u/StandAmbitious5270

Hey All

I created a BBQ app which has been live on the App Store for about 3 weeks now. I thought of the idea a couple months back and spent about a month developing before I finally got approved by Apple. I was rejected 8 times - I think that might be a record.

After a couple weeks of Tik Tok, Reddit, and IG posts I finally got my 1st paying customer with 35 downloads. I know these numbers aren’t impressive , but for me to create something out of nothing is a huge accomplishment.

I am new to development , marketing , and posting on socials. Many of my reels just die off after 100 views or so. But I did have a couple of moderately viewed posts in the last week or so that marginally increased my downloads and ultimately led to my 1st paying customer.

I know this is a small feat but it has energized me to continue to market and revise my app to make an even better version next go around.

Not to sound too corny, It really is about the journey not the destination, I have learned so much in the last several months and used parts of my brain I haven’t used in ages.

Good luck to all! Also here is a link to my app if you are interested,

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

I bought myself a rack of pork loin ribs from Sprouts. I ended up seasoning them about 3 hrs before putting them on the smoker with salt, coarse pepper, garlic herbs, and cajun seasoning. I fired up my Smokey Mountain with briquettes and 3 small blocks of mesquite wood. I love the strong bite of mesquite. I put the ribs on when the pit hit 275 F and let it ride there for 3 hours or so. I was using my BBQ app (see link below) to monitor temp and pulled it around 195 F and then layed it in foil. I then put a couple of scoops of butter on top and wrapped it up. Placed it on the WSM again for another hour, then glazed it with some BBQ sauce.

Overall, everyone enjoyed it, but I thought it was a little too salty and the smoke taste wasn’t strong enough. Any advice on getting more smoke flavor? If you look at the meat , it had a decent smoke ring but wondering what I can alter to make it even smokier.

Please rate my meat! Always looking to get better.
Also, here is a link for my to monitor and control temps. Free to download!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

I bought myself a rack of pork loin ribs from Sprouts. I ended up seasoning them about 3 hrs before putting them on the smoker with salt, coarse pepper, garlic herbs, and cajun seasoning. I fired up my Smokey Mountain with briquettes and 3 small blocks of mesquite wood. I love the strong bite of mesquite. I put the ribs on when the pit hit 275 F and let it ride there for 3 hours or so. I was using my BBQ app (see link below) to monitor temp and pulled it around 195 F and then layed it in foil. I then put a couple of scoops of butter on top and wrapped it up. Placed it on the WSM again for another hour, then glazed it with some BBQ sauce.

Overall, everyone enjoyed it, but I thought it was a little too salty and the smoke taste wasn’t strong enough. Any advice on getting more smoke flavor? If you look at the meat , it had a decent smoke ring but wondering what I can alter to make it even smokier.

Please rate my meat! Always looking to get better.
Also, here is a link for my to monitor and control temps. Free to download!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

I built an app and wanted to gain some marketing traction so I caved and bought $25 worth of Tik Tok ads. It was actually $17 but an extra $8 in fees to Apple Pay. I thought it was going to be money well spent bc it guaranteed like 9k views.

Experiment backfired because I got thousands of views but with only 7 likes and no additional followers or downloads. I will admit , my Tik Tok skills are amateur and the reel I made left much to be desired , but it wasn’t horrible. See reel above.

I feel like Tik Tok just sent my reel to some iPhone farm in China just to pump reviews but with no real engagement.

Anyone else experience the same? I feel App Store ads with a free $100 credit is the way to go as I got all my downloads from that. Also organic ads on Tik Tok seem more effective, I haven’t had much luck with IG but am now gonna start posting on FB bc they have a lot of groups. I’ve posted on Reddit bbq forums but they hate my app bc it conflicts with traditional bbq.

I really think my app is useful for the right audience. It’s just frustrating in to find the audience, take a look at app below.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

Also, what do you think of my ad? What can i improve on?

🙏 ✌🏼❤️

I’ve somewhat new to smoking brisket, my dad always did it and I have recently wanted to carry on the tradition. This Reddit community has saved more than a few of my cooks. Figured I’d give something back.

I can’t tell you how many briskets Ive ruined before I got the hang of it — not letting it rest long enough, pulling too early, not wrapping tight enough - so many details. So over the last several months I taught myself to build an iPhone app to take the guesswork out of it.

It walks you through smoking different meats step by step, tracks your temps, and — the part I’m actually proud of — you can snap a photo at any stage and get feedback on how it’s coming along. There’s also an ask-anything tool for when you’re standing at the smoker at 6am googling “why did my temp stall.”
I built it for people like us who don’t want to ruin a cook everyone’s been looking forward to. It’s on the App Store (it’s called BBQ Smoke Lab). Most of it’s free — happy to give out codes to anyone here who wants to kick the tires and tell me what’s broken, because honestly the feedback from this crowd is worth more than downloads.

Not trying to spam anyone — genuinely just want fellow smokers to stop losing sleep over the stall. Roast me if the app’s junk, I can take it. Any user feedback would be awesome!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

Hi All

I created my first app and am in the marketing/distribution stage. I’ve watched so many YouTube videos on how to market your app, some recommend a completely organic approach thru the typical social media vehicles (completely free) and others recommend a paid advertising approach.

I’m a bit skeptical of the paid advertising route because in so many of the videos I watched, the YouTuber is recommending to use their own advertising tool so it just seems like a self serving, money grab video. But given the number of options, there has to be some good ones. One that I have come across several times is the noise app. Has anyone used that ? Or which tools have been successful for you ?

I created a BBQ smoking app which provides a full proof , step by step instruction on to how to properly and consistently smoke various meats (ie.brisket ) thereby preventing a cooking disaster. I created it because I ruined many expensive briskets on my own. I just started the marketing process and created Tik Tok and IG profiles, but it definitely is a grind as I don’t have many followers yet.

Any feedback or tips would be greatly appreciated. See link below for my app, if you would like to take a look, I am happy to download and provide feedback to yours as well. Thank you !

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bbq-smoke-lab/id6784887885

Hey Everyone

I smoked a tri tip this past weekend for the first time on my WSM. My kids typically like red meat on Sundays so it gave me an excuse to break out my smoking skills (or lack thereof). I bought a prime cut 30 oz tri tip at my local butcher and seasoned with an herb/spice seasoning and garlic pepper. I smoked it for about an hour at 250 F, pulled it around 130 F (my kids like medium). I cranked up my grill to about 600 and seared both sides for about 2 minutes each, while I threw some garlic butter on top. I let it rest and then let the kids eat it up, they are my harshest critic and gave me a 6/10 “don’t really taste the smoke.” But they stlll ate it all up.

Any tips on getting a good smoke taste for a short cook?

Cook Details on WSM:
325 F @ 2 hrs (ran too hot bc too much charcoal)
250 F @ 4 hrs
Pulled with point at 195 F/ flat at 210 F
Rested for 45 minutes open air
Rested for 3 hours in cooler