Projects Insight No 6. | April 2024

Released on Saturday May 18th in 2024 by Simon Braun (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Nowadays our hard disks and SSDs are incredible huge compared to the capacities available 10 years ago. But still disk space is always getting scarce any now and then. This is were the unbelievable useful and insightful diskmanagement tool DaisyDisk (Si apre in una nuova finestra)* comes into play. It shows beautifully how your disk space is used and shows huge files in places you didn’t know existed. You can easily select, collect and delete huge and unnecessary files all together. Making some headroom helps to keep your machine fast and makes saving new files or installing huge applications worry-free again.

DaisyDisk (Si apre in una nuova finestra)* | macOS | Paid → Download (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*

Projects Overview

ACTIVE

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

⬛️ Filmlog (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | AppStore (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Testflight (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🟩 Auricula (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | AppStore (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Producthunt (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🟥 Next Size (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | AppStore (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🟪 Projects Insight (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Posts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Patreons (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

PROTOTYPES

🌐 Puinte.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
A community financed effort to create better software for the general public: privacy-friendly, open-source, fully reusable and financed in solidarity.

🌐Infolge.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
A comprehensive format for following current events, comparing points of view and forming a differentiated opinion

ARCHIVED

📱skunkit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (2012 – 2015)
The ethical messenger service: an iOS app

Updates

NEW

🟪 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.

RECENT

🟪 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🟩 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.

⬛️ Filmlog |Version 2.1.1 | November 5th 2023

Release notes
- small bugfixes

Thank you very much for using Filmlog - 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – #standwithukraine
February 23rd 2024 –Being grateful (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – Releasing my new app Next Size

SEARCH ADS

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 55/71 Installs | CPT 0,18€/0.36€
🟥 Next Size 6/1 Installs | CPT 0.20€/0.24€
⬛️ 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) version, I feel like I do not want to pay for ads for the current Filmlog app.

Inspiration

TALKS

🎥 The Playdate Story (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – by Cabel Sasser (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Watching Panic (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)– with Charlie Chapman (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🎙️ Under the Radar (Si apre in una nuova finestra)– with Marco Arment (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and David Smith (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🎙️ Waiting for Review (Si apre in una nuova finestra)– with David Gary Wood (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Daniel Jilg (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

🎙️ Core Intuition (Si apre in una nuova finestra)– with Daniel Jalkut (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Manton Reece (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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) (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

2021 January – ⬛️ Filmlog
“Track your watched and unwatched movies with Filmlog for iPhone“
→ iMore (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

2020 December – 🟩 Auricula
„Intervalle hören & üben mit der App AURICULA // Gehörbildung Erklärung mit Merkhilfen“ (German)
→ Youtube (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Did I miss something? Please let me know: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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 80,434
⬛️ Filmlog 18,875
🟥 Next Size 210

Newsletter Subscribers

🟪 Projects Insight 16 Newsletter Subscribers

Social Media Followers

🙎🏽‍♂️ Personal Mastodon 109 @techumbely@indieweb.social (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
🙎🏽‍♂️ Personal Instagram 71 @techumbely (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
⬛️ Filmlog Mastodon 8 @filmlog@indieapps.space (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Product Hunt

🟩 Auricula 2 Upvotes
🟥 Next Size 2 Upvotes

APRIL

Downloads

🟩 Auricula 412
⬛️ Filmlog 237
🟥 Next Size 32

Sessions (opt-in)

⬛️ Filmlog 4,307
🟩 Auricula 956
🟥 Next Size 21

Crashes

🟥 Next Size 0
🟩 Auricula 19
⬛️ Filmlog 136

Subscribers

🟪 Newsletter Patreons 0

Sales (net revenue)

🟩 Auricula 65.34€
⬛️ Filmlog 60.76€
🟥 Next Size 4.45€

Earnings

Apps 130.55€

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 74,14€

HOSTING & INTERNET

Hosting 9.41€ – Legacy plan (112€ yearly)
Public work phone 10€ – fraenk (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*

APPLICATIONS & SERVICES

Apple Developer Program 8.25€ yearly (99.00€ yearly)

GitTower license still not renewed

RevenueCat Free plan – used for ‘Next Size’
TelemetryDeck Free plan – 4,552/100,000 monthly signals
appfigures 21.20€ – Monitor (50% blackfriday discount for 12 months)
Mastodon Instance Support 1.19€ (via Patreon)

OTHER COSTS

—

Margin

APRIL

Earnings 130.55€
Expenses -124.19€
Profit 6.36€

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Domains Domain Offensive (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
Bank N26 Business (Si apre in una nuova finestra)* (Germany, free tier)
Mobile Operator fraenk (Si apre in una nuova finestra)* (Germany)

IDE Xcode (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Git Github (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Git Tower (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
Texteditor Sublime Text (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
SFTP Client FileZilla (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Local Webserver MAMP (Si apre in una nuova finestra)/WorldWideWeb (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

IAP Framework RevenueCat (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – used for Next Size InApp purchases
Analytics TelemetryDeck (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
ASO appfigures (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Business Analytics Trendly (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Browser & Bookmarks DuckDuckGo Browser (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Web Development Safari (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Calendar Fantastical (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Mail Apple Mail
Notes Standard Notes (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Todo Things (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Online Storage Tresorit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
Documentation Notion (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
Calculator Soulver (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Diskmanagement DaisyDisk (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*

Messenger Signal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Passwordmanager Bitwarden (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Security Little Snitch (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Translation ICanLocalize (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*, Deepl (Si apre in una nuova finestra), dict.cc (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (iOS)
Design Affinity Designer (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (still use version 1), Sketch (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Figma (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*
Image Compression ImageOptim (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Music Doppler (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Podcasts Airshow (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
News NetNewsWire (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (iOS)
Mastodon Ivory (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (iOS)
Visual Collection eagle (Si apre in una nuova finestra)*

Do you have a tool or service suggestion for me? Let me know: feedback@simonbraun.eu (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Goals

It is important to keep in mind, why I’m doing all of this.

PERSONAL

1. Learning and growing personally

2. Focusing on quality of service

3. Steady improvement in income

4. Get to know other digital creators

5. Achieving greater personal and creative freedom

MARKETING

1. Reach potential customers

2. Find suitable users

3. Grow following

4. Incentivise great AppStore ratings and reviews

5. Rank up my website

6. Build up relationships with press and influential people

7. 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Simon Braun – Website (Si apre in una nuova finestra) / Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Want to start your own Newsletter? I recommend to give Steady a try (Si apre in una nuova finestra)!