Ritesh Hiremath

Software engineer in Melbourne. I build iPhone apps, including GeoInsight, a geopolitics app.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

pov: luck is just me spending the next 8 hrs straight shipping product

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@dahwibuilds Waiting on Apple review is the worst bit, been there. I'd use the time on the App Store page. For GeoInsight the listing has done most of the work with $0 spent on marketing. Good luck with Stayform man!!

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@MbaziiraRonn As soon as one person could get real value from it. Everything before that is guessing. On iOS I'd also get into App Store review early, since review adds its own wait and you want that loop running while you keep building.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@Diplomat_APAC Seabed mining adds a new prize to an old fight. Fish and oil were already enough to keep the claims overlapping, and minerals for batteries raise the stakes again. Feels like the dispute gets harder to park the moment the seabed has a price tag.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

Qatar, one of the world's biggest LNG exporters, just signed to buy LNG from Texas and Louisiana.

4 million tons a year, through 2054.

That's what Hormuz disruption does, even to an energy giant.

Building a geopolitics app this year, the plot twists write themselves.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@GAxisInfo Cables are the chokepoint story people forget. The same narrow waters tankers squeeze through, Hormuz and the Red Sea, also carry data between Asia, the Gulf and Europe. Building GeoInsight I mapped oil routes first, but the internet runs through the same pinch points.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@BuildWithxAI Missing from the list: the app you actually shipped, then ignored because the next idea looked shinier. Ask me how I know 😂 Sticking with one shipped thing has beaten every revenue spreadsheet I've ever made.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@TradeReviewed The East-West pipeline is Saudi's main way to get crude to the Red Sea without touching Hormuz. So even an unconfirmed hit matters, it's the backup route. If the bypass and Hormuz both look shaky at once, there isn't much Plan B left.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@vitobotta Monthly churn on GeoInsight (from RevenueCat): about 14% a month on average since launch, but the numbers are tiny. Worst was April, lost 3 of 7 subs. Last 3 full months it's about 8%. Sep and Oct so far: zero. With 14 paying subs, one person leaving swings it a lot.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

Hi X 👋 Saturday, let's connect.

I build iPhone apps solo from Melbourne and share the real numbers.

GeoInsight, my geopolitics app: 14 paying subs, $69 MRR, $0 on marketing.
Next up: Uprouse, an alarm app.

Indie iOS, React Native or building in public? Say hi below.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@dnncha Just a hard paywall.
People love hanging around in the free version.
Paywall is what converted them.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

GeoInsight, my solo iPhone geopolitics app, got approved on the App Store in Feb.

8 months later:
- $69 MRR
- 14 paying subs
- 1,572 customers
- ~$595 revenue to date
- $0 on marketing

Here's the honest journey 👇

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

$69 MRR looks like nothing on X.

But it's 14 strangers paying for a geopolitics app I built alone in Melbourne, with $0 spent on ads.

The early months nobody screenshots still count.

Builders, what did your first paying customer buy?

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@AsiaMTI This is such a useful resource. Filtering features by occupier and legal status makes the overlapping claims click way faster than reading about them. Building GeoInsight, my geopolitics globe app, taught me maps explain this stuff better than text ever does.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@Diplomat_APAC Agree. Without monitoring or a way to settle disputes it ends up as a statement of intent, while the coast guard and militia pressure carries on day to day. From here in Australia it feels like ASEAN unity is the real test. Can the bloc agree on anything binding?

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@itschrisanto13 Congrats man, that first paid sub hits different. 7 active trials is a good spot to be in. I've spent $0 on marketing for my iPhone app, so I watch trial to paid in RevenueCat closely. Which platform is sending you the most installs so far?

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

My Saturday hi post got more replies than anything I've posted. Read every one.

Who showed up:
- a 14 year old building a mobile app
- a solo builder in Latam shipping AI e-commerce
- iOS devs, Shopify devs, open-source AI builders

Best Uprouse idea: snooze costs one push-up

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@UKDefJournal This tweet was made by me

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@brentdsadler The counterinsurgency lens fits because the gray zone is about persistence, not battles. Coast guard and militia boats show up every day, so the response has to show up every day too. Who do you see carrying that load, navies or coast guards?

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@Dharmendra_Jago As an indie dev I pay when the thing is boring, risky to get wrong, and not my actual product. RevenueCat is my example. I could build subscription handling myself, but one bug there costs real money. Sell the risk you remove, not the hours you save.

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

Tesla shipped an iPhone Duo layout this week: controls on the left, a big 3D car on the right.

Meanwhile my 3D globe app still lives on one small iPhone screen.

$1,999 is a lot to spend just to test a layout though.

Solo iOS devs, are you adding Duo support yet?

[Ritesh Hiremath @ritesh_hiremath]

@builtwithrubel A for me right now. I'm a solo iOS dev in Melbourne and $10K MRR solo means you've cracked product and distribution with no team to hide behind. D is probably the real end goal though.