Unfortunately that's the thing when you stop updating your apps. the momentum slowly trickles away over time. It's also why I don't really like the term "passive" because to keep it going you need to put in a lot of work behind the scenes. My revenue for 2020 was around $107K but honestly I reinvested at least half of that back into updating and maintaining. It's not quite the care free experience a lot of newbie app developers have in mind when they first start their app development journey but I still love the freedom. Cheers for the video Eric and all the best for 2021!
I hear this, I try telling my friends although I don't get up and put on a suit the work i do is still hard, and time consuming. With the added pressure of not having a guaranteed paycheck. I have apps and a couple of websites, all of them need to find search updates, competition, article or idea sniping, and my own motivation! However, being able to do this work from anywhere i want is priceless!
Made huge numbers a day in May 2020.(Like 800$ a day) and then kinda fell in a hole and didn't do stuff over the summer. Now I'm back at it and making it great again :)
@@Rassy_ It's actually not from a App at all. I have a gameserver for Minecraft and sold digital products in an app. Now I got into app developement a bit more with a friend of mine and we have a Server Hosting app
The revenue of my chess app was significantly affected by the release of the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" around the end of the year. Eric, maybe you could make a video on the benefits and disadvantages of trying to follow trends like this sudden chess craze we're experiencing. I didn't do it on purpose in this case, but it could be an interesting topic, I think
Thanks for the video Eric ! I still watch all of your video´s and I love them , I started using advertisements in my applications in June and earned in the 6 upcomming months just over €10 with the adds :) I know it´s not that big amount , but I´m more statisfied with the number of new installs every day instead of the earnings. I made the app as schooltask to graduate and never promoted my applications somewhere , I learned the most of your ASO video that´s why my applications already had over 500 installs worldwide :) Thank you Eric
This video really shows how much power the algorithms that cause suspensions on Google Play have over developer's revenue. I also had an app suspended at the start of 2020 due to the pandemic update they made to the algorithms, and no amount of appealing could bring it back, so I had to give up on that app. To me this really says you need to diversify as much as possible on multiple platforms with multiple apps so that one unfavourable decision by Google or Apple doesn't sink your business. Luckily, I've managed to keep my app revenue growing each year since I published my first app 8 years ago.
my revenue is 6.34 usd which is a lot to me (even when i cant claim it because of the $100 threshold), i have only 2 apps and i only made basic social media, ads and """marketing""" for one of them, its a galaga
do you think that if you paid more attention to your apps from 2018 and forward that you could at least keep the same revenue you had in 2018? The revenue from 2018 is quite good. I mean depending on where you live, that amount of money is a lot. If you live in a 3rd world country where people earn 3000-4000 euros per year, and you earn 48000 pounds, then you understand what I am talking about.
I'm not entirely sure. The big drop was the suspension of my biggest app on Google Play. It had been suspended and re-instated 3 times previously. This time, I didn't appeal. The copy cats now took the concept and design and are running with it. That's the biggest drop, really. I need something new out there but haven't put the time and effort into creating something (or getting my developers to create something).
@@OverpassApps I am trying to build my business with mobile games that's why I am asking. I can say that so far it's not as hard as people think it is but you need consistency
Most of the apps I talk about here are stand-alone with no server component. For other apps, I use Firebase but the data transfer pretty low where I spend just a few dollars a month.
Sounds like your client work is picking up. That’s easy money in the bank, once you get a reputation in the industry. Building your own apps was essential for building your developer resume. It’s also good for those slow periods, while waiting on clients.
I used to make 150 dollar average per month now i make more than 300 dollars per month In lebanon after crisis 500 dollar is enough to live with a family
Hi Man I have been watching your videos since a long time and I can see you have got too much knowledge about Admob and apps! Look I have a problem logging into my account because I deleted one of my Google ads account linked to my Admob and It's been impossible to get access again! What do you recommend me to do since there is not enough information in the Admob troubleshooting support? Best regards from the Dominican Republic!
20k Google play IAP. 15k iOS IAP + paid. $120 from piece of 💩 Admob. (Unit CAD) Personally I find that in 2020, IAP is definitely the way to go for smaller devs. It is much easier to create significant value for a small group of users than serving ads to millions of people.
@@jrgapps1105 Can't get into the details, but I build pro apps for creative professionals If you build products for the general public you likely will have 90% money coming from ads.
Do you receive all the payment that people purchase on the app. I am building in app that allows in app purchases, do you get to keep all the revenue from this?
6.8K is great as passive income Eric nice one! I've been focussing lot on marketing and ASO recently and its had a massive impact. It might be worth running a marketing campaign for your best performing apps and see if you can boost them! Take care and good luck in 2021 :)
Thanks for sharing this Eric , I also have a hard year as an apps publisher on 2020 , the revenue is decreased due to remove some apps from Apple , and also maybe because of COVID-19. Now For the first time I tried subscription model for one of my ios app , I suggest if you talk about free Apps with subscription model in the apps and do you think it’s generate more revenue than paid apps or free with one time in app purchase
Thanks for sharing. One thing that is clear from this is that it's very risky to depend solely on these markets. You can get taken down for any reason or a wrong reason. Same with RUclips and other platforms. It would be interesting to see the Apple/Android split. I know some say 90% comes from Apple but Android has many more downloads.
Thanks for sharing Eric. Are you ever concerned that although passive income apps don't require typically as much effort once they're released.. hence being passive.. that if they are neglected, then you might attract bad reviews ultimately harming the reputation of your company?
Thanks, Dave. Yeah, I am. When I say that I haven't updated them, it wasn't like I am proud of it. I have really been procrastinating. The suspension last Feb made me a little "update-shy" but I really don't have a good excuse. This last week, the Apple app store removed a few of my apps because I haven't updated them. Others are going to need it as new admob libraries and requirements come in. As for the users, I don't have a huge retention rate, so not many are continually using them year in and out. Most are finding them for the first time.
@@OverpassApps When the daily grind takes over it is sometimes difficult to keep on top of these things. I had a bunch of apps taken down due to failure to comply with the new privacy policy & terms that required acceptance. Shameful really! One question I'd really appreciate your answer on, I'm curious to know from you, as someone doing this day in day out as to what mock up/prototyping tool you use(if any!).
I’m glad you said that. I am the same. I haven’t been keeping on top of them this year. Personally, I still use Balsamiq for mockups. I know it’s old and there are other better tools out there (like proto.io and Adobe XD... and probably newer ones I don’t even know about), but I find I work faster in Balsamiq and it doesn’t have some ridiculous subscription model. But it doesn’t look as good as a finished product. My designer will often use XD to get full sign-off before we start development, though.
@@OverpassApps Haha, that's what I used to use many moons ago too. Working on a new project where mockups are going to be necessary so I thought I'd ask. I've just spent 30 mins researching different cloud based tools, and yes, the subscription models don't seem justified, especially when you envision more than 2 projects. So maybe back to Balsamiq it is! Anyway thanks for your replies, much appreciated.
I think app developers Income is getting lower because of the Competition in the app store is groving sharply. Additionally, while quarantine almost every app developer had free time at home to build his/her own app and publish, which made competition even higher. What do you think?
I expected way more... I have a website with adSense that makes more than that... I will release an app only with IAP next month but this data makes me sad
Too bad google finally decided to kill my app, it was performing well, no idea what happened, crash rate is good, rate is bad but it's not the issue, because the rate has always been like that, there is another issue that I don't know.
Haha. Like I said... I was putting it off. It would have been easier if I knew I was working hard at it and saw improvements rather than decline. I feel like someone who is afraid to step on a scale so they don't have to admit how much weight they've gained :-)
@@OverpassApps Yeah I can understand from your point of view, but it doesn't matter if it's a decline or raise. We know that you aren't putting any effort in those apps as you are doing client work, but still as passive income that's pretty good and It inspires and helps a lot of people. Keep it up :)
@@apnadekhtu Well I had a 1 month limit when I just started using Admob because I was developing it in school , and other students on the same wifi network saw Adds in my appilications deliverd by admob , I sended an e-mail to admob with my explination of the facts . obviously I lost all my earnings of that month , but now my apps are running again
Unfortunately that's the thing when you stop updating your apps. the momentum slowly trickles away over time. It's also why I don't really like the term "passive" because to keep it going you need to put in a lot of work behind the scenes. My revenue for 2020 was around $107K but honestly I reinvested at least half of that back into updating and maintaining. It's not quite the care free experience a lot of newbie app developers have in mind when they first start their app development journey but I still love the freedom. Cheers for the video Eric and all the best for 2021!
Thanks, Justin. That’s awesome! 107K! I really should have kept momentum going.
App name?
I hear this, I try telling my friends although I don't get up and put on a suit the work i do is still hard, and time consuming. With the added pressure of not having a guaranteed paycheck. I have apps and a couple of websites, all of them need to find search updates, competition, article or idea sniping, and my own motivation!
However, being able to do this work from anywhere i want is priceless!
You're such an honest man, i really appreciate it, thank you for this video, and i wish you a better 2021 good luck !
Thank you for sharing. Almost no other apps developers (+ youtuber) ever shared their yearly income report. Not that I'm aware of.
Made huge numbers a day in May 2020.(Like 800$ a day) and then kinda fell in a hole and didn't do stuff over the summer. Now I'm back at it and making it great again :)
Is this from 1 app or a number of them?
@@Rassy_ It's actually not from a App at all. I have a gameserver for Minecraft and sold digital products in an app. Now I got into app developement a bit more with a friend of mine and we have a Server Hosting app
The revenue of my chess app was significantly affected by the release of the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" around the end of the year.
Eric, maybe you could make a video on the benefits and disadvantages of trying to follow trends like this sudden chess craze we're experiencing.
I didn't do it on purpose in this case, but it could be an interesting topic, I think
That is really cool.
Thanks for the video Eric ! I still watch all of your video´s and I love them , I started using advertisements in my applications in June and earned in the 6 upcomming months just over €10 with the adds :) I know it´s not that big amount , but I´m more statisfied with the number of new installs every day instead of the earnings. I made the app as schooltask to graduate and never promoted my applications somewhere , I learned the most of your ASO video that´s why my applications already had over 500 installs worldwide :) Thank you Eric
That's awesome, Mr. Secret. I'm glad that video helped!!!!
This video really shows how much power the algorithms that cause suspensions on Google Play have over developer's revenue. I also had an app suspended at the start of 2020 due to the pandemic update they made to the algorithms, and no amount of appealing could bring it back, so I had to give up on that app. To me this really says you need to diversify as much as possible on multiple platforms with multiple apps so that one unfavourable decision by Google or Apple doesn't sink your business. Luckily, I've managed to keep my app revenue growing each year since I published my first app 8 years ago.
Also Eric, I hope you do 5x your 2020 income this year man. Put out some monsters out there man. Godspeed.
Thank you for your honesty and transparency! I hope you have a great 2021!
Thanks. Congratulations on your passive income. Although, of course, it is much worse than 2019 & 2018. I hope 2021 will be better.
I hope so too! Thanks, Adam.
Thanks you very much sharing revenue details, that has very much helpful get idea about this industry.
Oh just when I was planning to quit app making this video will actually be very good :) I will comment again after watching
my revenue is 6.34 usd which is a lot to me (even when i cant claim it because of the $100 threshold), i have only 2 apps and i only made basic social media, ads and """marketing""" for one of them, its a galaga
Your videos motivate me. Thank you for sharing, Eric!
do you think that if you paid more attention to your apps from 2018 and forward that you could at least keep the same revenue you had in 2018? The revenue from 2018 is quite good. I mean depending on where you live, that amount of money is a lot. If you live in a 3rd world country where people earn 3000-4000 euros per year, and you earn 48000 pounds, then you understand what I am talking about.
I'm not entirely sure. The big drop was the suspension of my biggest app on Google Play. It had been suspended and re-instated 3 times previously. This time, I didn't appeal. The copy cats now took the concept and design and are running with it. That's the biggest drop, really. I need something new out there but haven't put the time and effort into creating something (or getting my developers to create something).
@@OverpassApps I am trying to build my business with mobile games that's why I am asking. I can say that so far it's not as hard as people think it is but you need consistency
How much bandwith/data transfer does your app use per month? and how much do you pay for the server?
Most of the apps I talk about here are stand-alone with no server component. For other apps, I use Firebase but the data transfer pretty low where I spend just a few dollars a month.
Glad to see you posting. It's always great to see you be a strategist and such because that's what we all are. Thanks for posting Eric
Thanks for this video Eric I actually wanted to know how much income you get from apps!
Sounds like your client work is picking up. That’s easy money in the bank, once you get a reputation in the industry.
Building your own apps was essential for building your developer resume. It’s also good for those slow periods, while waiting on clients.
I used to make 150 dollar average per month now i make more than 300 dollars per month
In lebanon after crisis 500 dollar is enough to live with a family
Hi Man I have been watching your videos since a long time and I can see you have got too much knowledge about Admob and apps! Look I have a problem logging into my account because I deleted one of my Google ads account linked to my Admob and It's been impossible to get access again! What do you recommend me to do since there is not enough information in the Admob troubleshooting support? Best regards from the Dominican Republic!
20k Google play IAP. 15k iOS IAP + paid. $120 from piece of 💩 Admob. (Unit CAD)
Personally I find that in 2020, IAP is definitely the way to go for smaller devs. It is much easier to create significant value for a small group of users than serving ads to millions of people.
What are your apps about? My apps make like +90% with ads and -10% with purchases (not IAP)
@@jrgapps1105 Can't get into the details, but I build pro apps for creative professionals
If you build products for the general public you likely will have 90% money coming from ads.
Do you receive all the payment that people purchase on the app. I am building in app that allows in app purchases, do you get to keep all the revenue from this?
No. They get a percentage. 30% or 15%-- depending on your account.
I made one app in 2020 earned 4$ from admob 😂
😂
But hey, atleast you earned something 😉
what app you make bro
@@MrE4gl3 wallpaper app
It's a start. You can grow it.
I love what you do. Respect from Cambodia!
Thanks so much for sharing! I haven't gotten enough downloads yet to make it worth turning on the ads. But still hoping to get there eventually!
Subscribed :) awesome content. I’m about to my hand at game development. It’s daunting in the beginning.
6.8K is great as passive income Eric nice one! I've been focussing lot on marketing and ASO recently and its had a massive impact. It might be worth running a marketing campaign for your best performing apps and see if you can boost them! Take care and good luck in 2021 :)
Man 2020 was a ruff year
Thanks for sharing this Eric , I also have a hard year as an apps publisher on 2020 , the revenue is decreased due to remove some apps from Apple , and also maybe because of COVID-19. Now For the first time I tried subscription model for one of my ios app , I suggest if you talk about free Apps with subscription model in the apps and do you think it’s generate more revenue than paid apps or free with one time in app purchase
Thanks for sharing this. It's great to see content that isn't just another tutorial.
Wish you all the best for 2021.
Thanks for sharing. One thing that is clear from this is that it's very risky to depend solely on these markets. You can get taken down for any reason or a wrong reason. Same with RUclips and other platforms. It would be interesting to see the Apple/Android split. I know some say 90% comes from Apple but Android has many more downloads.
Thanks for sharing Eric. Are you ever concerned that although passive income apps don't require typically as much effort once they're released.. hence being passive.. that if they are neglected, then you might attract bad reviews ultimately harming the reputation of your company?
Thanks, Dave. Yeah, I am. When I say that I haven't updated them, it wasn't like I am proud of it. I have really been procrastinating. The suspension last Feb made me a little "update-shy" but I really don't have a good excuse. This last week, the Apple app store removed a few of my apps because I haven't updated them. Others are going to need it as new admob libraries and requirements come in. As for the users, I don't have a huge retention rate, so not many are continually using them year in and out. Most are finding them for the first time.
@@OverpassApps When the daily grind takes over it is sometimes difficult to keep on top of these things. I had a bunch of apps taken down due to failure to comply with the new privacy policy & terms that required acceptance. Shameful really!
One question I'd really appreciate your answer on, I'm curious to know from you, as someone doing this day in day out as to what mock up/prototyping tool you use(if any!).
I’m glad you said that. I am the same. I haven’t been keeping on top of them this year. Personally, I still use Balsamiq for mockups. I know it’s old and there are other better tools out there (like proto.io and Adobe XD... and probably newer ones I don’t even know about), but I find I work faster in Balsamiq and it doesn’t have some ridiculous subscription model. But it doesn’t look as good as a finished product. My designer will often use XD to get full sign-off before we start development, though.
@@OverpassApps Haha, that's what I used to use many moons ago too. Working on a new project where mockups are going to be necessary so I thought I'd ask. I've just spent 30 mins researching different cloud based tools, and yes, the subscription models don't seem justified, especially when you envision more than 2 projects. So maybe back to Balsamiq it is! Anyway thanks for your replies, much appreciated.
Thanks for sharing this Eric!!
I think app developers Income is getting lower because of the Competition in the app store is groving sharply. Additionally, while quarantine almost every app developer had free time at home to build his/her own app and publish, which made competition even higher. What do you think?
I expected way more... I have a website with adSense that makes more than that...
I will release an app only with IAP next month but this data makes me sad
You are the best and most honest person I have ever seen ❤
Thanks for those insights!
Thanks for sharing every year!
I have a project, please share how I can contact you.
big drop in march-april but all thinks it's going up now(admob)
Thanks for sharing Eric!
Thanks for sharing this info!!
Too bad google finally decided to kill my app, it was performing well, no idea what happened, crash rate is good, rate is bad but it's not the issue, because the rate has always been like that, there is another issue that I don't know.
pandemic made me more money. every month...bought. anew car :)
Haha. Get a Mustang. I had to get rid of mine, but loved it.
the lockdowns made me more money too
@@OverpassApps got the bmw z4 2020 :p
Been waiting for it for so long...Finally
Haha. Like I said... I was putting it off. It would have been easier if I knew I was working hard at it and saw improvements rather than decline. I feel like someone who is afraid to step on a scale so they don't have to admit how much weight they've gained :-)
@@OverpassApps Yeah I can understand from your point of view, but it doesn't matter if it's a decline or raise. We know that you aren't putting any effort in those apps as you are doing client work, but still as passive income that's pretty good and It inspires and helps a lot of people. Keep it up :)
Thank you for sharing
Eric, you're the man, man.
Thanks for sharing ❤
Thanks Eric.
I only made 2 dollars lol with 1000+ users
Thanks bro.
Finally arrived
I need help I publish apps but it doesn't grow
You should publish apps that are unique not in the app market. Also your app titles should be at least 4 words long and very specific
How to make a app
I have 12+ year of experience in Software development. I am from Pakistan Can I joined your company as a remote developer.
I need an app can you keep your details through mail
Very insightful, can we chat please..
It still amazes me u haven't developed a British Accent after 2 years Lol
i need your help, i got ad limit in admob since past 3 months how to remove it??
You may not see your own adds
@@yarideherdt6030 obviously i don't! do you have any other idea??
@@apnadekhtu Well I had a 1 month limit when I just started using Admob because I was developing it in school , and other students on the same wifi network saw Adds in my appilications deliverd by admob , I sended an e-mail to admob with my explination of the facts . obviously I lost all my earnings of that month , but now my apps are running again
Wow, I did better than you a couple months there. Admob is fickle.
thank you for sharing