Matt Smith

Building apps. Growing, learning and sharing my journey.

Checkout my ASO tips:

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

$5,000!

It feels I’d been on the brink of this monthly revenue for ages, and finally crossed it.

This is 50% of the $10,000 goal I have for next year which is really amazing as I was quite excited just a month ago when I was at $3,000.

It is really fascinating how quickly you can grow with the right products.

The points that helped me:
- Adding localizations
- Testing different price points
- Improving screenshots on App Store
- Releasing new apps
- Improving onboarding to feel more personalized
- Going into very niche and low competition spaces

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

Handling apps, working 9/5 and posting here is much more harder than I thought

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I thought I was having a stroke trying to find analytics.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

15-20% body fat is so much more superior to 10-12%

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

Claude Code extremely effective even with in app translations.

This is incredible.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

This is my FIRST DAY with Claude Code.

And HOLY FU*K...

I have an app which has great feedback from users.

And they have been asking me for account system and data sharing between users for some time.

But I know it would take a lot of planning and energy and frankly the ROI would not be as much.

With CC I literally implemented this under 1 hour.

New screens, database design, sign up with Apple/Google/Email.

I'm little bit late but I totally understand the hype.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I always recommend to have a big portfolio of apps.

But this doesn't mean you should focus on all of the apps equally.

In fact, most of the apps I release I don't touch for months or years.

Your apps are lottery tickets.

You create one, test if you idea works or has a potential.

But if it doesn't - throw it away.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

THIS is why you NEED market research!

Before I decide whether my idea for an app is worth pursuing I always look at my COMPETITION.

I go through the app and look for things that are annoying or not UX friendly.

- Sign Up screen as first thing in the app? Amazing.
- Incredibly long unpersonalized and boring onboarding? Great
- Extremely packed app with features nobody wants? Bingo

All of these are great indicators that a new app that doesn't have these problems might be a good alternative.

You don't need to create anthying NEW!

Just make the same thing - but BETTER.

This is an e-mail I got from customer who loves my app. And even though it's in competitive space she likes my app the most.

And it's only because I removed every problem users had with other apps.

A great tip is to always read reviews and notice keywords that are often mentioned in negative reviews.

That might be the one thing that if you fix will give you competitive edge even if you are a new app.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I'm still alive.

I was inactive for a few months. And the reason is simple and kind of boring.

I am taking this more seriously and I wanted to invest more money into my apps.

Because of this I had to create new company and unfortunately the processes for this are kind of slow.

So only now I am finally able to fully dive into my business.

There is a lot in front of me.

Only today I started working with Claude Code.

I also want to invest heavy in paid ads and influencers.

I will be trying multiple services that should help me with screenshots, translations, keyword research, marketing.

All of this is completely new to me and I will try to share everything I learn.

It will be a ride.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

this is a must-read

[darkzodchi @zodchiii]

https://t.co/kx4hKgCVSE

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

At the start of 2026 I filed the paperwork for creating a company.

I'm planning to go hard on paid ads, which will mean increased revenue but also increased costs.

If I stayed a "sole proprietor" taxes would kill me.

This is another big step for me and makes this an even more serious business.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I added discounted paywall after user abandons my main paywall.

It has 40% discount.

So far I got a few subscription from this paywall.

It's not anything crazy but if those users wouldn't convert at normal price then it's actually easy way to increase your revenue.

I also implemented @Superwall into my first app.

Before I didn't really see benefits in using it. But now I will definitely implement it in all my apps.

Great analytics, tools and implementing this paywall after abandoning transaction took like 5 minutes and it was live without the need for another release.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I knew that AI would replace coding.

And I knew it would be fast.

But HOLYF F**K I didn't expect ed it would be THIS fast.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

This is a HUGE mistake app developers do.

You worked hard on your app.

Followed every advice you saw online.

Built simple MVP.
Shipped fast.
Nailed onboarding.

But then you fu*k this up with this:

...you ask people to sign up

There is nothing inherently wrong with user registration.

But for gods sake don't do it before user already purchased.

I uninstalled so many apps that I wanted, because they asked me to sign up.

Every screen before paywall should either motivate user to buy or it's redundant.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

@marclou activate lats when lifting, you are not only lifting the bar you are pulling it behind you

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

the biggest pain of every EU indie developer

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I will be testing showing discounted paywall after users abandon payment in my main paywall.

From data I was able to found, 10-20% users could convert.

It seems like that one simple change that can immediately bring some additional revenue.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

2 years ago I was working as a dev for one company.

They had classic subscription-based fitness app with trainings and recipes.

Their app sucked.

Their marketing sucked.

With few exceptions everything in that project was plain horrible.

And yet their MONTHLY revenue was over $200,000.

Not annual, monthly.

The reason?

Community. It was their biggest moat and reason why people were using it.

People exchanged experiences and it was their safe place to share thoughts without being judged as everyone in that app was focused on weight loss.

Many friendships were made there and everyone was warm and welcoming.

Users soon started to get addicted to the app. Not because of the trainings or recipes. The weight loss didn't matter.

It was the community. The common struggles, new recipes, physique updates.

If you want strong user base with long retention who have no problem paying expensive subscription, definitely work on creating a community in your app.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

Many people asked me for my ASO strategy.

I'm working on a Full Guide where I will share everything I know about ASO and how I went from $0 to $5,000 monthly revenue.

But for now I decided to share some of my ASO tips through Substack.

You can read my first tip where I look at keyword priority and duplication.

Check it out here:

https://t.co/T34FuigFnB

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

These are my costs for API in november.

I love margins in software so fucking much. Especially when you compare it to e-commerce where you focus so much on putting costs down.

[Matt Smith @matthew_app_dev]

I experimented with promoting lifetime purchase for DACH countries.

This was based on tip from @filippkowalski, where he suggested that people from these countries prefer one-time purchase compared to subscription.

Before I never got any subscriptions even if I price them very low.

But this is the second lifetime purchase I got in the last week.

It isn't groundbreaking but can say that it definitely has some effect.