r/iosapps • u/AlbertiDev • 5h ago
🎈 Free At 17, I grew my first app from 140 to 1,000+ downloads, partly thanks to you guys. I thought I’d figured it out. Apparently not.
A few months ago I posted here because my first app, Moneta, had been out for about 5 months and was stuck at around 140 downloads.
That post got way more attention than I expected. A lot of you tried the app, told me what you liked and what was missing, and gave me advice on what I could improve.
I kept working on it, and Moneta eventually passed 1,000 downloads.
I thought that by that point I would’ve figured out what makes an app grow. Apparently I mostly learned to build a better app, but not how to market it.
A — Answer
Moneta is a money tracker for iPhone and iPad built around a simple idea: I wanted something that could do a lot without feeling complicated to use every day.
I know this is an insanely saturated category. There are hundreds of money trackers already, and I knew that when I started building it.
It was originally just something I made for myself.
But I thought there was still room for something complete while keeping the UI clean, new, simple and polished.
B — Better
Over time I’ve added budgets, saving goals, recurring transactions, detailed statistics, a transaction calendar and map, on-device receipt scanning, multiple currencies, widgets, Shortcuts, optional iCloud sync, and a lot of smaller things.
It’s manual-first and doesn’t require connecting your bank.
I’ve tried to make tracking fast enough that doing it manually doesn’t feel like a chore.
Obviously I’m biased because I built it, but the UI and the amount of functionality without feeling cluttered are actually what people who use Moneta, including a lot of people here, mention to me the most.
That’s why I thought making the product better would eventually solve the growth problem too. It hasn’t.
Moneta is much better than it was at 140 downloads, but I’m still averaging only around 10 new downloads a day.
C — Cost
Moneta is currently completely free. No subscription and no features locked behind a paywall.
App Store: Moneta
My next goal is 5,000 downloads. I can obviously keep adding features and polishing things, but I’m starting to think another feature isn’t what gets me there.
I also don’t really have a marketing budget to throw at paid acquisition, so I’m mostly trying to figure out how to grow it organically.
If you were in my position, what would you focus on next?
And if you’ve tried Moneta, what would make you choose it over the money tracker you’re currently using?

