Adam Lyttle Profile picture
Jun 30, 2023 12 tweets 4 min read Read on X
How I revived a dead app: 💀

A story 👇
In August 2021 I built Intermittent Fasting+ Tracker –

As the name suggests… it's an intermittent fasting app

But 12 months after release it was only producing $3.26 MRR on Google Play 😭
I had spent a lot of time researching the app and adding a lot of valuable information for the user:

– BMI calculation
– track weight loss
– track each stage of the fasting process
– set daily reminders & notifications
– track each stage of the intermittent fasting process
Competing apps were racking up *millions* of downloads and charging upwards of $34.99 for the same functionality 🤷‍♂️

So what was the problem with mine?
When I first built Intermittent Fasting+ Tracker I was young and naive–

Oh, those were the days 👴

I'll admit…

I had no clue about marketing at the time

Let alone App Store Optimisation (ASO)…

But it's a skill I've learned with experience and you can too:
My first mistake:

I was targeting keywords that were *too* competitive

The keyword "intermittent fasting tracker" is ranked 82 / 100 for competitiveness by @appfigures with a low popularity rank of 15 / 100

Even if I ranked for this keyword it would be limited in downloads 😭
The keyword "intermittent fasting" has a similar competitiveness (81/100) but a higher popularity (56/100) according to @appfigures

This keyword would get a sizeable amount of downloads if I ranked well

But it's still too competitive 😭
My next mistake:

The freemium functionality was only targeting power users

The majority of users would never use the advanced timers or functionality…

In fact… to be prompted to upgrade they would need to select a harder intermittent fasting routine

Talk about barriers:
My solution:

Instead of rebuilding the app (or adding new features). I decided to focus on user acquisition over revenue…

Nearly a year after it was released I made the app free

In August 2022 I rebranded as "Fast Tracker & Timer"

To target the keyword "Fast Tracker"
The objective was simple:

By targeting an easier keyword I was building up user reviews and the apps history on Google Play

The result so far:

Now ranking #2 for "fast tracker" 🥳

Downloads:
From ~50 downloads/month
To 861 downloads in June 2023

A 1,622% increase 😳
Since implementing this change the keyword competitiveness of the "fast tracker" keyword has increased substantially

It was in the low 20's in 2022

Now it's 93…
In a few months I'll pivot again and target the keyword "fasting tracker"…

It's a comparative keyword with double the popularity

Currently the app ranks #25 for this keyword and with more reviews and history I think we can break the top 10…

Watch this space

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More from @adamlyttleapps

Jul 12, 2023
Today I'm building a due date calculator for pregnant couples and obstetricians 👶

I've found a few interesting keywords that are underserved

It started looking at keywords to track IVF progress (some interesting keywords there!)…

Let's start: 💪
Ask ChatGPT what features should be included in the app and pick the features I want to include in v1.0:

– Due Date Calculation
– Gestational Age Determination
– Fetal Weight & Length Predictor
Ask ChatGPT to create the boilerplate

Prompt:
create the boilerplate for an ios15 swiftui app with Xcode 14 with that calculates the following: – Due Date Calculation – Gestational Age Determination – Fetal Weight & Length Predictor
Read 10 tweets
May 3, 2023
Last month I shipped 9 new apps ✨

(a year of apps in a single month 🤯)

My secret?

⭐️ Boilerplate created by GPT-4(better results)
⭐️ Debugging with GPT-3.5(faster)
⭐️ Bigger bugs in GPT-4(smarter)
⭐️ Icons by Mid-Journey

Then: I polish clean it up and release it ✨ Image
This is what my inbox looks like: 😂
Compress Video

Prompt:
create the boilerplate for an ios14 swiftui app with xcode 14 called "Compress video". Which allows the user to select a video from their camera roll to compress in low, medium or high quality
Read 7 tweets
Jan 9, 2023
I'm trying to hunt down an issue that's causing a 4.64% crash rate 🤕

All roads are pointing to a faulty plugin. Hopefully the next version fixes the issue 🤞 Image
I reached out to negative reviews asking them to contact me.

I’m very happy to report a user experiencing this crash has responded and I’m awaiting their feedback on the new version 🤞 Image
The new version seems to fix the issue. Just waiting on android crash reports now 😬
Read 4 tweets
Jan 4, 2023
This app was released 3 months ago (for free) and it's still growing!

It costs me nothing to make it, launch it, maintain it or market it

And once I monetize, it will generate more revenue than if I launched as a paid product…

The lesson?

Patience = king 👑 ImageImageImage
Whenever I post updates like this I get an influx of dm's asking me how it's even possible.

Many people want me to make a course. But why? I have all the information on my twitter feed 😂

Here's my exact process:

I try to do stick to a calendar month for each new release

This is my release cycle:

Read 4 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
On this day 3 years ago I was homeless—

My web design agency was insolvent, I was $200k in debt and going through divorce

With no backup plan, no support and no means to support myself I could either declare bankruptcy or work my arse off:

(Spoiler: I chose the second option)
I knew the only way out was to start producing an income again. So I started mowing lawns.

Every morning I would wake up at the crack of dawn to mow lawns in my area. When I wasn't mowing I was knocking on doors to get more customers

Within a few weeks I had a full client list Image
I quickly learnt how backwards the industry was. Everything about it was as low-tech as you could imagine.

Most business owners were still using a manual system with pen and paper to track their schedule. It turns out non-tech people hate complex systems.

So I had an idea 💡
Read 5 tweets

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