[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[vin42]

Thats a great example. I will do exactly this, but all just automated.



Instagram algorithm is really messed up. Almost no organic reach. Only if you post something racist or controversial, then it will get all the views. TikTok works best for organic reach. YT shorts have worked so so for me, seems like YT shorts is more used by large YouTubers themselves to promote their long content to short form content.

There are hurdles upon hurdles tiktok is banned in my country and modded apks / vpn's etc don't work cos tiktok is very good at detecting these and shadow banning the accounts. vpn's etc are good only for viewing content and not posting. Are there any alternative solutions / platforms etc? Also paid apple ads are also not working here due to central bank payment rules. Only google ads are working.

 

[nakamura]

There are hurdles upon hurdles tiktok is banned in my country and modded apks / vpn's etc don't work cos tiktok is very good at detecting these and shadow banning the accounts. vpn's etc are good only for viewing content and not posting. Are there any alternative solutions / platforms etc? Also paid apple ads are also not working here due to central bank payment rules. Only google ads are working.

There are several ways:

- Buy an iPhone, make an US Apple ID, try to get a US sim card, use a 4g mobile proxy to sign up on TikTok
- Get a VPS, buy US based TikTok accounts, do automation

How about Meta Ads?

 

[KillerKoala]

There are several ways:

- Buy an iPhone, make an US Apple ID, try to get a US sim card, use a 4g mobile proxy to sign up on TikTok
- Get a VPS, buy US based TikTok accounts, do automation

How about Meta Ads?

Why do you need US Apple ID? Is TikTok detecting Apple ID location?!

 

[vin42]

There are several ways:

- Buy an iPhone, make an US Apple ID, try to get a US sim card, use a 4g mobile proxy to sign up on TikTok
- Get a VPS, buy US based TikTok accounts, do automation

How about Meta Ads?

ya, meta ads are working but not tried them. seems that G ads are better than all others considering the budget. meta will def have better targeting options i guess.

 

[MrAinz]

Im on apple store if i have an idea i will make really apps too but my only problem is how to validate the ideas i find my self spending a month or 2 to make a really good app but it gets less downloads, on this business you want to make money first, How do you validate the app idea? and how do you do the ASO? what tools are you using?

 

[nakamura]

Why do you need US Apple ID? Is TikTok detecting Apple ID location?!

because the App Store setting will be USA and it determines basically where you come from. USA apple id = USA tiktok app version. Then register using US sim card (if possible) and US VPN. Many people recently say HideMyAss VPN works fine.

ya, meta ads are working but not tried them. seems that G ads are better than all others considering the budget. meta will def have better targeting options i guess.

you need to test this out. it really depends on the niche.

Im on apple store if i have an idea i will make really apps too but my only problem is how to validate the ideas i find my self spending a month or 2 to make a really good app but it gets less downloads, on this business you want to make money first, How do you validate the app idea? and how do you do the ASO? what tools are you using?

Read through all the pages here or check out my ebook to get all information at one place.

Long story short:

Validating ideas:
- see what works for others
- see trends (especially on tiktok!)
- make sure you know how to monetize
- keyword research with tools like AppFollow

Start building and shipping asap. One feature is enough. Onboarding -> paywall -> main screen with feature

Depending on how you plan to do marketing: No money = hardcore ASO + Tiktok. Money = Paid ads + Tiktok.




IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Guys, recently in this month October many people got their Apple Developer account terminated. This is kinda unusal step, because from my experience I never had a problem with Apple. Actually the opposite, they always emailed me and told me to change app title, etc. For example: Before I had the name "Sora" in one of my apps title and then someone from OpenAI messaged me and Apple and said I shouldn't use Sora, but I should write "powered by OpenAI Sora". Of course i didn't and entirely removed the name Sora.

Most of these guys did the same thing: They used names of AI models names, specifically "Nano Banana" in their app title and some even in their app logo.

DO NOT DO THIS. They are cracking down hard on this. It is simply not worth it. You will lose your account and your chance of making a shit ton of money. And same like Google Play, you won't be allowed to make a new account. Currently a VERY hyped and viral app went viral called "CLAIM" and they probably got their account terminated because previously one of their co-founder had an account terminated.

You can still get a piece of the cake by using Nano Banana and other AI models in the keywords field tho. But do NOT use them in the title, etc.

Play it safe...believe me....you don't want to wake up a random morning and get this termination email.

If you check out the first few pages of this thread you will see that one day I woke up and Google terminated my Admob account just before they would usually send me the payment. I think it was $5k, just gone. Never saw this money. They just fucked me up like this. I felt like shit all weekend long

 

[vin42]

yes, apple seems to be getting stricter day by day. They also terminated the apps belonging to "tea app" niche. So stay away from controversial things. It seems they are also checking the code patterns for vibe coded apps which may call for greater scrutiny. also they cracked down on "making the app free for limited time" and this violates their policy. i also heard that "keyword installs" no longer work as they used to, especially for new apps and you will not be able to rank for branded keyword for new apps. newer apps have a difficult time ranking now on their own, i mean solely on ASO as initial boost is gone.

 

[MrAinz]

So do you mainly use the Appfollow for the ASO stuff right ?

 

[nakamura]

yes, apple seems to be getting stricter day by day. They also terminated the apps belonging to "tea app" niche. So stay away from controversial things. It seems they are also checking the code patterns for vibe coded apps which may call for greater scrutiny. also they cracked down on "making the app free for limited time" and this violates their policy. i also heard that "keyword installs" no longer work as they used to, especially for new apps and you will not be able to rank for branded keyword for new apps. newer apps have a difficult time ranking now on their own, i mean solely on ASO as initial boost is gone.

I can confirm. Keyword installs do not work as before. I tested it two weeks ago. Almost no effect.

The only thing that seems to work now is targeting the right keywords and then getting download volume to rank for these keywords.

Personally, I wouldn't do keyword installs anymore. But especially: I would not buy reviews.

They changed the algorithm in June 2025. But since the release of iOS 26 end of September it seems they applied new rules (stricter!) and also changed the algorithm again.

So do you mainly use the Appfollow for the ASO stuff right ?

Yes, I use Appfollow. Its the only tool I use for ASO. Mostly for giving me an overview and also for keyword research.

There is one more tool/website I use: screensdesign.com (I am not affiliated with them) on this website you can see all the screens, paywalls, revenue, etc. of other apps. Can filter them by keywords, niche, etc. so I get a lot of UI / UX inspiration from them.

 

[MrAinz]

I really appreciate your insights and information its really helpful, lets say for example i did a research on appfollow and got a list of good keywords , How do you determine if this keywords are good or no ? do you look to the search volume and you ignore the difficulty whats your approach? is there any coupons i can use i checked them out and its 60$ for a month its kinda expensive

 

[nakamura]

I really appreciate your insights and information its really helpful, lets say for example i did a research on appfollow and got a list of good keywords , How do you determine if this keywords are good or no ? do you look to the search volume and you ignore the difficulty whats your approach? is there any coupons i can use i checked them out and its 60$ for a month its kinda expensive

If you only want to make keyword research, use this tool here:

https://tryastro.app/

its $9 per month. but i think its only available for MacOS.

Usually I would check the popularity and also the difficulty. high popularity & low difficulty = best keyword

then, its important to understand ASO when it comes to keywords:

Title > subtitle > keywords. And within them, the order matters. Your absolute main keyword should be on first place of the title. If you have a brand, put your brand name last. Example: Your app brand name is: BHW. Your main keyword is "Digital Marketing". You have 30 letters available. Your title should be: "Digital Marketing & SEO - BHW". You would put your main keyword first, a secondary keyword (second most important!) and then your brand name. Just need to make sure you use almost ALL the available letters.

Some more rules regarding keywords:

- Do not repeat keywords (it should never be twice)
- Do not split
- Do not use stop words
- Separate with commas (digital,marketing,seo,online,learn,ad........) etc.
- Do not use plurals (means: use "ad" instead of "ads" or "image" instead of "images")
- Do not include your company name or category
- Order matters (most important first)
- Beware of special characters (ö,ü,ß, ', etc.)

 

[nakamura]

Some more insights:

These days I am running experiments on RevenueCat.

Pricing structure:

IAPView:

Weekly sub: $4.99
Lifetime Access: $24.99

IAP - Middle Pricing:

Weekly sub: $7.99
Lifetime: $44.99

IAP - Premium:

Weekly sub: $9.99
Lifetime: $69.99

The premium pricing brings in the most money, but of course has the lowest conversion rate. The middle pricing performs the worst.I rolled out this experiment for everyone, worldwide.

After this experiment I will use a more dynamic approach. Use the lowest pricing for Tier 2 & 3 countries and the IAP Premium pricing for Tier 1 countries.

The first table is the ARPU (Average Revenue Per User):

 

[vin42]

If you only want to make keyword research, use this tool here:

https://tryastro.app/

its $9 per month. but i think its only available for MacOS.

Usually I would check the popularity and also the difficulty. high popularity & low difficulty = best keyword

then, its important to understand ASO when it comes to keywords:

Title > subtitle > keywords. And within them, the order matters. Your absolute main keyword should be on first place of the title. If you have a brand, put your brand name last. Example: Your app brand name is: BHW. Your main keyword is "Digital Marketing". You have 30 letters available. Your title should be: "Digital Marketing & SEO - BHW". You would put your main keyword first, a secondary keyword (second most important!) and then your brand name. Just need to make sure you use almost ALL the available letters.

Some more rules regarding keywords:

- Do not repeat keywords (it should never be twice)
- Do not split
- Do not use stop words
- Separate with commas (digital,marketing,seo,online,learn,ad........) etc.
- Do not use plurals (means: use "ad" instead of "ads" or "image" instead of "images")
- Do not include your company name or category
- Order matters (most important first)
- Beware of special characters (ö,ü,ß, ', etc.)

Let's say I want my app (a fitness app, for example) to rank for "home workout" and "strength training".

What is the correct way to enter this in the keyword field?

Option A (Phrases): home workout,strength training

Option B (Single words, no spaces): home,workout,strength,training

I've been told that Option B is the right way to do it. But I don't understand how Apple knows to connect "home" and "workout" if I separate them.

Does the algorithm automatically combine all the single words? Or am I making a mistake by splitting the phrases?

 

[MrAinz]

Thank you i will check the website, besides that how do you validate if an app idea is worth the time please? like i said i make really good apps but and i do some research but it always ends up not performing well as expected in revenue.

 

[nakamura]

Let's say I want my app (a fitness app, for example) to rank for "home workout" and "strength training".

What is the correct way to enter this in the keyword field?

Option A (Phrases): home workout,strength training

Option B (Single words, no spaces): home,workout,strength,training

I've been told that Option B is the right way to do it. But I don't understand how Apple knows to connect "home" and "workout" if I separate them.

Does the algorithm automatically combine all the single words? Or am I making a mistake by splitting the phrases?

Option B is correct. But you wouldn't use these keywords in your keyword field, but in your title.

If you use them in your title, you don't have to use them in the keyword field again.

Yes, the algorithm automatically combine all the single words. If you put generator,ai,image,photo it will make: AI Photo Generator, AI Image Generator, Photo Generator, Photo AI, Image AI, etc.

also, it will use plurals, even tho you use singulars. It also rank for AI Photos, even tho you only entered the word "photo".

Thank you i will check the website, besides that how do you validate if an app idea is worth the time please? like i said i make really good apps but and i do some research but it always ends up not performing well as expected in revenue.

Thats the interesting part, because it depends on your marketing strategy.

Example:

A) Organic traffic:

Validate through keyword research. The keyword popularity literally signalizes you how popular the app is and if its worth building it.

B) Viral marketing

This is the interesting part. You can literally make the most ridiculous app and just by viral marketing you can earn a lot of money. Good example is the app that made the people quit watching p*rn or stop jerking off. Sounds like a ridiculous idea, right? But it went viral on TikTok and made the developer a lot of money. Then, you can use common sense. Would the people pay to stop watching porn? Or to stop gambling? Or stop smoking? Yes. Would they pay to stop biting their nails? probably not.

C) Paid traffic + organic

Make an app that solves a real life problem. Pregnancy tracker, habit tracker, loneliness, motivation, education, etc.

Usually, people will spend money for things they are really passionated about or care about.

There was one guy who bought my ebook, sent me a lot of DMs, i answered all of them, was really nice to him. I think this entire convo had like 4 or 5 pages. then he wrote a really long and bad review in my thread, but the truth is this guy his app idea was doomed to fail because no one would spend money for his app. he made a drinking game app or something similar like this. of course no one is buying it. the people randomly download it when they are with friends, they dont wanna spend money on this. they can find drinking games simply on Google or elsewhere, they do not have to pay for it. This guy then didnt earn any money and wrote a lot of shit and wrong accusations, but it was all his own fault to begin with.

 

[Rinto24]

Following. Is a good journey

 

[vin42]

I see that all the keyword popularity data in all ASO tools comes from apple ads. That is not real popularity, its only that demand that advertisers are willing to pay for. also the difficulty is also a guesswork in all tools as they have their own formulas. is there any tool/ site that gives me trending new keywords. i would like to know the newest keywords that people are searching or ones that are likely to become more popular.

 

[nakamura]

I see that all the keyword popularity data in all ASO tools comes from apple ads. That is not real popularity, its only that demand that advertisers are willing to pay for. also the difficulty is also a guesswork in all tools as they have their own formulas. is there any tool/ site that gives me trending new keywords. i would like to know the newest keywords that people are searching or ones that are likely to become more popular.

No no, it really shows the popularity in terms of search requests/volume. Yes, they are using this data and then what they do is probably have a metric on how many people are using this exact match keyword in their title, or something like this.

Unfortunately, Apple isn't giving a lot of data on keywords. If you want to know the newest keywords, you have to check the latest trends on TikTok, YouTube, Google Trends, etc.

 

[olivier]

@nakamura
So you now use paid ads always when uploading new app?

Or how you get initial traffic? I bet it takes 6 to 12 months to see any traffic?

I have apple dev license but never published any app.
Now im thinking maybe do this too, besides my primary salary, and some yt income

 

[MrAinz]

Besides ASO what do you use Appfollow for ?