Hi, it's Kei again. The solo iOS developer from Japan who wrote that post about nobody using her apps.
First — thank you to everyone who read that post, left comments, and tried my apps. I honestly didn't expect anyone to care, and you all made me ugly-cry at my desk. In a good way.
I'm back because I just finished something that nearly broke me, and I need to tell someone about it.
I remade every App Store screenshot for all 9 of my pet apps.
Every. Single. One.
Wait — 9 apps?
Some of you might remember I mentioned Guinea Pig Memories in my last post. What I didn't fully explain is that it's part of a bigger series called AnimalScale — a collection of pet health tracker apps, one for each animal type:
- Bunny Tracker — Rabbits
- Hamster Care — Hamsters
- Guinea Pig Care — Guinea pigs
- Ferret Care — Ferrets
- Chinchilla Care — Chinchillas
- Bird Tracker — Birds
- Reptile Care — Reptiles
- Dog Tracker — Dogs
- Cat Tracker — Cats
Yes, I made nine separate apps. Yes, I maintain all of them by myself. Yes, I question my life choices regularly.
They all do weight tracking with charts, photo diaries, and — this is the part I actually want to talk about — a shared photo album where users across all 9 apps can post photos of their pets and see each other's.
A hamster owner can scroll through and see someone's chinchilla on the other side of the world. A cat person might stumble upon the most adorable ferret they've ever seen. It's like a tiny, quiet social network where the only content allowed is pet photos.
People are actually using it. Like, real people. Posting real photos of their real pets.
I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.
So why did I redo all the screenshots?
Because the old ones were embarrassing.
OK, "embarrassing" is strong. They were... functional. I took simulator screenshots and uploaded them directly to the App Store. No mockups, no captions, no design whatsoever. Just raw screen captures that said "here is an app that exists."
Every time I browsed the App Store and saw my listings next to other apps, it was like showing up to a job interview in pajamas. The app itself is fine! But the first impression was terrible.
After my last post, some of you gave me advice about presentation and ASO. One comment that stuck with me was something like: "People decide whether to download in about 3 seconds based on screenshots alone."
Three seconds. My old screenshots couldn't even tell you what the app does in thirty.
So I decided to redo everything. Properly this time. With device mockups, captions explaining each feature, and actual effort put into making them look professional.
How hard could it be, right?
The math that almost killed me
Let me walk you through the scope of what I signed up for.
Each app needs screenshots showing different features — the main screen, weight charts, the photo album, settings. Let's say about 5 screenshots per app.
That's already 45 screenshots just in English.
But I support 10 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
So each screenshot needs the caption text swapped out for each language.
45 screenshots x 10 languages = 450 images.
Oh, and each one needs both an iPhone version and an iPad version.
450 x 2 = 900 images.
For each one, I had to:
- Take the simulator screenshot
- Place it into a mockup template
- Add the caption text
- Export as PNG
- Resize to App Store specifications (which are different for iPhone and iPad, because of course they are)
There was a Wednesday night — I think it was Wednesday, the days blurred together — where I finished the 4th app and realized I was not even halfway done. I closed my laptop, made instant ramen, and sat on the floor eating it while my guinea pigs stared at me with what I can only describe as concern.
Was it worth it?
Yes. Absolutely yes.
The difference is dramatic. The old screenshots said "I made an app." The new ones say "here's an app, here's what it does, here's why your pet would benefit from it."
The photo album screenshots turned out especially nice. There's something about seeing a grid of real pet photos with little reaction buttons that immediately communicates what the feature is about — better than any description I could write.
About that photo album
Since I have your attention, let me tell you about the feature I'm most proud of.
All 9 apps share the same cloud database. When someone posts a photo in Bunny Tracker, it shows up in Cat Tracker too. And Dog Tracker. And all the others.
You can react to photos with three emojis:
- Love
- Paw print (universal pet approval)
- Amazing
There's a species filter, so you can browse just hamsters, just birds, or everything at once.
And every uploaded photo goes through AI moderation before it appears in the gallery. No inappropriate content, no spam, no random selfies. Just pets being cute.
I check the database sometimes just to look at what people have posted. Last week someone uploaded a photo of their chinchilla mid-yawn and it got a bunch of reactions and I swear I spent five minutes just smiling at my screen.
This is why I keep doing this. Not for downloads or revenue. For moments like that.
What I learned
Screenshots matter way more than I thought. I spent months adding features and polishing code, but the thing that probably makes the biggest difference for a new visitor is... five images with some text on them. It feels absurd, but that's how the App Store works.
Localization multiplies everything. Supporting 10 languages means 10x the work for screenshots, descriptions, and keywords. But it also means someone in Brazil or Korea might find my app. I've actually seen downloads from countries I've never been to, which is a surreal feeling.
There's no shortcut for grunt work. I'm one person. There's no design team, no marketing department, no intern I can hand this off to. It was just me, my laptop, and 900 images that needed to exist. Sometimes building apps is glamorous problem-solving. Sometimes it's resizing PNGs at midnight.
Please look at my apps
I'm not good at self-promotion. My last post was literally titled "nobody uses my apps" and that somehow worked better than anything else I've tried. So in the spirit of honest self-deprecation:
I have 9 pet apps. They're all free. They have beautiful new screenshots now. Please download one.
If you have a pet — any pet — there's probably a version for your animal. Track their weight, take photos, send a paw reaction to someone else's hamster across the globe.
You can find all 9 apps here:
https://keik.co.jp/animal-scale/index-en.html
What's next
Honestly? I need to sleep for about three days.
After that, I'll probably go back to working on features, fixing bugs, and trying to figure out how marketing works. Someone in the comments of my last post suggested I try TikTok. Me? TikTok? I'll think about it.
But right now, I'm just going to sit here, open the photo album, and look at strangers' pets for a while.
If you downloaded one of my apps from the last post — thank you. If you're about to try one now — thank you in advance. And if you post a photo of your pet in the album, I will absolutely see it and I will absolutely send a paw reaction.
— Kei
