Mac App

4 Mac App Success Stories [2024]

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

Are you a passionate and skilled mobile app developer? You can start an Apple app development business as a part-time or a full-time job and earn from your passion.

According to a report published in CIO magazine, Mobile app developers are among the top 10 most in-demand technology jobs. In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, app developer jobs will grow by 22% over the next decade.

Therefore, starting a mobile app coding business can be a rewarding business. iOS app developers mostly use Swift and Objective-C programming languages.

In this list, you'll find real-world mac app success stories and very profitable examples of starting a mac app that makes money.

1. Astropad ($2.4M/year)

Astropad, founded by Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donelli, has experienced significant growth since its launch in 2013. With a team of 16 people across 5 countries, Astropad generated $3.4 million in revenue last year. Their products, Astropad Studio and Luna Display, are widely used by creative professionals and renowned companies such as Pixar, DC Comics, and Nintendo.

How much money it makes: $2.4M/year
How much did it cost to start: $10K
How many people on the team: 16

How We Created Our $200K/Month iPad and Mac Apps And Tools For Creatives

Astropad, a software and hardware solutions company for creative people, was founded by Matt Ronge and his co-founder in 2013, boasting revenue of $3.4 million in 2019, with products used by Pixar, DC Comics and Nintendo.

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2. DisplayBuddy ($18K/year)

Siddharth, an iOS engineer based in Singapore, came up with the idea for his indie app DisplayBuddy when he noticed his colleague struggling with switching between his work laptop and gaming PC on his monitor. Remembering a software he used in the past to control monitor settings, Siddharth developed a Mac app that allows users to control external displays directly from their menu bar. After launching the app in February 2021, Siddharth has gained 900 happy customers and crossed $5,000 in revenue.

How much money it makes: $18K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 2

I Launched A Mac App With Zero Advertising [800+ Customers In First 8 Months]

An iOS engineer based in Singapore created DisplayBuddy, a Mac app that allows users to control external displays from their menu bar, which has now reached an average MRR of $600 and garnered 900 happy customers and 6,000+ users on SetApp.

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Read by 3,176 founders

3. Mumu ($1.8K/year)

Wilbert, a software engineer from Indonesia, came up with the idea for Mumu while struggling to find emojis on his Mac. Realizing there was room for improvement, he created a simple landing page and gathered feedback from a small group of beta users. After launching and receiving overwhelming success on Product Hunt, Mumu has exceeded Wilbert's revenue expectations and continues to attract and retain customers through transparency, frequent updates, and excellent customer service.

How much money it makes: $1.8K/year
How much did it cost to start: $200
How many people on the team: 0

On Developing A Better Emoji Picker For Mac And Getting Featured On Product Hunt

Indonesian software engineer Wilbert created Mumu, an emoji picker for macOS, which hit 10x his target revenue when he launched it recently, generating around $1,600 in total revenue, by designing and prototyping in Xcode and Figma, making a simple landing page to gain an initial beta launch momentum, and building in public to retain customers.

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4. Lotus ($252/year)

Vadim, a software engineer, came up with the idea for his business, Lotus, while working as an open-source maintainer. He struggled to keep up with GitHub notifications and was inspired by the transformative email service, HEY, to create a similar tool for GitHub developers. Since launching last week, Vadim has already earned $261.74 and has been sharing his journey through a weekly newsletter to maintain accountability and keep readers updated on Lotus's development process.

How much money it makes: $252/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 0

My journey developing a Mac app for managing GitHub notifications

Lotus app creator Vadim shares the story of how he created a Mac app for managing GitHub notifications and earned $261.74 in his first week as an indie developer, through consistency, careful feature selection, and a powerful toolset including Excalidraw, Buttondown, and Vercel.

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Read by 4,786 founders