12 Apps, 120,000 Installs, $252 a Year
My app with 100,000 installs earns almost nothing. My app with 10,000 earns 95% of my revenue. Here are the real numbers from 12 Google Play apps, and what they taught me.
I have 12 apps on Google Play. Together they have about 120,000 installs.
They earn me about $252 a year.
That is not a typo. It is $21 a month, from 12 apps. And almost all of it comes from one small app.
I am sharing the real numbers because most "how much do apps earn" posts are vague. This one is not. If you are building apps and hoping ads will pay, these numbers might save you a year.
The short version: installs do not make money. Daily use makes money. My app with 100,000 installs earns almost nothing. My app with 10,000 installs earns 95% of everything.
The numbers
Here is every app, sorted by installs. Revenue is monthly, from AdMob and in-app purchases.
| App | Installs | Revenue / month |
|---|---|---|
| Calorie & Diet | 100,000+ | less than $1 |
| Mental Health Test | 10,000+ | |
| Account Manager | 10,000+ | $20 |
| 9 other apps | a few hundred | almost $0 |
| Total | about 120,000 | about $21 |
Look at the first and third rows.
Calorie & Diet has ten times more installs than Account Manager. But Account Manager earns more than all my other apps put together.
Per install, Account Manager earns about 221 times more than the rest.
Why the big app earns nothing
Calorie & Diet calculates your BMI, your calorie needs and your diet plan.
That is useful. But think about how people use it.
You open it. You enter your height and weight. You see your number. Maybe you check it again next week. Then you forget it exists.
One visit. Maybe two. That is a few ad views per user, for life.
Why the small app earns everything
Account Manager is a daily money diary. You write down what you earn and what you spend.
People open it every day. Some open it three or four times a day. After shopping. After paying a bill. After getting paid.
That is 30 to 100 visits a month, from the same person. Every visit can show an ad. Some users also pay once to remove ads.
Same ads. Same developer. Completely different result.
| Calorie & Diet | Account Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| How often people open it | Once or twice | Every day |
| Visits per user per month | Close to zero | 30 or more |
| Reason to pay | Weak | Remove ads from a daily tool |
| Installs | 100,000+ | 10,000+ |
| Monthly revenue | Under $1 | $20 |
A rough way to measure this
You cannot see another app's daily users. But you can see its reviews.
People only review apps they keep using. So reviews per thousand installs is a rough sign of how sticky an app is. It is not perfect. But it is public, and it is free.
I compared my calorie app with the top expense app in my category. Both have about 100,000 installs.
- The top expense app: about 72 reviews per 1,000 installs
- My calorie app: about 6 reviews per 1,000 installs
Same install count. Twelve times the engagement. The expense app is the kind people open every day.
What I got wrong
For years I counted installs. A new app reaching 10,000 felt like a win.
But installs only measure one moment: the download. Revenue comes from every moment after that. An app nobody opens is an app nobody sees ads in.
I built mostly calculators and one-time tools. A BMI calculator. A sleep cycle calculator. A land area converter. A quiz generator. They are useful. People download them. Then they leave.
Only one of my 12 apps is a daily habit. It is the only one that pays.
What I am doing now
I am not building a new app. I am fixing the one that works.
I read all 66 public reviews of Account Manager. It has 3.98 stars. One in four reviews is 3 stars or lower. The complaints are clear:
- No automatic backup. People are afraid of losing their data. One user said: "When that is done, you will get five stars."
- PDF export breaks when there are many entries.
- Too many ads. "I used this app for 2 minutes and 2 ads popped up."
- A paid user was asked to pay again. The purchase did not restore.
- You cannot add old entries with a past date.
Every one of these is fixable. None needs a new app. And each one turns a 1-star review into a reason to stay.
Before you build your next app
Ask one question first:
Will people open this every day?
If yes, ads and small purchases can work. Think of money diaries, habit trackers, to-do lists, prayer times, attendance logs, and journals.
If no, ads will not pay. Calculators, converters, one-time tests and tools you use once a month all fall here. That does not mean you should not build them. It means you need a different plan. You could charge once. You could use the app to find paid work. Or you could build it just because you enjoy it.
Some quick checks:
- Count the reasons to come back. If you cannot name one, there is none.
- Look at the top apps' reviews per 1,000 installs. A high number means people stay.
- Do not trust install counts. Mine went up for years while the money stayed flat.
The honest bottom line
$252 a year will not pay my bills. Ads on small utility apps, in my markets, do not make a living. I wish someone had told me this with real numbers years ago.
What these 12 apps did give me is experience. I know the Play Console, the review process, the policies, and the mistakes. That is what I now use to build apps for other people.
Do you have an app idea? I have shipped 12 apps. I know which kinds work and which do not. Get in touch if you want yours built. You can also see all my apps here.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an app with 100,000 installs earn?
It depends almost entirely on how often people use it. My calorie app with 100,000 installs earns less than a dollar a month, because most people open it once. An app people use daily can earn far more from far fewer installs.
Why do installs not equal revenue?
Ads earn money each time someone sees them. An app opened once gives a few ad views per user, ever. An app opened every day gives 30 or more a month from the same person.
What kind of app makes money from ads?
Apps people open every day: money diaries, habit trackers, to-do lists, prayer times, journals. Calculators and one-time tools rarely earn much from ads.
How can I tell if an app idea will be used daily?
Ask whether there is a reason to come back tomorrow. You can also check top apps in the category and compare reviews per 1,000 installs. A high number usually means people keep using it.