The project was started as a solution to a trend that was going viral, it was kind of a right thing right time moment.
Whilst browsing TikTok i kept seeing the same trends, people counting on their phones and seeing how far they could count. But there was one constant with all of them. They all used old, outdated counter apps.
It seems like such a simple idea, and such a simple solution. But normally the things that take off actually are.
I found a problem, and something that people could benefit from and put together a simple app to get it done.
Obviously, much the same with any app, I had to decide how best to make money from it.
I decided to go ahead and add a £1 fee to download the app on both stores (I think Apple was like £0.80 or something like that). However, shortly after doing that I found in the coming days that I wasn't getting the traction that I would have liked, and I seemed to be missing a lot of users.
After seeing this, I decided to remove the app cost, making it free and use ads instead.
Since then, I've seen much greater growth and a more steady flow of revenue from the app.
I knew the app itself had 1 goal, allow users to count.
But it would be good to adjust the app to ensure it had more custom features for the people using the app.
I came up with the following designs using Adobe XD (where most of my designs take place)
The idea was super simple and it provided a solution.
The design changed slightly in the development process, opting for a more "professional" feel, with the themeing and styling being made available in a later version (stay tuned for that).
Most of the apps I build are developed using React Native; It's a JavaScript framework created by the guys at Facebook which results in a single JavaScript codebase that uses react components and bridges them into their native corresponding components on the Android or iOS platform.
Put simply, this means I can develop an app using a single codebase and target both the Android and iOS stores with the exact same code (for those of you that don't know; typically Android & iOS development is done in 2 seperate languages).
Due to the simplicity of the project and the scalable nature it needed to adopt I knew React Native would once again be the perfect fit.
One of the great things about using a single codebase is making features or updates is super simple and doesn't take long.
With a super simple app like TikTapper, i need to bare in mind features will have to be rolled out to get more trafffic, although the app concept is solid and people (or atleast myself) would use it for years to come, custom features are what keep people returning.
I've already planned many additional features that can be added to scale the app, so i needed to ensure the framework and core functionalities would support it.
As mentioned above, the app currently uses an ads model to monetize traffic.
Currently I do not drive any marketing into the app and there is no budget for this, so everything is organic.
I did however use TikTok to generate traffic on launch: https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktapperapp
Well, that's pretty much it!
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