[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[nakamura]

Thanks for reply, is reskining lets say a 3D game is enough to publish on apple store or it is way complicated, and how much it takes to publish it ? As for Google play now takes over a month to publish one game and several reviews..

To publish it? Doesn't take long. It all depends on how much effort you put into the app listing. Screenshots, keyword research, translations, app description, and so on. The review process itself is very fast. On working days it gets reviewed and published the same day.

Yeah that's a good point. When you have a lot of apps and every app has several languages, it gets very difficult to manage. Then you see a developer who only has one app that makes like $200,000 a month and that seems more comfortable.

Yes, but on the other hand, the market is evolving so fast there are more opportunities all the time. So you have to enter the market as fast as possible for a new niche or trend, especially these days with AI apps. These guys who make $200k are the ones who were one of the first to have these apps. The ones who came later just have a lot of budget for ads.

Usually the best would be to publish as many apps as possible and see which one brings the most money, take advantage of this as much as possible, then use the generated money for ads and new apps

successful and android dont go together , we both know that , make great apps bank hard till you get suspended and redo it

Yeah, its very annoying to deal with them. I will try tho. In total, its a benefit, especially if you wanna sell the app.

 

[WarlordYT]

and i am sitting here with 1 app for 5 months still making

 

[quietamerican]

and i am sitting here with 1 app for 5 months still making

Everybody has to start somewhere and the first takes longest.

 

[nakamura]

and i am sitting here with 1 app for 5 months still making

The best thing you can do is going into a niche where you can reskin/reuse your existing app and simply change the sub niche. For exampling, turn a Sleep Sounds app into a Meditation app, then into a Anti Anxiety app, etc.

The basic functionality of the app will remain the same. You will only need to change the design, the sounds, logo, and so on. But you turn your one app into many different apps. This is by far the best way to scale and to reach as many people as possible with the lowest amount of effort.

Meanwhile, you keep upgrading the app and add new features. The most successful ones you can update with the new features, the ones that are not in demand just let them be.

Everybody has to start somewhere and the first takes longest.

True! Sometimes I take 1-2 months too even tho I already use a template from my previous apps.

 

[smmsin]

My plan is to make apps for Android and iOS in different niches. Later on I will give it a try with mobile games. I want to provide the users with the best possible quality, also in order to get a high retention. I am not going to make easy apps like Wallpaper downloads or something, but something more useful and meaningful.

My main motivation is NOT money. It is to build something sustainable. However, there is A LOT of money to make in the mobile/mobile gaming industry, it is not a secret. Some guys would say it is saturated, but I don't believe so. I just have to be better than the competition. I am willing to go this extra mile.

About me making apps so far:

I started from scratch on February 2020. I had no coding skills and was totally overhelmed with all the knowledge, coding stuff, etc. However, I managed to get the basics and improved step by step. Always learned something new on the way. It was all about getting into this mobile app industry, testing and making experience.

So far I made and monetized around 5 apps so far. I tested the limits, how far I can go until the apps get removed, and also how far I can go with the advertising. There are so many things to consider when making apps. Also, so far I made around $5k or more with apps.

What I got:

- Marketing skills
- iOS and Android developer account
- Ad network accounts
- Knowledge about the market, what I can do and what I shouldn't do (also in regards of Google and their policies)

How will you monetize the apps?

Through ads only so far. I don't plan to implement in-app purchases at this moment.

What ad networks are you going to use?

Admob (has the best eCPM from my experience), Facebook Audience Network/FAN and for some apps Appodeal mediation.

How will you make the apps?

With Swift, Java and for some I will use Flutter.

How will you drive traffic?

Through ads, SEO, social media, in-app ads and ASO

Will you use or do any Blackhat techniques/apps?

No, everything will be whitehat. I found Google has this "zero tolerance" approach on Apps and also on Adsense/Admob. They will directly delete/suspend your account/apps without any chance of reinstating. Basically they don't give a fuck. I don't wanna give them any chance to delete or suspend my account, therefore everything is going to be legit.

Please keep in mind: I don't want to make any apps or my niches public on here. I know many guys (especially in the app business) are copying, using some blackhat techniques or trying to damage/report each other. I want to prevent this from happening.

I have been interested in the application sector for a few months and I think that this sector is very open and I think that competition will always continue because as technology develops, opportunities and ideas emerge, so I found your article successful and I hope you will achieve everything you want in a good way

 

[Nicololo]

Do the apps you created in 2024 and the ones you plan to create in 2025 all involve AI? Or do you think there is room for apps that don't use AI? I mean apps that don't use Open AI or image generation APIs.

 

[nakamura]

Do the apps you created in 2024 and the ones you plan to create in 2025 all involve AI? Or do you think there is room for apps that don't use AI? I mean apps that don't use Open AI or image generation APIs.

AI is definitely the trend right now. Of course you can also create others if you have a good idea. Just make a keyword/market research

 

[nakamura]

Update for December:

Everything is as usual. Only difference: Because of Xmas the CPI on Google Ads, etc. increased, but on the other hand I also made more money through IAP (because of the holidays).

Income is around $14k if I accumulate everything together: Apple Developer Account 1 & 2, Admob account 1 & 2, Appodeal

Expenses were lower than before because I advertise some apps. Spent around $2k for ads.

Right now I am working on another app and so far it looks pretty good. Almost done, just have to make screenshots, translate all those screenshots, etc.

My idea:

Also, I want to jump onto the crypto hype train and was thinking if I should make my own crypto currency and use this crypto currency as an IAP currency in my app through usage, refers, and so on. I didn't plan it out completely yet, but I think it could be big if I do everything correctly. The big smartass move would be to have users that want to use the app and have a strong interest in the growth of the app, so that the price of the cryptocoin is increasing. It would be a win-win situation for me and them.

 

[Peacetrek]

Mad respect for starting from scratch and sticking with it. Learning Swift and Flutter in under a year is no joke. What’s been the hardest part so far—coding, dealing with Apple’s picky standards, or figuring out ad strategies?

 

[OutreachAccounts]

Props for staying whitehat in such a cutthroat space. I’ve heard horror stories about Admob bans. Curious though, have you considered diversifying with alternatives like Unity Ads for games?

 

[nakamura]

Mad respect for starting from scratch and sticking with it. Learning Swift and Flutter in under a year is no joke. What’s been the hardest part so far—coding, dealing with Apple’s picky standards, or figuring out ad strategies?

I didn't really master it. I just learned the basics and then just learned by doing. Also, I am heavily using AI for coding. I am still a noob. Hardest part is dealing with Google. Apple wasn't too picky, they are quite tolerant. Ad strategies were not hard, because you can just check out your competition and see what they are doing.

Props for staying whitehat in such a cutthroat space. I’ve heard horror stories about Admob bans. Curious though, have you considered diversifying with alternatives like Unity Ads for games?

Yeah, Admob is a pain, especially in the beginning. With Admob its super important to stay whitehat. Yes, I am doing mediation for some of my apps. Using Facebook Ad Network and Unity. But mostly Admob as I didn't have a problem with them so far. I am using them for interstital and rewarded ads.

From my experience the most problems are caused by banner and also native ads. I got the most policy notifications because of them. Either they show weird content like Casino or they placed wrongly (near text, buttons, content, have the same color as the background, cover something, etc.)

so I don't use banner ads anymore. they are annoying and the ecpm is really low. i prefer to not earn a few $$$ per months for banner ads but bring a better user experience. also, better user experience = higher in app purchases conversion rate

 

[nakamura]

Update:

I wanna share some experience/situation I currently had with Apple. I wanted to release an update for an iOS app that I published in 2022. Made around 20+ updates since then, never had any problem. But suddenly on 20th December, they started to give me a 4.3.0 Spam rejection, saying my apps meta data, binary, etc. is similar to other apps on the App Store.

So I was completely overwhelmed, didn't know what they actually want. After 2 years and countless updates, suddenly they say my app is a copy and spam. LOL.

I changed the entire user interface, brand, added 20 new features, new languages, etc. sent the new version for review and they kept rejecting it with the same reason. So I changed it even more, added new features, changed the images, etc.

Sent it for review again, but still got rejected. I sent them messages asking what is actually wrong and to tell me the real reason. But they just copy and pasted the same reason over and over again.

But then, suddenly, in one of their replies, they wrote: "We are going to call you in the next few days to discuss the problem." and I answered "Can't you just tell me whats the problem, so I can update the app accordingly?" and they replied "We are going to call you".

At this point I was like "damn, am I in big trouble?" Do you know the situation when someone tells you they want to discuss something with you but you have no clue what they actually want and if you ask them whats the matter they just say "No, no, I will call you and discuss it with you in person". For me personally, I hate this kinda situation.

So, what happened next was: I got a call from an Apple employee. Took around 3 minutes. Turns out the actual problem were the screenshots. Someone stole my screenshots and used it for their own app. LOL. And I had no idea about it, of course not, because I don't search the App Store for other new apps all the time. Apple thought I copied the screenshots and it was my fault. Then the Apple employee kinda roasted me and said "Do not copy screenshots, I repeat: Do NOT copy screenshots". At this point I was kinda surprised because I never thought about having an issue with the screenshots, it was so random. I didn't really try to say anything like "Yeah, but actually they copied it from me blablabla" I just said "Okay, I am going to change it", no discussion or anything.

Then I said "yeah, why didn't you just write the problem is about the screenshots?" because I literally sent 10 messages back and forth and they just kept copy and pasting the reply.

The person then said "We told you the problem is with the meta data, binary, app, etc." and by meta data (can be title, description, screenshots, subtitle, keywords, etc.) they actually meant screenshots, but they never specifically wrote screenshots.

So now I had to change all the screenshots (I had to create new ones anyway because i changed the entire app design) and sent it for review again. Lets see what is going to happen.

__________________________________________

Moving forward, I. decided to start a new app. I am going to make a crypto AI agent app. I saw its super popular right now. I want to get it done as soon as possible. So right now I am planning the entire work, what features I need to add, and so on.

 

[WarlordYT]

how do your research for trends like Crypto AI agent app ? all i see is top 50 apps in charts

also its good apple is calling , G would have simply banned you for spam

 

[nakamura]

how do your research for trends like Crypto AI agent app ? all i see is top 50 apps in charts

also its good apple is calling , G would have simply banned you for spam

I completely agree. Google would have just banned me. Apple was really patient but at the same time they wasted so much time. I told them multiple times I have no clue what they mean and if they could be more specific, but they literally copy and pasted the same reply over and over again.

About the research: I just saw crypto AI agents could be the next big thing, I have no idea about the demand. Maybe I will create the demand.

On of the problems if you enter a completely new niche is that there is no demand yet. But I definitely see the potential in it. Most people have no clue about crypto trading. An AI can help them doing so. Also, it brings the opportunity to create your own token, get profitable advertising deals, and so on. But the most profitable will be that I can manipulate/prompt the AI in a way that it will prefer a specific coin (kinda blackhat, yeah). So there is a lot of potential to earn a shit load of money.

 

[Jerichomiles]

So, what happened next was: I got a call from an Apple employee. Took around 3 minutes. Turns out the actual problem were the screenshots. Someone stole my screenshots and used it for their own app. LOL. And I had no idea about it, of course not, because I don't search the App Store for other new apps all the time. Apple thought I copied the screenshots and it was my fault. Then the Apple employee kinda roasted me and said "Do not copy screenshots, I repeat: Do NOT copy screenshots". At this point I was kinda surprised because I never thought about having an issue with the screenshots, it was so random. I didn't really try to say anything like "Yeah, but actually they copied it from me blablabla" I just said "Okay, I am going to change it", no discussion or anything.

That seems odd, why wouldn't you tell them it was someone that copied your screenshots? Not only would that have been crucial to mention to clear up the situation but you also should be reporting the person that's stealing your screenshots. I don't understand why you didn't do that but I certainly agree it's annoying af that their rejection reasons are always super vague leaving you trying to guess what the problem is. I've certainly had that many times.

 

[nakamura]

That seems odd, why wouldn't you tell them it was someone that copied your screenshots? Not only would that have been crucial to mention to clear up the situation but you also should be reporting the person that's stealing your screenshots. I don't understand why you didn't do that but I certainly agree it's annoying af that their rejection reasons are always super vague leaving you trying to guess what the problem is. I've certainly had that many times.

Because it has been a back and forth for more than 2 weeks and I just want to move on and get the update published. I don't want to have discussion, don't want to get someone else involved, I just want to move on. Also, I was in a shopping mall the moment they called, it was super loud and hard to understand the person.

But hey guys, Apple just reviewed my app again and guess what: Same rejection! Same copy and paste reason. Even after the call. LOL.

 

[Nicololo]

I completely agree. Google would have just banned me. Apple was really patient but at the same time they wasted so much time. I told them multiple times I have no clue what they mean and if they could be more specific, but they literally copy and pasted the same reply over and over again.

About the research: I just saw crypto AI agents could be the next big thing, I have no idea about the demand. Maybe I will create the demand.

On of the problems if you enter a completely new niche is that there is no demand yet. But I definitely see the potential in it. Most people have no clue about crypto trading. An AI can help them doing so. Also, it brings the opportunity to create your own token, get profitable advertising deals, and so on. But the most profitable will be that I can manipulate/prompt the AI in a way that it will prefer a specific coin (kinda blackhat, yeah). So there is a lot of potential to earn a shit load of money.

looks promising man! what are you referring to is like the memecoins app "Bags"? I saw that the creator is on x and makes a lot of money or at least he uploads pictures on yachts and stuff like that lol, but isn't it a bit complex to get into that market with apple's rules? can't you have a lot of approval problems and all that?

I recently created my first ios app, which uses open ai and to my surprise it wasn't much more difficult than an app without an artificial intelligence api, although I'm still waiting for it to be approved.

 

[nakamura]

looks promising man! what are you referring to is like the memecoins app "Bags"? I saw that the creator is on x and makes a lot of money or at least he uploads pictures on yachts and stuff like that lol, but isn't it a bit complex to get into that market with apple's rules? can't you have a lot of approval problems and all that?

I recently created my first ios app, which uses open ai and to my surprise it wasn't much more difficult than an app without an artificial intelligence api, although I'm still waiting for it to be approved.

I haven't checked out "Bags". I will take a look. I will gather all the information to see what features I can and will integrate. But yeah, there is a lot of money in crypto. Especially when someone wants to promote their coin.

 

[Nicololo]

I haven't checked out "Bags". I will take a look. I will gather all the information to see what features I can and will integrate. But yeah, there is a lot of money in crypto. Especially when someone wants to promote their coin.

I don't think that's specifically what you're referring to, but from what I've seen, you can talk to friends or "influencers", see what they invest in, see the memecoins that are trending. This last thing about seeing trending or recommended coins, what do you mean by an AI crypto agent?

 

[Jerichomiles]

But hey guys, Apple just reviewed my app again and guess what: Same rejection! Same copy and paste reason. Even after the call. LOL.

Well I'd definitely be reporting that guy now. You're getting rejected for him copying your screenshots?? That's like going to jail for someone else's crime..