A magazine for people who make apps
Build it well, ship it, get it found.
App Season covers how mobile apps get designed, built, launched and paid for, written by people who do that work, plus the meetups and conferences where app makers learn from each other.
Who writes here
Five people who design, build and market apps for a living, from Amsterdam to Lisbon.
Who it's for
Pick the corner of app making you spend your days in.
Developers
Swift, Kotlin and cross-platform work, tests and releases.
Read the trackDesigners
Onboarding, accessibility, systems and the small details.
Read the trackMarketers
Store listings, keywords, screenshots and experiments.
Read the trackFounders
Budgets, pricing, monetization and choosing partners.
Read the trackTeams
Careers, managing, meetups and the people side of software.
Read the track
New on the site
Guides, field notes and explainers, newest first.
A mobile developer's desk: hubs, cables, chargers and stands
What a mobile developer's desk needs: USB-C hubs and specs that matter, data versus charging cables, multi-port chargers, phone stands and a second screen.
Building a small Android test device lab on a budget
How to pick Android test phones by role, buy them refurbished, keep them charged and connected over Wi-Fi, and decide which to update and which to freeze.
A/B testing in mobile apps: what the results can and can't tell you
Plain answers on store listing tests and in-app experiments: what each store lets you test, how much traffic you need, peeking and novelty effects.
App monetization models compared: subscriptions, one-time and ads
Subscriptions, one-time purchases, freemium, ads and hybrids compared, with store commission basics, free trials and price localization for small app teams.
Design systems for small app teams: start smaller than you think
How a small app team can build a design system that lasts: tokens first, a dozen components, notes in the design file, clear names and a first month plan.
What an app really costs to build, line by line
A freelance iOS developer walks through an app budget line by line, from discovery and design to backend, testing, launch and the yearly cost of upkeep.
Seven tracks
Every piece belongs to at least one of them.
From the Studio
Small, free tools for the jobs that come up in every app project.
Store fee calculator
What you keep from a sale or subscription after VAT and the 15 or 30 percent store commission.
Build cost calculator
Tick the features, pick platforms and a rate, and see an hours and budget range you can question.
ASO character counter
Count app name, subtitle, keyword field and description against the limits, and catch wasted words.
Icon and screenshot sizes
Current icon and store screenshot sizes for iOS and Android, and a preview of your icon in each mask.
Looking for someone to build, design or promote your app?
Our agency guide walks through the kinds of partners there are, how to brief them, how to compare proposals and what belongs in the contract, before you sign anything.
Read the agency guide