Have you ever discovered something fantastic, but been to worried to share for fear that it will go away? That's me.
I've been reading a number of blog posts recently by different iOS developers. It's been fascinating reading really. I think it may have started most recently with Jared Sinclair's sharing of his revenue from his app Unread. http://blog.jaredsinclair.com/post/93118460565/a-candid-look-at-unreads-first-year The money he made from that app is pretty impressive, especially given the competition in the App Store for RSS readers.
David Barnard reposted a link to a blog entry from 2012. I had to share after reading it again. http://davidbarnard.com/post/58970916992/the-sparrow-opportunity
Let me tell you about my apps. I first released GW Mail in March of 2010. It's a boring business app. It's an email client that will let you connect to a GroupWise email system. Novell GroupWise is an email system like Exchange or Lotus Notes. Only a lot fewer people use GroupWise. But if you do use it at your work, my app is pretty helpful. Use it every day helpful.
When I first released my app I wondered if people would be willing to pay to solve a problem that Novell should be solving for them? The answer was yes. The first version of my app could barely do anything. You could read a few emails and that was it. No replying, switching folders or anything. But within a few weeks I had added those features, a separate calendar app and then eventually a contacts app too.
I updated GW Mail 68 times from Mar 2010 to Feb 2014 without requiring additional payment.
Sales were good. They were good enough that they paid my salary. And then also for another person to do support and testing. Then sales peaked in 2011. The gradual decline started. The support/testing employee is long gone. And now finally, the company is no longer able to cover payroll.
But since the announcement of iOS 7, I've been working on a paid upgrade. It had an all new interface. It merged the mail, calendar and contacts into one app. It fixed a number of annoying bugs. It had everything I had learned over the prior years. Background refresh notifications, ARC, NSURLSession and more. I rewrote most of the app to pull this off. It took forever. Perhaps I got a little carried away.
This would be a paid upgrade. It had to be or the company would not survive. But I didn’t want to have to do this again in a year or two. A subscription seemed like the best way to align my need for continued revenue and my users’ need for constant updates. Every year the new iOS release seemed to break a few things no matter how hard Apple worked at providing backward compatibility. It happens.
But technically Apple doesn’t allow subscriptions just for apps. Usually subscriptions were for things like Dropbox or Pandora. But we have started to see subscriptions for apps like MS Office. I added a subscription.
But how much should I give away with the app? I had a friend that had done a similar backend subscription sync subscription with most of the main app free. I think they gave away to much of the core functionality and lost most of their revenue. I didn’t want to repeat that mistake. I wondered if I could get away with putting everything in the subscription. So I did that.
Problem: businesses and schools buy my paid app all the time. (VPP) How would they buy my IAP? Not possible. So I built a subscription management server. It validates receipts in general for users. And it also give me a way to sell a volume license to a company. They pay me directly, I unlock the app for their users so they don't see a prompt to buy a subscription.
Free trials?
Free trials were pretty easy to do with my subscription management server. The server tracks people. The app lets users try the whole app out for free for a week. At the end of the week the app turns off and asks them to pay monthly or annually.
Honestly, I didn’t think Apple would approve this. But I submitted the app. They rejected the app. They said my app description had to have a reference to a terms and conditions page on my website. And I couldn't mention contacting me to for a site license from within the app or app store description. Um okay. That's it?
I fixed the problems and sent Apple an update. They approved it. I couldn’t believe it.
I did another update. They approved that.
I still couldn’t believe they let me do this app. The app was approved but still was not publicly released. I was fixing bugs, beta testing with a few people and getting the subscription logic just right.
I went to WWDC. While I was there I sat down with the App Store approval folks. I told them about my app. I asked, “why did you approve my app?” The answer, “because you connect to a backend server.” Okay then.
Here is a link to the new app: GW Mailbox https://itunes.apple.com/app/gw-mailbox/id724785934
Complainers
Like other people that released a paid upgrade for iOS 7 over the last year, I’ve had a few complainers. When I respond to these people I tell them the following: First, the new subscription is necessary to support continued development and upgrades. Second, if you are unsure if the new app is worth paying for, give the free trial a try. You can have access to all of the app for a whole week. If it isn’t worth it, so be it. Third, Apple doesn’t allow upgrade pricing. But I’ll give you three extra months of free trial with the app. I go onto my server and fix their account by hand so that their free trial doesn’t expire for a few months.
Most people that try out the app agree that it is worth paying for.
Marketing to existing customers
I put an upgrade prompt into the last update for my old app. The old app watches the App Store for a new app published by me. If it sees it, it prompts the user to check out the new app. The user is only prompted once. The popup only works if the new app was published in the last 30 days.
Did it work?
Is my company sustainable again?
Maybe not. I had hoped that a large part of my existing customer base would upgrade to the new app. I had a pretty good idea of how many people were still actively using my app.
Over the last month since I pulled the old app from the store and replaced it with the new one, sales have been pretty sad. It looks like about 5% of my customer base have upgraded. That isn't enough.
iOS 8 to the rescue?
It turns that iOS 8 breaks a few things in my old app. It is about to get pretty annoying to use. I also will not be able to adapt to the larger screen sizes that are coming. Maybe my users will want to get my new app then?
iOS 8 extensions are a great opportunity for my app to do new things. I’ll roll that into my app and see what happens.
If not, I need to find a new app to create or someone else to work for.
Pricing
Most people only bought my old email app for $9.99. I also had a calendar app for $4.99 and a contacts app for $4.99. The new app is $.99/month or $8.99 a year. Most people buying the app have gone for the annual option. Yes, that is a pretty serious drop in initial revenue per user.
A good idea for all developers?
No. Most people only use apps for a few days at most and never open them again. This sort of subscription that I am doing only works if the app is able to deliver continued value to users over time. Did I just kill my company? Maybe. But then, it was already dying.
Is the fact that it is really hard to build a sustainable business on the App Store Apple's fault? Nope. But the diversity, quality and depth of the App Store is a big asset for the iPhone. It is in Apple's interest to keep this asset.
tl;dr
I have an app on the App Store right now that has:
- a Free Trial
- a subscription to use 100% of the app, no payment, the app shuts off
- I can give users a few free months of use of the app based on their prior use of my old app; an “upgrade discount”
Apple allows this. I’ve updated my app multiple times.
