My first launch on Reddit got me flagged for Spam. It was a "failure" that gave me 3 pieces of "Golden Feedback" and a perfect roadmap.

I'm about 2 months into my full-time solo dev journey and just completed my first real "Launch -> Fail -> Learn -> Iterate" loop. I wanted to share the brutally honest lessons.
10 days ago (on Nov 1st), I was excited to run a "flash launch" for my new app, TimerCamera+ (a minimal timer camera).
I made a critical rookie mistake: I cross-posted the same Play Store link across 3 different subreddits, thinking I was being efficient.

The Result: A total disaster.

• All my posts were removed by Mods for "Spam".
• My Reddit account was flagged and restricted (DM functions disabled, etc.).
• I felt like a complete failure.

BUT... in the few hours before the posts were removed, that "spammy" launch worked. It gave me 3 pieces of "Golden Feedback" that changed everything:

1. [The Win] A 5-Star Play Store Review: "saw you on Reddit. best of luck to ya." (This alone made the whole effort worth it).
2. [The Blocker] A comment: "Why is this app PEGI 18?" (I had completely messed up the Google Play Content Rating!)
3. [The #1 Request] A comment: "Why are there ads? Why use yours, when there are FOSS alternatives?" (This comment made it clear: I needed to offer an IAP as a better experience.)

Instead of giving up because of the Reddit ban, I treated this "Golden Feedback" as my new community-driven backlog.
I spent 2 days (Nov 4-5) in a "compliance & iteration" sprint to fix everything, shipping the new version on Nov 5:

• ✅ [FIXED] The "PEGI 18" Blocker: It's now properly "Rated for 3+".
• ✅ [FIXED] The Google "Compliance Nightmare": I successfully (and painfully) navigated the W-8BEN Tax forms and AdMob Financial declarations (using my Hong Kong entity).
• ✅ [FIXED] The Android 10 Bugs: Shipped v1.1.3 to fix the Status Bar / Navigation Bar bugs reported.
• ✅ [SHIPPED] The #1 Request (IAP): I shipped the IAP to remove all ads.

My Lesson: That "failed" Reddit launch was 100x more valuable than a "quiet" launch that gets ignored. That "Spam" label gave me the perfect roadmap to build what users actually wanted.
Today, this is the real launch. The app is no longer just a "buggy" tool, but a "feedback-driven" product.

My Ask & My Offer:
I would be honored if you could take a look at my product. I would be even more delighted to receive your feedback.
More importantly, I'm here to answer any questions about the journey.

• The W-8BEN compliance nightmare (especially for Hong Kong entities)
• The Reddit ban & the "Golden Feedback"
• The 2-day sprint to integrate IAP

The (New) Product: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.muxixisoft.android.timercamera
The (Compliance) Proof: https://muxixisoft.github.io/data-deletion
Thank you for reading my journey!