It’s been six days since I launched Snapthread 1.5, so I thought I’d share how it went in terms of downloads and revenue.

What I did differently

When I first launched Snapthread back in September, I did so with a blog post and a couple of tweets. Unsurprisingly, it did pretty poorly, with only a download or two per day. Right before Thanksgiving I decided to put it on sale for 99 cents which caused a modest bump in downloads for 4-5 days, but nothing spectacular.

Of course, Snapthread itself wasn’t particularly compelling at that point, since it only supported portrait photos and videos.

For version 1.5, I upped my game a little bit. I put together a new website, created new, more professional-looking screenshots, put together a press kit, set up a Search Ads Advanced campaign, tweeted about it, published a blog post, and e-mailed six media contacts. I also submitted the App Store Editorial form.

How it went

On Monday and Tuesday, several of my awesome Twitter acquaintances tweeted about Snapthread (some of whom have > 10,000 followers). On Wednesday, MacStories published a review. I was confused and excited when it continued to climb the charts in the Photo/Video category on Thursday, not realizing that another article had been published on iMore that morning. Snapthread’s ranking peaked at #108 before falling rapidly off the chart.

Snapthread was also posted to Product Hunt, but didn’t receive enough upvotes to trend.

Honestly, I still feel like a “nobody” in the iOS development world, so getting as much attention as I did for something I created was great fun. But did any of it translate into big downloads and revenue? Not really.

On the day the MacStories article was published, I made about $140. The next day, $103. Yesterday, $36.

What went wrong?

My gut feeling is that it’s just really, really hard to get noticed. Here are a few other guesses:

• The app just isn’t good enough.
• People don’t want to spend $2, or it doesn’t provide $2 worth of value.
• Some folks don’t like Live Photos, or don’t see any use for them.
• I didn’t e-mail enough people.
• I didn’t have any videos showing how the app works.

I also didn’t advertise on Facebook or anywhere else because I honestly can’t afford it. I threw a few bucks into a Search Ads campaign which has so far resulted in 1,319 impressions, 22 taps and 1 conversion.

What’s next?

Next, I keep working to make Snapthread so darn good that it can’t be ignored. I chose this life for fun, not profit, so I’m going to keep on having fun and hope that someday I’ll make a profit.

Snapthread 1.5 is now available! This update brings support for videos and Live Photos taken in landscape orientation. It also features a new icon and a number of small improvements designed to make the movie-creating process as fast, flexible, and simple as possible:

• You can now square-crop your videos and adjust the cropping area of individual clips.
• Your final video can be exported in any of the following aspect ratios: 3:4, 4:3, 9:16, 16:9, 1:1.
• Video clips in the opposite orientation of the one you selected will be letterboxed or pillarboxed by default. You can change this behavior on the new Settings screen.
• There is now an option to automatically save your video to your Photo Library when you tap the Share button.
• You can now 3D Touch a photo or video on the video selection screen to preview it before selecting it.
• You can now mute all of the clips at once from the music selection screen.

With this update, Snapthread becomes the best app for combining and sharing Live Photos. Personally, it has completely changed the way I think about and take Live Photos. I’m much more likely to keep a subpar photo now if the underlying video is good. And since Live Photos also capture the moment before I take the picture, I find myself mashing the shutter button while Charlie is saying something cute, knowing that I likely captured most, if not all of it.

Anyway, I hope you like the update and I’m looking forward to getting started on the iPad version in March!

Landscape support is coming to Snapthread on Monday. It seems like such an obvious thing, and I’m sure anyone who hasn’t been following Snapthread’s development is wondering why on earth I didn’t support landscape videos to begin with. The truth is, this app seems to have taken on a life of its own, and has whisked me far away from the path of my original intentions. What started as an app to merge Snapchat videos is now on its way to becoming a complete video studio for Live Photos.

I didn’t anticipate that, but I’m excited. Really excited. To me, Snapthread 1.5 is really Snapthread 1.0. The beginning of a new app.

I have so many ideas for the future, but for the next point release I’m waffling between these two priorities: revamping the title card system, and making the app universal.

Currently, title cards are extremely boring and limited. However, they’re also not an essential feature, and the app still does something really useful without them. So, I’m leaning towards focusing on the iPad version for the time being. I’m also really hoping that I’ll generate enough revenue over the next few months to hire a designer to help me with some fun backgrounds for titles. Perhaps making the app universal would also boost sales and help fund that.

Anyway, here’s a list of features I think might be cool additions to Snapthread:

Planned before 2.0

• iPad support
• New and improved title cards (multiple title cards that can be rearranged, have fun backgrounds and fonts, etc.)
• For the initial view for video selection to be similar to Photos’ “Moments” tab, to make it easier to find what you’re looking for

Wishlist for the future

• Video filters
• Stickers maybe?
• Localization
• Ability to select a particular time range of background music
• A way to either manually auto-generate or perhaps have the app surprise you with a video based on a “moment” in your photo library. Similar to Photos’ “Memories” feature.

I’m committed to improving Snapthread as it’s become one of my own most frequently-used apps. I love making compilations of Live Photos and videos of Charlie to post on Instagram or send to my parents, who only get to see him in person a handful of times per year. I hope others will get as much enjoyment from it as I do, and will consider it $2 well spent.

I think I’m going to take the month of February off from programming, and focus on blogging, taking care of myself, and spending more quality time with my family. I’m looking forward to relaxing, writing, and chatting with you all via Twitter, e-mail, or Micro.blog.