No 2. | December 2023 | Indie Developer Projects Insight
Released on Tuesday January 9th in 2024 by Simon Braun
Follow me on my journey as an indie developer, software nerd and product enthusiast. Regular content of the newsletter will be my finding of the month, learn more about my products and updates, as well as how everything is going for me. The projects insight newsletter is free!
Hello dear reader,
this is the second edition of my monthly newsletter and I am happy to welcome some new readers.
And now on to my second newsletter, enjoy!
FOTM – Finding of the month
Selling software online has major benefits, but it is quite hard to understand and feel how your business is going. No one enters your store, no chatting and no personal experience. What is left are raw numbers. So I prefer to have beautiful numbers for my sales and downloads. Last month I stumbled over a very beautiful app: Trendly. It is a joy to use and to look at. Many interesting analyses and charts are available. It is done with care and love for details. I love it and use it daily!
Trendly (Opens in a new window) | iOS, iPadOS, macOS | Subscriptions → Download (Opens in a new window)
Firstly an introduction to the way this newsletter should be read. I decided to color code some information to keep the format and information compact:
Following markers are used in this insight:
UPCOMING – this is going to happen in the future!
NEW/UPDATED – this is either new for me or newly added since my last newsletter
UP – this number is increased since last newsletter
DOWN – this number is decreased since last newsletter
REMOVED – this has been removed and will be deleted in the next newsletter
* – this asterisk is identifying an affiliate link
I. Basic Insights – free
VALUES AND UNIVERSAL SELLING POINTS
I’m always working on the wording of my values and USPs. I find it important to check on my values and search for value creation that possibly makes my software special and attractive for potential customers. My current tagline:
No advertising, no registration, no tracking of personal data and no investors – just an authentic person who loves making software.
RELEASED PROJECTS
APP | Auricula | 2.1.2 | Since 2014
Auricula is an interval ear trainer to practice your sense of hearing and to learn the skill to identify intervals.
Available for iOS, iPadOS and macOS, supports 9 languages: German, English, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Italian as well as traditional and simplified Chinese
Website (Opens in a new window) | AppStore (Opens in a new window)
It is hard to tell, if being available on Product Hunt makes any difference, but now I even added a badge to the Auricula website. Only three upvotes for now, so please give it some push, if you like.
APP | Filmlog | 2.1.1 → 3.0.0 | Since 2013
Filmlog is a first-class private movie tracker and best in class iPhone and iPad app since 2013.
Available for iOS and iPadOS, supports 15 languages: Arabic, German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, traditional and simplified Chinese as well as Turkish
Website (Opens in a new window) | AppStore (Opens in a new window)
Can’t wait to share the first link for the Testflight version of Filmlog with all and firstly with my Business Insiders. Still some hickups and small bugs to fix. It is going to be such a huge step for me and the app. Finally Filmlog will have relevant Unique Selling Propositions and feel like a grown up app feature and UI wise. – Can’t wait.
ALPHA/BETA PROJECTS
APP | Next Size | 1.0.0 | Planned release for January 2024
Next Size is an app for kids clothing to forecast your children clothing sizes.
Available for iOS, supports 4 languages: German, English, French, and Spanish.
Website not available yet | Testflight (Opens in a new window)
Mostly positive feedback and feeling ready to launch in a few weeks. Still wondering if this app may be a good fit for my open-source puinte.org (Opens in a new window) project.
PROTOTYPE PROJECTS
WEBSITE | puinte.org | Since 2022
Puinte.org (Opens in a new window) is a website for a community financed effort to create better software for the general public: privacy-friendly, open-source, fully reusable and financed in solidarity.
Available for Web, supports 2 language: German, English.
Website (Opens in a new window) | Mastodon (Opens in a new window)
Just managed to update and fix the website. All pages have been cleaned, text was clarified and broken links fixed. Routing for english speaking users now leads to english pages, finally. – Of course a mastodon account is also available and having a working website allows me to share it with you now without feeling bad.
WEBSITE | infolge.org | Since 2015
Infolge.org (Opens in a new window) is a web service for following current affairs, comparing points of view and forming a differentiated opinion.
Available for Web, supports 1 language: German.
Website (Opens in a new window)
Infolge.org (Opens in a new window) did start as my diploma project and I still could not let it go. But if I can buy me some more time in the future, I would love to give it a spin as a working prototype with daily published new data.
TOOLS AND SERVICES I USE
In this section you will get an overview of tools and services. I use them to develop and keep my projects up and running.
Hosting and E-Mail hostingMittwald (Opens in a new window)
DomainsDomain Offensive (Opens in a new window)*
BankN26 Business (Opens in a new window)* (Germany, free tier)
Mobile Operatorfraenk (Opens in a new window)* (Germany)
IDEXcode (Opens in a new window)
GitGithub (Opens in a new window) and Git Tower (Opens in a new window)*
TexteditorSublime Text (Opens in a new window)
SFTP ClientFileZilla (Opens in a new window)
Local WebserverMAMP (Opens in a new window)/WorldWideWeb (Opens in a new window)
IAP Framework RevenueCat (Opens in a new window) – not in use yet (will be part of Filmlog 3.0.0)
AnalyticsTelemetryDeck (Opens in a new window)*
ASOappfigures (Opens in a new window)
Business AnalyticsTrendly (Opens in a new window)
CalendarFantastical (Opens in a new window)
Mail Apple Mail
NotesStandard Notes (Opens in a new window)
TodoThings (Opens in a new window)
Online StorageTresorit (Opens in a new window)*
DocumentationNotion (Opens in a new window)*
Bookmarkspinboard.in (Opens in a new window)
CalculatorSoulver (Opens in a new window)
DiskmanagementDaisyDisk (Opens in a new window)
MessengerSignal (Opens in a new window)
PasswordmanagerBitwarden (Opens in a new window)
SecurityLittle Snitch (Opens in a new window)
TranslationICanLocalize (Opens in a new window)*, Deepl (Opens in a new window) (web), dict.cc (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
DesignAffinity Designer (Opens in a new window) (still use version 1), Sketch (Opens in a new window), Figma (Opens in a new window)*
Image CompressionImageOptim (Opens in a new window)
MusicDoppler (Opens in a new window)
PodcastsCastro (Opens in a new window) (iOS – Help, its dead! What do I do?)
NewsNetNewsWire (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
MastodonIvory (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
Do you have a tool or service suggestion for me? Let me know: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Opens in a new window)
SOCIAL MEDIA & PR
I prefer my own website with blog and Mastodon … it is what it is.
Official Websitewebsite (Opens in a new window) / blog (Opens in a new window) / RSS (Opens in a new window)
NewsletterIndie Developer Projects Insight (Opens in a new window)
Mastodonindie developer (Opens in a new window) (English), personal (Opens in a new window) (German), Filmlog (Opens in a new window), Puinte.org (Opens in a new window) (English and German)
Instagramindie developer (Opens in a new window) (English), personal (Opens in a new window) (German)
Linkedin Link (Opens in a new window)
ProducthuntAuricula (Opens in a new window)
SUPPORTERS CHECKLIST
I have to thank you dear reader for your interest in my newsletter. If you are interested in supporting me further please check out the following list:
recommend this newsletter and my apps to your friends
download and test my apps
rate my apps and write reviews on the AppStore
follow me on any social you like
upvote my apps on Product Hunt
Thank you for reading my newsletter! Until next month and stay safe, Simon
If you want to become a testimonial for the newsletter or if you have questions, suggestions or critique, please write me: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Opens in a new window)
Simon Braun – Website (Opens in a new window) / Mastodon (Opens in a new window)
Want to start your own Newsletter? I recommend to give Steady a try (Opens in a new window)!
