How I Pick Profitable Indie App Ideas: 5 Key Traits
As a self-funded indie app developer, my goal isn’t just to build cool apps—it’s to build profitable, cash-flowing apps that can sustain my business. With no venture backing, no massive marketing budgets, and no team of engineers, every app I choose to work on needs to have a real shot at making money.
But not all app ideas are created equal. Some are much harder to build, market, and monetize than others. A great idea on paper might flop if no one’s searching for it. A super useful app might not be viable if people aren’t willing to pay for it.
Over the past year, I’ve launched three apps, each with very different levels of success. With each launch, I’ve refined the criteria I use to pick my next project. Now, before I commit to building something, I evaluate it against five key characteristics to see if it has real potential.
As a self-funded indie app developer, my goal isn’t just to build cool apps—it’s to build profitable, cash-flowing apps that can sustain my business. With no venture backing, no massive marketing budgets, and no team of engineers, every app I choose to work on needs to have a real shot at making money.
But not all app ideas are created equal. Some are much harder to build, market, and monetize than others. A great idea on paper might flop if no one’s searching for it. A super useful app might not be viable if people aren’t willing to pay for it.
Over the past year, I’ve launched three apps, each with very different levels of success. With each launch, I’ve refined the criteria I use to pick my next project. Now, before I commit to building something, I evaluate it against five key characteristics to see if it has real potential.
1. Founder Fit
The first question I ask myself: Am I the right person to build this?
As an indie developer, I don’t have the luxury of large-scale user testing or focus groups. That means the best way to avoid building something nobody wants is to pick an app where I already understand the problem deeply.
I look for:
Personal connection to the niche – Am I familiar with this space? Would I use this app myself?
Past experience that gives me an edge – Do I have skills that make this easier for me to build than the average dev? For example, having worked on camera apps gives me a head start when building something in that category.
Existing usage of similar tools – Do I already use similar apps? If so, I probably know what’s missing and how I could make a better version.
The closer I am to the problem, the less likely I am to build the wrong thing. It also makes it easier to stay motivated—because I’m building something I actually care about.
2. App Store Traffic Potential
You can build the best app in the world, but if no one can find it, it won’t make a penny. Since I don’t have a big marketing budget, most of my users come from organic App Store search, so now when choosing an app will only pick apps that people are already searching for.
Some example keywords that I target for PhotoJourney that have significant search volume and aren’t too competitive. Data from AppFigures.
Part 1: Search Term Volume
Are enough people searching for this app to drive meaningful downloads? I check tools like Astro and AppFigures to see keyword popularity. A good target is a popularity score of at least 20+ for sufficient demand (see above). If no one is searching for it, the app won’t grow organically.
Part 2: Search Term Competition
It’s not just about demand—can I actually rank? I aim for competition scores below 60, but I also manually check the top 10 ranked apps for a keyword:
Are they using the keyword in their app name or subtitle?
Are they getting a high number of ratings each month?
Are they actually relevant to the keyword?
If apps aren’t optimized or don’t fully match the search intent, there’s often an opportunity to rank higher—even in a moderately competitive space. Picking high-traffic, low-competition keywords is key to getting organic downloads without an ad budget.
3. App Stickiness
Not all downloads are equal. Some apps get used once and forgotten. Others become part of people’s daily routines, creating long-term engagement and revenue. I always aim for the latter because the more users return, the more valuable the app becomes—both to them and to my business.
A sticky app has:
Frequent usage – The more often users open the app (daily, weekly, or even monthly), the more opportunities there are to monetize. Daily-use apps (e.g., habit trackers, journaling apps) tend to perform best in terms of retention and revenue. If an app is only useful once in a while, it’s harder to justify a subscription.
Data accumulation – Does the app get better the more someone uses it? Apps like my PhotoJourney app, which track progress over time, naturally become more valuable as a user builds up history. This increases retention because users don’t want to lose their past progress.
Switching friction – How easy is it for a user to move to a competitor? If users have built up data, preferences, or history, they’re far less likely to switch to another app. Features like cloud backups, personalized insights, or custom settings all help increase this friction.
Apps that score highly on stickiness are perfect for subscription revenue because users see continuous value in keeping the app. If an app is used often and holds valuable data, canceling a subscription feels like losing progress—making it more likely that users stick around for the long term.
Recent cohorts from PhotoJourney with high retention (top) and DogCam with almost no retention (bottom)
4. Build Difficulty
All the market potential in the world doesn’t matter if I can’t actually build the thing.
As an indie dev, I have to be realistic about:
Technical complexity – Can I ship an MVP in a reasonable timeframe? If the app requires a sophisticated backend or deep expertise that I simply don’t have, it’s probably not the right fit. AI has changed the game in this area, making it easier than ever to work with new frameworks or technologies. With tools like Cursor and ChatGPT, I can get AI to write boilerplate code or even entire features. But even with AI assistance, this factor still matters. You still need to fine-tune, debug, and maintain the code long-term, so having at least some aligned skill set is essential. If an idea requires ongoing technical expertise far beyond what I can reasonably pick up, it’s a red flag.
Indie viability – Some ideas just aren’t practical for a solo developer. Certain app concepts—like social networks, marketplaces, or anything requiring large-scale moderation and operations—are fundamentally built for teams. These types of apps typically require marketing teams to attract users, support teams to handle customer issues, and backend engineers to maintain complex infrastructure. Even if I could build an MVP alone, sustaining and scaling these kinds of apps as a solo dev would be a massive challenge. Instead, I focus on ideas that can realistically be maintained and grown without requiring a team to keep them running.
Most indie apps don’t take off immediately. That means I need to be able to ship an MVP relatively quickly, test the market, and iterate. If an app idea sounds like a multi-year commitment just to get to launch, it’s probably too ambitious.
5. Fun Factor
At the end of the day, if I don’t want to build an app, I won’t finish it.
Every app idea has roadblocks—unexpected bugs, tedious UI work, or frustrating technical limitations. If I’m not excited about the project, it’s way too easy to get demotivated and move on to something else. That’s why I’ve found that the more fun an app is to build, the more likely I am to actually see it through.
A good example? Beachy—an app I made for visualizing ocean tides. It was filled with colorful animations, interactive UI, and fun little details that made development enjoyable. I loved working on it, and that excitement kept me pushing through the tough parts.
That said, Beachy wasn’t built with long-term success in mind. I shipped it in under two weeks for a RevenueCat hackathon, so I skipped some of the key traits I’d normally consider—like search traffic and stickiness. It was a fun project, but not something designed to be a sustainable business. Now, when picking an idea, I make sure fun isn’t the only factor driving the decision.
How My Apps Rank On These Traits
To put this framework to the test, here’s how my current apps stack up across these five traits. Each category is rated out of ★★★★★ based on my experience building and growing them.
As you can see below, the bulk of my monthly revenue comes from PhotoJourney, which also has the most organic traffic potential and highest stickiness.
TraitDogCamBeachyPhotoJourneyFounder Fit⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Organic Traffic Potential⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️User Stickiness⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Build Difficulty⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fun Factor⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Monthly Revenue %12%1%87%
Final Thoughts
Picking the right app idea is half the battle in indie development. The best ideas aren’t just fun to build—they’re profitable, discoverable, and sustainable.
Now, every time I evaluate an idea, I run it through these five filters:
1. Am I the right person to build this?
2. Do people already search for it on the App Store?
3. Will users come back regularly?
4. Can I actually build and maintain it?
5. Will it be fun or interesting enough to keep me motivated?
If an idea scores well across the board, there’s a good chance it’s worth pursuing. If not, it’s better to move on and find something that does.
Indie development is a long game. The more strategic I am with app selection, the better my odds of building something that actually makes money.
What about you? How do you decide what to build? Let me know—I’d love to hear your take.
- Mike