Anyone Can Build an App Now. Here’s How to Actually Make Money with Them

Thanks to AI, anybody can make an app now, but just because you can build it doesn’t mean it’ll make you money.

Steve Young is the go-to expert on all things app marketing at AppMasters.com.

He’s been building, buying, and selling apps for many years, and he’s back on the show nearly a decade after his previous appearance to break down how AI tools have lowered the bar for anyone to build a small but profitable business and make money with apps.

Tune in to Episode 743 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:

how to research app ideas based on what people are already searching for
the paywall and pricing changes that can multiply revenue without touching a single feature
how to buy and sell apps as income-generating side hustle assets

Table of Contents show

How to Make Money With Apps: Distribution First, Features Second

Steve’s philosophy is direct: “First-time founders focus on features. Second-time founders focus on distribution.”

The goal isn’t to build the most impressive app — it’s to build what people are already looking for. That shift in thinking is the dividing line between apps that make money and apps that collect dust.

Finding a Winning App Idea

The research process starts with keyword tools, not brainstorming sessions.

Use ASO Mobile to Spot Demand

ASO Mobile is essentially SEO research for the App Store, with a free plan available. Steve looks for keywords with a traffic score of around 30 — enough search volume to matter, without being so competitive that a new app can’t rank.

After finding a promising keyword, he checks the search results directly: How many apps have that keyword in their title?

If only a handful exist, and the top-ranked apps have only a few hundred ratings (not tens of thousands), there’s room to compete.

Unbundle a Popular App

One of Steve’s most reliable strategies is to look at top-grossing apps, find features they’re not prioritizing, and build a simpler, focused version targeting those overlooked keywords.

Endel, for example, makes around $1 million a month with sleep and focus sounds — going after highly competitive keywords.

Their secondary keywords like “green noise” are wide open. Steve built a Green Noise app after noticing that Calm was running TV ads around the term, driving search demand.

That app now earns $200-$300 a month from a single keyword.

Sensor Tower shows a competitor’s top in-app purchases. The Facebook Ads Library shows what terms big apps are pushing in paid campaigns. Both are useful signals for where search demand is building.

Cross-Reference with Google

Keywords Everywhere is a Chrome plugin Steve uses to spot Google search volume for potential app terms.

If a phrase like “paraphrase app” is getting 12,000 monthly searches on Google, it’s a strong signal that people are searching for it in the App Store too.

Real Apps, Real Numbers

JPEG to PDF converter earns about $500 a month. The market looked saturated, but keyword research revealed that related terms like PNG to PDF, photo to PDF, and picture to PDF all had real volume with minimal competition.

Paraphrase AI earns $2,200–$2,600 a month at time of recording, with Steve projecting it will hit $5,000/month now that it’s ranking for its primary keyword. Users range from students making AI-written text sound more human to non-English speakers who want to paraphrase spoken or written content into natural English.

Green Noise App earns $200–$300 a month, built purely around one trending keyword that a larger competitor inadvertently created demand for.

A frequency generator app Steve acquired was charging a one-time fee of $2.99 with no onboarding paywall — and making almost nothing in revenue despite 100 downloads a day.

After adding a paywall to the onboarding and switching to a $60/year subscription, revenue jumped from around $1–$2 to $2,000 a month — then to $8,000–$10,000 a month. Same app, same features, same download count.

Building the App

Claude Code is the most widely used AI coding tool for this kind of work right now. A simple utility app — like a JPEG-to-PDF converter — should take about 2–3 days to build and submit to the App Store.

A few things to have ready before launch: you’ll need a privacy policy and terms and conditions (ChatGPT can draft both).

You can launch under a personal developer account — Steve has clients making $20,000 a month on personal accounts. Converting to a business entity later is possible but adds friction, so start personal and change later if needed.

One last tip: your app name can simply be the keyword you’re targeting. No branding exercise required.

Getting Your Paywall Right

Add It During Onboarding

The most impactful single change Steve makes to underperforming apps is adding a paywall before users access any features.

It feels counterintuitive coming from the web world, but in the App Store it’s standard practice — and people willingly pay before they’ve ever opened the app.

The frequency generator example makes the case plainly: adding a paywall during onboarding, combined with switching to a $60/year subscription, took revenue from $1–$2 to $8,000–$10,000 a month with no new features.

Hard vs. Soft Paywalls

A hard paywall has no exit option — pay or leave. A soft paywall has an X button that lets users skip it.

When Steve A/B tested one app, removing the X button roughly doubled trial activation rates. When Apple forced them to add it back, sales dropped in half.

Apple’s enforcement on hard paywalls is inconsistent — some apps pass review, some don’t. Steve’s recommendation for new apps: try the hard paywall first and see if you can get it approved. If Apple pushes back, adjust from there.

Pricing: Follow the Market

Use Sensor Tower to look at what competitors charge for their most popular plans, then match them. For the frequency app, competitors were charging $60/year, so Steve charged the same.

For one-time use apps like PDF converters, weekly subscriptions tend to perform better. For daily-use apps like sound or meditation apps, yearly plans are the better fit.

Steve’s Paraphrase AI initially offered a 7-day trial at $50/year — but most users activated the trial and canceled. Only $800 in actual revenue came in during the first three months despite thousands of downloads. After switching to a 3-day trial at $6.99/week (with no trial on the yearly plan), revenue jumped to $6,000 in the next three months.

Apple takes 15% for developers earning under $1 million a year and 30% above that.

Paywall Wording That Converts

Steve ran conversion tests on paywall copy and shared specific lift numbers:

Using “continue” instead of “subscribe” on the CTA button: 30% increase in conversions on iOS
Adding “no payment now” directly below the CTA button: 30% increase in trial activations
Adding the word “free” to a premium feature (as in, “get this free when you subscribe”): 11% increase in conversions
Displaying all pricing options in the same time format (e.g., all expressed as a yearly equivalent): 38% increase in conversions compared to mixed formats that made users do their own math

On Android, “Start free trial” outperforms “continue.” But if you’re choosing one platform to launch on first, Steve says go iOS — iPhone users are significantly more willing to pay.

The “Greatest Growth Hack in the World”

Once your ASO is dialed in and your paywall is set, Steve has a third lever: a lifetime offer promoted through Indie App Santa, a service his team acquired that works like Groupon or AppSumo for apps.

The goal isn’t direct revenue — it’s a burst of downloads and new ratings that boosts your App Store ranking. Steve walked through one app that was earning a few hundred dollars a month before the hack.

After optimizing ASO, tweaking the paywall, adding a ratings prompt during the first-time user experience, and running the lifetime offer: $7,000 in month one, then $6,000, then $5,000.

Over the first year working with that app: $70,000 total, and $90,000 by year end.

The campaign generated 100,000 downloads and 800 new ratings (200 in the US, 600 worldwide).

One caveat: Apple has started emailing developers about unusual download spikes, likely because of the rapid ratings boosts. Steve now recommends triggering the ratings prompt on day two or after the user completes an action in the app — not immediately at launch. You’ll get fewer ratings, but you’ll still get the boost with less risk.

Buying and Selling Apps

Flippa is the most accessible marketplace for buying and selling apps. Steve recently sold one there for a five-figure sum between $10,000 and $50,000. Typical valuation multiples run 2–4x annual earnings, with most deals Steve has been involved in landing around 2.5x.

Steve also works with app brokers for acquisitions. A broker gave him early access to a health and fitness app before it hit the open market. It was already generating solid revenue but was only using ASO and Apple Ads. Steve saw untapped distribution channels — Facebook ads, web-to-app campaigns — and moved quickly.

Web-to-app campaigns are worth understanding. The user completes their purchase on a website (via Stripe or Paddle at 3–4% in fees) then downloads the app. This bypasses Apple’s 15–30% cut but requires paid traffic to drive users to that purchase page. Better margins, more marketing effort.

When selling, leave some visible growth potential on the table. A fully optimized app is harder to move because there’s no obvious next step for the buyer.

iOS vs. Android

Steve’s clear recommendation: launch on iOS first. iPhone users are significantly more willing to pay, and the revenue gap is real — even some of Steve’s clients doing six figures a month on iOS barely invest in their Android version.

If you do want to expand to Android, Steve suggests Google Ads for cheap volume, while using Apple Search Ads for higher-intent iOS users.

For Apple Ads, the “max conversions” campaign type lets you set a target cost per install and a daily budget as low as $10–$20/day, and Apple’s algorithm handles the rest.

How Passive Is This?

Quite passive, once ranked. Steve estimates spending about 1–2 hours a week on optimization for his Paraphrase AI app. Apple handles all refunds directly, so customer support is minimal — typically one or two refund request emails per week, answered with a template directing users to Apple.

You don’t even need a dedicated website. Some successful developers run everything through a Facebook or Instagram page, and Apple accepts it. As Steve puts it, time is the most important variable — whatever gets you to launch fastest is the right call.

Mistakes and What to Expect

Steve’s honest about his hit rate: roughly 40% of the apps he launches make meaningful money. That means launching about 10 apps to find 4 that generate revenue. He mentioned a tattoo generator app that had keyword volume but hasn’t gained traction.

For benchmarking healthy apps: 5–10% of downloaders starting a trial is a good result. Of those, 30–40% converting to paying customers is average. Niche apps tend to see higher conversion rates because the people searching are more specifically intent-driven.

What’s Next for Steve?

Steve’s focus for 2026 is getting back to building and acquiring more apps. With vibe coding tools continuing to mature and web-to-app campaigns opening new distribution channels, he sees the opportunity as bigger than ever.

You can follow along at AppMasters.com and dig into deeper tutorials on the AppMasters YouTube channel.

Steve’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation

2026: “Distribution: how are you gonna get eyeballs?”

2017: “Connect with people. The best way to do it is to interview people you admire.”

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