my AI-generated apps earn $1,000/mo. here is how:
I started building apps in June 2025, almost a year ago.
Back then I was making only $50/mo. Over time, I have experimented a lot and grew my apps portfolio.
I am a solo-developer: I build games, apps and create content around developing them.
Last month, I made ~$1,100/mo from my mobile apps. Some stats:
90% organic revenue
100% built with AI
~100 downloads/day across IOS & Android
Almost equal split between both for revenue
70% of the revenue comes from 20% of the apps
Built 40+ apps, only kept ~20 live
The best part is you just build once and publish it. You don’t need to spend a lot of time managing it or constantly adding new features.
Occasional customer support is needed but again I use AI to solve those, for example this customer faced an issue in my app:
And I was able to solve in less than 30 mins with AI. He was shocked and surprised at the speed and my care for the support.
I will cover in this article how all of this came to be: the development & distribution of mobile apps.
What is a mobile app?
Anything that solves a problem and can be packaged in your mobile is an app. I had a belief that people will always pay $$ to get their problems solved when they see value in it.
It can be anything simple like a timer, calculator, journal diary, or complex like a social media platform that targets the problem of not being social enough.
You upload these apps on App Store or Google Play Store where millions of people search for new apps to download every month.
In exchange, these apps ask users to subscribe & pay for premium features or show ads.
I focus on small-scale apps, unlike the top charts as seen in the image above.
One real app example
For example, I built this app to help pregnant mothers count the baby kicks and track over time how fast/slow it becomes. This app makes me ~$100/mo.
How to develop a mobile app?
Developing a mobile app is pretty much like developing any kind of software — you need to learn coding lanugages, write code and deploy the app to your device to test it out.
If you are targeting IOS only apps, then Xcode is the software where you write code, and Swift is the language.
If you are targeting both IOS & Android then there are cross-platform libraries like React Native or Flutter.
But today with AI, do you really need to understand these languages?
No. I built 40+ mobile apps with having 0 knowledge of these lanugages, although I come from a coding background — I have design sense and logic knowledge that allows me to talk to AI tools in a certain way that helps me achieve the desired result easily.
General coding and product background helps you supervise AI.
What “100% built with AI” means
AI writes almost all the code, but I still decide what to build, guide the product, test every flow, fix the design and make the monetization decisions. AI handles implementation, but judgment still comes from you.
Attractive onboarding screens
Paywall with links
AI APIs (for image scanners, image generators, chatbots) just plugin your AI API key
In-App purchases/subscription management with RevenueCat
Firebase to track analytics
Notifications
Settings/Contact
It can save you upto 1–2 hours of the initial development time in every new project.
So it allows me to reuse the features without spending time to develop them again and again.
You can get it here: https://anulagarwal.gumroad.com/l/cukmwo
Using AI to develop an app
Agentic AI tools like Claude Code or Codex are very good with their latest models. You need to guide them properly, with references, screenshots, and detailed idea explaination.
It is like sculpting a piece of clay into something valuable — you need to give it prompts, let it work, test the output and give back feedback again.
What works — what does not work? Why it works? What do you actually want?
My AI development loop
I explain the feature, share references or screenshots, let Claude Code or Codex build it, and then test the result. I keep giving specific feedback until the feature works and feels right.
What AI still struggles with
AI can break existing screens, overcomplicate simple features, or miss edge cases in subscriptions and APIs. I avoid this by working in smaller steps, testing on real devices and using Git before major changes.
How to distribute/market a mobile app?
There are multiple ways to do this:
ASO: App Store Optimization
Paid Ads: Google/Meta/TikTok Ads
Influencers: Pay influencers to promote your content
Text based Social Platforms: Reddit/X/LinkedIn
Video based Social Platforms: Instagram/TikTok/YouTube
I chose the way of ASO — optimizing my store listings in a way that appears in search results of what users search the most.
ASO is basically SEO for the App Store and Google Play. You research what users are searching for, target those keywords in your title and listing, and improve your icon and screenshots so more people click and download your app.
For ASO, just watch all the videos of Adam Lyttle — who makes $100k/mo from his ASO based IOS apps.
I am now diving deeper into paid ads too, as I previously had success of running Google Ads profitably with my mobile game — Squishy Cats.
In future articles I will dive deeper into other forms of marketing channels.
Now remember — distribution is THE MOST IMPORTANT factor for your app. You need to get traffic to your app otherwise nothing else matters, because once you have enough people using your app — you have data, where you can tweak features, monetization strategies etc.
For ASO, the most important bit is having a great title + screenshots that convert. Your store page listing is the key selling point here — not your app.
How to monetize your apps?
Ask users to pay $$ in the form of subscriptions or one-time payments.
I have a soft paywall in my apps — which means, users can explore the app for free but to use the core feature they need to subscribe to it. And they do!
You need to experiment with pricing and different offers, but I start off with this:
Weekly: $4.99/week
Lifetime: $24.99
You can adjust numbers and see how it works out for you. In some apps I have a higher price, but close to this range.
What kind of apps to choose?
I personally did a lot of ASO research to come up with ideas that helped me decide what keywords users search for the most and have low competition.
I used the Astro App for this — they have an MCP server too that you can connect to your AI agent and help with research.
But if your marketing channels are video content via social platforms — your app needs to have a great hook and easily understandable within a sentence. So viewers can convert easily.
Final thoughts
After building 40+ apps, I realized development is no longer the hardest part. AI and reusable systems make it much faster, but they do not guarantee success.
You still need to solve a real problem, give users a reason to pay, and find a reliable way to reach them. Many of my apps did not work, but every launch taught me more about keywords, screenshots, pricing and paywalls.
Start small, validate demand, build the simplest version and publish it. A few useful, low-maintenance apps can slowly grow into meaningful income.
I am currently at around $1,100/month, and my next goal is $5,000/month.
Reach out to me
My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anulagarwal/
My X: https://x.com/anulagarwal
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Anoool1/videos
Great article :D
Hey Anul, Thank you so much for sharing this article!