From Screenshots to Downloads

I can’t help it. I ended up making and launching another app last month, EdgeAlert. It notifies me when my edges should need sharpening based on ice time. This was a fun quick build also taught me a lot about building and designing with AI. The app, EdgeAlert, is free to download and use. I didn’t see a reason to add in a subscription or make anything paid at this time. If the features get used or the app pops off, I’ll consider adding something more than the optional tip jar.

I also spent a lot of time in April working on JABA and getting it more usable. You can read more of the updates on JABA’s website.

Numbers

Last month:

MRR: $51
Track New Users: 36
iHog New Users: 36
Camp Notes New Users: 80

This month:

MRR: $62
Track New Users: 18
iHog New Users: 41
Camp Notes New Users: 68

Camp Notes went back down, but still higher than February when I only had 17 new users. I’m happy with the increase. I think people are finding it due to better App Store optimization on the screenshots. Here are my before and afters.

Before only had 3 screenshots with almost 0 details and didn’t really open with an enticing screenshot.

After has 6 screenshots with more details and opens with a camping trip with a photo. I also showcase some of the pro features in the screenshots, which I did not do before. I’m sad Thorgi had to go, but I think it’s helping drive more downloads.

Experiment Report

I ran the A/B test with onboarding on Camp Notes, but it’s still not reporting to PostHog correctly. I’m not sure why, so I still need to look into that. Hopefully next month, I’ll be able to gie you more details.

I do have a small A/B test running on the paywall to see if users are more likely to subscribe if the Yearly option is shown first. It’s been running since March, and it honestly hasn’t had enough users go through it and actually subscribe to be fully conclusive. Variant A with the Yearly option shown first has had 2 conversions and a total of 52 customers in it, while Variant B with the Monthly option shown first has had 0 conversions with 62 customers. That’s not a significant difference, but it’s interesting to see. I plan on keeping this going for a bit longer though as it’s not really hurting anything based on the numbers I’m seeing.

Technical spotlight

This month’s technical spotlight is about using AI effectively. I have been using it for work and my side projects to assist with coding, software design, and problem solving. It has definitely been effictive in helping me get things done quicker, but I do notice that it’s not always the best, so here’s how I effectively use AI.

General trips

Ask it questions to get context about what’s happening in a specific part of the codebase
If you’re doing something complicated, make a plan first and then have it break down the plan into actionable steps. Finally, work through each step in a different chat so that you don’t eat away at the context limits.
Create skills for things you do repeatedly or think you have a structure for. If you’re constantly making migrations for a database, create a skill for that so that your migration naming is consistent and that rules you have are followed.

Skills that I use

Here’s a list of skills that I install and use for various types of projects:

SwiftUI Pro by Paul Hudson
Swift Concurrency Pro by Paul Hudson
Swift Data Pro by Paul Hudson
Swift Testing Pro by Paul Hudson
OpenSpec by Fission AI. I find this really helpful for planning out features or changes to the codebase.

I didn’t make the skills myself, but I do trust the people who did. If you’re installing skills for their knowledge in a specific domain it is important to make sure that the author is reputable and that the skill is up to date.

This month’s focus

In May, I am focusing on the following:

Making the JABA iOS app work locally so I can open up a TestFlight for it and start getting feedback
Figure out what’s going on with Camp Notes analytics and expirements