I make $10K/month from 28 apps

Max

• Is a father of two, a husband, and an iOS engineer in his day job.
• Started his software engineering career as an iOS developer about eight years ago.
• Spent years trying to grow a mobile pet project without success.
• Changed his approach after watching an Adam Lyttle video on YouTube.
• Moved from focusing on one perfect project to shipping many simple apps quickly.
• Built 28 simple mobile apps during off-work hours in eight months.

Portfolio Metrics

• Makes about $10,000 per month across 28 apps.
• Has over 1,000 subscribers across all apps.
• Has about 4,000 to 5,000 daily users across the portfolio.
• Gets the biggest revenue share from four apps.
  • Each of the top four apps brings in around $1,500.
  • The rest generate smaller amounts.
• Went from about $200 per month to $10,000 per month in eight months.
• Built his fastest app in about two hours from idea to App Store review submission.

Idea Research Process

• Starts by finding strong App Store keywords.
• Uses Astro as the main ASO tool for idea discovery.
• Picks a category or a product he wants to build and searches for relevant keywords.
• Looks for related keywords that target the same users with slightly different problems.
  • Uses study apps as an example, with keywords like physics AI, chemistry AI, and math AI.
• Requires keywords to have at least 20% popularity.
• Looks for difficulty around 60% to 70%.
• Checks top competitors and their monthly revenue with Sensor Tower or similar tools.
• Uses at least $100 or 200 euros per month in competitor revenue as a benchmark.
• Avoids markets where competitors do not show enough revenue.

Build Process

• Studies two or three competitors before building.
• Focuses only on the main feature tied to the target keyword.
• Asks ChatGPT or Gemini for a detailed implementation plan for the chosen keyword.
• Provides UI and UX constraints to the AI plan.
• Reuses existing project components.
  • Drags and drops custom buttons, views, and screens.
  • Reuses settings screens, onboarding, and paywalls instead of rebuilding them.
  • Copies up to about 90% of the code for some apps.
• Creates screenshots and app icons in Figma using templates from older projects.
• Uses ChatGPT to generate app descriptions.
• Fills metadata so it matches the original keyword strategy.

Shipping Playbook

• Find strong keywords with a good popularity and difficulty ratio.
• Confirm that top apps in the market make real revenue.
• Study competitors and define one core feature.
• Use AI to generate a development roadmap, feature breakdown, and UX structure.
• Build a lean MVP with only the features needed to deliver value.
• Release the app and move to the next build.
• Let data decide which apps sink and which float.
  • Watch whether the initial App Store boost fades, stabilizes, or grows.
  • Treat apps that do not sink as having potential.
• Return to winners and scale them.
  • Polish apps with organic traction or retention.
  • Fix bugs and improve them.
  • Add ads to double down on results.

Tech Stack and Costs

• Uses Flutter for app development.
• Uses Fastlane to ship quickly.
• Uses Cursor for AI coding.
• Uses Firebase for backend, authentication, database, and website hosting.
• Uses OpenAI and Gemini for image recognition and AI work.
• Uses Mixpanel for analytics.
• Uses Astro for iOS ASO.
• Uses FoxData for iOS and Android.
• Pays about $20 per month for Cursor.
• Uses Fastlane for free.
• Spends about $200 per month on OpenAI.
• Spends about $50 per month on Gemini.
• Spends about $5 to $10 per month on Firebase.
• Uses Mixpanel’s free plan.
• Spends about $10 per month on Astro.
• Uses FoxData’s free plan.

Lessons and Advice

• Do not be afraid of shipping.
• Avoid spending too much time polishing.
• Avoid adding another killer feature before launch.
• Make the app bug-free with one clear feature.
• Ship it and let users respond while you build the next app.
• Reuse components and build the shipping muscle through repetition.