3 min read

I am building five iOS apps before I market them

Today I reduced my list of B2C iOS app ideas to five.

I gave each idea a weighted score across six categories: my excitement, value for users, willingness to pay, access to customers, speed to MVP, and differentiation from competitors.

I used those scores to organize assumptions I have yet to test. I plan to build every app on the shortlist.

I am writing this for future me

I want to read this article in a few months or years and compare my plans with what happened.

My long-term goal is to reach financial independence with steady income from apps. I read stories from people who made B2C mobile apps work and gained enough confidence to try. I still know little about my odds.

If I succeed, I may remember the starting point as cleaner than it was. I am recording the guesses, wasted work, wins, and changes of direction before I decide which apps deserve more work.

Five apps, then marketing

I know how to build software. AI has reduced the cost and time enough for me to try several ideas without spending a year on each one.

I chose five ideas for different niches and ideal customers. I will test my assumptions across five markets and look for a problem and audience worth pursuing.

I plan to build the apps first. Then I will put most of my effort into UGC and TikTok. I will add paid ads and App Store Optimization, then use product analytics to measure conversion and find out why users stay or leave.

I need the most practice with reaching customers and explaining why they should care.

I am delaying market feedback

I could test demand before writing the apps. I chose to delay those tests until the five apps work, so I will face five marketing problems at once.

I accept that risk because AI has made implementation cheap for me. I still do not know whether users will download an app, pay for it, or keep using it. I cannot infer any of that from my scorecard.

I can answer those questions after I put the apps in front of users and study their behavior. If users ignore all five, I will examine whether I wasted time by building before testing. I want to record that mistake if I make it.

The starting point

On July 15, 2026, I have five selected ideas, zero shipped apps, zero users, and zero revenue from them.

In future entries, I will cover the launches and the marketing experiments. I will record downloads, conversions, retention, revenue, and the apps I stop pursuing.

Today I start building the first one.

Get the next one by email

I’ll send you new articles, plus the interesting links, sources, working notes, and behind-the-scenes details that shaped them.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Powered by Substack.