[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

@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
Depends.

I try to get the ASO done, it still brings organic traffic right from the beginning. Paid ads yes, if everything is set up correctly. Influencer marketing works as well. You can also get organic traffic through TikTok, etc.

Besides ASO what do you use Appfollow for ?
To monitor my organic traffic and ranked keywords, to reply to reviews, to see my new daily ratings/replies
 
Hey @nakamura,
It's now 5:40 in the morning and I almost read the whole thread. Congrats on your journey. It's really encouraging!

About me:
I've been developing games (alongside with other stuffs) for 5+ years.
I was able to grow my games virally on Tiktok and Shorts. I saw 25k installs in some days!

Then, one of the publishers approached and proposed to publish and I agreed.
I transferred the game and they worked on the marketing.

About a month ago, their iOS account was terminated with no appeal option. That was so harsh.
After 15 days later, this happened:
View attachment 471249
Hey guys,
I got my account back!
It's hard to believe, but after so many appeals and trials, Apple said my account will not be terminated.
The App Review Board has evaluated your app and determined that your Apple Developer Program account will not be terminated.
Should we find that no additional issues are found in review, your app will be approved or restored.
I have already opened a new account so I have two apple accounts now lol.
I resubmitted my old game with refactored code and assets and it got accepted.
It starts from zero, but I have my account back.
I wanted to share. I will not post further here not to pollute @nakamura 's messages.
Cheers!
 
Hey guys,
I got my account back!
It's hard to believe, but after so many appeals and trials, Apple said my account will not be terminated.

I have already opened a new account so I have two apple accounts now lol.
I resubmitted my old game with refactored code and assets and it got accepted.
It starts from zero, but I have my account back.
I wanted to share. I will not post further here not to pollute @nakamura 's messages.
Cheers!
Congrats! No more nail biting.
 
Hey guys,
I got my account back!
It's hard to believe, but after so many appeals and trials, Apple said my account will not be terminated.

I have already opened a new account so I have two apple accounts now lol.
I resubmitted my old game with refactored code and assets and it got accepted.
It starts from zero, but I have my account back.
I wanted to share. I will not post further here not to pollute @nakamura 's messages.
Cheers!

Wow thats amazing, congratulations to you.

But just an advice: It could be possible they will have a close look at your account from now. Like they flagged your account internally and see what you are doing / what apps you are publishing.

Make sure you are NOT doing any shady stuff, no copyright infringement (brand names in title, subtitle, screenshots or description - in the Keyword list its OK). Make sure to follow all the guidelines directly. FOr example, link to privacy policy and ToS in your app store description when offering IAPs, etc.

usually they won't terminate accounts easily.

but its important to keep a clean record.
 
can
Wow thats amazing, congratulations to you.

But just an advice: It could be possible they will have a close look at your account from now. Like they flagged your account internally and see what you are doing / what apps you are publishing.

Make sure you are NOT doing any shady stuff, no copyright infringement (brand names in title, subtitle, screenshots or description - in the Keyword list its OK). Make sure to follow all the guidelines directly. FOr example, link to privacy policy and ToS in your app store description when offering IAPs, etc.

usually they won't terminate accounts easily.

but its important to keep a clean record.
Its okay to include competitors keywords like brand names in keyword list section?
 
can

Its okay to include competitors keywords like brand names in keyword list section?
Yes. They told me to remove brand names in the title/subtitle, but when I added them in the keyword list it was fine for them. Basically, its just about visibility. No one sees your keyword list.
 
Wow, this is truly inspiring!
I love how you started from scratch no coding skills, taking one step at a time and set your sights on creating something meaningful instead of just chasing quick cash.
Your commitment to quality, retention and doing things legit (“whitehat”) really stands out.
Keep up the momentum and thanks for sharing your journey , it’s great to follow along and learn from someone who’s putting in real effort.
 
Hey guys,
I got my account back!
It's hard to believe, but after so many appeals and trials, Apple said my account will not be terminated.

I have already opened a new account so I have two apple accounts now lol.
I resubmitted my old game with refactored code and assets and it got accepted.
It starts from zero, but I have my account back.
I wanted to share. I will not post further here not to pollute @nakamura 's messages.
Cheers!

One of my friends is in the similar situation now. His account got terminated (or pending terminated)

How many appeals did you send? How was the wording? Did you try to do it in the emotional way or did you state facts / policies, etc?
 
One of my friends is in the similar situation now. His account got terminated (or pending terminated)

How many appeals did you send? How was the wording? Did you try to do it in the emotional way or did you state facts / policies, etc?
I appealed 6 times or so.
- Wrote a long formal appeal using ChatGPT
- A casual one explaining all the details
- A pitiful tone that I regret for what I did (I don't know what I did lol)
- A short explanation and a link to a blog post explaining all
- Shorter explanation and a link to blog post
- Same as above

Posted to Apple forums (got deleted) and Apple developer forums
Posted to Reddit
Posted here :)

What's your friend's reason? Did they know what did they wrong? DM me, maybe I can help.
 
I appealed 6 times or so.
- Wrote a long formal appeal using ChatGPT
- A casual one explaining all the details
- A pitiful tone that I regret for what I did (I don't know what I did lol)
- A short explanation and a link to a blog post explaining all
- Shorter explanation and a link to blog post
- Same as above

Posted to Apple forums (got deleted) and Apple developer forums
Posted to Reddit
Posted here :)

What's your friend's reason? Did they know what did they wrong? DM me, maybe I can help.
My friends reason is he had some brands/products in the app title. Which was fine until 13th november when they changed the policy. So few days ago he got an email with the termination. His apps were quite old, from 2022, and he didnt update them since. He wasnt active for the past week, so he couldn't remove these apps or change their titles.

my guess is his account/apps got flagged by bot and the account terminated then.

did they reject every time until the 6th time? Or didn't they reply to you at all and you just kept sending new appeals until they reinstated the account?
 
My friends reason is he had some brands/products in the app title. Which was fine until 13th november when they changed the policy. So few days ago he got an email with the termination. His apps were quite old, from 2022, and he didnt update them since. He wasnt active for the past week, so he couldn't remove these apps or change their titles.

my guess is his account/apps got flagged by bot and the account terminated then.

did they reject every time until the 6th time? Or didn't they reply to you at all and you just kept sending new appeals until they reinstated the account?
They sent the same response every time. It was probably a bot and no human involved.
Your friend’s case is quite interesting. They banned so many accounts because of nano banana , veo3, sora but they are generally new apps.
 
They sent the same response every time. It was probably a bot and no human involved.
Your friend’s case is quite interesting. They banned so many accounts because of nano banana , veo3, sora but they are generally new apps.
Yeah its quite weird. My friend had a lot of gaming related apps like "tips & tricks for minecraft" or "tracker for fortnite skins" and so on. Which seemed to be fine until 13th november.

in my friends case, it will be interesting to see their reply. because these apps are old already. he didn't change their names for 2 years. they just changed their policies and then terminated his account. it doesn't seem right.
 
Yeah its quite weird. My friend had a lot of gaming related apps like "tips & tricks for minecraft" or "tracker for fortnite skins" and so on. Which seemed to be fine until 13th november.

in my friends case, it will be interesting to see their reply. because these apps are old already. he didn't change their names for 2 years. they just changed their policies and then terminated his account. it doesn't seem right.
What was the actual app name and subtitle? Was it Minecraft app?
 
What was the actual app name and subtitle? Was it Minecraft app?
No idea actually. I think this guy made apps with titles like "tips and tricks for Minecraft" or "Guide for Minecraft". So he has put the app name in the title, but from what I know this was tolerated before the recent changes as long as it was "FOR Minecraft", etc. before they would say these apps are just fan apps, they are support/guide/help for the main app (Minecraft). They basically changed policies and killed his account for apps from 2021-2022 that were legit back then.

so my guess is something automatically triggered a termination in Apples system. He was showing me a screenshot and he got like 20 emails at the same time for different apps (even for legit apps without any trademark in the title...lol) just within one minute. So it was definitely a bot, not a manual review.

I am really wondering about their decision to the appeal. I am almost certain they will reject.
 
No idea actually. I think this guy made apps with titles like "tips and tricks for Minecraft" or "Guide for Minecraft". So he has put the app name in the title, but from what I know this was tolerated before the recent changes as long as it was "FOR Minecraft", etc. before they would say these apps are just fan apps, they are support/guide/help for the main app (Minecraft). They basically changed policies and killed his account for apps from 2021-2022 that were legit back then.

so my guess is something automatically triggered a termination in Apples system. He was showing me a screenshot and he got like 20 emails at the same time for different apps (even for legit apps without any trademark in the title...lol) just within one minute. So it was definitely a bot, not a manual review.

I am really wondering about their decision to the appeal. I am almost certain they will reject.
Wow so “xyz for abc” era ended then.
I knew Apple changed their terms recently so they would ban apps with trademarked app names but I would never think of this happening.
 
Wow so “xyz for abc” era ended then.
I knew Apple changed their terms recently so they would ban apps with trademarked app names but I would never think of this happening.

Well, I really don't know. He got this email here:

Pending Termination Notice

Upon further review of the activity associated with your Apple Developer Program membership, it's been determined that your membership has been used for dishonest or fraudulent activity, in violation of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement and the Developer Code of Conduct (App Review Guideline 5.6). Given the severity of the identified issues, your account has been flagged for removal.

Because your account has been flagged for removal, any earnings payments are paused and app transfers are disabled. Creating new accounts after receiving this message may result in the termination of the new or associated accounts.

Evidence of Dishonest or Fraudulent Activity

You provided fraudulent and/or false account information, documentation, or otherwise falsely represented yourself or your submitted app to Apple either during the account enrollment process or after the account was created.

Guidelines or Terms Violated

The dishonest or fraudulent activity described above directly violates section 3.2(f) of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, which states:

"You will not, directly or indirectly, commit any act intended to interfere with any of the Apple Software or Services, the intent of this Agreement, or Apple's business practices including, but not limited to, taking actions that may hinder the performance or intended use of the App Store, Custom App Distribution, TestFlight, Xcode Cloud, Ad Hoc distribution, or the Program (e.g., submitting fraudulent reviews of Your own Application or any third-party application, choosing a name for Your Application that is substantially similar to the name of a third-party application in order to create consumer confusion, or squatting on application names to prevent legitimate third-party use). Further, You will not engage, or encourage others to engage, in any unlawful, unfair, misleading, fraudulent, improper, or dishonest acts or business practices relating to Your Covered Products or Corresponding Products (e.g., engaging in bait-and-switch pricing, consumer misrepresentation, deceptive business practices, or unfair competition against other developers).”

The dishonest or fraudulent activity described above also directly violates the Developer Code of Conduct, specifically App Review Guideline 5.6.2 - Developer Identity, which states:

"Providing verifiable information to Apple and customers is critical to customer trust. Your representation of yourself, your business, and your offerings on the App Store or alternative app marketplaces must be accurate. The information you provide must be truthful, relevant, and up-to-date so that Apple and customers understand who they are engaging with and can contact you regarding any issues."

Appeal

If you would like to appeal this termination decision to the App Review Board, you must do so within 30 calendar days. When submitting your appeal, be sure to select "I would like to appeal an app rejection or app removal" from the drop-down menu on the Contact the App Review Team page and provide a written statement that includes the following:

- A thorough explanation of the issues we identified
- New information clarifying these issues, if you disagree with our findings

Otherwise, your Apple Developer Program membership will be terminated. If you have questions, contact us.

An App Review specialist reviewed the account and found information provided to Apple either during the account enrollment process or after the account was created to be fraudulent and/or false. The App Review specialist may have used automation as part of the review process.

I don't quite understand. They mean he signed up with a fake identity? It doesn't make sense. This guy signed up a long time ago with all his real life information (name, address, bank, etc.).

But then in here:

"You provided fraudulent and/or false account information, documentation, or otherwise falsely represented yourself or your submitted app to Apple either during the account enrollment process or after the account was created."

they also write ..."or your submitted app to Apple"...

this means the app could indeed be the problem?

The way these guys are communicating is just so difficult to understand.

Btw. how long did it take for them to reply you?
 
Well, I really don't know. He got this email here:



I don't quite understand. They mean he signed up with a fake identity? It doesn't make sense. This guy signed up a long time ago with all his real life information (name, address, bank, etc.).

But then in here:

"You provided fraudulent and/or false account information, documentation, or otherwise falsely represented yourself or your submitted app to Apple either during the account enrollment process or after the account was created."

they also write ..."or your submitted app to Apple"...

this means the app could indeed be the problem?

The way these guys are communicating is just so difficult to understand.

Btw. how long did it take for them to reply you?
That’s a classic Apple termination message. No details, no actual “evidence” of fraudulent activity.

Maybe an app isn’t the problem. He used another person’s bank account, identity info on App Store connect?

It took 2 months to reinstate my account. I appealed 5-6 times. Same response every time.
 
That’s a classic Apple termination message. No details, no actual “evidence” of fraudulent activity.

Maybe an app isn’t the problem. He used another person’s bank account, identity info on App Store connect?

It took 2 months to reinstate my account. I appealed 5-6 times. Same response every time.
i mean, how long did they take to reply to each of your appeals?

no clue, he told me he made the account in 2020 and from what I also saw before, he used his real name, real address, bank acc. etc.

he sent the appeal last week thursday, so far no reply. all of his appeal was just about the app names. but the actual email was about developer identity. doesn't make much sense.

anyway, i am pretty sure these guys will just sent an automated reply with a random rejection reason.
 
hey @nakamura
first of all, thank you so much for the whole detailed journey over the years so far.
I'm following you since a couple of years now and always was thinking about to start something similar like this as well, but never found the time for it and also was too afraid.

I'm pretty sure you get this question a lot, but I wanted to ask about your honest opinion if you think it still makes sense to start something like you did in the current times with claude, GPT, etc. - or do you think the market is too saturated and its way too hard now to create winning apps?

Of course, assuming that things are done correctly, and that apps cant be just simple wrappers, but in general, what would be your adivce?

Again thanks for all your effort, the free knowledge and your crazy journey. Also is there a new version of your e-book?

Thanks!
 
Wow, page 86 - I finally finished @nakamura 's epic thread. You probably saw me over the last few weeks making my way through and liking posts as I went It was fun to start off reading before GPT3.5 was released and know what was going to be in store for you in a few years time lol.

A question, I guess you're hosting all of these apps somewhere as they required API and presumably backend db/memory of chats?

1) Any recommendations on tools (i've used railway which has seemed quite straightforward)?
2) How do you manage the 40+ servers/VPS you must have for each app? (or are you partitioning one big VPS?)
 
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