Steven Phuc

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Second month of the year and I now around $7k/month.

July $0 → August: $709 → September: $1,372 → October: $1,689 → November: $1,806 → December: $3,003 (+66.3%) → January: $5,754 (+91.6%) → February: $7,166 (+24.3%)

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@ashen_one @merlaiapp The avatar is nice but I think little overuse . BTW how you create this avatar

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@erbybody I don't know yet. still learning. many has ROAS 1 so basically follow this advance. If you want to run ads on Google Ads with low budget then you should know your user and what attract them and run them first .
https://t.co/J0DZe24fFZ

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

01 Jun — Hyvä kesä ☀️ We are now at around $40k/month.

July: $0 → August: $709 → September: $1,372 → October: $1,689 → November: $1,806 → December: $3,003 → January: $5,754 → February: $7,166 (+24%) → March: $12,812 (+78%) → April: $21,041 (+64%) → May: $40,239 (+91%)

But this time, I want to focus on another side of the business: expenses and tax.

Again, this month we continued scaling Google Ads. Now Google app spend is around $22k/month, which is around $750/day.

Then we have Apple App Store and Google Play Store fees, which are 15% for renewals, so that is around $6k.

Then we have VAT for each country, which is around 0–25%, depending on the country. For us, it is around $2k because most of our revenue comes from the USA, where VAT is zero.

Then there are other costs like RevenueCat, around $400, software purchases, mainly lifetime deals from AppSumo, around $1k, and some other things around $2k.

We also need to pay income tax in Finland, which I am not sure about yet, but it might be around 20%.

Then there is YEL, including pension, around 24.40%. And if you plan to hire someone, it will often cost around $2k–$4k/month in Finland.

So be prepared for all these costs.

Right now, Google Ads is our main way to scale, and ROAS is around 100%. I think this is okay because it helps with app ranking in the store.

Now, most users are on yearly subscriptions, so hopefully we are still in business next year. Normally, around 25–50% of users still renew, so it can compound next year.

I still go to the swimming pool around 3 times a week plan to do more running, gym next month.

On the building side, I mostly focused on small Android bugs this month. These bugs are annoying because normally I cannot reproduce them myself, and they only happen on a user’s phone. So it is time-consuming to fix them.

Also this month, I asked one of my friends to test TikTok with me.

What’s next:

I will spend some time learning TikTok with my friend.

I think Google Ads is okay now. I will still slowly increase it depending on the ROAS.

I also plan to try Apple Ads. Apple Ads recently added a second slot for ads in the App Store, so the price may be cheaper than before. Let’s give it a try again.

[Alex Nguyen @alexcooldev]

I made $50,210 in May 2026.

🧠 Notewave AI — $19k
🩺 MedDeep AI — $9k
🐶 KaloPal — $10 (not marketing yet)
💪 MusclePal — $0 (not release yet)
🐦 X (Twitter) — $2.2k
🕵️ Stealth products — $20k (3 mobile apps)

Expenses:

💸 Tax (7%) — $3,514
🏠 Rent — $700
🍜 Living — $1,000
🏪 Store fees (15%) — $7,200
⚙️ Operating — $1,525
📣 Marketing — $1,800
✈️ Travel — $5,000

Net Profit: $29,461

No VC.
No Co-founder.
No paid ads.

Just B2C apps + organic distribution.

Build → ship → repeat.

Keep going 💪

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@upbeat_dev thank for sharing plan to run more apple ads this month also

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Some good resources this month:

Recently enjoyed podcast from RevenueCat a lot when biking . Listen to both indie hacker in Launched and Sub Club by RevenueCat help me learn a lot . What is look like who doing it for years and learn from their lesson.

Some of my favors one

An indie developer to creating Focus Friend, a focus timer app that go to top 1 on App Store.
https://t.co/37bLJFra2P

Adam Lyttle. Listen again to his story, so grateful and thankful for him that he share with us here and daily in Twitter and X and all can save so much time.
https://t.co/bQ2djZAR82

Aja Beckett how to building for the community/ happy you belong to and make a million dollar business
https://t.co/aWuKV43rZX

And many other indie developer you should listen to here.

If you more about the business site with big team then check

Opal number 1 app for screen tiem, dropping paid conversion from 20% to 9% increased revenue
https://t.co/RIcQM04YFi

Life360 with 100m user Freemium at Scale:
https://t.co/o5wlqD5Yv9

And more.

Previous month:
https://t.co/NNQV4cg7g0

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@alexcooldev Previous month from Alex https://t.co/S8t2iJ9htu

and why you change the name of App. Any reason?

[Alex Nguyen @alexcooldev]

I made $47,500 in April 2026.

🧠 Feynman AI — $19k (↓20%)
🩺 MedDeep AI — $6k (↑20%)
🐶 KaloPal — $10 (not marketing yet)
💪 MusclePal — $0 (not release yet)
🐦 X (Twitter) — $2.5k
🕵️ Stealth products — $20k

Expenses:

🧾 Tax (7%) — $3,325
🏠 Rent — $700
💪 Living — $1,000
📱 Store fees (15%) — $6,750
⚙️ Operating — $1,495
🎥 Marketing — $1,800

💸 Net Profit: $32,430

No VC.
No Co-founder.
No paid ads.

Just B2C apps + organic distribution.

Build → ship → repeat.

Keep going 💪

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Wow solid playbook . He share all the steps, the lesson , the failure…

I often ask successfully people if you lost everything and do it again what will you do and Kevin share exactly that.

Thank you.

[Kevin Belfort @KevinBelfort_30]

https://t.co/9zavMdv5FO

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@erbybody @andrewxroas i learn tiktok now. start with 2 phone and vps now to learn by doing myself first. any advice to start. how was you getting start.

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@andrewxroas do you have team or need outsource and for what

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@GooglePlay Update: New service fees timeline

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Nice 10% service fee coming for Google Play @GooglePlay live on December 20

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@GooglePlay but keep in mind you need to pay chargeback fee soon also in Google Play
https://t.co/eduYNqEmX6

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Do you know why Apple is so strict about “manipulation” in subscriptions?

They hate anything that could lead to chargebacks or refunds — because someone ends up paying up to $100 per case.

Either Apple stays super strict… or the developer pays the cost (which Google will do). https://t.co/Y6sVeBpR2X

What option do you prefer?

---
Features like Trial Toggle or Cancel Purchase (or retention offers after you dismiss the paywall) live in a total gray area right now.

They’re not explicitly banned in the Apple docs… but they’re getting listed as “risky behavior” more and more.

As a small dev, I just want solid resources from big companies like @superwall (@jakemor) or @revenuecat (@_chuckyc) or any other big subscription tools

You have the reach and the data.

Please make this crystal clear with an up-to-date paywall guide for the rest of us, so we don’t get caught in the middle.

Or @seraleev or @adamlyttleapps, do you know any good guide or resource about this?

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@GooglePlay Source https://t.co/T8IJieYl9d

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Thank you @adamlyttleapps I believe you help many another dev like me to save so much months and years by sharing your lessons

For me I think I save at least 6 months to 1 years buy learn and apply lesson which you shares.

Example he is the post he share about paywall and more important he share why it work so I can apply to my app. https://t.co/SnE6MXXOxX

Adam is at different level now so it is beneficial go back to his old video and learn from them.

I think It will save months of doing it yourself like it save me.

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

From Zero to One takes 6 months - 3 years depend where you are and then you scale it to 1-10 take also another 6 months - 3 year but most people quite soon or rush it.

I learn from another and see that pattern and prepare for it both mental and finance.

For context it take me around 1 year 6 months to be at 3k/month and then 6 month to 30k/month.

if you check another and go back to their history you find the same pattern:

@adamlyttleapps 3 year to 10k/m and then 1 year to 70k/m
@SebastianRoehl 1 year to 2k/m and then 1 year more to 10k/m
@alexcooldev 9 month to 3k/m and then 6 months more to 40k/m
@maubaron 3 years takes 1 year to 1k/m and then 3 months to 20k/m
the list go on...

so take an app to Zero to One is not easy and even more difficult than from 1 to 10 so prepare for it.

[Viktor Seraleev @seraleev]

Building an app and making money from it are two completely different things. Getting to $10k/month takes a lot of marketing effort. Constant testing, analysis, conclusions, and experiments all over again.

Personally, it took me 1 year and 3 months to hit $10,000/month. That happened in February 2025. By that point I had shipped 9 apps.

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

WOW. Google used Gemini 3.5 Flash to build an OS system with less than $1K spent for 2.6B tokens.

12 hours of runtime. 93 subagents.
Imagine each subagent is equal to one developer.
93 subagents is like having a whole team or company working together.

So if you can build an OS system in 12 hours for $1K… what is left?

I think this is like the shift from horse to car.
Where you go, and what you carry, matters more now — because the engine is more powerful than ever.

--
Some numbers may be not correct, like “$1K spent for 2.6B tokens,” or exactly how good Gemini 3.5 Flash is.

But you get the idea of where this is going.

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@upbeat_dev Congratulations just pass my 25k few days also current scale with Google ads

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

@alexcooldev here is example case for @Aivars_Meijers
https://t.co/lTvWPpgkpz

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Opal download-to-paid conversion rate 20% but they decided go to 9%

https://t.co/HgkL1VOBbk

[Lino @LinoLeighton]

Seriously believe there is not a single App out there that has better download to paid conversions than me…

Consistently getting over 16%

Our subscription prices are
Monthly $11.99/Yearly $34.99 and limited offer discount $29.99

[Steven Phuc @stevenpdev]

Just one month ago spend 300/day now at 600/day . Still a lot to learn.

Don’t ask me anything I just doing it for around 3 months by follow other which do it for years and learn from them.