[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[UncleBBW]

Is it a new Admob account? For me, it only takes a few hours...and they always approve it.

well I reactivated the admob not long ago

I reskin an app and make sure the developer / coder made so different that I wouldn't have issue with the big G, in fact it's already on playstore however I can't start the promotion since the add are not showing. it's my first app right and admob still make me wait, I wonder if it will be the same for my second app or even longer. it's ridiculous

 

[UncleBBW]

Do you develope your own apps? both for Android and iOS? Do you make them native? or you outsoucing the developement to some kind of indian/paki in Fiverr or upwork?
Which SDK do you usually implement? (Admob, FAN, Firebase, Crashlytics? Appsflyer?)
How usually you update the apps? (once per month?)
Have you ever tried to sell some app in EmpireFlippers or Flippa? (they said I can do easely x25-30 month revenue)
Are you focused 100% in app industry or you work in other job?
Have you tried ecommerce apps?

Im in this industry for many years too, if you want to talk deeper just send me a DM

BTW good job bro, keep pushing!

BTW I liked your questioning

I dont code my own app because am not a developer, yes its native app for Android only for now.
yes I outsource on fiverr for what I call a Super reskin or Complete ultimate reskin lolll / just to make sure they understand it cannot be the same
Admob only for now but I might take appodeal and mix them in case admob try to double cross me
for the update I dont even know in the sense that the app is so simple that you dont really need update......
I'm not try to sell app just yet because I'm trying to get into the app industry
I 'm 100% focus but I cannot let go my 9 to 5 job just yet, but its the goal. I can't take that F job no more, I have a website with adsense however not much traffic there just yet.

I recently got my feet wet in this industry, we need to talk deeper / DM

Thanks,

 

[nakamura]

Do you develope your own apps? both for Android and iOS? Do you make them native? or you outsoucing the developement to some kind of indian/paki in Fiverr or upwork?
Which SDK do you usually implement? (Admob, FAN, Firebase, Crashlytics? Appsflyer?)
How usually you update the apps? (once per month?)
Have you ever tried to sell some app in EmpireFlippers or Flippa? (they said I can do easely x25-30 month revenue)
Are you focused 100% in app industry or you work in other job?
Have you tried ecommerce apps?

Im in this industry for many years too, if you want to talk deeper just send me a DM

BTW good job bro, keep pushing!

Yes, developing my own apps. Mostly using Flutter which is cross-platform. It saves a lot of time. For games using Unity, which is also cross-platform. I don't really outsource. Only sometimes, if I don't have enough time and need things to get done quickly.

SDKs I usually implement:
- Appsflyer, Firebase, Facebook SDK, Onesignal and for advertising mostly Appodeal

Updates? Depends. Sometimes I update to add new features, add new content or just to add new SDKs.

Never tried to sell an app on any platform. But I thought about it. I might consider it in the future.

Basically, I am a digital nomad for a couple of years, so I have a lot of time. Doing a lot of SEO and also apps.

I didn't make eCommerce apps, but if I make ones, I will probably use Flutter as well. It is not too difficult since its easy to use Wordpress/Woocommerce or Shopify's API.

I was thinking about to make several ecommerce stores, doing SEO for them and to create apps for them. Once they get a lot of traffic, I could sell them on Flippa and so on. Would bring me some decent money.

 

[jlj]

On average whats giving you more profit, games or regular apps? Love the thread tho

 

[nakamura]

On average whats giving you more profit, games or regular apps? Love the thread tho

Regular apps with a specifically targeted niche. These apps also have a much higher conversion rate and CTR with around 10-15%. With games, I have a conversion rate and CTR of around 3%. I guess the main reason is there are just too many games, too much choice.

 

[PoisonReverse]

Update:

Earnings: $60-90 daily - its passive income. I didn't spend any time on the existing apps, so I think its pretty good.

Work progress: I published 2-3 iOS apps in the past few weeks which brings me around $10-20 additionally.

Ad spent: $0 - I didn't spend any money on app installs in the past two/three months. All the earnings are from organic traffic only.

Whats next?

Currently I am reading a lot about mobile games. How to monetize them correctly, how to keep users active, etc. all that jazz. Its really complicated and there are so many things to consider. One thing is for sure: If I make mobile game, then I don't want to randomly publish shitty games, I want to make really good ones. Ones that I can easily scale with a great ARPU (average revenue per user). These are all things to consider. Once you make a game where you earn more money than you spend for app installs, its super easy to scale. Basically, its just a numbers game.

About the total earnings since I started this thread:

Its been around 14 months since I started this thread and the apps alone gave me a profit of around $25k so far. This is after all I spent for app installs, keyword installs, etc. The profit could have been way higher (at least double amount!) if wouldn't have spend a significant amount of time dealing with Google (app removal, account termination, etc.). Its somehow funny that apps that NEVER caused a single problem on the Apple App Store are always deleted on Google and they keep removing accounts for ridiculous reasons.

So what I am planning to do with the profit? Well, I could use it to develop other apps. Especially when it comes to setting up the backend I am a real noob. Or I could also use the money to go into other niches, for example ecommerce. Maybe I will do both.

That's why I switched completely to iOS environment

 

[nakamura]

That's why I switched completely to iOS environment

+ there is no such thing as shadow ban/sandbox in the Apple App Store. If you are in a low-competitive niche you will immediately get organic traffic/downloads and start to earn money right away.

 

[Squishia]

Regular apps with a specifically targeted niche. These apps also have a much higher conversion rate and CTR with around 10-15%. With games, I have a conversion rate and CTR of around 3%. I guess the main reason is there are just too many games, too much choice.

I think it is a good idea to drop games right?

 

[Santiz]

You deserve better imho. Your knowledge and experience are not commensurate with the income from the apps.
What do you think you can do differently that make x10?

 

[nakamura]

You deserve better imho. Your knowledge and experience are not commensurate with the income from the apps.
What do you think you can do differently that make x10?

I would have already earned x10, but the developer accounts + apps got terminated too often on Google. Always had to start from zero again. This wasted a lot of time. Now I am over-careful with the Android apps.

I think it is a good idea to drop games right?

Games can be really profitable and generate a decent income if they get a lot of traffic, etc. There are a lot of companies making a shit ton of money from games.

 

[Santiz]

I would have already earned x10, but the developer accounts + apps got terminated too often on Google. Always had to start from zero again. This wasted a lot of time. Now I am over-careful with the Android apps.

What is the main reason for the bans?
Have you thought about changing your work model completely? Eliminate it, go to the gray/white area.

 

[nakamura]

What is the main reason for the bans?
Have you thought about changing your work model completely? Eliminate it, go to the gray/white area.

Well, that's a good question. They basically gave me all kinda reasons. I talked about these reasons before. What I think made the main difference was that some of my apps suddenly got a shit ton of downloads and ranked really well.

Then two things happened:

1. Competitors who basically check the Top 10 started reporting my apps. These guys were mainly from Thailand and India. I blocked these countries afterward and the bans didn't happen again.

2. I got too much organic traffic too suddenly. They basically saw my apps got released two weeks ago and suddenly I would get hundreds, sometimes thousands of downloads per day. Google hates when people get organic traffic. They want you to spend money on Adwords. The same crap happens on the search engine. This is also why they implemented the sandbox/shadow ban.

I already changed my model. So far no bans.

 

[nakamura]

Just a post regarding some questions about basic ASO, maybe it helps someone:

Keyword research:

I use Keywordtool.io and Ahrefs. Mostly Keywordtool.io tho, because you can specifically search on Google Play and the App Store.

App title and subtitle:

I make sure to use keywords in the title because the main goal is to rank and get organic downloads.

App descriptions:

I write them by myself manually. Usually, they have around 500-600 words. I avoid controversial words or anything which could be against the guidelines. Basically, words like "free", etc. I translate the articles with Deepl in around 16 different languages.

Screenshots:

I am using Canva.com to edit the screenshots. Other helpful tools are Placeit.net and another one called: Hotpot.ai (they are pretty good).

App Logos & featured image:

Here it gets a bit tricky. I am using Dall:E of OpenAI. Yes, the logo is generated by an AI and I am more than happy with it, because they look amazing. Took me some time to find the right prompts, etc. but it's amazing.

For resizing the app icons I use Hotpot.ai, specifically: https://hotpot.ai/icon-resizer

 

[Santiz]

The second point sounds unconvincing, imho.
The first point is also strange, it should be possible to protect, because other applications somehow exist.

That is, there must be exactly a problem with applications imho, reskin, etc.

Well, as long as everything works, good for you!
Maybe at all will go to the creation of larger white projects, or change the model of monetization.

 

[Citunduc]

Thanks man
Can you recommend someone.?

Did you find someone?

 

[nakamura]

The second point sounds unconvincing, imho.
The first point is also strange, it should be possible to protect, because other applications somehow exist.

That is, there must be exactly a problem with applications imho, reskin, etc.

Well, as long as everything works, good for you!
Maybe at all will go to the creation of larger white projects, or change the model of monetization.

LOL. Unconvincing...yeah...I thought the same when they removed my app because of a mistake in the chinese translation. Or when they said I am "hacking" the device, because it opens the browser when they press on privacy policy. Its absolutely ridiculous. The worst part is: You can send an appeal and ask them why, you can explain, you can send screenshots, etc. I told them "please just let me remove or change the chinese description" but no, they are wankers, they wont change their opinion, sometimes they wont even reply. To be honest with you, I also believe they have another reason to terminate account, but they dont say it. Instead, they give me a stupid unreasonable reason like "chinese description is wrong", etc. it also makes no sense to me at all.

 

[baidovich]

Wassup @nakamura
Any updates? It’s almost a month since we heard from you

 

[codingMinds]

Did you find someone?

I know one android and iOS dev. He is experienced and capable to create any type of app.

 

[nakamura]

Update:

It's been a while since the update. Had some problems with ex gf, broke up after 4 years and she pulled off something really weird. Went on holiday to Turkey with my family for 2 weeks then. Anyway:

Uploaded 5 more iOS apps. These 5 apps get a lot of organic installs. All together maybe 200 per day, all organic, I didn't pay a single $ for these apps. Integrated Appodeal in all of them.

Also, in these apps, I make in-house ads and advertise my other apps to get downloads.

The main idea behind this is:

Make apps that get a lot of organic downloads due to low competition/research/optimization -> place in-house ads (mostly through a button or banner) to my apps that are in a medium and high competitive market in order to drive installs to them and rank them -> once they are ranked, place in-house ads to another app and also rank them. So basically what I wanna do is to rank all my apps without spending a shit ton of money on ads.

App installs for iOS can be quite expensive depending on the niche and the targeted country. So if I get around 30-40 downloads per day for my iOS app, this already saves me some money on autopilot.

 

[Speed23]

Update:

It's been a while since the update. Had some problems with ex gf, broke up after 4 years and she pulled off something really weird. Went on holiday to Turkey with my family for 2 weeks then. Anyway:

Uploaded 5 more iOS apps. These 5 apps get a lot of organic installs. All together maybe 200 per day, all organic, I didn't pay a single $ for these apps. Integrated Appodeal in all of them.

Also, in these apps, I make in-house ads and advertise my other apps to get downloads.

The main idea behind this is:

Make apps that get a lot of organic downloads due to low competition/research/optimization -> place in-house ads (mostly through a button or banner) to my apps that are in a medium and high competitive market in order to drive installs to them and rank them -> once they are ranked, place in-house ads to another app and also rank them. So basically what I wanna do is to rank all my apps without spending a shit ton of money on ads.

App installs for iOS can be quite expensive depending on the niche and the targeted country. So if I get around 30-40 downloads per day for my iOS app, this already saves me some money on autopilot.

How much did you spend to promote each of those 5 apps?