Episode Details

David Smith is a full-time independent app developer. Since 2006, David has owned and operated a small company focusing on creating applications for the iPhone and Apple Watch.

David has built many successful apps over the years. His most recent app, Widgetsmith, went viral and hit #1 on the App Store. It has over 50 million downloads. David’s other successful apps include Watchsmith, Pedometer++, and Sleep++.

David also co-hosts a weekly podcast called Under the Radar, where he and his co-host Mario Arment discuss Apple-related topics.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to transition from a hobbyist to a full-time app developer
• Two big mistakes to avoid when starting out as an app developer
• How customers find new apps in 2021
• The biggest waste of time and money for an app developer

Links & Resources

• The LibriVox project
• Mirror app
• Launch Center Pro app

David Smith’s Links

• David’s Website
• Audiobooks app
• Widgetsmith app
• Watchsmith app
• Pedometer++ app
• Sleep++ app
• Under the Radar podcast
• David’s Twitter: @_DavidSmith
• iOS Version Stats

Follow Us:

David Barnard: https://twitter.com/drbarnard

Jacob Eiting: https://twitter.com/jeiting

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Episode Transcript

David Smith: 00:00:00

I’ve launched, I think it’s 56 or 57 apps at this point, and all but about six of them have completely failed. 

I say that mostly because I’ve launched more failures probably than anyone in the App Store in some ways, and that’s the way that you can end up with success, I’ve just kept trying, and it got me that little baseline of income that it was like, okay, I’m not just wasting my time here.

David: 00:00:19

Welcome to the Sub Club podcast. I’m your host, David Barnard, and with me as always Jacob Eiting. Hello Jacob.

Jacob: 00:00:43

Hi David Number one, How are you?

David: 00:00:46

I’m good. Our guest today, maybe number two, is David Smith, long time indie developer and podcaster. Starting with Audiobooks in 2009, David has built many successful apps over the years, including Widgetsmith. Pedometer. His most recent app, Widgetsmith went viral on TikTok, and hit number one in the App Store.

Welcome David.

David Smith: 00:01:10

Thank you, It’s great to be here.

David: 00:01:11

Yeah, it’s great to chat. We’ve chatted in person a few times, and bumped into each other at WWDC over the years. You’ve been doing this pretty much since the very beginning, right? Audiobooks came out in 2009, when did you actually start working on that?

David Smith: 00:0