> Indie Development Articles|
Explore first-hand writing about shipping apps, marketing them, pricing them, learning from launches, and staying practical while building as an independent developer.
65 articles tagged The Indie Dev Diaries
-
The Best-in-Class iOS App Book Series is moving to a pay what you want model. Just ten bucks or more.
-
After spending a month on marketing, here's what I learned. And more importantly, what comes next.
-
For the next 30 days, Xcode is closed. And marketing channels are open.
-
Some apps are focused on building a business. Some are for the love of the game — meet Alyx.
-
Marketing is quite an art, one that I'm not even great at. But the journey to getting slightly better at it is where the fun is.
-
Deep Dish Swift 2025 has been a blast. Here are some key takeaways from my talk over indie app marketing.
-
You might have a great app, you might not. But you'll never know until a fair amount of people see it.
-
Somehow, my third sports app is launching. Today, I'm shipping a way to view NCAA Division 1, 2 and 3 scores.
-
Another year turns the page. Where to go this year?
-
Years ago, I wrote a post about the effects of a large update to Spend Stack. Now, I'm here to tell you the effects of a large feature.
-
I just wrapped my most ambitious updates for Elite Hoops, a full-on practice planner. Here are eight fun SwiftUI tidbits from it.
-
Now that the one year mark has passed, here are twleve quick lessons I've learned along the way. Some about acquiring customers, others about tech stack stuff and more.
-
To AirDrop a custom model from your app, you need to know about a few different APIs. Unfortunately, it's not as smooth as it used to be as of iOS 17.
-
Sometimes, you need a property to be versioned. However, this isn't easy in Swift — but it is possible.
-
Eventually, the need arises for some form of project management. Indies are no different, so here's how I handle it.
-
Are the robots coming for our Swift jobs? I wanted to run a little test to find out.
-
My next app is ready for prime time. Here's a quick primer on Elite Soccer Club.
-
Lately, I've drastically changed my thinking in terms of how to price indie apps. In short, we should be charging more.
-
My next app is ready for prime time. Here's a quick primer on Elite Soccer Club.
-
Time to take stock of my goals! Where do I want to go in 2023?
-
Part of being in this industry is keeping up with the changes. Here's a quick rundown of how I tackle it.
-
Assistive access was launched alongside iOS 17. Today, I took a longer look at the new accessibility feature and what it means for our own apps.
-
My end of year goal was to acquire 100 paying customers. I hate that number a month early, so here are some thoughts on the first 100.
-
It's been a bit since I've launched an app - years, in fact. Here's how it went down this time.
-
To celebrate the book series nearing completion, I thought I'd include a journal entry from the upcoming Tips Journal. It's included with the series for free, here's what the co...
-
I'm gearing up for an app launch, and I'm doing some more audience reach out this time around. Here's what I'm trying to generate interest ahead of time.
-
It's been years since I've shipped, and I'm ready for my next project. Introducing Elite Hoops, a fantastic tool for basketball coaches.
-
So, about that book series. It's time to get it to the finish line, and with the help of my work sabbatical I hope to do just that.
-
It just occurred to me that programming has been my primary vocation for over a decade now. Today, I just take a second to look back at it all.
-
There are so many wonderful things to see. I've started to wonder, am I ingesting too much of a good thing?
-
Even though Spend Stack has been sunset, I've gained permission to make it open source. Now, anyone can peek through it and build it on their own!
-
This year I've been thinking about tiny little touches. When done right, a little piece of joy in software goes a long way.
-
This year, I wanted to take a different approach to goal tracking and forming habits. The result was a little hack project I made over Christmas break.
-
Oh look, another one of those end-of-year posts. Here's how I stacked up to my aspirations birthed in December, 2022.
-
It's somewhat the end of the era, as Spend Stack's owners have seemed to remove the app from the App Store.
-
There's nothing like the first one. Today, I went on a trip down memory lane by looking at the source code from my first app.
-
If I don't have a roadmap, I feel stressed. Here's the one I use for my own apps to help keep my thoughts together.
-
The best change to come from W.W.D.C. 2022 didn't show up on a slide or a session. Rather, it's a change that gives indies much more flexibility.
-
For years, I've used the same set of constraints to design for iOS to make sure I cover edge cases. I call it min-mid-max design.
-
If you're early in your career, it's easy to think you need to learn your thing and your thing only. Expanding outside of those bounds, though, presents several advantages you'r...
-
Indie life has never been quite within reach than ever before. So, how do you build things while raising children?
-
Today I get to kick off somewhat of a bucket list item. I'm happy to bring sponsorships to Swiftjective-C, and I hope it begins an era of a lot writing from me, and affordable, ...
-
As I near a major milestone of $100,000 in sales for my book series, A Best-in-Class iOS App, I take a second to look back on what's gone great and what's not been so great.
-
Check out a sample from my book. This one covers one of the five main topics, Accessibility.
-
My first digital launch is in the books. How did the decision to go early access go?
-
My next big project is ready for beta launch. One, gigantic book covering everything I know about iOS.
-
Tough times are no fun, but like anything else they provide a unique learning experience. Here's what I've recently picked up from mine.
-
A tour of different technologies contributed to my newest mini project, The Daily iOS.
-
We don't all hit homeruns on the first go around. Today, I celebrate the misses.
-
The popular CSS framework came to my rescue when redesigning my site. Here's how it went.
-
A chapter of my professional life comes to an end. Spend Stack has been acquired and will get the full team it deserves!
-
Indie development is about having a strong mental game as much as it is strong development skills.
-
Spend Stack has been out one year! Today, I take a second to reflect on all that has happened since it released.
-
Spend Stack just recently wrapped up its first big update. Turns out, they are critical to paid up front apps.
-
Creating a feature is a process that should be as scrutinized as much as it is celebrated. Here's how I go about it in my own indie apps.
-
COVID-19 and your productivity. There are inexorably linked, so let's talk about it.
-
Spend Stack was selected by Apple to be included as a retail demo on iPhones & iPads across the globe. Here's what the process was like.
-
I've often written about what it takes to be considered a best in class app on iOS. So, how am I doing personally according to my own definition?
-
What indie dev isn't short on time, wants to ship a new app or write that book? It only happens with realistic goals which beget good habits - here's how I work to create, and f...
-
There's a lot of discussion in our industry about whether or not designers should learn to code. But, what about the other direction?
-
The art of launching is a mystical, debated art. Yet, in many ways it's the cornerstone of our initial success.
-
If I write about indie development, I suppose it's time to reveal my indie project. Many years in the making, here's Spend Stack.
-
What can fluffy butter cakes teach me about indie development? Apparently, just what I needed to learn.
-
What is a best-in-class iOS app? How are they built, and can we quantify what makes them great?
-
On being realistic about the things we make, and the relationship that time has with them.