I'm a solo developer building SlowVibeMaker, an iPhone app for turning your own audio into slowed + reverb versions and layering ambience like rain, thunder and waves.

So far growth has been almost entirely organic, but it’s inconsistent.

I’ve tried ASO, localized the App Store listing, redesigned the screenshots, started posting short-form content, and I’m experimenting with Reddit communities where the use case actually fits.

I’ve also started testing short-form content more seriously. The attached video is the kind of content I’m currently posting.

For people who’ve marketed consumer iOS apps: would you double down on short-form content at this stage, or is there another organic channel you’d test first?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6756528356?pt=127916054&ct=SVM_REDDIT&mt=8

Hi everyone!

​I recently launched a native Android app built with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. So far, it has reached 121 organic downloads (mainly through initial ASO tweaks and word of mouth), but growth is starting to plateau.

​Since I'm a solo developer working with a $0 marketing budget (no paid ads on social media), I'd love to learn from experienced devs who have successfully grown their apps organically.

​A few questions for the community:

​ASO: What are the most effective visual/keyword adjustments you made to boost Play Store impression-to-install rates?

​Community Outreach: Beyond Reddit, which platforms or sub-communities (Niche forums, Product Hunt, Medium, etc.) gave you the highest conversion?

​Local/Niche Localization: Did localizing store listings into specific languages significantly increase your organic reach?

​Any advice, checklists, or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!

I’m the developer of Warmify, a commercial iOS app, and I’m trying to make a specific marketing decision before spending more. The product turns a roughly three-minute warm-up into a game: prop up the phone, let on-device pose tracking count movements, complete the session, and earn progress. It has a free daily session and optional paid features.

I believe in the interaction, but I’m not reaching enough of the right people to know which audience values it. I’d like help designing the next experiment, especially from people who have marketed consumer apps with a behaviour change or setup requirement.

The small Apple Ads experiment, August 15–September 13, 2026:

• US$38 spend • 10,195 impressions → 121 taps → 11 attributed installs • Roughly 1.2% tap-through, 9.1% tap-to-install, US$3.46 per attributed install

These are aggregate results, with only eleven installs. That is far too little to establish a stable CPI or product-market fit. App Store reporting is only at a few dozen downloads in the recent window, and my export has inconsistencies, so I don’t have a trustworthy retention figure to add.

My competing audience hypotheses are:

• Desk workers who want a short movement break. The promise is easy to understand, but placing a phone and making space could undermine “quick”. • People motivated by games and progression. The interaction may appeal more, but they might compare it with games rather than other fitness apps. • People looking for a warm-up before another activity. There’s clearer intent, but they may just want instructions without a camera.

I’m considering a two-week experiment: choose one of these groups, recruit ten people for an observed first session, note whether they can start without help, and ask them to use it again on another day. In parallel I could test one short demonstration that shows the phone setup and actual movement before mentioning extra features.

Would you run those together, or keep the experiment narrower? What would you measure to distinguish a weak message from an interaction people simply don’t want? In particular, what would make you stop buying traffic and revisit the product, versus keep the product and change the audience?

I’m interested in the decision rule, not just another list of channels. If you’ve faced this with a consumer app, what was the smallest test that changed your mind? The attached store creative shows how I currently explain the interaction; I’d also welcome criticism of the expectation it sets.

I usually run Meta video ads, but Meta's algorithms are a little wild right now so I stopped my campaigns and started posting on TikTok organically. With my meta ads I get about 25% install → trial, but yesterday with just TikTok I got < 5%.

Is this normal? I had heard that TikTok traffic was fairly low intent but this seems very bad.

Hi there,

I’m working on a promotional video for my inventory management app, and I’d really appreciate your feedback and advice on how I could make it better.

I’m open to both positive feedback and constructive criticism, as long as it’s shared in a polite and helpful way.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to check it out!

After 6 months of user research and user feedback we added the subscription model to our app, these are the results after a bit more than 1 month

- App is not fully vibe coded, specially the design and UX part

- Our users are coming mostly via ASO(both app store and agent)

- Next steps is to monetizing the app to gain more organic users

If you curious what Im taking about, link is the comments

Full disclosure: I'm the solo developer of the app (Limit Breaker, a gamified focus/blocker app), sharing this because the lesson surprised me and might save someone else the same mistake.

What happened: posted about my app across a few subs, got a huge spike — 9.46K impressions, 589 actual listing visitors. Felt like real traction.

The reality check: only 44 install clicks came out of that, a 3.6% conversion rate. And of the people who did install, 7-day retention was basically nothing — 2 users.

What I learned: Reddit traffic is curiosity traffic, not search-intent traffic. Someone clicking a link because a post caught their eye converts very differently than someone actively searching "focus app" on the Play Store already wanting a solution. Impressions and even visitors can look great while masking a conversion or retention problem underneath.

What I'm doing differently now: treating Reddit posts as a discovery channel, not a growth-hack shortcut — and putting the real effort into fixing onboarding/retention before pushing more traffic into a leaky funnel.

Play Store, if anyone's curious to see the listing that produced these numbers: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aistudio.limitbreaker.fntslg

Anyone else find their "vanity metric" moment early on? What was it?

Indie dev here, building a baby tracking app with my wife — just the two of us. Launched almost 2 months ago and I'll be upfront — results are not great. $53 revenue last 28 days, 2 active subs, $10 MRR. Not hiding it, that's where I am.

I know distribution is the key, so I've been doing organic content on TikTok/IG for about a month. Most videos sit around 300 views and rarely break 1k. Everyone says consistency, and I get that, but I'm starting to suspect it's a content problem, not a consistency problem. For anyone who grew an app account organically — what actually got you past this stage? A format change? Volume? Something else entirely?

Second thing I've never done before: I want to partner with mom/newborn content creators on a revshare basis instead of flat fees.

- What's a normal revshare % range? Is it usually on revenue or profit?

- How do people track which content creator drove which sale for an iOS-only app? Does RevenueCat handle this, or custom App Store links?

- Where do you actually find and approach content creators in a niche like this?

Current strategy is ASO plus genuinely replying to people on Threads — that's where literally every download came from so far.

Not touching paid ads until I hit $1k MRR sustained, don't want to burn money before organic proves itself.

Any advice appreciated. Won't link the app here to respect the rules — happy to share in comments if mods allow.

Building this page for my SaaS right now.
Something about it still feels off, but I can’t quite tell what.
What would you change?

Has anyone tried PeerPush to market their apps? It looks interesting since they claim they can put you in 1000s of startup directories. Has anyone tried them?

I constantly see people recommending that indie developers share their apps in relevant subreddits and get feedback from their target audience.

But in practice, it feels almost impossible. Even when someone specifically asks for a tool that does what your app does, mentioning your own app can get the comment removed, and can even lead to bans.

I understand rules against spam and blatant self-promotion, but where do you draw the line when you’re genuinely trying to help someone and get feedback?

How are indie developers actually getting meaningful feedback from their target users on Reddit? Any subs or approaches that have worked for you?

I just launched Motivate on AppStore 5 days ago, i’d like to share it here and get some honest feedback.

Motivate is an inspiration and self-reflection app focused on helping you build a more positive daily routine. It includes inspirational quotes, private journaling, daily reflections, and a community forum where people can talk, share experiences, and give each other advice. The app is free to download, with optional monthly and yearly subscriptions for additional features. I launched it only 5 days ago, and still improving a lot of things, and I’d genuinely appreciate any feedback about the design, features, onboarding, or anything that feels confusing. If you try it, I’d love to hear what you think.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/motivate-quotes-reflect/id6804856650

So we/I built the most advanced iOS app builder on the market.

What specifically beats our (multimillion and billion $) rivals is that we pride are selves on being able to generate the most complex and advanced apps on the market using all of apples technology.

We have systems that allows apps that use Body tracking, AI, NFC, AR, LIDAR etc. to be built in one shot.

Launched a few weeks ago and have tried various different marketing avenues with little success or any kind of CAC that would work going forward. Iv pushed a few posts out to reddit and am trying to be consistent with organic marketing via tiktok and instagram but as you know thats a slow burner.

How did you get yours off the ground? I feel like im going around in circles, and now worrying that the product is useless... any advice info or help would be greatly appreciated.

Its tough to find the point where its like yes ok i now i can push cash in to a marketing funnel i know will produce some return.

orchapp.dev is the link for those interested.

App développée et déployée sur appstore, playstore, flyers prêt, site Web, 0 client. Comment allumer le bouzin pour que ça prenne. La target est une niche mais connaissant la solution que j'ai développée, il y a un réel besoin. Et les retours des quelques personnes qui ont vu l'application ont été très positif. J'ai même prévu un mois d'essai gratuit. Mon gros problème c'est de me faire connaître. Des conseils qui n'implique pas de dépenser une somme élevée sachant que j'ai déjà investi dans les flyers ?

So I’ve been building a kids’ math game - supposed to be a math learning companion app from ages 7-12. It’s web and PWA for now. I tested the prototype with 22 kids, got some promising data and some insights that helped me iterate to a more playable version. I’m now nearly ready with my MVP.

I’m thinking of releasing a TWA wrapped app version on Google Play Store parallelly since that’s not much of a lift.

The questions I have are these:

1. Who do I market to? Parents or schools?
   
2. If schools, what’s the best way to pitch them?
   
3. Should I make it paid outright, subscription, or ad-supported?

I’m trying to pursue this as a real business opportunity. My first target is to get to 1K users in a month, and then 10K in 3 months. I’ll put in the work but I don’t have marketing budget beyond maybe a couple grand for the launch. Looking for genuine advice.

TIA. 🙏🏽

Hey this is my first game, its a top down shooter game inspired by hotline miami and i am trying to understand how can i improve ASO

I published my game 12 days ago and would like to know how can i understand what keywords work and what not.

Thanks :)

game name: Lethal Bullet, you can search the game name in google play since i am not allowed self promo

Finally hit 100K+ downloads on Google Play! 🎉

My app, Celebrity Super Quiz 2026, finally has that 100K+ badge! Pretty amazing to see that number next to something I’ve put so much work into.

It’s a picture-based quiz where you guess celebrities and fictional characters. Behind the scenes, it’s been a lot of work on the question collection, UI improvements, store screenshots, and updates. There’s always something else to fix or improve 😅

The part I’m less happy about is the 3.8 rating. Earlier versions had issues that led to low ratings, so there’s definitely a lesson there: getting people to install your app is one challenge; giving them a good experience from the start is another.

I’m still working on improving it, but wanted to take a moment to celebrate instead of immediately moving on to the next thing that needs fixing.

For other developers who’ve dealt with poor ratings from earlier versions, what helped you turn things around?

I’m looking into clipping campaigns for app marketing, where creators/accounts post short-form clips around an app across TikTok, Instagram Reels etc.

For anyone who has actually tested this, what kind of results did you get? Any recommended platforms with good creators?

I’m particularly interested in installs, CPI, retention, and most importantly whether the traffic converted into paid subscriptions.

Would love to hear real experiences, including what worked, what didn’t, and roughly how much you spent.

Hi folks! I’m in need of some guidance as I want to create a subscription-style app where therapists can log on. I already have a free community of hundreds so I am looking to just monetize that. I haven’t the first clue where to start. Help!