[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[nakamura]

lol why so edgy?

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/i-did-600-000-in-sales-on-my-first-year-of-shopify-ama.1368548/
i'm heaps ahead of u mate.

tell me what's fishy again?

I am edgy? Didn't you come into this thread and called other people's work "shit" without ever seeing it?

Also, I am not in competition with you or "your expert partner" (like you claimed in the JV thread). And yes, its fishy if a random guy PMs me with the title "yo, you need me". This might work in the ghetto when you try to sell drugs, but its certainly not working on here.

Its good you have figured out how paid ads work, congrats to you. I get organic traffic. And nope, I am sure you are not "heaps" ahead of me. Obviously, you need to sell your service (thats why you PMed me). I have made 6 figures without spending a single cent on ads, even tho I know how paid ads work. If you are sooooo good like you claim, why do you need to ask people to work with them? Shouldn't you have enough money to develop your own apps? Or to start another Shopify dropshipping store (lol) and scale it? However, as I said I am not in competition with you, so good luck to you

 

[CyberShrek]

Hello @nakamura, thx for your story. I had a google play account with about 30 fairly good quality apps with good screenshots, design, functionality. (The apps are all white hat). Over the last week google began diligently blocking, rejecting updates of my applications finding some stupid problems (eg it deleted the game for the fact that the description was a brief plot of the game). And in the end my account was blocked... While he was generating a good passive income ... I filed an appeal but I'm not sure if this will help... What can you advise me? Should I try to create a new account now in order to get my most profitable apps back?

 

[CyberShrek]

I plan to somehow create a new account (not sure I know how to do that safely), make a new design for the apps and try to upload them again. Do you think this is a good idea? Thanks.

 

[bucadi]

This is amazing well done

 

[nakamura]

I plan to somehow create a new account (not sure I know how to do that safely), make a new design for the apps and try to upload them again. Do you think this is a good idea? Thanks.

Same happened to me before. Its quite weird, but Google somehow just tried to find any possible reason they can to remove my app. So they just found a typo/grammar mistake in the chinese translation and took this as a reason to fully remove the app. Absolutely ridiculous and completely out of context.

Anyway, here is what you need:

- Different system (can be VMware, a different computer/laptop or install Windows on a different partition of your hard drive)
- Different IP (use a 4G mobile router, the ones where you put in the sim card). A hotspot with your phone might be not enough.
- Different phone number for verification (just ask your friends, siblings or parents if necessary)
- Different gmail acount of course
- Different credit card (dont use the same one you paid your terminated account with, don't use Revolut)
- Delete all files (gradle, keystore, etc.) that had something to do with the old version of your app. Simply "cleaning the build" or deleting cache won't help. Then, create a new Android key (SHA1 and SHA256 hash)
- Don't use Android Studio. Just don't. Use Visual Studio Code.

TL;DR

You have to get rid of ALL footprints. Its simply unbelievable how Google is constantly tracking, saving and using the meta data. Especially Android Studio. Basically, Android Studio is taking all kinda information about your system, device, etc. and sending it to Google.

 

[CyberShrek]

Thank you very much @nakamura for your response, please tell me in whose name I need to register an account and how to receive payments? Also, if I have not blocked Admob should I use it or is it better to create a new one?

 

[nakamura]

Thank you very much @nakamura for your response, please tell me in whose name I need to register an account and how to receive payments? Also, if I have not blocked Admob should I use it or is it better to create a new one?

No problem, thanks for reading through the thread and your interest.

If you want to receive payments through IAP you should probably use your real details or of some relative/friend if possible. If you don't want earn through IAP you can use any name (but depending on your location it could be possible they want to verify your developer account so be aware of that)

For the ad network: You can use the same Admob for different developer accounts. No risk.

But I would highly recommend you to use mediation such as Appodeal and to add two more ad networks like Applovin and Unity. In this way you have full control. You can simply turn Admob on and off without losing any money. Also, it helps you to regulate your traffic. For example I would send Tier 3 traffic (Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Thailand, etc.) to Unity and Applovin and only Tier 1 and some Tier 2 traffic (US, Germany, France, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, etc.) to Admob. In this way you won't risk anything.

 

[CyberShrek]

No problem, thanks for reading through the thread and your interest.

If you want to receive payments through IAP you should probably use your real details or of some relative/friend if possible. If you don't want earn through IAP you can use any name (but depending on your location it could be possible they want to verify your developer account so be aware of that)

For the ad network: You can use the same Admob for different developer accounts. No risk.

But I would highly recommend you to use mediation such as Appodeal and to add two more ad networks like Applovin and Unity. In this way you have full control. You can simply turn Admob on and off without losing any money. Also, it helps you to regulate your traffic. For example I would send Tier 3 traffic (Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Thailand, etc.) to Unity and Applovin and only Tier 1 and some Tier 2 traffic (US, Germany, France, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, etc.) to Admob. In this way you won't risk anything.

So Admob does not depend on google play? If I create a new developer account and connect it to Admob with a blocked developer account, will google not block my new account?

 

[CyberShrek]

So Admob does not depend on google play? If I create a new developer account and connect it to Admob with a blocked developer account, will google not block my new account?

Also, is it okay to register a new developer account for my family member (with the same last name) with his card connected to receive payments?
Thanks.

 

[nakamura]

Also, is it okay to register a new developer account for my family member (with the same last name) with his card connected to receive payments?
Thanks.

Yes, you can use the same Admob.

Also, yes it is okay. Just keep the other factors I outlined before in mind.

 

[CyberShrek]

Yes, you can use the same Admob.

Also, yes it is okay. Just keep the other factors I outlined before in mind.

Thanks again for your help. How about this scheme: I will create an account on a remote PC of my friend who is in another city through TeamViewer, then I will create a virtual machine on my main PC and connect it to the proxy and all applications will develop, build through the virtual machine, and then send to the remote PC and from it to publish the application.
I didn't miss anything?

 

[CyberShrek]

Hello again @nakamura , please tell me if I can use android studio to write code, generate icons in xml format, etc. But build the project in another IDE? What IDE can you advise me, very few ide supports android development in java... And should I re-download android sdk, build tools? Maybe you can advise me something. Thank you.
P.S Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, but this is the first time I've had this problem and I have no one to consult.

 

[WarlordYT]

@nakamura any updates bro ?

 

[nakamura]

Hello again @nakamura , please tell me if I can use android studio to write code, generate icons in xml format, etc. But build the project in another IDE? What IDE can you advise me, very few ide supports android development in java... And should I re-download android sdk, build tools? Maybe you can advise me something. Thank you.
P.S Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, but this is the first time I've had this problem and I have no one to consult.

I would directly only use Visual Studio or another IDE. Once you installed Android Studio, built the gradle, ran the app, etc. there is a footprint. The thing is, nobody really knows what kinda information Android Studio is sending to Google. They are probably collecting ALL kind of information about your internet connection, mac address, hashcodes (SHA1, SHA256, etc.) keys, bundle name, etc.

If you want to be 100% safe, don't use Android Studio. I know its kinda complicated, it is possible to setup VSC, for example, for Android.

If all of this is too much of work, you can simply use another computer, another internet connection (4g dongle) and start coding. Just make sure, that your app/code doesn't have any footprint (that you didn't run it on your main computer for example)

@nakamura any updates bro ?

Yes, still making the same amount of money as from the last update. Apple App Store is really stable. They don't remove any apps at all.

Unfortunately, I caught Covid last week on Wednesday and I got some really bad symptoms (40°C fever, etc.). Couldn't do anything at all for a couple of days and even now it still has an impact on my productivity, even tho most symptoms are gone already.

I have a lot list of apps that I want to publish. Probably around 10-15 apps, cross-platform (so for iOS and Android). No idea how long it is going to take to finish/upload all of them.

 

[NimaZeynali]

Hi bud,
sorry for the question :

whats CPI for a VPN app? for tier1

 

[nakamura]

Hi bud,
sorry for the question :

whats CPI for a VPN app? for tier1

No idea. Never had a VPN app, but my guess is it could be quite high since there are competitors like NordVPN and so on. Also depends on whether it is iOS or Android.

CPI also depends on your app itself, your ads, your screenshots, ratings, etc. it's important to make A/B tests on various different ad platforms such as:
- Facebook ads
- TikTok ads
- Adwords

 

[VAT]

What is the source of traffic? Do you run paid ads for acquisition?

 

[nakamura]

What is the source of traffic? Do you run paid ads for acquisition?

Not spending a single cent for traffic for a couple of months already. I think last time I spent money on ads was in November or October 2021. So, all traffic (and the earnings) are organic.

 

[VAT]

Not spending a single cent for traffic for a couple of months already. I think last time I spent money on ads was in November or October 2021. So, all traffic (and the earnings) are organic.

I assume you have done tremendous amount of ASO to generate such income with only organic traffic.
When you launch an app, do you start doing paid ads initially to increase the app ranking? If yes, when do you stop the ads?

 

[nakamura]

I assume you have done tremendous amount of ASO to generate such income with only organic traffic.
When you launch an app, do you start doing paid ads initially to increase the app ranking? If yes, when do you stop the ads?

Well, basically its just finding a niche with low competition and high demand. I drove traffic mainly from my websites and got downloads. Also, there are other things to consider when it comes to ranking an app. For example retention. How long people use the app, how long it is on their devices, how often they open the app, etc. all of those things play a role.

So basically if your app is quite complex, got many screens, etc. it will easily outrank an app, which got only one screen and looks bad.

What also helps a lot are keyword installs, much better effect than adwords.