How did I develop 18 apps in just 5 months?

Published in

Mobile App Circular

5 min readMar 7, 2023

Hello everyone 😊 I hope everything is perfect for you. Today, I want to write this blog post because I thought that share my tips and experiences with other indie app developers. If you are ready, let’s we start..

Who Am I?

Before the blog post, let me I introduce myself. I’m Berke and founder of Happy App Lab. Actually, I’m a software developer. I worked almost 2.5 years as a Software Developer and after that I realized that I want to build my own startup.In october 2022 I built Happy App Lab. Generally, I find ideas and develop these ideas.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5201840119277172107&hl=en&gl=US

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/developer/berke-kurnaz/id1663447140?see-all=i-phone-apps

Website: http://happyapplab.com/

How do I work?

Before the coding, you must know what you want to build. Normally everyone is know this word but too much people unfortunately do not apply.

In october 2022 I built my own mobile app startup and I didn’t know that how is it works? I researched from internet or I talked people who indie developers. But every people says different things. And that times I realized that there is not only one way. There are many ways to be successful. Just be confident yourself and develop your products.

Of course I share my way with you as a example. Generally I write ideas in my notebook (not the apps, in the real paper) and I share these ideas with my friends. They think about these app ideas and share their thoughts with me.

If they like or I don’t change my mind about app I expand my research group. This time I ask big groups (you can use twitter, reddit). In this time, you can add or remove features. My idea process is happening like this.

After the idea process, you find yourself in development process. If you are not a developer you must find a great developer. I told you that I have developer background. Generally, I develop my projects myself.

I’ll give you more example in blog post but you have to create a perfect template for your apps. Nowadays, almost every app has multi-language, dark-light theme, state management etc. You built only one times this template and you can use for every apps.

After the development process, there is a testing process. You can told your friends, family or classmates. Find the issues in testing process and fix them. Don’t forget that you don’t need to be perfect. Every app has issues and it’s completly normal.

In now, you can prepare market assets. Take screenshots from your app and visit https://studio.app-mockup.com. This website will help you. Most of developers prepare market assets only English. Don’t do that. Prepare for spanish, german, french, italian. Add languages what you can you add. Users love that localizations apps.

After all of these steps, you can publish your apps. In first day, You give the link your friends and family. In second day, share your app in the https://www.producthunt.com . And third day, share your app in the reddit subgroups. If you have marketing budget you can use Google Ads or you can send messages to social media influencers.

This is the my way. Of course, I can not say it’s true or false. But I tried many ways and I decided to the best for me. You can change some of steps. And if you try don’t forget to send message to me. I wonder you.

What is the key to fast app development?

Every day, developers publish their apps all around the world. Probably, other developers think same things with you. And in this situation, If you are fast from someone you get ahead of them. I told you every modern app have same features (dark-light theme, multi-language, state management etc.) Develop a template project only one time and develop other projects from this template project. You will see that you are be fast now.

Most of developers say that you have to write unit test for your projects but I don’t agree this especially for first version. You can write unit test if you have many active users but we can not know people like or hate that app in first publish. First growing your active users and after write unit tests.

If you work with people or hire a person for a job you can learn who is the fast or slow. Make a great contact with the best. You can work with together in next projects.

Time management for indie developers

Time management is another key for fast app development. Too much talented developer unfortunately don’t manage your time and they will be fail.

Get a blank paper and write your daily habits. I sleep 8 hours between 12 a.m — 8. a.m or I lunch 1 hour between 1 p.m — 2 p.m. After that split 24 this paper. Paint with the black for full hours. White boxes are potential working hours. Don’t forget if you don’t work too much probably you will be fail, you need chance.

In this time,you can find working-mate. You can with the cafe or library with working-mate and you can work together. I meet many indie developers like these. You will grow with communication share.

And my last tip, restrict your social media platforms. Maybe you spend 3–4 hours in the social media and you don’t gain anything. I don’t say never open the social media. But if you can reduce your social media time you have extra working hours for your app or product.

Conclusion

Today, I tried to explain how can we fast app development. Of course, I am constantly learning new things every day and if I can find new better way I change my process. I will be so glad if you share your thoughts with me.

I hope everything will be perfect for you. See you :)

If you want to try my apps:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5201840119277172107&hl=en&gl=US

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/developer/berke-kurnaz/id1663447140?see-all=i-phone-apps

Website: http://happyapplab.com/

How did I develop 18 apps in just 5 months?

Written by Berke Kurnaz