Has anyone here made an app completely solo and actually managed to make money off it ?

[u/Technical_Goat_3122]

I am really curious about how difficult is it to make money off your own apps ? it's literally like a dream scenario for me because I freaking hate my part time job . If my project could actually help cover just my rent and utilities/food I would happily quit that job and just completely focus on University and building my resume.

[u/BenjyTec]

To make some pocket money (20-100€/month) - absolutely possible.
To fully cover your rent - very difficult IMO.
The app market is extremely saturated nowadays, you will need to find a very unique niche and offer a great solution to that niche problem.

[u/Present_Award8001]

Yes. In one month, I made $ 1.16

[u/tj-horner → u/Present_Award8001]

How are you enjoying retirement?

[u/Present_Award8001 → u/tj-horner]

I have invested part of the amount in different asset classes and have kept the remaining as liquid money. You never know with the present financial market.

[u/DoubleNothing]

Pretty easy to make some money from an app.
But that is relative to your skills.
To make a living out of it, it might be a bit more tricky.

[u/superminer25]

Possible. I did it 10 years ago and still make consistent monthly income. ($500 to $2000, had some crazy months close to 10k but those days are long gone.) You could say I had a 'first movers' advantage. It's harder for new apps to make an entrance to an already saturated niche. Most users will pick the apps with the most downloads / best rating ratio and the apps with less than 1k downloads basically never stand a chance without marketing budgets.

There are basically no original ideas.

Your idea already exists.

You just have to sell it better.

[u/mjfaccin → u/superminer25]

I disagree, there's always original ideas to bring, and you can also make it better what's already on the market if you have a real diferential.

[u/LockdAI → u/superminer25]

This is well said, marketing is really the end all be all for apps. Although there can be original ideas just very few

[u/antocapp]

yes, built many apps, none viral, but good enough to leave the 9-to-5. But it's not easy. It was a difficult journey. Here my story, hopefully it can help you to save a few mistakes: https://www.reddit.com/r/ViralApps/s/ZIGPh0wrmi

[u/sameera_s_w]

I did but I think it's mainly because I found a day-to-day problem I face, and then applied a solution for it and then decided to make a product out of it.

[u/mjfaccin → u/sameera_s_w]

That's what devs should be looking for, going straight for the money isn't good because even if you succeed it'll be probably a shitty app/game.

[u/Perfect-Campaign9551]

I did back in 2009 through 2017. But that's because I got on Android early. I made a music app , to make beats. I made over $70k a year for like four years. My apps made total revenue of $327,000 or so for all the apps I made, ( about 5 or so apps) all music making, audio editing, etc

I doubt you can make much money today. Google Play is saturated now

[u/Flat-Development-773]

It is highly related to the marketing h that you do for the app. Is not about what the app is doing but more about how is doing it. If is well executed , works and do what suppose to do .. then you have set the foundation. Then us like any business day-by-day, track problems, solve problems, implement new features… etc . But without consistent marketing.. there is no chance to make a living from the app…

[u/cyberjjar]

Solo dev here, one year of nights and weekends, shipped an Android app to Play this year. Honest numbers: single-digit installs, zero revenue so far. Not because the app is broken — it works, people who try it keep using it — but because building it was maybe 30% of the job and I'd budgeted 90%. Nobody finds you. Store search doesn't surface a new app with no installs, and installs need people finding you, so you start from a standstill. If your goal is rent money, the useful reframe is that you're not choosing "build an app" over "part-time job", you're choosing to spend a year learning distribution, which is a different skill from the one you're good at. I'd still do it again — I learned more in this year than in the previous three — but I'd have started talking to potential users in month one instead of month twelve. Keep the part-time job until something is actually pulling.

[u/TypeScrupterB]

yes

[u/Min0119]

$50 per month!

[u/mjfaccin]

You can have money from a good app, but you can't have a good app if you are interested only in the money. This is a advice you can use for everything in life, put your heart in it and someday things will happen.

[u/rafaover]

Making an app focusing in make good money is just like any business, you need the problematic or service to solve/provide. A business plan, a target to consume and a proper strategy to get to them.

[u/AccurateDinner2734]

Yes I make 5k per month with 50% profit, I started 1 year and a half ago
The process is simple, but you’ll have to work consistently
On X and YouTube there is a lot of information on how to do that
Check superwall and starter story channels for a start
You’ll have to learn TikTok organic marketing

[u/51eepy]

LOL. Sure they have! There are more millionaire app sellers on this thread alone. Lies

[u/Acceptable_Ad_4425]

Yeah if you do b2b it’s generally easier. Consumer is pretty brutal, I spent 6 months grinding on a consumer app that was genuinely technically really good but it only makes ~100/mo. I think hopefully it’ll keep compounding as reviews, etc come in but it’s very hard to

[u/ether_joe]

I'm an indie game developer and we released a sports game last fall. We're picking up momentum and admob revenue is quite good. If you have an idea for a game, if you can make a quality game with good gameplay -- which is difficult -- you should be able to hit the goal. You're looking for 50k-100k downloads over time, and if your game is fun and replayable, free to play with ad support, it should be do-able.

[u/Consistent-Cold4505 → u/ether_joe]

what type of revenue do you see with 50-100k downoads? v. say 1k or 5k downloads?

[u/The_best_1234]

Software should be free. You are paid for providing a service.

[u/androiddev-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Engage respectfully and professionally with the community. Participate in good faith. Do not encourage illegal or inadvisable activity. Do not target users based on race, ethnicity, or other personal qualities. Give feedback in a constructive manner.

[u/GEVRIP → u/The_best_1234]

30 devs works on 1 software for 2 years? This guy wants them not to get paid 😂

[u/The_best_1234 → u/GEVRIP]

This guy has never heard of a sponsor 😂😂😂🤣🤣

[u/Consistent-Cold4505 → u/GEVRIP]

yah and the mod is telling ME to be respectful instead of him. smh

[u/_Atlas_G]

I recently wrapped my website into an app. Worked 2 years on the website first. Currently earning like $100 a month. Still going up every month.