In my experience, the time to make money selling mobile apps was 2008-2012 or so. The market is totally different now.
In my opinion, has never been harder to make money charging money for apps:
- Competition is huge (including underhanded competition that will clone any successful app instantly)
- Customer appetite to pay for "apps" is near zero. Customers don't even want to download more apps, let alone pay money for them.
- Programs like Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass have further eroded the idea of paying for apps
- Ad-driven trash apps and poor app store ranking/discoverability have further driven consumers away from trying new apps in app stores
Of course lots of successful businesses use apps as part of their business model. But very few are making money from selling the app itself unless they have a really good niche figured out.
In my opinion, has never been harder to make money charging money for apps:
- Competition is huge (including underhanded competition that will clone any successful app instantly)
- Customer appetite to pay for "apps" is near zero. Customers don't even want to download more apps, let alone pay money for them.
- Programs like Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass have further eroded the idea of paying for apps
- Ad-driven trash apps and poor app store ranking/discoverability have further driven consumers away from trying new apps in app stores
Of course lots of successful businesses use apps as part of their business model. But very few are making money from selling the app itself unless they have a really good niche figured out.