App Store gurus love to talk about ASO tricks and how to squeeze every bit of conversion juice from the app store. But what if I told you it doesn’t really matter?
Smart Keys store conversion rate is over 50% while the best apps barely scrape 8%. So either I’m a wizard or this is a BS metric.
We, app builders, love the idea that some ASO tweak will be the magic bullet. A better subtitle, the right screenshots, a catchy promo text. Sure, those things help a little, but I’m sorry to say that you may be spending your time on the wrong task, they won’t move the needle in a meaningful way.
Then what? What actually happened in October that store conversion sky rocketed? What’s the big ASO secret?
It’s a three-letter word: Ads. No ASO magic tricks, no growth hacks, no overcomplicated strategy. just Ads iterations that started working well.
So is this store conversion rate relevant? not really. It looks good on a dashboard, to brag, but that’s about it. Focus on what actually drives growth, not vanity metrics that make you feel good but don’t pay the bills.
That’s it for today. Next Friday, I’ll dive into retention, the real deal.
As a non-native speaker, I relied heavily on Grammarly for years. I couldn’t write a simple text without its proofreading capabilities. Recently, though, I found myself turning to ChatGPT with a simple prompt: “proofread this.” It did a much better job, but the constant copy-pasting was a hassle. I tried various AI keyboards, but most were just Grammarly copycats, constantly nudging me about comma placements or suggesting rewrites because my message wasn’t clear. All I wanted was a tool that would handle this for me effortlessly.
I even started counting the clicks it took to proofread a simple text, 21 clicks to be exact. Still, the result felt off, often using Portuguese text structures that didn’t quite fit.
So, about two months ago, I decided to experiment with iOS Keyboard Extensions to build my own solution. I just wanted a single button on top of my keyboard to proofread my text. One click and bam, done. The feature itself was simple to build, the real challenge was creating a good keyboard. When you build a keyboard extension on iOS, you have to design the entire keyboard. That’s when I discovered KeyboardKit, an open-source project by Daniel Saidi, that saved me months of development.
But in this space, there aren’t many competitive barriers to building keyboard apps, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of these apps available. Only a few make real money, earning millions per month, while the rest flood the App Store. I knew that without a hefty marketing budget, this would be a fun personal experiment that might lead to something else down the line.
I was happy with my MVP, to me was better than Grammarly already, so I started adding more features: keys that could convert a text to a casual tone, shortening it, generating pickup lines, even creating a “speak like a tech mogul” key. 🤦, I went overboard and ended up with over 150 new keys on my keyboard.
Last week, I launched it to some close friends and ESL students to get their feedback. The response was full of amazing ideas, but the keyboard experience and autocorrection still lag behind the native iOS keyboard.
Then, I had a thought: when Apple inevitably launches their LLM, they’ll likely integrate a native writing tool. And when they do, it’s going to be a game changer, at least for someone like me. Fast forward, and here we are: iOS 18 will include a native proofreading tool across both desktop and mobile. One click, and bam, your text is proofread everywhere without any hassle.
And that’s just one of the new features in iOS 18. If you’re eager to explore Apple Intelligence and other new tools, download the iOS 18 beta.
But if you want to give Smart Keys a try, the second-best writing tool 🥸, download it here: https://smartkeys.so/
That’s it, I’m left wondering, with barriers to entry lower than ever, what will separate leaders from the pack in AI tech?
“No-code platforms are mostly BS. Except one, which is now my new BFF. 😉”
I once firmly believed that low/no-code platforms couldn’t create novel technologies. However, I had the opportunity to challenge this belief while developing a solution for a non-profit campaign.
The goal was ambitious: to connect the Strava and DonorDrive APIs to boost AIDS/LifeCycle participants’ campaigns by automatically sharing their training efforts and helping with their fundraising goals. This was something I had already been doing manually for my campaign, and friends were curious about how they could do the same.
After exploring various no/low-code platforms, I discovered FlutterFlow, which perfectly fit my needs. It offers a comprehensive Cloud IDE, encompassing UI, Design System, Database, Authentication, Frontend, Backend, Webhooks, Version Control and more.
Initially, I struggled to grasp some concepts and could have had a better experience. However, the FlutterFlow community was incredibly supportive, and after four very long weekends, I had a solution ready for all 2500+ participants. It’s still a work in progress but is already assisting other AIDS/Lifecycle participants.
I hope it will make a significant difference for the organizations behind the event. I’m immensely grateful for the support and feedback from the cycling and tech communities. Your encouragement has been pivotal in this journey. This project marks just the beginning. I now see these solutions as catalysts for change, inspiring more tech-driven initiatives for social causes.
If you’re a participant (or thinking about becoming one), I’d love to hear your feedback and your experience using it: https://sf2.la/
Once I had a VW Bus Kombi (my last “car”), a slightly magical, slightly cursed thing that carried me everywhere. I drove friends to lunch, traveled, slept inside it, and probably did a few other improper things I won’t mention here because my mom might find this blog one day.
In 2014, when I decided to travel the world for a while (not by car, for once) I knew I didn’t want to just sell the Kombi like a normal human. I wanted it to keep living, doing something meaningful, something fun, something bigger than my questionable road-trip decisions.
So I created Kombina.me, a platform (a WordPress adaptation) where anyone can “bid an offer” on the bus by proposing a price + an idea.
Basically Craigslist with a dash of idealism.
Wayback Machine screencast of the project
I received so many wild proposals that I had to invent an actual decision matrix (a spreadsheet that tried to judge the “soul” of each idea, which is as ridiculous as it sounds).
In the end, the Kombi went to Instituto Ambiente em Movimento (IAM), an organization that teaches kids about sustainability through theatrical performances. Perfect match. They turned the bus into a rolling stage, a colorful classroom, a creature of chaos and joy, exactly what it always wanted to be.
The movement occupies schools and streets so that we can occupy ourselves. IAM bring surreal-pedagogy with the Kombi that once carried me to them.
The bus kept doing what it did best, moving people. Sometimes letting go is just another way of keeping something alive.
Well, it helped me with my goal, I met amazing people, and had so much fun. But I didn’t do a good job sticking with it to find more people interest in selling their stuff besides myself.
More about the organization that won the kombi (English subtitles).
