5 ms·

> As of March 2017, two years after launching Snaplight, it’s still going strong with about 10,000 downloads each week. Wow. I've been hearing for years that t

> As of March 2017, two years after launching Snaplight, it’s still going strong with about 10,000 downloads each week. Wow. I've been hearing for years that the gold rush of 99 cent apps on the App Store was done for, but this kinda gives me hope. I might get around to finally finishing any app I've worked on...

curiousigor 7y ago
Snaplight is a free app though, so while the 10k number is high I think it would be hardly reached if he had placed a 99 cent tag on it, given the niche. Some people (me included) like to download and try new apps, only to remove them after the utility hasn't proven valuable enough. That shouldn't stop you from finishing your app though. Building and later publishing an app to your audience can be an awesome experience. Go for it!
- rkho 7y ago
  From the original screenshot in the post, it looks like it debuted at $0.99, I wonder if there's a way to look up App Store price history
  - test1235 7y ago
    In the spirit of the discussion, maybe there's an opportunity for an app that does that ...
    - lvturner 7y ago
      I'm not sure if it is still the case, or if my memory is lying to me, but I think AppAnnie did/does this.
  - curiousigor 7y ago
    You're right, totally missed from the screenshot and based my comment on the current App Store data. I looked the app on Appannie (non paid account) and the pricing history is quite interesting: 26 Mar 2017 - 0.99 to Free 29 Mar 2017 - Free to 0.99 19 Jul 2017 - 0.99 to 1.99 20 Jul 2017 - 1.99 to Free 02 Aug 2017 - Free to 0.99 04 Feb 2018 - 0.99 to Free 10 Feb 2018 - Free to 0.99 03 Mar 2018 - 0.99 to Free 27 Mar 2018 - Free to 0.99 04 Dec 2018 - 0.99 to Free 03 May 2019 - Free to 0.99 05 Sep 2019 - 0.99 to Free From the above details, it was a paid app for most of it's time. I wonder why the developer played with the pricing as much though?
    - datenhorst 7y ago
      Probably to allow it to pick up some steam when sales slow down
    - tiborsaas 7y ago
      That looks like just generating numbers for income models to predict what might work best.
    - tannerc 7y ago
      I just looked at the lifetime stats for the app and in total it only ever generated ~$4,000 in profit. I would often change the price to 1. See if I could squeeze a few more dollars out of the work and 2. Generate more downloads. A fun "trick" for getting more downloads is to temporarily make a paid app free, as many, many people follow "Apps Gone Free" type of bots or directories and if your app has any substantial numbers behind it more people tend to notice when it switches to free.
melling 7y ago
You should follow the link to the AppStore where it says: “This app is no longer supported by the developer“ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snaplight-photo-highlighter/id977049674 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snaplight-photo-highlighter/id... He probably got 10,000 downloads a week while he was featured on that page then dropped to almost zero. Millions of apps in the store means you won’t get much random traffic.
- tannerc 7y ago
  I only recently (as of a few weeks ago) stopped fully supporting my apps because I want to invest more time in other efforts. I made a comment elsewhere here (and updated the article to state) that downloads currently are around 40 each week, with an occasional bubble of a few thousand when a blogger or news site re-discovers the app.
The_Androctonus 7y ago
You should look at how old this all is. The app was released in 2015 and last updated over a year ago. The app climate has changed a lot over the past four years so take it with a grain of salt.
- ladberg 7y ago
  I definitely will. Still, the article was written last year and I've been hearing that the gold rush is over since way before 2015.
  - ihatemondays 7y ago
    Article is from 2015, not 2018. Title is incorrect.
throw03172019 7y ago
I was shocked seeing 10,000 downloads per week for a paid app but it appears to be free now and “no longer supported by the developer”.

curiousigor 7y ago

Snaplight is a free app though, so while the 10k number is high I think it would be hardly reached if he had placed a 99 cent tag on it, given the niche. Some people (me included) like to download and try new apps, only to remove them after the utility hasn't proven valuable enough. That shouldn't stop you from finishing your app though. Building and later publishing an app to your audience can be an awesome experience. Go for it!

rkho 7y ago
From the original screenshot in the post, it looks like it debuted at $0.99, I wonder if there's a way to look up App Store price history
- test1235 7y ago
  In the spirit of the discussion, maybe there's an opportunity for an app that does that ...
  - lvturner 7y ago
    I'm not sure if it is still the case, or if my memory is lying to me, but I think AppAnnie did/does this.
- curiousigor 7y ago
  You're right, totally missed from the screenshot and based my comment on the current App Store data. I looked the app on Appannie (non paid account) and the pricing history is quite interesting: 26 Mar 2017 - 0.99 to Free 29 Mar 2017 - Free to 0.99 19 Jul 2017 - 0.99 to 1.99 20 Jul 2017 - 1.99 to Free 02 Aug 2017 - Free to 0.99 04 Feb 2018 - 0.99 to Free 10 Feb 2018 - Free to 0.99 03 Mar 2018 - 0.99 to Free 27 Mar 2018 - Free to 0.99 04 Dec 2018 - 0.99 to Free 03 May 2019 - Free to 0.99 05 Sep 2019 - 0.99 to Free From the above details, it was a paid app for most of it's time. I wonder why the developer played with the pricing as much though?
  - datenhorst 7y ago
    Probably to allow it to pick up some steam when sales slow down
  - tiborsaas 7y ago
    That looks like just generating numbers for income models to predict what might work best.
  - tannerc 7y ago
    I just looked at the lifetime stats for the app and in total it only ever generated ~$4,000 in profit. I would often change the price to 1. See if I could squeeze a few more dollars out of the work and 2. Generate more downloads. A fun "trick" for getting more downloads is to temporarily make a paid app free, as many, many people follow "Apps Gone Free" type of bots or directories and if your app has any substantial numbers behind it more people tend to notice when it switches to free.

melling 7y ago

You should follow the link to the AppStore where it says: “This app is no longer supported by the developer“ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snaplight-photo-highlighter/id977049674 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snaplight-photo-highlighter/id... He probably got 10,000 downloads a week while he was featured on that page then dropped to almost zero. Millions of apps in the store means you won’t get much random traffic.

tannerc 7y ago
I only recently (as of a few weeks ago) stopped fully supporting my apps because I want to invest more time in other efforts. I made a comment elsewhere here (and updated the article to state) that downloads currently are around 40 each week, with an occasional bubble of a few thousand when a blogger or news site re-discovers the app.

The_Androctonus 7y ago

You should look at how old this all is. The app was released in 2015 and last updated over a year ago. The app climate has changed a lot over the past four years so take it with a grain of salt.

ladberg 7y ago
I definitely will. Still, the article was written last year and I've been hearing that the gold rush is over since way before 2015.
- ihatemondays 7y ago
  Article is from 2015, not 2018. Title is incorrect.

throw03172019 7y ago

I was shocked seeing 10,000 downloads per week for a paid app but it appears to be free now and “no longer supported by the developer”.