[Journey] Growing mobile apps on iOS to 20k MRR

[hexagonal]

App journey
Hello! A few weeks ago I started a journey building iOS apps​

Here are the results for the first app doing ASO and making improvements on screenshot quality, etc.

This first app took me 80 hours as I wanted to have reusable components for my second app.
Right now next app is going under review I expect it to be approved soon for that I will be doing organic marketing and see what happens.

For this first app there are several basic mistakes and that's why I wanted to release a second app
- Market saturated with big players
- Product is a use once and not a use multiple times
- Pricing too high (Cut prices to half)

My second project has more value for the user.
Let's see what comes out of this

Next steps
- Focus entirely on marketing for a month
- Slow down things there are many ideas on my head but want to grow a project to 1-2k MRR before even thinking next steps

 

[RichMedusa]

Very interesting, wish you the best since now

 

[NightNova_31]

Great journey, looking forward to your results, cheers!

 

[Spicy Chromosomes]

Good luck with your second project, definitely following it

 

[DropVS]

It works for Google too?

 

[GenesisOne]

Looking forward to your success.

 

[ShadowRealm_11]

Great journey so far! It’s impressive that you’ve already learned from the first app’s mistakes and are moving on to more user-focused projects. Keep refining your approach—focusing on marketing and staying consistent will definitely help you build momentum. Once you hit your MRR goal, you'll have a solid foundation to scale up. Stay focused and don’t rush to move to the next project until you've learned everything you can from this one! Keep it up!

 

[WarlordYT]

after building my first app for 6 months , it made just 12$ in IAP , i realized there were so many mistakes i did , now with second app i am doing same
building re-usuable components
polishing UI UX as the big players are doing
need to focus more on marketing than building and putting shit ton of features inside

 

[hexagonal]

Update
Second app just got published received 50 downloads in 8 hours with no marketing and people are actually using it.

No purchases so far will wait for the full 24 hours.
Thanks everyone for your comments!​

after building my first app for 6 months , it made just 12$ in IAP , i realized there were so many mistakes i did , now with second app i am doing same
building re-usuable components
polishing UI UX as the big players are doing
need to focus more on marketing than building and putting shit ton of features inside

Lol absolutely I was expecting users to come as crazy for this first one as thought Apple boost was going to be enough.

Add gamification if possible

 

[MR.Spuf]

App journey
Hello! A few weeks ago I started a journey building iOS apps​

Here are the results for the first app doing ASO and making improvements on screenshot quality, etc.

This first app took me 80 hours as I wanted to have reusable components for my second app.
Right now next app is going under review I expect it to be approved soon for that I will be doing organic marketing and see what happens.

For this first app there are several basic mistakes and that's why I wanted to release a second app
- Market saturated with big players
- Product is a use once and not a use multiple times
- Pricing too high (Cut prices to half)

My second project has more value for the user.
Let's see what comes out of this

Next steps
- Focus entirely on marketing for a month
- Slow down things there are many ideas on my head but want to grow a project to 1-2k MRR before even thinking next steps

View attachment 437799

Best of luck buddy, wish you great success!

 

[UrbanSnake]

Update
Second app just got published received 50 downloads in 8 hours with no marketing and people are actually using it.

No purchases so far will wait for the full 24 hours.
Thanks everyone for your comments!​

Lol absolutely I was expecting users to come as crazy for this first one as thought Apple boost was going to be enough.

Add gamification if possible

Good luck!
How are you getting users and downloads without any marketing?

 

[RazAlGhul02]

You mentioned cutting prices in half after realizing your first app was priced too high. How did you determine the 'right' price point for your second app? Did you test different tiers, or was it based on competitor research ?

 

[hexagonal]

Good luck!
How are you getting users and downloads without any marketing?

The app store boost the apps at the start also I have done ASO and some other optimizations

I'm using the boost only as a guide to know what's worth and what's not

You mentioned cutting prices in half after realizing your first app was priced too high. How did you determine the 'right' price point for your second app? Did you test different tiers, or was it based on competitor research ?

First app -> Cut the profit to zero, competitors have higher prices
Second app -> There are two competitors charging 3x what I charge, want to eat their market and still make a profit

 

[UrbanSnake]

The app store boost the apps at the start also I have done ASO and some other optimizations

I'm using the boost only as a guide to know what's worth and what's not

Interesting, thank you for answering
If you identify that it's worth it, what is your plan to scale it and get more downloads after the initial boost is over?

 

[killuaX]

- Product is a use once and not a use multiple times

unlike you my app took me almost 3 months and only made around $130 after launch so it's a kind of flopped, and it's also a one time use app, so most users cancel thier free trial as soon as they use it.
Do you offer free trail? and what is your marketing strat if you are okay to share

 

[miami18]

sounds good i am following

 

[hexagonal]

Update
First app downloads are bad, impressions dropped.
Second one is doing great 100 downloads daily not a single sale tho.

I have many features to add to this app but won't do them until I fix distribution, organic marketing seems good but still need to bump to atleast 1k downloads daily to start thinking about fixing things.

Technical aspects
I have used cloudflare for the first time to serve static content to users which are videos and photos.
Got charged 100$+ which I don't understand where they are coming from so will go to my not so cool but safe option AWS​

Interesting, thank you for answering
If you identify that it's worth it, what is your plan to scale it and get more downloads after the initial boost is over?

Organic and paid ads

unlike you my app took me almost 3 months and only made around $130 after launch so it's a kind of flopped, and it's also a one time use app, so most users cancel thier free trial as soon as they use it.
Do you offer free trail? and what is your marketing strat if you are okay to share

I don't offer free trial, for my new app I'm doing just a free tier. Marketing is organic and paid ads.
I know how hard is to build an app and it to be a flop, feeling the same with first one.

 

[terrycody]

What niche? Games or utilities?

 

[kolamanuh]

good journey, i am following it

 

[hexagonal]

Update
Pushed an update to change icons and make the app more attractive.
Right now I'm investing more into organic marketing, doing many tests.

As soon as I crack organic marketing at a cheap cost then it's only uphill from there.
Will remove free tier once I hit 1k downloads, costs are 0.3$/day ​

What niche? Games or utilities?

Utilities