One week after launching my first app: 100 users, $31, and what actually worked (and didn't)

A week ago I launched Pace, a Couch to 5K app for people who think they can't run, on the App Store. Built solo, around a full-time job. Here's the honest first-week breakdown, since posts like this helped me before my own launch.

The numbers:

• ~100 users

• $31 in revenue (one-time purchase, no subscription)

• Healthy conversion, low reach

That last point is the biggest lesson, so I'll start there.

The funnel is fine. The reach is the problem.
My App Store analytics showed an ~11% page-view-to-download rate and a solid download-to-paid rate. In other words: people who find Pace tend to like it and some buy it. The bottleneck isn't the product or the listing, it's just getting enough eyeballs on it. That reframed everything: my job isn't to "fix conversion," it's to pour more traffic into a funnel that already works.

Paid search: a cheap, useful failure.
I ran Apple Search Ads with $100 of free credit. Findings:

• In my home market (Sweden), search volume for beginner-running terms is basically nonexistent: installs were cheap (~$1) but there were almost none to get.

• I cloned the campaign to the US, where it's the opposite: real volume, but ~$4.60 per install.

• For a $4.99 one-time app where only a fraction of installs buy, those numbers don't pay back.

Conclusion: paid search probably isn't my channel. But I learned that for ~$10 of free credit instead of guessing. Totally worth it.

What's actually working / where I'm focusing:

• Short-form content (TikTok/Reels) — slow grind, a few hundred views per video so far, but it's the compounding play. Patience required.

• Micro-influencers — closed a deal with a small running creator using free premium codes as currency (no cash). Far better ROI than chasing big names.

• The boring stuff: ASO, an in-app rating prompt, and SEO content. The passive flywheels matter more than any single post.

The honest emotional note:
The hardest part isn't the building, it's that the marketing never ends. There's no point where you've "done enough" posts. As a solo dev you're suddenly also the marketer, editor, and video guy. I'm learning to make that sustainable rather than burning out in week two.

Happy to answer anything about the launch, the App Store side, or the ad experiments. And if you've launched solo, I'd love to hear what your first week looked like.