For indie developers

Turn App Store rankings into your next product idea

You have questions every solo developer asks before starting: What should I build? What do users actually hate? Is this market big enough? Pumf.it answers all three using real, live App Store data — no surveys, no guessing.

"Which app should I build?"

Most indie developers build what they already know. The smarter move is to find where demand exists but competition is still manageable. That's what the Pulse tab is for.

Appstore State

Balanced + diversified is the best signal for indie launches — no single giant controls the market. Highly concentrated means the top players already own the space.

Best Niches

Categories occupying 4–10% of the top chart. Enough demand to validate, not so dominant that you can't compete. These are your entry points.

Competition Risk

Low risk = leaders are vulnerable. High risk = you'll need very strong differentiation or a different country.

Workflow: Open Pulse → pick a country with good macro signals → scan "Best Niches" → write down 2–3 categories that match your skills. Then go to step 2.

"What do users actually need?"

The App Store is already full of honest feedback from people who spent money, got frustrated, and left a review. The Dive tab surfaces those signals before you read a single review.

The Unhappy signal — how it works

Many reviews→real users, proven demand

Low rating→users keep using it despite frustration

Combined → a gap waiting to be filled

Sort by Unhappy. The apps at the top have the most users and the most frustrated ones. Open the top 3 in the App Store and filter reviews by 1–2 stars.

What you're looking for in negative reviews

→Repeated feature requests — 20 people asking for the same thing = real demand
→Workflow complaints — "I have to do X manually every time" = automation opportunity
→Platform gaps — "No iPad support", "no offline mode" = underserved segment
→Pricing frustration — "works great but too expensive" = room for a simpler, cheaper version

Tip: The most valuable review is "I'd pay $X for this if it just had Y." That sentence is your product brief, your pricing anchor, and your target audience — all in one line.

"How do I estimate installs and revenue?"

You can't see install numbers directly — but you can triangulate them from signals Pumf.it shows.

Install estimate from review count

Rule of thumb: ~1–3% of users leave a review on iOS

10K reviews≈330K – 1M lifetime installs

50K reviews≈1.5M – 5M lifetime installs

500K reviews≈15M – 50M installs (mass market)

Use the lower bound for conservative estimates

Pricing ceiling from GDP per capita

Monthly subscription sweet spot

> $30KTier 1$7.99–$14.99/mo — US, UK, AU, JP $10–30KTier 2$2.99–$4.99/mo — BR, MX, PL, TR < $10KTier 3Freemium first — IN, ID, NG, PH

GDP per capita visible in the country signal bar in Pulse

Pricing anchor from Paid apps median

How to read it: Dive → Top Paid → your category

Median < $1Race to bottomavoid paid; freemium or ads Median $1–3Price-sensitive$0.99–1.99/mo sub; strong free tier Median $3–7Healthy$2.99–4.99/mo works confidently Median > $7Premium$6.99–9.99/mo; users expect value

Switch chart to Top Paid in Dive tab → look at the price column of the top 25 apps in your category

Why this beats GDP/cap alone: GDP shows economic capacity — Paid apps median shows actual willingness to pay in your specific niche. A country with mid GDP can have a premium-priced Productivity niche if that's what the local market supports. Use both signals together: GDP/cap sets the ceiling, median price confirms what's already working.

Real audience size from iOS share

What the chart actually represents

US (57% iOS)→chart ≈ majority of mobile users

JP (70% iOS)→almost all mobile users represented

IN (5% iOS)→chart = tiny premium slice only

Low iOS share means chart leaders have smaller real user bases than reviews suggest

Quick estimate: If the #1 app in your target niche has 30K reviews in the US → ~1–3M installs → even 0.1% conversion to a $9.99/mo subscription = $1–3K MRR at parity. A better product can take 1–3% easily.

The 7-step indie research workflow

From zero to a validated idea in under 30 minutes.

Pick a country

Start with markets you understand or where you have a language advantage. Check GDP/cap + iOS share to validate it's worth your time.

Read the market state in Pulse

Is it Balanced + diversified? Good. Is it Highly concentrated? Hard — consider a different country or try Top Grossing to find paying niches.

Shortlist 2–3 niches from Best Niches

Cross-check against the category distribution bar. Write down niches where you could plausibly build something in 4–8 weeks.

Dive into each niche — sort by Unhappy

Switch to Dive, select the category, sort by Unhappy. Look for apps with reviews % > 40% and rating % < 75%.

Read 1–2 star reviews on the App Store

Open the top 3 unhappy apps. Filter by lowest rating. Read 20–30 reviews. Highlight every recurring phrase — those are your product spec.

Size the opportunity

Use the review count formula to estimate installs. Check GDP/cap to pick your price tier. Multiply — if 500K installs exist and you get 0.5% at $4.99/mo, that's $1.2K MRR from day one.

Build the one thing reviews keep asking for

Pick one specific complaint. Build the minimum version that solves it better than the incumbent. Launch. Use the same Dive view to track your category over time.

Real App Store data, updated every 3 hours. Free to use, no account needed.

Start exploring

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