Should You Make Apps For Apple Or Android?

Bluecloud Podcast: Build an App Business | App Marketing | Make Money With Apps | Passive Income | App Development

Today I’m going to talk to you about whether or not you should do Apple or Android apps.

Beginners and also people who have been in the app business for a while often ask: “Should I get to these new markets? Which one? There’s a lot of people using Android phones in my country, which platform is right to go after?”

The short answer is that Apple tends to be a better choice. This is because both stores have comparable sizes, with roughly the same amount of apps, and people using those apps. However, the average customer in the Apple Store spends more money on apps than people in the Android store. That translates into more money in your pocket. On average, people will make more money with Apple apps than they will with Android.

More competition on Apple

With Apple, the thing that always comes up is that it can be a little more competitive. There are more people vying for those dollars. So you might see more developers focused on Apple, there are more people spending money on advertising in Apple to try to get those top spots. All that means is you just have to go for a smaller, more niche market. It doesn’t really matter how competitive it may look, just realize that there’s a lot of new niche, very specific groups of people that you can target.

Different screen sizes for different devices

Another thing is that Apple has only a handful of devices. You have the iPhone and the iPad. You have the iPhone 5, iPhone 6, iPhone 7, 6+, 7+. That’s a few different screen sizes, but there’s not a wide range.

Now when you get into Android, you’re looking at hundreds of different device sizes. And if you really want to optimize the way a really great product would, you’re going to create dozens of different screen sizes to accommodate all the different devices, because you have so many manufacturers that are building those devices.

App testing

That also comes down to testing your app. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, you’re really covering half the basics. Then you want to get an old iPhone 5, iPhone 6 just to make sure, but you can test on a simulator. With Android, there are hundreds of devices that you need to be testing.

Why Android can be worthwhile

Now, let’s talk about the reason why Android can be worthwhile. In Android, you can get a huge volume of people. There’s no question, more Android devices in the world, more people using Android devices. It is a bigger platform right now than Apple, because there are more phones, more markets. So if you’re just looking at getting users, not necessarily paying users, then Android can be a great place. If you just want to do some research, or build a community, Android can be awesome.

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If you’re thinking that you don’t need to make money, and that you’ll just rely on advertisements, realize that the advertisements on Android will pay less money than Apple as well. Because the top people are getting the same lower lifetime value customers. They can’t afford to pay as much for the ads. So, it’s not like you can get more people and you can show them the same Ads that you can on Apple. You’re going to make just the same level of money because of the lower tiers.

If you do want to just grow a big audience to get some data, put some email addresses or something else that you can build into your brand or your business in some way, Android has the potential to help out in one way or another.

From my experience and from talking to people, on average, Android typically makes about half as much money as Apple apps do.

If you’re really doing well on Apple and you’re looking for a new market to go into, if you haven’t already really leveraged Facebook ads and all the marketing you can on the Apple side, Android could be a good way for you to turn around and say: “Let’s just put this on Android and see what happens.” But realize that it’s going to be much lower return on your investment from a financial standpoint than Apple was.

So if you’re just getting started, I would recommend going into the Apple App Store and not going into Android, because you have a better chance of making your money back in the Apple App Store than on Android.

See ya!

Carter

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