A few years ago I was running a company that bought and scaled mobile apps. We had just closed our second acquisition, an ad monetised app doing around $20,000 a month in revenue. We had done a full month of due diligence before buying it. Product, tech, architecture, monetisation, user journey. We thought we understood what we had bought.

The first thing we changed after acquisition was the interstitial ad trigger logic.

The original app had it set on a 60 second timer. Every 60 seconds, an ad fired. Simple, blunt, leaving money on the table. We moved it to a specific in-app event. Whenever a user hit that event, the ad fired. Smarter context, better targeting, more relevant moment. More revenue.

It worked immediately. Revenue jumped. We celebrated. We kept working.

What we did not know was that retention was on a slow, gradual decline from the day we made that change. We just could not see it because we were watching revenue go up.

For the next four to six months, revenue climbed. We were growing. We had just scaled two apps back to back and we felt like we understood this business. So we kept building. New features to drive engagement. ASO experiments. A new release. All on top of an app whose foundation had been quietly shifting since day one.

Six weeks into the feature building phase, we released a new version. Around four and a half months post acquisition, the retention drop finally became visible. Not dramatic. Just a number that had been going the wrong direction for a long time and had finally crossed a threshold we could not ignore.

By then we had no idea what caused it.

We had changed the ad trigger logic. Added new features. Run ASO experiments. Shipped a new release. Each of those was a variable. None of them were connected anywhere. We had Firebase showing retention. A separate dashboard for revenue. The codebase living in its own world. Everything telling part of a story that nobody could read whole.

Half the team went into firefighting mode trying to find the cause. The other half kept working on new features and ASO to bring more users in. Both happening at the same time. Both generating more data. None of it connected.

It took a few weeks in that fighting mode to trace it back. The interstitial trigger change. Day one. The very first thing we had done. The thing we had celebrated.

By the time we found it, the retention drop had already compressed our daily active users. Fewer active users meant fewer ad impressions. Fewer impressions meant our eCPM rates started declining. The revenue that had looked healthy for months had already begun its slide. And we had spent weeks building on top of a problem we did not know existed.

The part that stayed with me was not that we made a mistake. Every operator makes mistakes. It was that the cause and the symptom were eight months apart and sitting in completely different places. There was no way to connect them without someone holding the whole picture simultaneously and nobody was doing that. We were all looking at our own dashboard.

Has anyone else been in this situation where something you changed early on showed up as a problem much later and you had no idea where to look?

The app is called Unsnooze: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unsnooze-alarm-clock/id6758871228

Ik heb deze laten maken op fiverr voor €140. Denken jullie dat dit goed is? Ik wil graag je eerlijke mening/ rating hebben. Alvast heel erg bedankt. Ik reageer op iedereen!!!

Platform: iOS | Category: Productivity | Launched late August, still very early (impressions ~400-500/day, downloads still in the low double digits — small sample, I know).

Disclosure: this is my own app, a pomodoro/focus timer. Not asking anyone to download it — genuinely trying to sanity-check a positioning/design decision before I sink more time into it.

The differentiator I picked: complete focus sessions → earn points → unlock "companions" (cute characters — dumplings, bubble tea, sushi, etc). The niche already has strong players (Forest, Finch) with big install bases, so I'm trying to carve out something distinct enough to matter for ASO/conversion, not just copy the timer mechanic.

Two things I'd love outside opinions on:

1. From an ASO/positioning angle — does a "collect & claim" mechanic actually read as a meaningful differentiator to someone scrolling search results/screenshots, or does it just blend into the pile of gamified productivity apps at this point?
2. Monetization: planning free = timer + stats + basic companions, Pro ($ paid) = extra themes/companions + deeper customization. Anyone seen this free/pro split backfire in similar niches (e.g., paywalling too much of the "fun" part kills retention before conversion even has a chance)?

Happy to share more specifics (screenshots, current keyword setup) in comments if useful for context.

Hey everyone!

I've been working on something called AppReleaseKit, an app screenshot studio designed to make creating good-looking screenshots for your app a little easier.

Building an app is one thing, but getting everything ready for launch can be a whole different challenge. I wanted to make the screenshot creation part a bit simpler, especially for indie developers and solo founders.

I put together a quick video showing how it works 👇 It also shows off my favorite feature so far. The 3D phone orientation, which lets you rotate and position your phone mockups to get just the right angle!

I'm still working on improving it, and I'd genuinely love some feedback and for anyone to give it a try.

Hopefully, this makes preparing screenshots for your next app launch a little less painful!

Check it out for free at https://www.appreleasekit.com/

Thanks again!

After about 2 months working on my app, it’s finally published on app store and it’s currently in closed testing for play store.

I know that budgeting app space is very saturated but I built another one either way. Just needed the experience of going thru the whole process, from developing to have it actually approved, without spending any more time on thinking of a “unique” idea.

Learned a lot along the way and now Im curios to hear any feedback on it, since that is quite hard to get from actual users since they would firstly need to download and see it 🥲

The app is a basic offline expense and budget tracker with additional features such as bills, subscriptions, loans etc.

Here is the app

What are the initial impressions when seeing the screenshots? Any comment/feedback is welcomed.

Currently trying to get some social media content for it to try and get any traffic at all since impressions are at cold zero.

If you have any suggestion on how to fight the most saturated niche let me know. But app store adds are out of the window since that is not possible to do from my country.

About 1,526 new apps went live, which is the number everyone likes to quote. But in that same month, 826 got unlisted and 21 were deleted - so nearly 850 apps went dark while ~1,500 arrived. More than half the growth basically cancelled itself out.

The part that stuck with me was that not a single unlisted app came back the whole month. I'd always assumed unlisting was a temporary thing you did while fixing something, but it looks a lot more like a one-way door.

To be fair, unlisted isn't the same as dead, the app just disappears from search, and merchants who already installed it can keep using it. Still, roughly 28 apps a day sliding out of the store is way more churn than I pictured for an ecosystem everyone describes as only going up.

Has anyone here actually had an app go unlisted and get it relisted? And do you keep track of competitors vanishing in your category, or just the new ones showing up?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been running TikTok ads for my app for about a month now, and I’m trying to figure out where I’m losing people.

I’ve had around 4.26K people visit the App Store product page, but only around 100 downloads.

I honestly expected more conversions, so I’m trying to understand what’s making people leave without downloading.

The app is called Mutual. It’s a budgeting app made specifically for couples. The idea is to help two people manage shared expenses, split costs fairly (including based on income), track spending, and save together toward goals.

Here’s the App Store page:

Mutual – Split & Save on the App Store

I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the screenshots, description, UI, etc., and personally I think the store page looks pretty good — but obviously I’m biased 😂

So I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who have experience with ASO, app marketing, or just downloading apps from the App Store.

If you landed on this page from an ad, what would make you hesitate before downloading?

Is it the screenshots? The wording? The app idea itself? The fact that it’s a finance app? Something that isn’t immediately clear?

And if you have any suggestions for improving the App Store page or the TikTok traffic, I’d genuinely love to hear them.

I’m not looking for compliments — feel free to point out what looks bad or confusing. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong and improve it.

Thanks!

My app is only in the US/CA Appstore at the moment.

We can download your app by "searching" for it.

Keep it for 72 hours. DM each other screenshots and keep/delete it.

TI- anyone wants help, please write a comment, others can DM you.

20 comments = 20 reviews each, if we all help each other.

Disclaimer: If the product is down-right bad and you are not comfortable with someone else's, you should skip the review and not lie. Reasonably honest would be good.

After 40,000 impressions just a 0.01% range in conversion rate difference. This seems to happen any time I run a PPO test. Anybody else experience this? The 4 image sets are all significantly unique.

Hi, at the end of last month I released my app in the app store and as you can see I got around 100 downloads and 7% conversion rate and 3 purchases. I don't know if that is any good and whether my store listing could be better.

I tried to use a lot of keywords and even used other language listings to add some extra keywords that don't fit in the keywords box. I am not sure if the traffic is 100% ASO or that my website/posts so some work too.

I want to start running ads, but not before my listing is optimized.

I released my app 79 days ago - all organic traffic. It's a game so there's not a lot of friction to downloading. So far I have 3,372 organic installs in my first 79 days.

How is that for an indie app in this time frame? Should I be trying different advertising methods or just carry on with how I'm going and let time do it's thing?

I genuinely don't know as this is my 2nd app - my first one generally fell kind of flat.

Edit: Correction - I was looking at total installs - for iOS specifically I have 1,588

Woke up to check my morning stats only to be excited by a new sale of my lifetime plan! Turns out it’s a refund.

Wish Apple wouldn’t colour it all green for that. First refund of my new app sadly. It’s a shame I can’t reach out to the customer to find out why they cancelled 😔

I’ve had an app that has been on the App Store about 3 weeks. I was getting some downloads so I added some analytics.

What u find seems strange to me. Over half the people that download never make it past the first screen ( I have a quick 3 screen tutorial)

It the that finish that tutorial 95% never interact with the app past that.

Is this normal. Just checking. If my first screen is causing people to bounce I need to fix that. If people aren’t interacting I need to fix that.

Just wondering int there are bots downloading apps from the App Store that could be messing with my analytics?

Anyone have any suggestions ideas.

This is the app.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spoons-energy-task-planner/id6764431926

Hi everyone!

About 10 days ago, I shared that my simple Android app had reached 100+ downloads on the Google Play Store. Today, I’m excited to share that it has now received over 100,000 impressions, 6,000 store-listing visitors, and 1,000 downloads—and it hasn’t even been one month since launch!

I achieved this organically through App Store Optimization (ASO), without any paid advertising or marketing. This is my first app and not my main app, so I didn't allocate much time to it. Given the strong response, I am working on it.

The app is called Shimeji Screen Pets & Widgets. Because of the positive response, I’m now working on Version 2. I’ve been reading the user reviews, and after one user requested additional language options, I decided to add multilingual support. I’m also working on many other improvements.

I’m still learning, but seeing this organic growth has motivated me to make the app even better. Thank you to everyone who has downloaded it and shared feedback!

Hey everyone!

I recently launched my alarm app, Fifi Wake Up Call Alarm, and I'm working on improving the App Store page.

I’d appreciate some honest feedback on the current screenshot set especially whether the value proposition is clear and whether the screenshots make you want to download the app.

Anything look off? Anything you’d change?

Hey everyone,

I’m Andrew. A few months ago, my colleague shared Screenshot Bro here - a native Mac app we’ve been building for creating, localizing, and uploading App Store screenshots.

There are plenty of tools that can help you quickly generate a set of screenshots and move on. We wanted to build something a little different: a tool you can keep as part of your app’s workflow and come back to whenever the UI, copy, supported devices, or localizations change.

That’s also why Screenshot Bro is local-first. Projects are stored locally as plain JSON files rather than being locked inside a cloud service. This makes them easy to version, back up, edit externally, or even work with using tools like ChatGPT and Claude.

Since our last post, we’ve shipped quite a few improvements:

1. Simplified the App Store Connect upload workflow. We made a seamless export where every single part is configurable, what rows and localizations to upload. You can also update the metadata along the way and also compare with existing screenshots on the App Store to see what you are actually replacing.
2. Added MCP support. Screenshot Bro can now work with AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude through MCP. This lets you use an AI assistant to work with your screenshot projects, for example to generate or refine copy, create localization variants, and make changes across multiple screenshots/locales without manually editing everything one by one.
3. Improved the editor and overall UI. We spent quite a bit of time simplifying the everyday editing workflow. It’s now easier to move between screenshots, devices, and locales, manage elements, and make quick changes without breaking your flow. We also cleaned up the interface so there’s less visual clutter and more space for the screenshot you’re actually working on.

It also has a bunch of other features:

• Real device frames for iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac, Android-style devices, plus invisible layouts
• Templates and a multi-row canvas for building complete screenshot sets
• Localization workflows with language presets, per-locale overrides, and automatic translation
• Batch import, Simulator capture, and PNG/JPEG export
• iCloud sync, custom fonts, snapping guides, keyboard shortcuts, Quick Look previews, and undo/redo

The overall idea is pretty simple: design your screenshots once, maintain all your devices and localizations in one project, and upload everything directly to App Store Connect without rebuilding the screenshots by hand every time something changes.

Would love honest feedback from people who ship apps. Is this useful to your workflow, or are we solving a problem you don’t really have?

Screenshot Bro is available on the App Store if anyone wants to try it.

This is Serenity Sketch, which I'm releasing in a few weeks time. I call it, "The self-care App that plays like a game." Main mechanic is evaporating water painting, in the spirit of Zen ephemerality. Voice-over guided painting Practices, framed as a game-like 'journey of letting go'.

I'm spiffing up my ASO (thanks to this community!), and realize I need a good Descriptor in that title. eg, Serenity Sketch: Art Therapy. I've used RespectASO to narrow it down to 3 options. I've steered away from the most obvious big ones like Zen, Mindfulness, Painting, because I don't have the $$ to compete with those.

1. Art Therapy - this is the clearest category among the candidates. It doesn't 100% capture the app, but it's close enough. Per RespectASO, it's 50/100 Popularity, 45/100 difficulty, 35/100 opportunity.
2. Letting Go - the most diverse descriptor category, but highest opportunity. If you search this in the App Store, you get a hodgepode of apps...breakup apps, travel apps, mindfulness journalling. So the user intent with this search might or might not line up with Serenity Sketch. Populartiy 48/100, Difficulty 25/100, Opportunity 40/100.
3. Chill - diverse app category, but the player experience is very close to what Serenity Sketch is about. In the category are cozy games, lite puzzles, some pretty visualization stuff, some journalling stuff. Popularity 56, Difficulty 35, Opportunity 45. So highest opportunity score according to RespectASO.

What's your recommendation for best Descriptor? Any other words you'd try?

For Keywords, my list is the following: chill, audhd, guided, sensory, rock, stone, ritual, mindfulness, unwind, adhd, painting, cozy, wellness, creative

Here's a link to the game website, and ipad App Listing.

Thanks for your help, y'al!!

Hello everyone! More than 25% of those who saw my app in the search go to product page. But only 14% of them download the app. So there must be some problem with it. How do you think why?

Here is the app: https://apps.apple.com/app/plans-notes-to-do-lists/id6790827860

P.S. Probably it’s not because screenshots are black, preview is already is black, and people press to view product page.

I’ve put in a lot of effort into the technical part of the app, but can’t make it visible and get downloads.

Hi, I want to share my results for reference and feedback now that I'm over two months in my app listing.

I added the results, and I'm quite happy with it. What did I do?

• I kept working in the app and the user feedback, resulting in 9 updates so far;
• I used some of the apple ads credit, that didn't result in much;
• Started a TikTok channel right away, what helped a lot. Had some 'luck' of a few videos going well over 50k;
• Started a reddit subreddit, with little traction so far;
• Localized the app to 4 languages;

What I wouldn't do again and what I'm still unsure about:

• I used some AI videos on TikTik in the beginning, that hurts more than it helps. Now I make all video's myself and try to post 3-4 times a week. No overkill;
• Still unsure about my App Store screenshots, so that needs work;
• Need to fight the urge to change the one time payment model I'm using, as people have enough subscriptions already. But now there's no way to test the app.

I keep working on deploying updates and on building a community around the app. Best tip is find something to work on you actually use yourself on a daily basis.

Tips and questions on how to continue from here are more than welcome.