What Localizing My Wallpaper Apps' App Store Listings Taught Me — Translation Isn't the Hard Part, Being Read Locally Is
Field notes from localizing my wallpaper apps' App Store listings across many locales: where literal translation fell short, where the keyword field and screenshot copy actually moved the needle, and how I now prioritize localization as a solo developer.
Two Weeks After Adding Pangle and Mintegral to My AdMob Waterfall — Notes on eCPM and Fill Rate
A record from a wallpaper app with over 50 million downloads: I added Pangle and Mintegral to my AdMob mediation, then compared two weeks of eCPM and fill-rate data. Bidding-and-waterfall coexistence, the effective-revenue breakdown, region-based groups, and a daily monitoring script — kept in a form you can actually operate.
Rolling Out Privacy Manifest to Six Wallpaper Apps in Parallel — Translating One Rejection into Five Clean Submissions
Operational notes from rolling out Privacy Manifest to six iOS wallpaper apps in parallel. How a single rejection on the first submission shaped the remaining five, and how phased release rings were designed for a UI-less update.
Enforcing AI Cost Ceilings at Runtime — A Budget-Guard Architecture for Rork Apps
How to stop runaway AI bills not by optimizing, but by physically enforcing budget at runtime. An indie developer's three-layer architecture using Cloudflare Durable Objects, with hard-won lessons from running 50M-download apps.
The First 72 Hours After Shipping a Rork App — Crashes, Reviews, and Ad Priorities
The 72 hours right after you ship a Rork-generated app to the App Store or Google Play quietly decide most of the next six months of ratings and ranking. Here is the order I watch things in, after many years of solo iOS and Android releases.
Adapting Your Rork iOS App to iPhone Air and 17 Pro Series — Layout Patterns for 2026's New Resolutions
When iPhone Air added a new point resolution to the mix, existing Rork apps needed layout adjustments. Based on updating 4 iOS apps simultaneously — including Beautiful HD Wallpapers with 50M+ downloads — this guide covers device constant management, Safe Area handling, and full-screen wallpaper display fixes.
Fixing White Screen on Theme Switch Without recreate() — Lessons from a 50M Download Wallpaper App
How I fixed a white screen bug triggered by theme switching in an Android app — replacing recreate() with an AppRestarter.safeRestart pattern. Lessons from 12 years of indie app development with 50M+ cumulative downloads.
Building a Short Video Feed with Rork Max — Camera Recording, Supabase Upload & Vertical Scroll Patterns
A hands-on guide to implementing a TikTok/Reels-style vertical video feed with Rork Max. Covers camera recording, background upload to Supabase Storage, and infinite scroll with active-video detection.
Switching from Context API to Zustand v5 in Rork Apps: What Changed and Why It Worked
Context API caused cascading re-renders in a growing Rork app. Here's how migrating to Zustand v5 solved it — with practical patterns for auth state and async logic in React Native.
Building a Shared UI Component Library with Swift Package Manager in Rork Max
A practical guide to building a shared SwiftUI component library with Swift Package Manager for indie developers running multiple apps — eliminate duplicate code across wallpaper, healing, and similar app families.
Building Fortune & Manifestation Apps with Rork — Daily Content Delivery and Retention Design from 50M+ Downloads
Fortune apps lose most users in three days. A Rork design for daily delivery, push timing, and widgets that turns the niche into a habit.
Stop Your Rork App's Search Field from Hammering the API: debounce + AbortController + Empty States
A keystroke-by-keystroke search field looks fine on a laptop and starts misbehaving the moment a real phone hits a slow network. Here is the three-piece kit I keep coming back to in Rork apps: debounced input, abortable requests, and a state machine the UI actually understands.