How AnyTracker grew to 100,000 downloads
You may have heard about AnyTracker. It is an extremely powerful app that lets you track any number or text from any website. This makes it the perfect price tracker. Since its launch in 2021, it has been downloaded nearly 100,000 times and saved users all around the world vast amounts of money.
In this post I will share how the app was built, where the idea came from and how the user acquisition has been.
Here is a short demo of the app, in case you haven’t seen it before:
An idea is born
First, a few words about myself. I am Shervin, a 24 year old indie developer from Norway. Two and a half years ago, I was stuck inside with the Covid restrictions like everyone else. I figured I would learn something useful in this time, and I chose app development. Since I had an Android phone, I decided to create an Android app. Of course, the first app I created was not very good, but it landed me a summer job.
I quickly went on to the next app. This one turned out to be great, not because the first version was great, but because the idea was (in my own words) genius. The app (AnyTracker) lets you track any number on any website. My reason for creating it was actually to get a graph and some statistics about the downloads my smartwatch apps had gotten. The developer dashboard of Garmin was pretty trash, and I had to log in to view the charts, so it was more convenient to have it all in my app.
I added some other features as well, like crypto/stock tracking and text tracking. I quickly realized that most people got the app due to its ability to track prices (on any website). This made sense of course.
Now, two and a half years later, the app has 80,000 downloads on Google Play, and this summer it was launched on the Apple App Store as well. The journey has been amazing so far. I created most of the app while studying for my master’s degree in Cybernetics and Robotics at NTNU here in Trondheim. This summer I started working for a drone company, but I continue working on the app in the evenings and weekends. Users of the app see this: There have been numerous updates to both versions of the app in the last months, and I am always quick to answer any questions that arrive in my inbox.
A business is started
My goal was to make content on the web more accessible for “normal” people. That’s why I have focused so much on making the UI simple and easy to use. The first version cost me exactly $25 to make, as this was the signup fee on Google Play. There was an additional 100 bucks needed to get the anytracker.org domain, but overall the app has been cheap to run.
The main cost is actually all the hours I put into the app. I am not exaggerating when I say that I work on it every day. But I mostly enjoy the work, so I don’t mind the time it takes. Though some tasks are more boring than others (accounting…).
I made a big investment this year though. I bought an M2 Max MacBook Pro to facilitate the development of the iOS app. It has totally been worth it, as the faster build times has made me so much more productive when it comes to the Android app as well.
Getting the first users
Like everyone else, I shared the app with friends and family. This did not lead to many downloads, partly because Android phones are not very common in Norway. What had great success was posting on Reddit. I posted in r/androidapps and the app got a lot of love. I think I reached 1000 downloads within the first week, which was a big milestone at that point.
After the initial surge, the app got few downloads in the following weeks. Luckily, out of nowhere, the famous App Reviewer and YouTuber HowToMen shared my app on his channel, and this led to 10,000 new downloads after the release of his video. This had a snowball effect, as other tech YouTubers tend to copy the big guys. For a few months I rolled on this wave, getting around 1000 new downloads per week.
Marketing strategies
I have tried a few different things: Google Ads, Apple Search Ads and creating a brand on Twitter/TikTok. Google Ads led to a substantial amount of new downloads, but they were not as focused as I had wanted. E.g. a lot of users wanted to use the app to track phone numbers, this is not a service the app supports (frankly I don’t even know what it means to track a phone number).
Apple Search Ads did not lead to many new downloads in the first days, so I decided to ramp up the budget, and by doing so my whole $100 complementary budget was gone. The result was only a few more downloads. I certainly lack the knowledge/skill to use these marketing tools properly. What I do now (which works fairly well) is to pop into Reddit every now and then, and suggest it in threads (where appropriate). There is definitely a lot to be gained on the marketing side, especially considering that the cost of having users in the app is virtually zero.
Business model
The app has a Premium tier which lets users track from an unlimited number of websites (versus one on the free tier). I offer a monthly subscription for $3, a yearly subscription for $29.99 and a lifetime license for $49.99. Most users opt for the monthly subscription or the lifetime license. Almost no one has signed up for the yearly subscription. Probably a lot to gain by doing a price experiment!
I tested ads at one point, but let me tell you this: Ads are good for one thing only: Bothering people so much that they buy Premium just to get rid of the ads. You need a ton of downloads before ads will make any meaningful amount of money. I also prefer the app without ads, as ads just make the whole app look cheap.
Income
My monthly recurring revenue is currently $140 according to RevenueCat. That does not account for the lifetime purchases though, which I make a considerable amount from as well (users hate subscriptions!). During this year’s Black Friday sale, I made more than $1000 in one weekend. It was honestly surreal refreshing my dashboard in RevenueCat and seeing new orders being placed just minutes apart from each other!
Final words
Had you told me three years ago that the app I made from my childhood bedroom would reach 100,000 people I would not have believed you. I knew that the app market is really competitive, and that you need a brilliant idea or a lot of marketing money to succeed. Luckily, my growth was kickstarted by a feature on HowToMen’s YouTube channel, a feature I will forever be grateful for.
If you found this post interesting and want to see where the journey takes me, please 👏 and follow. I’m happy to answer any questions in the comment section.
In an upcoming post I will go behind the scenes of what happened the fall of 2022 (spoiler alert: it almost ended my business).
Finally, make sure to download AnyTracker and save yourself some money on your next purchase 😉
