A solo indie developer from Japan asking for honest advice
Hi everyone. I'm Kei, a 30-year-old woman living in Japan. I've been teaching myself iOS development for about two years now, and I've poured my heart into building apps that I genuinely believe could help people. But here's the thing — almost nobody is using them.
I'm not writing this to complain. I'm writing this because I honestly don't know what to do next, and I'm hoping someone out there might have advice, or at least relate to what I'm going through.
Let me tell you my story.
How it started
I've always loved organizing things. Notes, ideas, plans — I'm the kind of person who has notebooks everywhere. A couple of years ago, I thought, "Why not build an app that works the way my brain works?" I didn't have a CS degree. I didn't have a mentor. I just had YouTube tutorials, Apple documentation, and a stubborn refusal to give up.
Nights after work, weekends, holidays — I spent all of it learning Swift and SwiftUI. There were times I wanted to quit. Times I stared at Xcode errors for hours and felt completely stupid. But I kept going because I believed in what I was building.
Fast forward to today, and I have three apps on the App Store. Three apps that I'm genuinely proud of. And collectively, they have... almost no users.
It's a lonely feeling, honestly.
The apps I built
Let me introduce them — not as a sales pitch, but because I want you to understand what I've been working on and maybe tell me if the problem is the apps themselves.
1. HieroNote — A hierarchical note-taking app
This is my baby. The one I started with.
I was frustrated with regular note apps because my thoughts don't come in neat, flat lists. They're nested. One idea leads to another, which branches into three more. I wanted a note app that could capture that structure — like an outliner, but on my phone.
So I built HieroNote. It uses a tree structure where every note can have child notes underneath it. You can expand and collapse branches, drag and drop nodes to reorganize your thoughts, and dive deep into any branch.
Here's what it can do:
- Tree-structured notes — Organize your ideas hierarchically, like folders within folders, but for thoughts
- Drag & drop — Rearrange your notes by just dragging them around
- Image attachments — Add photos to any note. There's even a slideshow mode to browse through them
- Built-in music player — I added the ability to play audio files within the app (I use it for focus music while writing)
- iCloud sync — Everything syncs across your iPhone and iPad automatically
- Home screen widgets — Quick access to your recent notes (Small, Medium, and Large sizes)
- 20 languages supported — Including Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese, German, French, and more
- Completely free, no ads — I removed ads entirely because I wanted people to actually enjoy using it
That last point is maybe part of my problem — I have no monetization strategy. But I hated the idea of ruining the experience with banner ads in a note-taking app. It felt wrong.
I use HieroNote every single day. For planning my other apps, for journaling, for organizing recipes, for keeping track of things I want to learn. It genuinely makes my life better.
But when I check the App Store analytics... it's basically just me using it.
2. MyDailyEats — A simple food diary
This one came from a personal frustration too. I wanted to keep track of what I eat, but every food tracking app out there wants me to count calories, scan barcodes, and basically turn eating into homework.
I don't want that. I just want to remember what I ate and notice patterns — like "oh, I've been eating too many sweets this week" or "I haven't had vegetables in three days."
So I built MyDailyEats. The whole idea is that logging a meal takes about 5 seconds:
- Tap an emoji category (there are 11: rice/grain, bread, noodles, meat/fish, vegetables, fruits, sweets, snacks, drinks, dairy, and other)
- Select a portion size (Small, Medium, Large, or Extra)
- Done. That's it. No calorie counting, no barcode scanning, no food databases.
I also added some features that I think make it fun:
- Achievement system — 12 badges you can earn, like "7-Day Streak" for logging every day for a week, or "Category Explorer" for trying all food categories
- Streak tracking — It shows your current streak and longest streak, which motivates you to keep logging
- Calendar view — See your eating patterns over time with color-coded dots
- Weekly stats — Visual breakdown of what food categories you ate most
- Home screen widgets — See today's food log right on your home screen
- Share your streaks — Share your achievements with friends
I genuinely believe this is useful. Not everyone wants to obsess over calories. Some people just want a simple, visual way to be more mindful about what they eat.
But again... the download numbers are heartbreaking.
3. Guinea Pig Memories — A diary app for guinea pig owners
OK, this one might sound niche. But hear me out.
I have two guinea pigs. They're named Mochi and Kinako (it means roasted soybean flour, which is the color of her fur). I love them more than I can express.
When I got them, I wanted to track their weight because guinea pigs are prey animals — they hide illness, and weight loss is often the first sign something is wrong. I also wanted a place to keep their photos and daily notes about their behavior.
I couldn't find an app that did all of this well, so... you can probably guess what happened next.
Guinea Pig Memories lets you:
- Track daily weight with beautiful charts that show trends over time
- Keep a photo diary — Add photos with notes for each day
- Export data as CSV — So you can share weight records with your vet (my vet actually loved this)
- Community photo gallery — See other people's guinea pigs from around the world (this is my favorite feature — the photos are so cute)
- Expert care guide — Comprehensive guinea pig care information available in 9 languages
- 8 theme colors — Because why not make it pretty
I know the target audience is small. Guinea pig owners who also want to track their pet's health digitally — that's a very specific group. But I thought if I could reach them, they'd love it.
The problem is... I have no idea how to reach them.
Where I am now
So here I am. Three apps that I believe in. Almost no users. And I'm sitting in my apartment in Japan at 11 PM writing this instead of sleeping, because I can't stop thinking about what I'm doing wrong.
Here are my honest questions:
Is it a discovery problem? Maybe the apps are fine, but nobody can find them? I've tried to optimize my App Store listings with good descriptions and keywords in multiple languages, but I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to ASO (App Store Optimization). I don't have a marketing budget — it's literally zero.
Is it a niche problem? HieroNote competes with massive apps like Notion, Obsidian, and Apple Notes. MyDailyEats is in a market dominated by MyFitnessPal and Yazio. And Guinea Pig Memories is... well, it's for guinea pig people. Am I just picking fights I can't win?
Is it a "nobody asked for this" problem? Maybe I'm building things that only I want? But I genuinely find all three apps useful in my daily life. Doesn't that count for something?
Is it a marketing problem? I have almost no social media presence. I don't have a blog (well, until now I guess). I don't know any influencers. I don't have friends who are developers. In Japan, the indie dev community exists, but it's small and I'm shy.
Should I give up? This is the question that keeps me up at night. I've spent two years on this. Two years of late nights and weekends. Two years of learning and building and debugging. And the result is... silence.
What I've tried
To be fully transparent, here's what I've done so far on the marketing side:
- App Store optimization — I've written descriptions in 20+ languages and tried to pick good keywords
- Made the apps free or very affordable — HieroNote is completely free with no ads
- Posted on Reddit — My posts got automatically removed because my account is new and has no karma (which felt like a cruel joke)
- Set up this Medium account — You're reading my first attempt at content marketing
That's... basically it. I know it's not much. I know real marketing requires more effort. But I don't know where to start.
What I'm asking for
If you've read this far, thank you. Seriously. It means a lot that someone actually spent time reading about my little apps.
Here's what I'd love to hear from you:
Honest feedback on the apps themselves — If you try any of them, please tell me what you think. Good or bad. I can handle it.
Marketing advice — How do indie developers actually get users? What worked for you? What's a waste of time?
Community suggestions — Are there communities, forums, or groups where I might find people who'd be interested in these apps? Especially for the guinea pig app — where do guinea pig people hang out online?
General encouragement or reality checks — Should I keep going? Should I focus on one app instead of three? Should I change my approach entirely?
I know this is a lot to ask from strangers on the internet. But I don't have anyone else to ask.
Links
If you want to check out the apps:
- HieroNote (hierarchical notes) — Search "HieroNote" on the App Store
- MyDailyEats (food diary) — Search "MyDailyEats" on the App Store
- Guinea Pig Memories (guinea pig diary) — Search "Guinea Pig Memories" on the App Store
Or visit my website: keik.co.jp
Thank you for reading. Even if you don't have advice, just knowing someone read this makes me feel a little less alone in this journey.
— Kei
