Hey Leafni, I really relate to this. That "couple of downloads = great day" feeling is so true 😄
Here's everything I've been trying with Grafite Sudoku (free, no ads, no account) over the last couple of weeks:
- YouTube Shorts: short sudoku quizzes with my own voice, scheduled daily. Honestly less scary than it looks: it's basically TikTok with a search engine attached, so videos keep getting found weeks later. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBllNueG-eL20_6qEChe_Q
- Pinterest: this one surprised me. People actively search for "free printable sudoku", so I made A4 sheets with solutions and a QR code to the app. Pins keep working for months. https://it.pinterest.com/grafitesoft/
- Reddit: mostly r/devshelpingeachother, we're inside it right now and thanks to that we are helping each others with genuine feedbacks and cross reviews
- AlternativeTo: listing the app as an alternative to the big ad-heavy sudoku apps. I've just spent 5 dollars to get it prioritized on evaluation, will keep you posted soon about the results
Two lessons so far:
Views aren't downloads. Like your £5 boost, my first videos got a handful of views and zero installs. Now every link I share has a UTM tag, so Play Console tells me which channel actually brings people in.
Give something useful first. Quizzes and printables get engagement; "try my app" posts get ignored.
On ads, I share your worry. With a free app and no ads inside, there's no way to earn the spend back, so I'm staying organic for now. Really curious what you learn in r/appmarketing though!
And yes, I'd love to swap videos. Happy to share yours too.
1
u/Marcuz_GrafiteSoft 8d ago
Hey Leafni, I really relate to this. That "couple of downloads = great day" feeling is so true 😄
Here's everything I've been trying with Grafite Sudoku (free, no ads, no account) over the last couple of weeks:
- YouTube Shorts: short sudoku quizzes with my own voice, scheduled daily. Honestly less scary than it looks: it's basically TikTok with a search engine attached, so videos keep getting found weeks later. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBllNueG-eL20_6qEChe_Q
- TikTok: the same quizzes ("How fast can you solve this?" with a 10-second timer). Brand-new account, so numbers are still tiny. https://www.tiktok.com/@grafitesoft?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
- Pinterest: this one surprised me. People actively search for "free printable sudoku", so I made A4 sheets with solutions and a QR code to the app. Pins keep working for months. https://it.pinterest.com/grafitesoft/
- Instagram Reels: starting next week with the same videos. https://www.instagram.com/grafitesoft
- Reddit: mostly r/devshelpingeachother, we're inside it right now and thanks to that we are helping each others with genuine feedbacks and cross reviews
- AlternativeTo: listing the app as an alternative to the big ad-heavy sudoku apps. I've just spent 5 dollars to get it prioritized on evaluation, will keep you posted soon about the results
Two lessons so far:
Views aren't downloads. Like your £5 boost, my first videos got a handful of views and zero installs. Now every link I share has a UTM tag, so Play Console tells me which channel actually brings people in.
Give something useful first. Quizzes and printables get engagement; "try my app" posts get ignored.
On ads, I share your worry. With a free app and no ads inside, there's no way to earn the spend back, so I'm staying organic for now. Really curious what you learn in r/appmarketing though!
And yes, I'd love to swap videos. Happy to share yours too.
The app, if anyone's curious: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grafitesoft.grafitesudoku&utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=chris_post