u/tiaanvdr

I'd love to get some feedback on the AppStore images, spent forever on these, but still not a designer by trade, so I'm sure there's still much that can be improved!

Appstore link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/passport-stamps-travel-map/id6749786209

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone ever had any success with Apple Ads? I followed the advice of several YouTube videos and somehow ended up spending nearly 75$ for 4 downloads. Clearly I must be doing something wrong.

Should I make my keywords broader? Most were set as exact matches
Should I target larger markets like the US? Initially, I was trying to market smaller markets like Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and the UK to try and keep costs down

I'm genuinely baffled. This was my first attempt at running Apple Ads for my app, the market is quite niche, so I desperately wanted this to work. At least Apple gives $100 to first-time users, so this mistake didn't have to be run on my dime, but in the future I'd just prefer this to work

I really believe in the app, and I'm quite proud of it, but as I said, the market is quite niche and either already populated by less functional, but already entrenched apps like Been, or flooded by half-broken AI apps. I'd really appreciate any advice

Guess which province I live in and my job, will follow up tomorrow
Really need to travel more, there's too much to see

I wanted a way to visualize exactly where I've been based on the photos I've taken.
I realized I was constantly using Apple Photos photo pins as a reminder and a visualization of where I've been. Often even using it as a guide to point me towards underexplored neighbourhoods and spots in my own city.

I used to love Google Photos' heatmap, but I haven't been able to find an alternative for my Apple Photos gallery. Stamps uses your photos as a source of truth for where you've been: cities, provinces, countries, each individual trip, all the info already exists in your gallery.

I didn't want to overcomplicate the app. There is no sign-up, no backend, no 3rd party API's. No location tracking is required. You can freely export all of your data, and use it elsewhere if you'd like as well.

You can get it on the AppStore free. There is a one-time lifetime unlock for $10, but the majority of the app is completely free to use, and it's mostly for some minor cosmetic customization. Access to unlimited pins for all countries, cities, and provinces is all free. All of the automatic trip tracking, visit day counting, and of course, the photo heatmap is also free.

The heatmap effect was written using Metal. Basically the only way of achieving this effect while maintaining smooth zooming and panning, even for large photo galleries. The rest of the app was built exclusively using SwiftUI.

You can use this link if you'd like to try the full version for 50% off, but again, it shouldn't be needed  https://apps.apple.com/redeem/?ctx=offercodes&id=6749786209&code=STAMPS50

Should be an easy guess

I am the developer of Stamps. A private, fully-local, automatic travel tracker with no signup, no subscription, and no location tracking

Motivation:  I've been an avid user of apps like Been and Flighty for years, but always found them lacking and sometimes frustrating. Most require you to create accounts, enable location tracking, and stay online, all while not delivering the level of granular trip tracking and route visualization that I feel like should've been possible. Stamps keeps everything local and automatic, focusing on the timeline and map experience those apps skimp on. 

Pricing: It’s Free to download, with a one-time lifetime unlock of $10. Full, free access to unlimited visit pins for countries, cities, and provinces. Full access to all provinces for all countries. Full, granular, and automatic tracking of all your trips, from country to country, and even city to city. The unlock is purely for some minor (mostly cosmetic) app color customization. I did not want to ruin the experience by overly monetizing the app. I’m not a big fan of apps that require ongoing subscriptions when it's not absolutely needed either.

You can even freely export and share all of your data. If you want Stamps to simply process it for you (generate a list of countries, cities, and provinces you've been to), and then offload it somewhere else, that's also fine.

My favorite new feature is the photo heatmap: a Snap Map-style glow over all the places your photos were taken. My first time experimenting with Metal, which took embarrassingly long to get right.

Tech stack used:
SwiftUI, SwiftData, MapKit, PhotoKit, WidgetKit, Metal
No backend, no account system, no external map API. Just native Apple sdk's and as little infrastructure as possible.

Some of the best features have come from user feedback, so I'd really appreciate any!

Stamps, is a private, fully-local travel tracker with no signup, no subscription, and no location tracking

I've been an avid user of apps like Been and Flighty for years, but always found them lacking and sometimes frustrating. Most require you to create accounts, enable location tracking, and stay online, all while not delivering the level of granular trip tracking and route visualization that I feel like should've been possible. Stamps keeps everything local and automatic, focusing on the timeline and map experience those apps skimp on.

You can even freely export and share all of your data. If you want Stamps to simply process it for you (generate a list of countries, cities, and provinces you've been to), and then offload it somewhere else, that's also fine.

Since moving to South Korea, traveling has been the only thing keeping me sane. I'm obsessed with tracking where I've been. Stamps gives me a great excuse to explore as much of the country I now call home as possible, while taking as many photos along the way as I can as well.

It’s Free to download, with a one-time lifetime unlock of $10 (and it'll stay that way forever). This is only for the full timeline, and some minor app color customization only. I did not want to ruin the experience by overly monetizing it. I’m not a big fan of apps that require ongoing subscriptions either. I really want everyone to give it a try, if the lifetime unlock is too steep, feel free to use this code https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6749786209&code=STAMPSLIFETIME50 (Promo codes can be a bit dodgy. This was simply generated within the App Store Connect platform. It'll take you directly to the App Store itself, where you can redeem through Apple's own platform. Never knew this was possible before, but I guess that's a nice pro of using native StoreKit.) The code will cut the lifetime unlock price in half for you to try - again, you can use most of the app without ever needing to touch this

Tech stack used:
SwiftUI, SwiftData, MapKit, PhotoKit, WidgetKit
No backend, no account system, no external map API. Just native Apple sdk's and as little infrastructure as possible.

Some of the best features have come from user feedback, so I'd really appreciate any!

No signup, no subscription, no location needed, all local and automatic.
I've been an avid user of apps like Been and Flighty to track my travels for years now, but I always found them lacking and frustrating. Most of these apps require you to create accounts, enable location tracking, and be online constantly. All while not providing the level of granular trip tracking and route visualization that I feel like should've always been possible. I built Stamps to be the dream travel journal I've always wanted.

Since moving to South Korea, traveling has been the only thing keeping me sane. I'm obsessed with keeping track of which cities, which provinces, and, of course, which countries I've been to and when. Stamps gives me a great excuse to try and explore as much of the country I now call home, and take as many photos along the way as possible

This is my first production Swift app. The market for an app like this is likely quite small, but I've had a blast building it! I'd really appreciate any feedback you guys have