Yearly Summary - 2022
As this year ends, it’s time to summarize another year as an indie developer. This year was good for me; the business grew slowly but steadily.
I added some long-planned features to my apps, like using H.264 video compression to improve remote desktop viewing in the Remote Mouse & Keyboard app. I moved away from a WordPress-powered website to a static website made with Jekyll. I optimized Apple Search Ads performance by collecting conversion data and focusing on specific keywords. I translated my apps into all possible languages using Google Translate, thanks to a tool I built that makes it quick and painless.
And yes, I’m aware that the quality of the translation could be better, but as you will see shortly, only a few countries generate enough revenue to justify spending money on human translation, which is pricey.
Unfortunately, I haven’t made any new apps this year. I have some ideas, but they need to mature, and I need to learn more before I can implement them.
This year, I also had a scare; Apple threatened to block my developer account. I had an influx of positive ratings for my apps after I tweaked the code to be more aggressive about asking for ratings and reviews. It was released to all my users at once in one of the app updates; the numbers triggered the algorithm that detects purchased ratings/reviews. All is well that ends well, but that cost me multiple grey hairs and sleepless nights.
But it’s all behind me now, and it’s time for a new year. Before that, here are some numbers that you might find interesting and inspiring, as I did when I turned indie and learned from others.
2022 Revenue
Monthly revenue
This year, seasonality continued. For my apps, that means fewer sales in summer when people spend more time outside, and a climb during winter leading into the new year.
Revenue by country
Unsurprisingly, my biggest markets are still the US, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia.
2022 Expenses (i.e., Apple Search Ads)
Search Ads remains my biggest expense, along with the taxes. Without them, it is nearly impossible to have any meaningful app business on the Apple App Store. The fight over users’ eyeballs is so tough you must spend money to gain any attention.
Monthly spending
Spending by country
No surprises here; most lucrative markets demand bigger investments in advertising.
Year-over-year trend
Easy does it
Revenue
Search Ads spending
Happy New Year!
May this coming year be better than the last, and may good forces defeat evil.
I avoid being public about donations, but I have donated and plan to continue doing so in the future as long as I can, both to my local community and the people of Ukraine. They fight a brutal war for their independence and self-determination and to stop the evil and corrupt empire from spreading to other countries. And I want to take this opportunity to call you to do the same. Use their National Bank link to easily contribute to their efforts in preserving peace and freedom: https://bank.gov.ua/