r/AppBusiness

I have a niche app that I’m looking to build a more solid user base.

How have people successfully done this in the past? What marketing methods worked for you?

What hasn’t worked? What was a complete waste of money?

if recording yourself makes you cringe do this

1. create a instagram page for your app

2. grab a carroussel generator. reason: just like tiktok, instagram is pushing carousels hard rn . i use http://slidezz.app (disclosure it's mine)

3. generate some ideas with the ai, select a carousel template and set up an automation

4. posst post post, i'd post info content on your niche for example how oasis do it

5. Run ads on winning posts

I’m a solo iOS developer and I recently built an app called LCKDN.

It’s an iPhone app for people who want a calmer relationship with their phone.

The idea is not really “productivity” in the hustle sense. I don’t want to position it as do more work, block everything, become a machine.

The philosophy is more:

• less noise
• more life
• fewer unconscious scrolls
• calmer phone habits
• intentional app use
• protected moments for focus, sleep, family, reading, etc.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to market this kind of app without making it feel like another aggressive screen time/productivity tool.

My current thoughts:

1. ASO around keywords like app blocker, screen time, minimalist phone, stop scrolling
2. Instagram posts with calm editorial visuals
3. Reddit discussions around digital minimalism and phone habits, without spamming
4. Short videos showing relatable phone distraction moments
5. Positioning it more as “calm phone” than “productivity”

But I’m not fully sure what angle would convert best.

For people who have marketed iOS apps before:

Would you position this more as:

• an app blocker?
• a digital wellbeing app?
• a minimalist phone app?
• a focus app?
• a screen time app?
• something else?

Also, what kind of content would you make for this?

I’m open to honest feedback. I’m still learning app marketing and trying to do this in a transparent way, not fake UGC or spammy posts.

You build an app with AI over a weekend. It works. people sign up. Then one afternoon a user emails and asks why they can see someone else's invoice when they change the number in the link.

That is not a rare story. earlier this year a popular AI app builder had a bug where any free account could pull other people's source code, database keys, and private chats. On one AI app marketplace, roughly one in ten apps were quietly leaking user data the same way. Same root cause every time.

The bug has a boring name (people call it BOLA or IDOR) and a simple meaning. One logged-in user can reach another user's stuff. Your app checks that you are logged in. It forgets to check that the thing you are asking for is actually yours. The AI writes the part that makes the feature work and quietly skips the part that asks "wait, is this yours?" So the app looks perfect in the demo and leaks in production.

Here is the annoying part. A code scanner cannot really see this. It is not a bad word sitting in your code, it is a missing check in a live request. A one time audit checks the day it runs, then you ship ten more changes the next week.

The good news is you can test for it yourself in about two minutes:

1. Make two accounts in your own app. Call them A and B.
2. Log in as A and open something private. A note, an order, a profile. Look at the id in the address bar or the network request, something like /api/orders/1042.
3. Now log in as B and ask for A's exact thing. Same /api/orders/1042.
4. If B gets A's data back, you have the bug. If B gets blocked, that endpoint is fine. Repeat on your other main screens.

The fix is one idea. On the server, every time you read or change a record, check that the record belongs to the logged in user. Not just that they are logged in, that this specific row is theirs. Never trust the id coming from the browser.

I run into this constantly in AI-built apps, and almost nobody checks until a user finds it first. Curious how many of you have actually run this test on your own app and what you found. And if you have a cleaner way to check across a whole app, I want to hear it.

A few months ago a guy named Marc found me online. Non technical, had an idea for an AI stylist app, no wireframes, no spec, just a clear vision and a budget.

Day 1: 45 minute call. We cut his feature list from 12 features to 4. This is always the hardest conversation.

Day 2 to 4: design. We sent him the first screens within 48 hours. He changed the direction once, which is normal and fine at this stage. Changing direction in design costs nothing. Changing it in development costs thousands.

Day 5 to 12: development. Daily updates, short videos of progress. He saw the app running on his phone on day 8, which is the moment every founder finally believes it is real.

Day 13 to 14: App Store submission. Approved on the first try because we handle the review guidelines from day one instead of discovering them at the end.

What made this work when most projects drag for months: a fixed price agreed upfront (no hourly billing, so no incentive to go slow), a brutal scope cut at the start, and a founder who made decisions fast.

What I would tell anyone sitting on an app idea: the gap between idea and live product is much smaller than you think, but only if you resist building everything at once.

AMA about the process, costs, or App Store stuff.

Stack your herbs and find the combined benefits!

I launched a stock research app (iOS + Android) in January as a solo developer. Since then I've tried Apple Search Ads, TikTok, Instagram ads, LinkedIn, and Reddit. Sharing what I've learned since marketing questions come up here a lot.

What worked:

1. Reddit, by far. Genuine posts in relevant communities outperformed every paid channel on cost-per-install. The key was writing like a person, not a marketer — posts framed as "I built this, here's the story" got traction; anything that read like ad copy got ignored or removed.

2. Promo codes as social proof. Giving away free premium codes early built up ratings fast. I'm at 4.8 stars now, and that rating does more for App Store conversion than any screenshot change I made.

3. A 7-day free trial. Adding it via RevenueCat noticeably improved subscription conversion vs. hard paywall.

What didn't work (for me):

1. TikTok ads — cheap impressions, almost zero quality installs for a finance app. Wrong audience intent.

2. LinkedIn posts — decent engagement, near-zero installs. People scroll LinkedIn to network, not to download apps.

3. Obsessing over ASO keywords before having reviews. Rankings barely moved until the rating count grew.

Other lessons:
- Apple rejected me multiple times pre-launch because market data looked "static" during off-market hours. Fixed it by adding crypto prices (24/7 data) and a market status indicator. If your app shows time-sensitive data, plan for how it looks when markets are closed.

- Running my own subreddit for the app has been surprisingly useful for retention and feature feedback.

Happy to answer questions about any of this — especially the Reddit strategy, since that's what people ask me about most.

Hey everyone,

I have been thinking a lot about something I ran into myself recently.

Building an app with AI tools feels easier than ever now. You can get pretty far with Codex, Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, Expo, React Native or whatever stack you like.

But once the app actually works, the next part can get weirdly confusing.

For me, the hard part was not only coding anymore. It was figuring out what to do before releasing it properly.

Google Play Console, App Store review, privacy policy, data safety, account deletion, test accounts, screenshots, subscriptions, reviewer notes, all that stuff.

It feels like AI can help you build the product, but then you are suddenly on your own when you need to make it ready for a real launch.

I am curious if others had the same experience.

If you built an app with AI or no code tools, what was the most annoying or confusing part after the app was technically working?

Was it store submission, privacy stuff, payments, screenshots, review rejection, app signing, publishing, legal pages, or something completely different?

I am asking because I had this problem myself and I am currently building a small tool that tries to help with this exact step. The idea is to check if an AI built app is ready for Apple and Google Play, find likely rejection risks and generate clear fix tasks for your coding agent.

But before going too deep into building, I would love to hear what actually caused pain for other people.

What did you get stuck on after the app was built?

I have build an online plattform to sell and promote digital products. I put pretty much effort into build the app, adding cool features such as MCP integration, fixing bugs etc. Now, I think it is pretty competitive and would actually provide a benefit for many people. However, I'm having a really hard time getting the first users. I have tried several approaches. Just posting the app here on Reddit leads to getting banned because of spam. Sending DM's to people on Instagram typically leads to my messages beeing in their requests folder without being read. Ads on Instagram or Facebook do not work with my limited budget. All in all, very frustrating What is your experience? Did you find a way to get your app promoted and how did you manage to find your first users?