[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire

[soa0611]

Update

April has been great. I published 4 new apps. Two of them already start to make money.

Revenue:

Not exactly sure how much money I made but must be something between 80-90k in total.

Spend:

I spend less money on ads. I guess a real business person would think I am an absolute idiot because they would immediately reinvest the money into growth. I spent around $1k for ads. Mostly Google Ads and Meta Ads.

API costs were around $3k USD. Other costs, for example Appsflyer, were around $200.

My RevenueCat subscription was about $800. LOL. Really, at one point you gotta ask yourself....should I really pay $800 per month for this? Its insane actually. But right now it is really beneficial for me because I do cross-platform (Web, iOS, Android) and its the perfect solution to handle memberships, etc.

Then, Apple takes a 15% cut (I am in the small developer program) and Google Play also takes 15% fees. Stripe takes a few %.

The income is balanced in this way:

iOS App Store: 70%
Android Google Play: 25%
Web / Stripe: 5%

So my guess is the overall PROFIT is around $70k. MRR $45k. ARR: $540k

Next steps for May:

- Publish 2 apps
- Update 2 apps
- Improving existing screenshots for my best apps using GPT-Image 2 (it does a really amazing job!) to get a better conversion rate in the app stores
- Setting up more social media accounts and start autoposting on them (all AI generated and auto posting), mainly YouTube shorts, IG, TikTok, Pinterest
- Making Google Ads and Meta Ads for 2-3 apps
- Improving SEO for my money sites and also buying high quality backlinks and doing PR

I will try to do the autoposting stuff first so it can work while I do the rest.

So yeah, I try to keep up the momentum and try to make the best possible decision for the apps. I might sell one of the apps sooner or later for $500k+. Recently I get a lot of emails from companies.

I dont usually talk about this stuff, but my ultimate goal is to make enough money to buy a nice condo in Bangkok and also an apartment in Japan (either Tokyo, Kobe or Fukuoka). I guess right now I could just sell all these apps and make $700k or more and reach this goal, but I think it has more potential so I wanna keep growing.

Whats nice condo cost? And why in Bangkok, not in some sea nearby?

 

[nakamura]

Whats nice condo cost? And why in Bangkok, not in some sea nearby?

Really depends, currently I am looking for condos. Probably around 200k USD. I like Bangkok, its accessible and I could go to islands on weekend, etc. Phuket and other places have been mayhem currently. For Tokyo I wanna buy one around 300k USD. Nothing too fancy.

Currently I spend a lot of time and money looking for airbnb (which are also overpriced) , etc in Tokyo and Bangkok, so it would be a good idea to just get a property there. I really have to check carefully tho, especially in Japan. In Bangkok I already know good areas and some good condos. I have stayed in 15+ different condo buildings in the past few years

Would be nice if I could just get these condos and then have 200k or so left for living and future projects.

 

[soa0611]

Really depends, currently I am looking for condos. Probably around 200k USD. I like Bangkok, its accessible and I could go to islands on weekend, etc. Phuket and other places have been mayhem currently. For Tokyo I wanna buy one around 300k USD. Nothing too fancy.

Currently I spend a lot of time and money looking for airbnb (which are also overpriced) , etc in Tokyo and Bangkok, so it would be a good idea to just get a property there. I really have to check carefully tho, especially in Japan. In Bangkok I already know good areas and some good condos. I have stayed in 15+ different condo buildings in the past few years

Would be nice if I could just get these condos and then have 200k or so left for living and future projects.

why Thai and Japan, you just like to spend time there? i remember you generally live in Germany

 

[afajansmedya]

Update

April has been great. I published 4 new apps. Two of them already start to make money.

Revenue:

Not exactly sure how much money I made but must be something between 80-90k in total.

Spend:

I spend less money on ads. I guess a real business person would think I am an absolute idiot because they would immediately reinvest the money into growth. I spent around $1k for ads. Mostly Google Ads and Meta Ads.

API costs were around $3k USD. Other costs, for example Appsflyer, were around $200.

My RevenueCat subscription was about $800. LOL. Really, at one point you gotta ask yourself....should I really pay $800 per month for this? Its insane actually. But right now it is really beneficial for me because I do cross-platform (Web, iOS, Android) and its the perfect solution to handle memberships, etc.

Then, Apple takes a 15% cut (I am in the small developer program) and Google Play also takes 15% fees. Stripe takes a few %.

The income is balanced in this way:

iOS App Store: 70%
Android Google Play: 25%
Web / Stripe: 5%

So my guess is the overall PROFIT is around $70k. MRR $45k. ARR: $540k

Next steps for May:

- Publish 2 apps
- Update 2 apps
- Improving existing screenshots for my best apps using GPT-Image 2 (it does a really amazing job!) to get a better conversion rate in the app stores
- Setting up more social media accounts and start autoposting on them (all AI generated and auto posting), mainly YouTube shorts, IG, TikTok, Pinterest
- Making Google Ads and Meta Ads for 2-3 apps
- Improving SEO for my money sites and also buying high quality backlinks and doing PR

I will try to do the autoposting stuff first so it can work while I do the rest.

So yeah, I try to keep up the momentum and try to make the best possible decision for the apps. I might sell one of the apps sooner or later for $500k+. Recently I get a lot of emails from companies.

I dont usually talk about this stuff, but my ultimate goal is to make enough money to buy a nice condo in Bangkok and also an apartment in Japan (either Tokyo, Kobe or Fukuoka). I guess right now I could just sell all these apps and make $700k or more and reach this goal, but I think it has more potential so I wanna keep growing.

That’s really impressive, and it shows how strong the iOS users and app quality are. iOS users also seem to be more willing to spend. It’s great to see you turning your vision into reality, really happy for you.

 

[mDOS]

Congrats bro. I've been following this thread for 2 years. Should I wait for the new ebook or buy the old one?

 

[nakamura]

why Thai and Japan, you just like to spend time there? i remember you generally live in Germany

yeah I am born and raised in Germany but havent really lived there in the past 10 years. Just going back there 1-2 times per year to visit family.

Thailand is nice for the lifestyle. Japan is nice because its quiet, safe, peaceful and the culture is great

Congrats bro. I've been following this thread for 2 years. Should I wait for the new ebook or buy the old one?

just wait for the new one

 

[OptimumGuy]

Do you use one apple/play store account or multiple?

If multiple do you use anti detect or multiple phones, what about proxies etc

 

[nakamura]

Do you use one apple/play store account or multiple?

If multiple do you use anti detect or multiple phones, what about proxies etc

Only one for each.

I am at the point where I can afford to get any account banned. If they would ban any account it would mean I lose a shit ton of money

 

[nakamura]

Only one for each.

I am at the point where I can afford to get any account banned. If they would ban any account it would mean I lose a shit ton of money

Of course I mean "CANT"

i cant afford to get any account banned. So I am playing strictly after the rules. My next Apple payout will be 60k or something like this, if they terminate my account before that I might log out myself

 

[OptimumGuy]

Of course I mean "CANT"

i cant afford to get any account banned. So I am playing strictly after the rules. My next Apple payout will be 60k or something like this, if they terminate my account before that I might log out myself

Thank you. I already understood your message. Like we say "Danke für die Infos"

 

[frnckstevenson]

Great journey so far nakamura!, if you do not mind me a personal question? Where do you get app ratings - can you please send recommendations thru DP

 

[AllOutAnime]

Of course I mean "CANT"

i cant afford to get any account banned. So I am playing strictly after the rules. My next Apple payout will be 60k or something like this, if they terminate my account before that I might log out myself

What did you do before that you avoid now to not get an account banned?

 

[nakamura]

Great journey so far nakamura!, if you do not mind me a personal question? Where do you get app ratings - can you please send recommendations thru DP

Right now all app ratings are completely organic. Seems like Apple can figure out bought reviews and ratings. The only way to get them legitimately would be to pay real users for ratings.

There are some strategies to get ratings faster. For example you can place a like button or whatever and then it triggers the rating window. Right now many apps are doing it in this way: Instead of just showing the rating window direclty, they ask "do you enjoy this app?" if the user chooses no, it doesnt show the rating window (they dont want the app to get bad ratings) and if the user chooses yes, it shows the rating window.

What did you do before that you avoid now to not get an account banned?

Before I would often use trademarked (or yet to be trademarked) brand names in description and subtitle to get ranked on these keywords and get downloads. Apple crackdowned hard on this last year in September. I would also just change some contents of my app with remote config, which is also against tos now. They dont want you to remotely update your app.

Now I am just playing fully after the rules and developer guidelines, whcih is not difficult because whenever I use Claude Code or Codex I just tell it to not do anything against tos.

 

[AllOutAnime]

Right now all app ratings are completely organic. Seems like Apple can figure out bought reviews and ratings. The only way to get them legitimately would be to pay real users for ratings.

There are some strategies to get ratings faster. For example you can place a like button or whatever and then it triggers the rating window. Right now many apps are doing it in this way: Instead of just showing the rating window direclty, they ask "do you enjoy this app?" if the user chooses no, it doesnt show the rating window (they dont want the app to get bad ratings) and if the user chooses yes, it shows the rating window.


Before I would often use trademarked (or yet to be trademarked) brand names in description and subtitle to get ranked on these keywords and get downloads. Apple crackdowned hard on this last year in September. I would also just change some contents of my app with remote config, which is also against tos now. They dont want you to remotely update your app.

Now I am just playing fully after the rules and developer guidelines, whcih is not difficult because whenever I use Claude Code or Codex I just tell it to not do anything against tos.

So this "playing with the rules" was just how the app is built and nothing around it? You still buy installs for your apps?

 

[nakamura]

So this "playing with the rules" was just how the app is built and nothing around it? You still buy installs for your apps?

Nope, not buying installs anymore at this moment. Only from the official channels like Google Ads, etc.

As I said, I cant afford to put my account at any risk. It would be extremely stupid to buy those installs or ratings and then to get destroyed because of it. The risk / reward ratio for this is extremely bad. Also I am at a point where I can just burn $10k for ads and testing. Not that I am doing it, but I could do it

 

[mDOS]

Can brand names be put in the description on Google Play?

 

[nakamura]

Can brand names be put in the description on Google Play?

I dont think so, I wouldnt risk it. Makes you an easy target if they wanna get rid of you

 

[Nicololo]

When you say you create automated videos, are you referring to slideshows?

Or do you use Kling 3.0, for example? It's too expensive.

 

[AllOutAnime]

Nope, not buying installs anymore at this moment. Only from the official channels like Google Ads, etc.

As I said, I cant afford to put my account at any risk. It would be extremely stupid to buy those installs or ratings and then to get destroyed because of it. The risk / reward ratio for this is extremely bad. Also I am at a point where I can just burn $10k for ads and testing. Not that I am doing it, but I could do it

I find it strange that buying reviews or installs could get your account suspended. Like that you could wipe all your competition, just buy a bunch of installs and reviews and they get banned.

 

[nakamura]

When you say you create automated videos, are you referring to slideshows?

Or do you use Kling 3.0, for example? It's too expensive.

Both slideshows and AI videos. I am doing a mix of it. Slideshows I usually autopost directly. AI videos I push to draft and manually review them (some of them are slop).

Btw. the best model right now is probably Seedance 2.0. There is a way to make really, really good TikTok videos, but it includes making different cuts, image to video, etc. but you can basically make videos that are indistinguishable from real videos

I find it strange that buying reviews or installs could get your account suspended. Like that you could wipe all your competition, just buy a bunch of installs and reviews and they get banned.

yes, this crap can really happen. they will put your account under investigation. its super hard to defend yourself against this. in fact, this has happened to me some time ago. suddenly I found out I got 400 ratings from Vietnam within a month. Almost all 5 stars. Now why the fuck would I want to buy vietnamese 5 star ratings? Someone from Apple sent me an email saying my account is under investigation because of developer guidelines ToS, etc. (not sure if I posted about this) and I had to explain to them I have no idea what happened and I didnt do anything like this. They never replied back to me. The worst thing is if they excuse you and you just say "no idea what you are talking about" they will probably think its an excuse or you are trying to fool them