Ads

17 Apr 2020 - jason

This week I removed all advertising on my iPhone apps. I only wish I did years earlier. Here's the deal... I love building apps but I realized advertising is not the model for me. It works for a lot of people but I'm going to go a different route. Here's why.

  1. Ads took the fun out of my hobby. No joke. The amount Ad revenue was directly proportional to how well I felt I was doing.
  2. Not profitable. That's right. In a span of 6 years I earned a whopping $11.34 - and that's with some decent effort to make those numbers grow. Clearly not working here.
  3. Bad user experience. Ads take the focus away from a great design and make the experience feel weird. I want people to love using my apps and not to deal with that.
  4. Time consuming - If I ever added up the amount of time combined writing the code, maintaining the libraries or even checking balances and analytics, it would be a really really big number. You gotta monitor things a little and keep them up.
  5. More creativity - Now I don't have to code and design around the constraint of a banner ad. It's wonderful!
  6. I'm not running a business - If I were, I'd take it much more serious but this is all just for fun.
  7. Likely to earn more with purchases instead - If 12 people purchased one of my apps for $0.99 each, I would earn more than I did since day one with Ads. Seems more likely to me. Wanna prove me right? Charabia offers a paid version for extra language packs :)
  8. Privacy - I don't want people using my apps to have to wonder what's up with privacy. Now I can be super clear... your data is safe.
  9. Complex code (cocoapods, extra libraries) - It made my code more complicated than necessary. Programming languages evolve and change all the time too which took more time than it was worth to keep up.
  10. Everyone hates Ads - Enough said.
  11. I love the old school model where people just bought apps they like - Do you remember those days? Most people say those days are gone now but it's a good model. If you like it you buy it. Forget Ads... I'll offer free versions and In-App Purchases if necessary for premium features.
  12. iOS 14 try before you guy rumors - I guess we'll see when the next WWDC comes around but that's the rumor. I want to support this asap instead.
  13. Focus on making great apps - I only have so much time and I'd rather focus that on improving the app instead.
  14. If you build it, they will come - Seriously, I thought more people would use my apps. They don't... oh well. That's fine because I still enjoy making them. Taking Ads off just makes it more enjoyable for everyone.
  15. Ads are misleading and trick people (like spam) - I see this all the time on the Ads that pop up and fill the screen. They try to trick the user by moving the close button causing them to click into the Ad and open a site.
  16. I don't want to be associated with an industry like that - Ugh. My values for people's privacy online and in apps are. just not compatible. I'm saying goodbye.
  17. I build these apps for me and for my friends - Ads are lame. My friends and I have fun with these apps and don't want to deal with the constant hassle.
  18. Minimalism - it's simpler - less is more. I love that my apps can use the full screen now. It's beautiful!
  19. I was embarrassed to tell friends about my apps because of the ads. This is sad but true. All my hard work to build a great app and I didn't even want to tell those closest to me. Now that they are off I'm proud to ask them to download.
  20. I don't need to check my AdSense balance anymore. - Just about every day I would look at the balance and wonder if anyone used my app enough to generate Ad revenue. That's not how I wanted to spend that time.
  21. Zack convinced me it was a good idea. Zack is my son and encouraged me to just build what I love and forget all the Ads and promotions... if it's great, people will love it too and use it. He was soooo right!