a place for my thoughts
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After more than 3 years on the store, I decided to take my first large project, Contact Archiver, off the App Store last month.
In reality, I should have taken it down much sooner. Because it manages the user’s contacts, the app needed to be tested and updated for each version of iOS to make sure it was still properly functioning. The negligible revenue it was generating no longer justified the time spent working on it. The app had been neglected since its iOS 10 update, and that wasn’t fair for the users either.
When this was my only app and I was not necessarily in it for the money, I could justify working on it. It helped me improve my skills and knowledge, it gave something interesting for a resume, and it was fun to make. Now that I have other more interesting and financially viable projects lined up, as well as the upcoming costs of college, it doesn’t make sense to keep Contact Archiver around any more.
I have always been a little disappointed in how the app sold anyway. As a paid app, it barely sold more than 50 copies. Changing it to a free app brought the downloads into the thousands, but the in-app purchases I later added made a negligible difference.
It’s a little sad to see Contact Archiver go, but I’m looking forward to being able to devote 100% of my development time toward more viable projects.
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