u/IamGambas

Hey everyone,

We recently crossed almost 1,000 downloads and around $300 in revenue with our first app.

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.

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.

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share a small personal milestone and say thank you to the Expo team and community.

I’ve been working with React Native for almost 10 years now. For most of that time, I was building apps for other people, clients, companies, startups, agencies, you name it.And don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot from that.

But at some point, I started feeling this weird frustration: I had spent years helping other people ship their ideas, while never really giving myself the time to seriously build one of my own. So this year, I decided to change that.

A friend and I started building our own app, Paintly, a small daily art history app that helps people discover one artwork every day and learn a bit more about art in around 2 minutes.

Nothing massive. Nothing revolutionary. There are already apps in this space, but none of them felt exactly like what we wanted as users so we decided to build our own version.

And honestly, Expo has been a huge part of making that possible. Being able to move fast, iterate quickly, ship updates, test ideas, and avoid getting stuck in too much native complexity has made a real difference. Especially when you’re a small team and every hour matters.

We recently crossed 700+ downloads and around $200 in revenue.

It’s still very early. We’re not “successful” yet. But for us, it already feels meaningful because it’s the first time React Native and Expo are not just tools I use for work, they’re tools I’m using to try to build a different life. So yeah, thank you Expo.

Not only for the framework, but for making it feel possible to go from idea to real product without needing a huge team or huge budget.

Curious if anyone else here is also using Expo to build their own indie project or side business. Would love to hear what you’re working on.

And if anyone wants to check out Paintly and give feedback, here’s the link:
https://taap.it/getpaintly

Mine is The Swing from Fragonard it looks all light and playful at first, but the more you look at it, the more you realize how bold it actually is for its time. The hidden lover, the stolen moment, the whole “I don’t care about the rules” energy… it’s romantic but also a bit rebellious, which makes it even better. It is such a good representation of what Rococo is !