Romain S

Building a portfolio of mobile apps. Sold an app for $23K. Try to reach $5K MRR

[Romain S @romainapps]

@david_attisaas Salut !

[Romain S @romainapps]

@seraleev Nice !

How much did you spend on Google Ads?

[Romain S @romainapps]

@loverofapps Do you mean that the subscription gives access to a certain number of credits per week/month, and that you can get more by paying extra ?

[Romain S @romainapps]

Getting rejected by Apple for “Design Spam” doesn’t mean your app is dead. Not even close.

I often see indie devs give up at that point, thinking Apple has decided the category is saturated and there’s nothing they can do.

It happened to me 3 times.
And all 3 times, the app was eventually approved, without any update.

Here’s what worked:

If you’re building in a crowded space, differentiation is non-negotiable.
If your app is just a copy, the rejection is fair.

But sometimes, even with real added value, Apple still labels it as spam.

Instead of abandoning, use the review notes to clearly explain:
•how your app is different
•what unique value it brings
•why it’s not just another clone
•and why it’s meaningfully better than existing apps

Each time I did this, Apple reconsidered and reversed their decision.

Don’t assume a rejection is final.
Sometimes, you just need to defend your product properly.

[Romain S @romainapps]

It’s been 12 hours since a minor update of my app has been under review. First time it’s taking this long.

[Romain S @romainapps]

Wrapping up 2025 at $2.2K MRR.
The goal was $3K, didn’t hit it this time, but I’m close.
Back to work to reach it early this year

[Romain S @romainapps]

New app just got approved by Apple !

And first trial unlocked !

[Romain S @romainapps]

@xmarioapps Received today

[Romain S @romainapps]

I don’t know how the App Store review process works, but it’s obviously not first come, first reviewed

I planned to leverage the New Year and Apple’s boost to maximize downloads for my new app, which is specifically built for this period.

But Apple had other plans.

72 hours later, the app is still stuck “Waiting for review”. It’s clearly not the holiday season, I’ve seen others get approved within hours yesterday.

Feels like my app was simply forgotten.

Weeks of prep and 16-hour days to be ready on time… for nothing.

[Romain S @romainapps]

@alexcooldev How long have you been waiting for Apple’s review?

[Romain S @romainapps]

New app is ready! Now just waiting for Apple’s review

[Romain S @romainapps]

New app launching in a few days.
Testing an ASO strategy no one has tried before.

It might explode… or do absolutely nothing.

I’ll share the results and the strategy once it is released.

[Romain S @romainapps]

Last week of the year. Small updates

My goal was to ship 2–3 major app updates + launch 1 new app to reach $3K MRR before the end of the year.

Partially achieved: I released big updates for 2 apps. One already saw its MRR grow. For another, it’s still too early to tell.

The new app is almost ready but not yet available.

Result: MRR goal missed. Gains from one app were offset by two others dropping in rankings and losing MRR. Net result: flat.

[Romain S @romainapps]

I’m going to wait a bit before updating my apps. With Apple’s new App Review guidelines, I want to fully understand what they mean in practice.
If I have to ask users for explicit consent before sending any data to an AI provider, this might have a significant impact on several of my apps.

[Romain S @romainapps]

@_rpanas Yes

[Romain S @romainapps]

130 active subscriptions reached for the first time! 🎉
Only $900 away from my $3K MRR goal before the end of the year

[Romain S @romainapps]

@shawnbower2u I am just focused on ASO

[Romain S @romainapps]

@JellyCopter_dev I have several apps, not just one to reach this MRR

[Romain S @romainapps]

@micronsio Not yet, just keep building

[Romain S @romainapps]

@erlalucas No I have also a full time job

[Romain S @romainapps]

@SunShakSunday It was almost $1k MRR