[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[nakamura]

Hi @nakamura , you recently said that one of your apps has 300-400 downloads per day, I recently created an android app with similar stats, about 350 installs per day, can you share the earnings per day from your app? My income from it is about $2.5/day and it seems to me that this is not enough for such a number of users or not?

My eCPM is about 0.80$, I'm using admob

Here are the stats of the app you mentioned. Keep in mind, these stats are by Appodeal (edit). I would have to double-check it with Google Admob itself.

Profit (i didn't spend a single cent for marketing/ads)




Installs per day: As you can see, it started to get viral. At the highest point, it got around 1500 downloads per day organically. I am sure it was in the Top 20 or Top 10 for a category.




How much money it makes really depends on the demographic or better to say where your traffic comes from. As you can see below, the eCPM is really low.




I would need to double-check with Admob to see if these numbers are actually accurate. No clue if Appodeal is that accurate. Could be possible they are but don't take my word for it. This example just shows how important it is to target Tier 1 countries. If the eCPM would be $10 instead $1 I would earn 10x more with the same amount of users.


Btw.: well worth to mention this is an iOS app. Since iOS 14 (App tracking transparency - permission request to show personalized ads) the eCPM dropped a lot. There is a big difference if people watching random ads or personalized ads, as they are way more likely to click on ads if they are personalized.

 

[CyberShrek]

Here are the stats of the app you mentioned. Keep in mind, these stats are by Appodeal (edit). I would have to double-check it with Google Admob itself.

Profit (i didn't spend a single cent for marketing/ads)

View attachment 227583


Installs per day: As you can see, it started to get viral. At the highest point, it got around 1500 downloads per day organically. I am sure it was in the Top 20 or Top 10 for a category.

View attachment 227584


How much money it makes really depends on the demographic or better to say where your traffic comes from. As you can see below, the eCPM is really low.

View attachment 227586


I would need to double-check with Admob to see if these numbers are actually accurate. No clue if Appodeal is that accurate. Could be possible they are but don't take my word for it. This example just shows how important it is to target Tier 1 countries. If the eCPM would be $10 instead $1 I would earn 10x more with the same amount of users.


Btw.: well worth to mention this is an iOS app. Since iOS 14 (App tracking transparency - permission request to show personalized ads) the eCPM dropped a lot. There is a big difference if people watching random ads or personalized ads, as they are way more likely to click on ads if they are personalized.

Thanks! So I think my app monetization is ok, because my demographics is India, Bangladesh and some USA.
And by the way, in your experience, is it important to localize the Google Play app page in order to get more installs from tier1, tier2 countries?

 

[nakamura]

Thanks! So I think my app monetization is ok, because my demographics is India, Bangladesh and some USA.
And by the way, in your experience, is it important to localize the Google Play app page in order to get more installs from tier1, tier2 countries?

Localization of the app page will help you to improve the CTR and Conversion rate (if the translation is good). And the CTR / CR has an effect on your app's ranking on Google Play. So yes, it is worth it to localize it.

 

[CyberShrek]

Localization of the app page will help you to improve the CTR and Conversion rate (if the translation is good). And the CTR / CR has an effect on your app's ranking on Google Play. So yes, it is worth it to localize it.

Thank you

 

[Madoxx]

Update:

- The two Android apps got approved.
- Another iOS app got approved (uploaded the same one on Google Play. Pending review now)

Also, I totally forgot that I signed up for the Samsung Galaxy Store, Amazon App Store, and the Huawei App Gallery last year. I will also upload the apps there sooner or later. I will probably just spend one whole day uploading all the apps to these platforms. I don't think they will bring me a lot of traffic, but who knows.

I really try to be more productive and stop being too perfectionist and focusing too much on the detail. Focusing too much on tiny details is such a time killer when it comes to apps, etc.

The best approach is to simply upload the app, analyze the performance (in-app and also the store listing such as conversion rate, ctr, etc.) and then improve it if necessary.

Was Huawei store worth it? As a Huawei user I am noticing that competition there is almost none in some niches

 

[CyberShrek]

Was Huawei store worth it? As a Huawei user I am noticing that competition there is almost none in some niches

In my case, probably not, although it might be worth trying to publish more apps, but I published one app in the Huawei store that gets a good number of downloads on Google Play, it's been about 3 months and it didn't get any downloads.

 

[nakamura]

Was Huawei store worth it? As a Huawei user I am noticing that competition there is almost none in some niches

I checked the past 30 days and I got around 40 downloads organically, so...nope. But its alright actually.

 

[N1ckG2]

In my case, probably not, although it might be worth trying to publish more apps, but I published one app in the Huawei store that gets a good number of downloads on Google Play, it's been about 3 months and it didn't get any downloads.

It depends on user location.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1254670/apac-huawei-smartphone-market-share-by-country/

 

[Madoxx]

It depends on user location.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1254670/apac-huawei-smartphone-market-share-by-country/

Can you drop a screenshot of the stats?

Btw. Where could I get an account for statista? It looks like a cool source

 

[nakamura]

Can you drop a screenshot of the stats?

Btw. Where could I get an account for statista? It looks like a cool source

https://www.statista.com/register/#private

 

[xoma]

Have you used your real name for the app store developer account?

 

[mnrfas]

Here are the stats of the app you mentioned. Keep in mind, these stats are by Appodeal (edit). I would have to double-check it with Google Admob itself.

Profit (i didn't spend a single cent for marketing/ads)

View attachment 227583


Installs per day: As you can see, it started to get viral. At the highest point, it got around 1500 downloads per day organically. I am sure it was in the Top 20 or Top 10 for a category.

View attachment 227584


How much money it makes really depends on the demographic or better to say where your traffic comes from. As you can see below, the eCPM is really low.

View attachment 227586


I would need to double-check with Admob to see if these numbers are actually accurate. No clue if Appodeal is that accurate. Could be possible they are but don't take my word for it. This example just shows how important it is to target Tier 1 countries. If the eCPM would be $10 instead $1 I would earn 10x more with the same amount of users.


Btw.: well worth to mention this is an iOS app. Since iOS 14 (App tracking transparency - permission request to show personalized ads) the eCPM dropped a lot. There is a big difference if people watching random ads or personalized ads, as they are way more likely to click on ads if they are personalized.

you use only Appodeal for monetization? what about Adsense?

 

[MasterOfMasks]

The thing is I switch my location quite often. Right now I am in South Korea. Two weeks ago I was in Bangkok. Its just suspicious. I don't wanna trigger anything.

Example: Facebook restricted ads account when I logged while I was in Bangkok. Probably for suspicious behavior. And so far they haven't remove the restrictions. Its still pending review.

The easiest solution for that, would be to set up a home server at home in a fixed location, and using something like teamviewer/anydesk/rdp, connect to it and log into the accounts from there.

This way, your locations is 100% the same ALWAYS in ANY COUNTRY in the world and you don't have to worry about any "suspicious activity" by ad networks.

This also works well for running ads in Google Ads, FB, etc.

Easy to configure on a minimum specs laptop and you are good to go

 

[CyberShrek]

The easiest solution for that, would be to set up a home server at home in a fixed location, and using something like teamviewer/anydesk/rdp, connect to it and log into the accounts from there.

This way, your locations is 100% the same ALWAYS in ANY COUNTRY in the world and you don't have to worry about any "suspicious activity" by ad networks.

This also works well for running ads in Google Ads, FB, etc.

Easy to configure on a minimum specs laptop and you are good to go

Just this week I set up the exact same setup for my play console accounts . PC with internet on which is set up any desk with unattendent access, very convenient to connect. Before I wanted to do otherwise, namely to set up an open vpn server on the pc which is always at home, and connect to it via vpn, thereby change the ip address to a home, but failed because of the restrictions of the my ISP, so I chose a simpler solution in the form of AnyDesk.

 

[nakamura]

Sorry for the late update guys.

I have been in Mainland China for the past 3 weeks and its almost impossible to work on apps due to internet restrictions (Google ban). Trying to use a VPN, but its not stable and almost impossible to download large files from Google servers. Means, its super hard to work on Android apps. Just today I tried working on an app, downloading all packages, gradle, etc. took like 20 minutes (normally it would take one minute), then I had trouble logging into Firebase, then I failed testing Google Sign-In as the VPN would automatically turn off, etc. its just an absolute pain in the ass.

 

[MasterOfMasks]

Sorry for the late update guys.

I have been in Mainland China for the past 3 weeks and its almost impossible to work on apps due to internet restrictions (Google ban). Trying to use a VPN, but its not stable and almost impossible to download large files from Google servers. Means, its super hard to work on Android apps. Just today I tried working on an app, downloading all packages, gradle, etc. took like 20 minutes (normally it would take one minute), then I had trouble logging into Firebase, then I failed testing Google Sign-In as the VPN would automatically turn off, etc. its just an absolute pain in the ass.

you could just set up a home server with great specs and connect to it with anydesk/teamviewer/rdp and work ON your home server from anywhere in the world.

This way, you don't have to worry about google bans and all workload is done on your server.

 

[jeronymo29]

Good luck and I wish you all the luck

 

[nakamura]

you could just set up a home server with great specs and connect to it with anydesk/teamviewer/rdp and work ON your home server from anywhere in the world.

This way, you don't have to worry about google bans and all workload is done on your server.

Yeah, I will probably do that once I am back in Germany. The thing is I don't really life in Germany, mostly life abroad. No one there to look after my stuff or the server, etc., so it's easier to say than to do. But something I should consider.

 

[nakamura]

Update:

Since the last update, I have published 4 more games (made with Unity) and updated two apps.

Right now working on another app which I think the niche has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, right now I don't have much time, so I guess I will hire someone on Upwork or Freelancer to do these tasks.

In the meantime, I will release the very basic version of the app without any features, so I can simply update the app later on and avoid the shadow ban. Usually, there is a 3-5 weeks shadow ban (from my experience!) in low-medium competitive niches which prevents you from ranking or better to say getting organic traffic.

 

[vin42]

Update:

Since the last update, I have published 4 more games (made with Unity) and updated two apps.

Right now working on another app which I think the niche has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, right now I don't have much time, so I guess I will hire someone on Upwork or Freelancer to do these tasks.

In the meantime, I will release the very basic version of the app without any features, so I can simply update the app later on and avoid the shadow ban. Usually, there is a 3-5 weeks shadow ban (from my experience!) in low-medium competitive niches which prevents you from ranking or better to say getting organic traffic.

Interesting journey. Have you noticed that after publishing app on ios store, there is a sudden spike in traffic and fake downloads from "Mainland China". There are hundreds of downloads but 0 active devices in analytics. Do you disable this territory? Is there any risk/harm? These appear to be bot downloads and many users have experienced this. This only occurs for free apps. Some users have said that when they removed their apps from China then their US traffic also reduced.