Projects Insight No 7. | May 2024
Released on Thursday June 5th in 2024 by Simon Braun (Opens in a new window)
Follow my journey as a digital creator: Learn more about my steady progress, the tools I use to work efficiently, my marketing methods, the business numbers and the sources of inspiration I find.
The Projects Insight Newsletter is free, enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: * an asterisk is identifying an affiliate link
TOTM – Tool of the month
(Opens in a new window)And another year passed. My subscription for Tower just ended this month. I never let them auto-renew, but regarding Tower I always come back. There is no tool like it: powerful, slick and feeling very native on a mac. Git is powerful, but I need a visual representation to use it with pleasure. It’s not cheap and I wouldn’t even think about it, if I would use it on a daily basis. But I did just renew my subscription for another year …
Tower (Opens in a new window)* | macOS | Paid → Download (Opens in a new window)*
Projects Overview
ACTIVE
(Opens in a new window)⬛️ Filmlog (Opens in a new window) – First-class private movie tracker
The best app for a personal overview of your seen and unseen movies and for looking up information on movies, actors and cast members.
📱 App | Since 2014 | iOS and iPadOS | Freemium
🔗 Website (Opens in a new window) | AppStore (Opens in a new window) | Testflight (Opens in a new window)
(Opens in a new window)🟩 Auricula (Opens in a new window) – Interval ear trainer
An interval ear trainer to practice your sense of hearing and to learn the skill to identify intervals.
📱App | Since 2015 | iOS, iPadOS and macOS | Freemium
🔗 Website (Opens in a new window) | AppStore (Opens in a new window) | Producthunt (Opens in a new window)
(Opens in a new window)🟥 Next Size (Opens in a new window) – Forecast for children clothing sizes
Children clothes size forecast. It's that easy: Next Size estimates the body height of your kids and tells you which clothing sizes will fit when.
📱App | Since 2024 | iOS, iPadOS and macOS | Freemium
🔗 Website (Opens in a new window) | AppStore (Opens in a new window)
(Opens in a new window)🟪 Projects Insight (Opens in a new window) – Follow my journey as a digital creator
Learn more about my steady progress, the tools I use to work efficiently, my marketing methods, the business numbers and the sources of inspiration I find.
✉️ Newsletter | Since 2023 | Free + optional patreons
🔗 Subscribe (Opens in a new window) | Posts (Opens in a new window) | Patreons (Opens in a new window)
PROTOTYPES
🌐 Puinte.org (Opens in a new window)
A community financed effort to create better software for the general public: privacy-friendly, open-source, fully reusable and financed in solidarity.
🌐Infolge.org (Opens in a new window)
A comprehensive format for following current events, comparing points of view and forming a differentiated opinion
ARCHIVED
📱skunkit (Opens in a new window) (2012 – 2015)
The ethical messenger service: an iOS app
Updates
NEW
⬛️ Filmlog | App Icons | May 2024
New app-icon I just wanted to give the app-icons a refreshed look for the upcoming 3.0 release. So much changed within the app, but I didn’t want to change the distinctive Filmlog mark. I really appreciate detailed icons. On the other hand I felt that I should maybe drop all the background details. And so be it! (I think I should release a blog post about all the little changed details.)
RECENT
🟪 Projects Insight | Edition April 2024 | May 16th 2024
Introducing charts Just adding current numbers to this newsletter is nice, but seeing the improvements over the last months is way more interesting!
TOFTM – Tool of the month I do not feel the urge to introduce a new tool to you every month, the section will be renamed from “Finding of the month” to “Tool of the month”. Explaining an essential tool and how I use it, will add some useful context information to my “Tools and Services” section.
🟪 Projects Insight | Edition March 2024 | April 22nd 2024
New business model and improved sections I decided to make the newsletter itself free. Why? Because I wouldn’t have paid for it myself. You can still support me, if you want to: as a patreon. You will get access to the monthly AMA – ask me anything – sessions as a thank you. Additionally I started to focusing more on how I keep making progress and try to give insight into all the little things that are part of the creative journey of a digital creator.
⬛️ Filmlog | Testflight Version 3.0.0 (11543) | April 20th 2024
Release notes Please make sure to read the following points:
- supported languages for now: English and German
Please test the following new features, fixes and improvements:
- new feature: follow people to see their upcoming movies in releases
- all new native and standard iOS navigation
- links opened from filmlog.cc (Opens in a new window) appear in your inbox
- filmographies are now split into filmography and appearances
Fixes:
- fixed "Rose" search crash // Thanks Jens
- drastically reduced poster file sizes
- added loading indicator and improved loading for releases
- fixed typo in German localization: iCloud Backup
- fixed scroll inset after returning to search results
- fixed button layout issues in settings
- added optical separators between content and navigation
- faulty display of tmdb logo in settings view // Thanks Rodrigo
- improved brazilian string length in settings view // Thanks Rodrigo
- improved english local // Thanks Ben and Geffrey
- added missing english local // Thanks Jenni
- searching on the following tab opens search for crew and cast
- crashed when selecting a cast & crew search entry blocked by Filmlog Plus banner
- improved text for empty releases, but following more than one person
Thank you for your support.
For questions, feature requests and bug reports please write directly to: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Opens in a new window)
🟩 Auricula | Version 2.1.3 | March 2nd 2024
9 languages | +1
German, English, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Italian as well as traditional and simplified Chinese
Release notes
Bug fixes and improvements:
- New and improved sound files
- New localization: italian
- New: explanation added to endless mode
- Changed: unlimited interval replays possible
- Changed: interval selection is not available for endless mode
- Fixed: clipped intervals on interval selection // Thanks Adrienne
Thank you very much for using Auricula - If you want to support me please consider leaving a review in the AppStore.
🟥 Next Size |Version 1.0.1 | February 22nd 2024
Release notes
- Fixed: app doesn’t update properly after Next Size Plus purchase
Thank you very much for using Next Size - If you want to support me, please consider leaving a review in the AppStore.
Marketing
TAGLINES
Apps
No advertising, no registration, no tracking of personal data and no investors – just an authentic person who loves making software.
Newsletter
Follow and learn from my journey as a digital creator. Subscribe to my monthly newsletter to gain insight into the day-to-day work of creating digital products.
LATEST POSTS
March 24th 2024 –A small gesture (Opens in a new window) – #standwithukraine
February 23rd 2024 –Being grateful (Opens in a new window) – Releasing my new app Next Size
SEARCH ADS – May
I currently use Basic and Advanced Search Ads with mixed results for now and just getting into the many configuration options of the Advanced Search Ads.
Search Ads: Basic/Advanced
🟩 Auricula 51/56 Installs | CPT 0,20€/0.46€
🟥 Next Size 2/2 Installs | CPT 0.24€/0.46€
⬛️ Filmlog – Paused
I decided to pause Search Ads for Filmlog up to the next major release. The current version is not bad, but whenever I use the latest Testflight (Opens in a new window) version, I feel like I do not want to pay for ads for the current Filmlog app.
Inspiration
NEW
–
RECENT
🎥 The Playdate Story (Opens in a new window) – by Cabel Sasser (Opens in a new window)
Watching Panic (Opens in a new window)’s Cabel Sasser and hearing their Playdate story is so entertaining and refreshing that you can feel how tight it must have been, and still is, to release a hardware product.
He also talks about his company as a “slowbiz” – I want to take this road too:
“Let me explain what that means. We're a different kind of tech company. We're playing the long game. We gradually level up year after year. We never had investors. We never had shareholders. I think when you have shareholders, they're kind of used as a scapegoat for your bad decisions. We have no one to scapegoat. Every decision falls on us. We never took any seed money. In the real world of business, this is actually pretty normal—like [if you were running] a hardware store or laundromat or whatever. But for some reason in tech, it's very unusual.”
— Cabel Sasser
PODCASTS
🎙️ Launched (Opens in a new window)– with Charlie Chapman (Opens in a new window)
🎙️ Under the Radar (Opens in a new window)– with Marco Arment (Opens in a new window) and David Smith (Opens in a new window)
🎙️ Waiting for Review (Opens in a new window)– with David Gary Wood (Opens in a new window) and Daniel Jilg (Opens in a new window)
🎙️ Core Intuition (Opens in a new window)– with Daniel Jalkut (Opens in a new window) and Manton Reece (Opens in a new window)
Publications, Appearances and Testimonials
NEW
—
LATEST
2024 March – 🟥 Next Size
“[…] I remember how quickly they grew, and having an app like Next Size is a great idea to help take the guesswork out of parents’ shopping trips.“ – John Voorhees
→ MacStories Weekly (Paywall) (Opens in a new window)
2021 January – ⬛️ Filmlog
“Track your watched and unwatched movies with Filmlog for iPhone“
→ iMore (Opens in a new window)
2020 December – 🟩 Auricula
„Intervalle hören & üben mit der App AURICULA // Gehörbildung Erklärung mit Merkhilfen“ (German)
→ Youtube (Opens in a new window)
Did I miss something? Please let me know: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Opens in a new window)
DEDICATED READER'S 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 network you like
upvote my apps on Product Hunt
Dedicated readers who would like to support the newsletter and take part in the monthly AMA meetings can become a patron here:
Statistics
OVERALL
Downloads
🟩 Auricula 80,662
⬛️ Filmlog 19,027
🟥 Next Size 232
Newsletter Subscribers
🟪 Projects Insight 16 Newsletter Subscribers
Social Media Followers
🙎🏽♂️ Personal Mastodon 108 @techumbely@indieweb.social (Opens in a new window)
🙎🏽♂️ Personal Instagram 71 @techumbely (Opens in a new window)
⬛️ Filmlog Mastodon 8 @filmlog@indieapps.space (Opens in a new window)
Product Hunt
🟩 Auricula 2 Upvotes
🟥 Next Size 2 Upvotes
MAY
Downloads
🟩 Auricula 361
⬛️ Filmlog 253
🟥 Next Size 38
Sessions (opt-in)
⬛️ Filmlog 5,478
🟩 Auricula 616
🟥 Next Size 7
Crashes
🟥 Next Size 0
🟩 Auricula 12
⬛️ Filmlog 115
Subscribers
🟪 Newsletter Patreons 0
Sales (net revenue)
🟩 Auricula 85.49€
⬛️ Filmlog 24.22€
🟥 Next Size 0.00€
Earnings
Apps 109.71€
Expenses
I try to keep costs very low and looking out for growth enablers. Annually recurring costs are converted into monthly expenses. And labour hours are not taken into account as the projects are still a hobby.
MARKETING
Apple Search Ads 74.49€
HOSTING & INTERNET
Hosting 9.41€ – Legacy plan (112€ yearly)
Public work phone 10€ – fraenk (Opens in a new window)*
APPLICATIONS & SERVICES
Apple Developer Program 8.25€ monthly (99.00€ yearly)
GitTower license 5.85€ monthly (70.21€ yearly)
RevenueCat Free plan – used for ‘Next Size’
TelemetryDeck Free plan – 4,255/100,000 monthly signals
appfigures 20.76€ – Monitor (50% blackfriday discount for 12 months)
Mastodon Instance Support 1.19€ (via Patreon)
OTHER COSTS
—
Margin
MAY
Earnings 109.71€
Expenses -129.95€
Loss -20,24€
Tools and Services
In this section you will get an overview of tools and services. I use them to develop and keep my projects up and running.
NEW
—
DROPPED
—
CURRENT LIST
Hosting and E-Mail hosting Mittwald (Opens in a new window)
Domains Domain Offensive (Opens in a new window)*
Bank N26 Business (Opens in a new window)* (Germany, free tier)
Mobile Operator fraenk (Opens in a new window)* (Germany)
IDE Xcode (Opens in a new window)
Git Github (Opens in a new window) and Git Tower (Opens in a new window)*
Texteditor Sublime Text (Opens in a new window)
SFTP Client FileZilla (Opens in a new window)
Local Webserver MAMP (Opens in a new window)/WorldWideWeb (Opens in a new window)
IAP Framework RevenueCat (Opens in a new window) – used for Next Size InApp purchases
Analytics TelemetryDeck (Opens in a new window)*
ASO appfigures (Opens in a new window)
Business Analytics Trendly (Opens in a new window)
Browser & Bookmarks DuckDuckGo Browser (Opens in a new window)
Web Development Safari (Opens in a new window)
Calendar Fantastical (Opens in a new window)
Mail Apple Mail
Notes Standard Notes (Opens in a new window)
Todo Things (Opens in a new window)
Online Storage Tresorit (Opens in a new window)*
Documentation Notion (Opens in a new window)*
Calculator Soulver (Opens in a new window)
Diskmanagement DaisyDisk (Opens in a new window)*
Messenger Signal (Opens in a new window)
Passwordmanager Bitwarden (Opens in a new window)
Security Little Snitch (Opens in a new window)
Translation ICanLocalize (Opens in a new window)*, Deepl (Opens in a new window), dict.cc (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
Design Affinity Designer (Opens in a new window) (still use version 1), Sketch (Opens in a new window), Figma (Opens in a new window)*
Image Compression ImageOptim (Opens in a new window)
Music Doppler (Opens in a new window)
Podcasts Airshow (Opens in a new window)
News NetNewsWire (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
Mastodon Ivory (Opens in a new window) (iOS)
Visual Collection eagle (Opens in a new window)*
Do you have a tool or service suggestion for me? Let me know: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Opens in a new window)
Goals
It is important to keep in mind, why I’m doing all of this.
PERSONAL
Learning and growing personally
Focusing on quality of service
Steady improvement in income
Get to know other digital creators
Achieving greater personal and creative freedom
MARKETING
Reach potential customers
Find suitable users
Grow following
Incentivise great AppStore ratings and reviews
Rank up my website
Build up relationships with press and influential people
Getting mentioned in the press and winning awards
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)!
