Breaking Even: My 2024 Journey as an AI-Powered Independent Developer
Leveraging AI Tools, App Store Optimization, and Lessons Learned in iOS Development
The most significant meaning of using AI for independent development in 2024 is that I broke even.
When I say “broke even,” I’m mainly referring to the $99 annual membership fee we pay as Apple Developers. The first year’s $99 was essentially my tuition. At that time, I released an app called “Crop Master,” which brought in about $40 in revenue. I didn’t delve deep into pricing strategies in the first year, but in 2023, I developed a free app called “Cinematic Camera.” Although it was free, it generated a lot of buzz due to extensive promotion through my main social media accounts.
This year, through intense iteration of my SideProject (498 times), I finally earned enough to cover the Apple developer membership fee, which is a significant milestone for me. At least compared to last year, it’s a huge improvement.
Application of AI Tools and Development Efficiency Improvement
This year, I continued to use AI for independent development. GPT4o was my main tool at the beginning of the year, but as Claude improved, it became my favorite. It’s probably the favorite of everyone who uses AI for coding and writing.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was really great, but unfortunately, my account was banned after a few happy months. However, the newly revamped Cursor took over the baton nicely. I had briefly tried Cursor last year, but its context handling, speed, and functionality weren’t great at the time — Claude was just too strong.
For a while, I entered a state of “think by day, Cursor by night” flow. I often used GPT’s voice mode during my commute to discuss feature design and user needs.
The most exciting, even happiest moment of my day was when I got home in the evening and fired up Cursor! Even though I got off work late, I would still make time to iterate frantically on Cursor. It fascinated me even more than Steam and “Black Myth: Wukong.” For me, Cursor was like the Golden Cudgel in “Journey to the West,” an essential tool on my journey to the West.
App Development and Launch
With Cursor’s efficient support, I successfully launched four apps on the App Store in 2024 (one of which is a major update to the 2023 version, which I’ve included here).
1. SideProject — Side Business Tracking Analysis Management Master
SideProject is a major project of mine in 2024, aimed at helping users effectively manage and analyze their side business projects. The homepage directly displays key indicators and trend charts such as time invested, money invested, net income, ROI, etc. It also allows comparison of input and output of different projects on the same interface, using tools like the Boston matrix and project radar charts, and combining health data like sleep and step count to help users find a path to financial freedom with high returns without staying up late.
2. DDLTodo
DDLTodo is an extremely simple application I developed to test iCloud synchronization. Its design philosophy is simplicity and efficiency, avoiding many complex features that users are accustomed to. My idea was to provide a to-do list application as simple as a sticky note, allowing users to clearly see their unfinished tasks at all times.
However, as the project’s ambitions are not grand, it’s currently priced very low. The ASO-driven traffic is decent. I might update it if I have some special ideas or on a whim one weekend.
3. FlipTimer — Multi-Level Task
FlipTimer originated from a focus timer app I used in school. The core function of this app is to automatically enter timing mode when the phone is flipped face down on the desk. Additionally, a major highlight is that you can use AI large models to quickly break down your tasks into a markdown format todolist, and then FlipTimer can generate multi-level TODO Lists & Timers with one click.
For example, when reviewing for the CFA Level 1 exam, there are 5 CFA Notes books, and the official recommendation is to study for at least 300 hours. You can break this down into about 60 hours per book, and then further break it down by chapters. Then you just follow the process.
Initially, I integrated AI functionality into FlipTimer, where users could input a paragraph and AI would automatically format it. This feature was actually quite good, but due to difficulties in launching in mainland China, I had to remove the AI functionality. After removal, the app still hasn’t been relaunched, which I find somewhat regrettable.
In the future, I plan to reintegrate AI functionality or provide an option to import CSV documents, which should be quite good.
4. Crop and Grade
Crop and Grade is an app I developed in 2023 and optimized with upgraded features this year. The early version’s main function was to read photos and perform aesthetic scoring, showing users the change in aesthetic scores before and after cropping, helping users optimize photo composition.
This year, I added AI-driven automatic cropping functionality, which can automatically save the best cropping effect according to different ratios and sizes. I deliberately created animations for this, which looks quite cool. Currently, the automatic cropping function can only save the best one, but in the future, I plan to save multiple best-cropped images for each ratio to meet users’ diverse needs.
5. Others
Actually, I made more than a dozen different apps for experimentation, but they’ve been temporarily shelved for various reasons. Since these ideas are quite interesting, allow me to keep them secret for now, and I’ll share the good news with you later. Additionally, I spent a lot of time trying to develop a health app, but unfortunately, due to the inability to access screen time data, it can only run in a sandbox environment, making it impossible to implement complex data gamification features, which is also a huge regret for me.
Even as an Apple developer, even without an official website, SEO is still very important
At first, I didn’t pay much attention to the importance of ASO (App Store Optimization). It wasn’t until I learned about a person called Ge Fei on Geek APP and other platforms that I got a big inspiration:
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