GIDEON6155
Newbie
- Apr 30, 2024
- 38
- 13
Congratulations Nakamura ,100 pages the group is such a vibe and helpful
[Journey] Building an iOS & Android App Empire
- Thread starter nakamura
- Start date
- May 27, 2016
- 11,989
- 2,769
Great breakdown! What programming languages are needed to learn in order to make an Android app?
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
- 10,994
not sure how these informations help you because its all depending on so so many different factors.
my niche is just medium, its definitely not on a high-spending niche like pharmaceutical, crypto or financial stuff. i have around 100k monthly users
working on it. i wanna add more images. also need to write the sales thread, etc.Congrats on 100 pages of replies!
Hows the Ebook coming along?
thank you, it has been a crazy journey and i keep working
depends. i would say you dont need to learn any of it. just use AI. dont waste your time learning this stuff. learn marketing instead
AllOutAnime
Power Member
- Oct 15, 2007
- 590
- 483
When comparing LTV of monthly vs weekly subs was the monthly 4x the weekly price or was it much cheaper?
How stable are the weekly subscriptions from your experience?
I have a SaaS business with weekly and monthly payment options and the weekly payments fail quite often with "insufficient funds" or something like that and therefore I prefer monthly payments because 1 monthly = 4 weekly.
From the weekly cancellation reasons, what percentage do you see as user canceled and what percentage is payment errors?
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
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Its not only about the LTV. Its also about the conversion rate and the conversion rate for the monthly subscription was way lower from my experience. I offer weekly, monthly and yearly and the clear winner are weekly and yearly. So I removed monthly. Seems like monthly works well for SaaS but for mobile apps not that much. For SaaS / B2B I also prefer monthly.
The churn rate of weekly subscriptions heavily depend on the niche. If you have a short term usage app or an app where users just wanna try it once or for a short term project, the churn rate is super high. Thats why I usually have a weekly subscription price like $9.99 and then a much lower yearly price like $39.99 so the user thinks its a way better deal to go with the yearly subscription. so the short term user buys the $39.99 package and basically makes me more money than if he would buy $9.99 weekly and immediately cancel. I have a lot of yearly sub users that use the app for 3 days and then never login again.
There is definitely a percentage of users with payment errors, but usually Apple retries after a few ays and then it takes the money.
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
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i only know the way to the top
AllOutAnime
Power Member
- Oct 15, 2007
- 590
- 483
From what I understand it costs you money when your users use the app. Are you not loosing a lot of profit from yearly sales because the user could use the app for a whole year?
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
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yes, but they dont. 90% of the users just use it for a few days, then stop it.
but you have other calculate it. the best case is if even if you charge yearly 39.99 USD and these people use it every day, you still make money. need to keep the api costs low and calculate correctly.
i have a very few power users. maybe out of 1k people, there are 10 which are using it like freaks.
some users buy yearly sub, use it 20 times and stop using it.
goldengate2334
Newbie
- Mar 19, 2026
- 13
- 3
halekrealme
Newbie
- May 21, 2026
- 15
- 4
I really wanted to learn how people build and get users, i felt the easiest lately is building rather than actually getting users.
epiderfliix
Newbie
- Jul 12, 2026
- 1
- 1
Hey @nakamura , massive respect for the journey. Bit of background on me first: I worked on apps for a long time, from 2018 until I stopped in 2023 after moving to another country. Back then I'd already hit 40k+ per month, but it was never stable, that's the part that wore me down. Now I'm getting back into it, but this time I want to target iOS directly instead of Google, specifically to avoid all the suspensions and the AdMob non-payments I dealt with before.
Just launched my first app yesterday of this new run and it's still in review and TikTok is my main focus for organic. I have a few questions please.
When you started on TikTok, how many accounts did you actually need before you saw consistent installs? Did the first account do anything, or does it only work at volume? and do you use Instagram (Reels) as much as TikTok, or is TikTok clearly the best for app installs? Curious if one converts better than the other for you. Thank you
Just launched my first app yesterday of this new run and it's still in review and TikTok is my main focus for organic. I have a few questions please.
When you started on TikTok, how many accounts did you actually need before you saw consistent installs? Did the first account do anything, or does it only work at volume? and do you use Instagram (Reels) as much as TikTok, or is TikTok clearly the best for app installs? Curious if one converts better than the other for you. Thank you
Rally09
Regular Member
- May 1, 2021
- 214
- 62
Hello buddy, this really an insightful and I have been watching it for about a year now. It's something I would like to do probably but how do you validate your customers buying potential?
I've run some searches on my niches to see my competitors apps and I realized that half of them are free with minimal ads and the other portion just does one time which I don't think it's wise idea, but they do it anyways.
Do you think these niches are worth pursuing judging on their metrics or my app design could change my customer/user purchasing behavior?
I've run some searches on my niches to see my competitors apps and I realized that half of them are free with minimal ads and the other portion just does one time which I don't think it's wise idea, but they do it anyways.
Do you think these niches are worth pursuing judging on their metrics or my app design could change my customer/user purchasing behavior?
shubham123s
Newbie
- Jan 7, 2017
- 34
- 2
What's your ARR right now? And how many apps have you launched so far?
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
- 10,994
Sorry guys, there hasnt been an update for a while. Was super busy recently (flew to Japan, had to deal with some private stuff) and Google Play started to fuck around again.
Out of nowhere, Google Play suddenly started reviewing three of my apps. One app is still in review. Two apps have been suspended. One of the suspended ones is still in appeal.
Here is what happened:
Suddenly, one malicious reviewer targeted my apps. What did he do? Upload photos of woman and write prompts like "remove her clothes", "make her naked". So this guy tried to generate adult content with my app in order to get my app suspended.
It didnt work initially. But this guy used very tricky prompts like "make it more spicy" or other weird descriptions.
I am not kidding you guys, this guy tried it for 119 (!!!!) times. He spent hours to generate any adult image. 95% of the requests were rejected. 5% was allowed, but didnt deliver any adult image. It was literally just one image he could generate and then he used this image to suspend my app immediately.
How do I know all the details? Because I track EVERYTHING in the backend. Every user. Every user generation. Every prompts they use.
So this guy suspended the app with the reason:
What happened after suspension?
I made a few additional safety layers. Now gpt 5 evaluates the prompt before generation. Also, gpt 5 evaluates the output. Also, since I use Google Nano Banana 2 for image generation, it uses their own content safety moderation as well. This should all be bulletproof and it should not be possible to generate ANY kind of adult content. Not even a woman in a bikini.
So I sent the app for appeal and thought to myself: "well, they must accept the appeal since its basically imposible to generate this kinda content"
now here is the thing: these people REJECTED the appeal and as evidence they provided an image that has been generated from the initial suspension. They basically said "your app STILL contains adult content" and provided an old image. Since I can see everything in the backend, I immediately went to take a look and what happened? This reviewer did NOT try to generate an image even once. LOL.
Basically just hit the reject button and used an old image for evidence.
Absolute fucking cinema.
I replied to the appeal, told them its basically impossible to generate such content and the image provided was old. Told them I saw in the backend there was no new attempt from them to create an image.
Guess what? Immediately rejected. Just said "sorry, our review is done. we wont reply again. there wont be further communication for this".
This is the shit I had to deal with for years and the reason why this thread has 101 pages. You can NOT build a serious business with them. They will always throw you back to 0. You have an app making you $10k, ok, enjoy it as much as you can, because you have to expect they will come for you and suspend it out of nowhere.
Ironic: I created the exact same image the reviewer did with the Gemini app. Made a screenshot and sent it to this reviewer. Told him to review the Google Gemini app as well, since it also generate this kinda images.
So whats the lesson here?
Google proved to me ONCE AGAIN they can and will do whatever the fuck they want. They target you, you lose. Making 119 (!) attempts to generate any kinda adult content and use manipulative prompts is not normal. Its not a normal review. A normal review would be to make a couple of attempts and just let it be.
But this guy forcefully wanted to find a reason. He kept going. He didnt stop until he got what he wanted. And when he got it, he immediately used it as a reason to suspend the app.
So whats the deal with Google and whats my recommendation?
If you are building your app with Flutter, also go for Google Play. But do not have any expectations. The revenue through Google Play is much less than for Apple App Store. Google Play review, like in this case, is also way more unreliable. These people come, put a target on your breast and just end you.
My Google Play Developer account is still live, but I expect it to get terminated probably within this month or next month. Why? Because it seems this is what they want to achieve. They want to suspend a couple of apps, then say my account is against the ToS. All fabricated, all absolute bullshit.
As I mentioned in the very beginning: Two apps suspended (one still in appeal), another app live but also in review.
I expect the worst and I will keep you updated.
Out of nowhere, Google Play suddenly started reviewing three of my apps. One app is still in review. Two apps have been suspended. One of the suspended ones is still in appeal.
Here is what happened:
Suddenly, one malicious reviewer targeted my apps. What did he do? Upload photos of woman and write prompts like "remove her clothes", "make her naked". So this guy tried to generate adult content with my app in order to get my app suspended.
It didnt work initially. But this guy used very tricky prompts like "make it more spicy" or other weird descriptions.
I am not kidding you guys, this guy tried it for 119 (!!!!) times. He spent hours to generate any adult image. 95% of the requests were rejected. 5% was allowed, but didnt deliver any adult image. It was literally just one image he could generate and then he used this image to suspend my app immediately.
How do I know all the details? Because I track EVERYTHING in the backend. Every user. Every user generation. Every prompts they use.
So this guy suspended the app with the reason:
What happened after suspension?
I made a few additional safety layers. Now gpt 5 evaluates the prompt before generation. Also, gpt 5 evaluates the output. Also, since I use Google Nano Banana 2 for image generation, it uses their own content safety moderation as well. This should all be bulletproof and it should not be possible to generate ANY kind of adult content. Not even a woman in a bikini.
So I sent the app for appeal and thought to myself: "well, they must accept the appeal since its basically imposible to generate this kinda content"
now here is the thing: these people REJECTED the appeal and as evidence they provided an image that has been generated from the initial suspension. They basically said "your app STILL contains adult content" and provided an old image. Since I can see everything in the backend, I immediately went to take a look and what happened? This reviewer did NOT try to generate an image even once. LOL.
Basically just hit the reject button and used an old image for evidence.
Absolute fucking cinema.
I replied to the appeal, told them its basically impossible to generate such content and the image provided was old. Told them I saw in the backend there was no new attempt from them to create an image.
Guess what? Immediately rejected. Just said "sorry, our review is done. we wont reply again. there wont be further communication for this".
This is the shit I had to deal with for years and the reason why this thread has 101 pages. You can NOT build a serious business with them. They will always throw you back to 0. You have an app making you $10k, ok, enjoy it as much as you can, because you have to expect they will come for you and suspend it out of nowhere.
Ironic: I created the exact same image the reviewer did with the Gemini app. Made a screenshot and sent it to this reviewer. Told him to review the Google Gemini app as well, since it also generate this kinda images.
So whats the lesson here?
Google proved to me ONCE AGAIN they can and will do whatever the fuck they want. They target you, you lose. Making 119 (!) attempts to generate any kinda adult content and use manipulative prompts is not normal. Its not a normal review. A normal review would be to make a couple of attempts and just let it be.
But this guy forcefully wanted to find a reason. He kept going. He didnt stop until he got what he wanted. And when he got it, he immediately used it as a reason to suspend the app.
So whats the deal with Google and whats my recommendation?
If you are building your app with Flutter, also go for Google Play. But do not have any expectations. The revenue through Google Play is much less than for Apple App Store. Google Play review, like in this case, is also way more unreliable. These people come, put a target on your breast and just end you.
My Google Play Developer account is still live, but I expect it to get terminated probably within this month or next month. Why? Because it seems this is what they want to achieve. They want to suspend a couple of apps, then say my account is against the ToS. All fabricated, all absolute bullshit.
As I mentioned in the very beginning: Two apps suspended (one still in appeal), another app live but also in review.
I expect the worst and I will keep you updated.
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
- 10,994
Its quite simple. If you target older folks in need of your app, they will spend money. This goes with everything, not only apps. If you target younger people and have a useless app (like drinking games) you wont make money. Its just common sense. THere are a few niches with a lot of money in it: finance, health (also mental health), etc.
if they have a lot of good metrics and earn a lot of money, you should check whether they run paid ads and how they run it. Some of them are running a lot of ads and have minimal margins. I know a guy making $150k per month but he spends $100k per months on ads and then has other costs like API, taxes, etc. leaving him with $10k profit.
ARR is $550k from what I just saw on RevenueCat. If I add the ads money to it its probably probably around $600k.
In total maybe 30 apps. I have to check. I dont really keep track, I just keep pushing, keep releasing. I dont really look back.
Rally09
Regular Member
- May 1, 2021
- 214
- 62
Niche is bit close to these. One of my ideas is a simple app, closely related to something like a to-do app but not exactly. Obviously, average user retention would be lower but I attend to make it super modern. Don't know if ads would work effectively because users would only use it once in a while so I'm thinking implementing a credit system where in-app actions demands credits which are obtained from watching rewarded video ads.
I would also like to clarify if free tiers of the regular AI models available are enough to assist in the app development phase or some paid versions would be better?
I can handle the marketing, and I have the ideas. But I need help putting it out there on the app stores
- Mar 22, 2013
- 6,392
- 10,994
It really depends on your approach and who you make the app for. Also depends on the marketing approach.
Would it be possible to make the app with free tiers AI? Defintiely, but would require more time and quality will probably less. Some good AI models are quite cheap. For example QWEN 3.7 or also Kimi K3 which is pretty good. Grok 4.5 is also cheap.
There are some sales thread in here that sell cheap Gemini, etc. accounts, get one of those. As far as I know Google will publish Gemini 3.5 Pro soon, might be good as well.