reddit posts seems the app isnt as bad as I thought, as it generally is very hard to launch an indie app with no real marketing budget.

This post is about sharing what I have learned. 80% of the information on reddit and the internet in general is self serving or just marketing disguised as information, So I thought I'd actually make a post to share my experience to help someone out.

1. This app is completely vibe coded, even the screenshots for the app was created by claude, I have zero technical knowledge. EVERYTHING can now be built by vibe coding, even things that are complex and very technical.
2. I only launched on IOS, this was a mistake, when you launch your app, make sure you launch on both IOS and android, I have gotten so many messages asking to release this app on andriod and am now building the android version
3. Another huge mistake was not targeting a big enough market, for context this app is targeting a very spefic niche, although there is less competiton the market size is small enough that this app would never generate enough revenue that it can be my primary source of income. DO NOT BE DISCOURGED WHEN YOU SEE ALOT OF APPS IN THE SAME NICHE! go look at how many apps there are for intermitten fasting or plant identification, it is much better to be the 10th largest app in a big market than being the number 1 app in a small market.
4. If you are a solo developer and dont have a large marketing budget only create B2C apps you cannot win in B2B without a large ad spend. Speaking of marketing the absoloute best marketing chanel is TICKTOK. you need to create 2-3 accounts on ticktok and post atleast 1 peice of content daily to promote your app. you can repurpose the same content for insta reels. Once you start earning a little bit, reinvest that into influncer marketing on ticktok.
5. ASO is dead, obviously you want good screenshots and title and subtitles etc for better conversion, but you will not gain any meaningful downloads from ASO, every big enough search keyword with volume is already dominated. you have to drive downlaods yourself via social media marketing
6. The ONBOARDING is crucial most of the money is made on the onboarding, you have to create a great onboarding expereince, and by that I mean you have to get people excited about the app, and sell them that this app can help/solve there problem. Depending on the app and market you either want a hard paywall or premium feature upgrade. Make sure that if it is a hard paywall, you only offer 3 day free trial and not 7. 7 is way too long and will convert way less. also if you do decide hardpaywall upsell yearly subscription you can do this my making it cheaper to buy yearly. For context this app costs 2.99 a week so $140/year or $35.99 if they just buy yearly.
7. Given that with vibe coding the development cost for creating any app, is minimal there is actually a HUGE oppurtunity to make real money in this space in the next few years before everything becomes hyper saturated. MY best advice would be to create an app with a decent market, see what is already working, create a slightly better version and offer it cheaper, and then just go crazy with ticktok accounts, if you have the capital to buy 2-3 phones you can create 6-9 ticktok accounts, if you post consistently across all of these accounts. you will drive meaningful amounts of downloads, If the onboarding is set up well you can very reasonably expect to make 5K to 10K MRR or even more if one of your peices of content goes Viral, thats what I am planning to do with my next app.