I'm going to share with you a simple universal TV remote app that is making over $300,000 a month. In this article, I’ll share a couple of things: the power of the app stores, the power of AI and being able to build these apps quickly, and how a simple app, if you get certain elements right, can really generate lots of money for you.
- Distribution is king. If you can get downloads, whether organically or through paid, you can make money.
- Stop over-complicating your features. You can have the lamest paywall and onboarding and still generate $30,000+ a month with distribution.
- Don't sleep on low-volume keywords (e.g., search traffic of 5); they can help with indexing for your main keywords.
- Simplicity wins all the time. You can build a simple, high-revenue app over a weekend with the right keyword research.
1. The $300,000/Month Universal Remote App
Here is the Universal TV remote app that's making over $300,000 a month. Here's the Sensor Tower data: 700,000 downloads, $300,000 in revenue. You can see it launched a long time ago and was last updated, but I'm going to go to my friends at App Figures. I want to give you the Sensor Tower data because everybody looks at Sensor Tower first, but I really love App Figures and what you can do with it.
Let me show you the App Figures number, very similar to Sensor Tower's data as well. You can see the top three or four countries are the same. It was US, Brazil, Russia, and Spain. You can see US, Brazil, and Russia are the top three. So, very, very similar numbers. The app was launched 6 years ago, so roughly 2019. It seems like a long time ago, but in the app space, not too long ago.
It's ranking really well for a lot of keywords. And that's point one, okay? Like I've shared with you in the past, distribution is king. If you can get downloads, you can make money.
2. Deconstructing the App's Simplicity
How simple is this app? It has literally one onboarding screen that has some social proof and a paywall that is cool but not like super optimized. I wanted to show you guys the app store presence. A couple of things I want to highlight right here. First, number 15 under utilities. So congratulations, that's amazing. 4.6 ratings, 58,000 ratings.
Let's get in the app. Let's open it. Here's the first page. I like it. Some social proof. "One application to control dozens of smart TV models." I don't even know, the screenshots show all the things: the Roku, the Google TV, the Samsung's, the LG, all that stuff, but I don't see it here. What's the next page? The paywall.
The Paywall & In-App Purchases
This paywall is doing pretty well for them. Right now we see the $5.99 per week with the three-day trial. These types of paywalls work really well. And $35 for yearly. I have no idea if they're A/B testing some paywalls, but I do know that if I switch to this yearly, then obviously I have to pay upfront.
They also have this subscription which you can do with App Store Connect to promote any of your in-app purchases. The subscription is really interesting. This is their most popular one, the weekly one. What I want to show you is this in-app purchase down here: the lifetime. Now, I couldn't find the lifetime in the app. This is very interesting. I'm curious to see how the lifetime does. If I'm looking at their Sensor Tower data, I can see that the lifetime is the least most popular, obviously because it's not on the paywall. It's only shown on the App Store. I like this idea because it's not shown on the paywall, which you'll see soon, but is only shown here. Kind of interesting the way they're doing this.
| Item/Step | Details (From Source) |
|---|---|
| Onboarding | A single screen with social proof ("4.6 ratings," "58,000 ratings"). |
| Paywall | Presented immediately after onboarding. Offers a weekly subscription with a 3-day trial and a yearly option. |
| Core Functionality | Connects to Smart TVs on the same Wi-Fi network for remote control. |
| Monetization | Subscriptions (weekly, yearly, lifetime) and ads shown after certain actions. |
Ready to find your own high-opportunity keywords?
Analyze Keywords with App FiguresThe Good & The Bad
✅ Pros
- Extremely simple to build, likely possible in a weekend with AI.
- High revenue potential (over $300k/month) despite simple features.
- Effectively leverages App Store Optimization (ASO) for organic downloads.
- Targets a broad market with many unbranded keywords (e.g., "Emerson TV remote").
❌ Cons / Warnings
- Promoting in-app purchases on the App Store page can sometimes hurt conversions.
- The user interface could be improved; key features like the touchpad are hidden behind a swipe.
- The paywall isn't fully optimized; it could highlight more benefits.
3. The Secret Sauce: Distribution & ASO
This is the power of distribution. If you have distribution, the simplest apps make money. I really wanted to break down how they're driving so many downloads. I'm using App Figures right now. If we go to the downloads tab, in the last 30 days, holy cow, 500,000 downloads. They've just been climbing and climbing. And it looks like mostly organic.
The real cool thing that I like about App Figures is you can go under this keyword rank. I've sorted this already for you guys, but they're ranking number one. There's some keywords that have five traffic, but just get this: Remote control, remote, remote control, "remoto" (which is just remote control in Spanish). Like these all have great volume and the app is number one. If I scroll, they're still number one. Insane.
Why I showed you the five first was like, don't sleep on the five. They might help you. You just want to get enough indexing and enough driving downloads that I wouldn't shy away from the five-level keywords. Obviously, you need to find 30, 40 search volume keywords. But if you find something that is related to your app but only has five search traffic, but that five search traffic keyword also has the main keyword that you're trying to rank for... don't sleep on the five.
4. Final Verdict
I really wanted to create this article for a couple of reasons. Number one, stop over-complicating your features. Number two, a lot of people come to me, "Steve, I have the best onboarding, I have the best paywall, I have the best features." And I'm like, "Okay, what is your distribution?" It just does not matter. You saw the paywall. You saw the onboarding. That's it. It's making over $300,000 a month. That's how simple it is.
So stop over-indexing on features and optimizing your user experience. Good enough is good enough. Especially if you have distribution, you can fix everything else. Simplicity wins all the time. Go out there, build a simple app over the weekend, do some keyword research using tools like App Figures where you can see certain keywords that might not be focused on, what categories of apps are working, what can I build so simply that if I get distribution right, I know it will make money.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money can a simple app really make?
As this case study shows, a simple utility app like a universal TV remote can generate over $300,000 per month in revenue if it achieves strong distribution and keyword rankings.
What is more important for an app: features or distribution?
Distribution is king. This app proves that you can have very simple features, onboarding, and paywalls and still be highly successful if you can drive a large volume of downloads, preferably through organic search. [1]
How do I find good keywords for my app?
Use ASO tools like App Figures to research keywords. [9] Look for high-volume terms your app can rank #1 for. Also, don't ignore low-volume keywords (e.g., traffic score of 5) that are highly relevant, as they can help you get indexed for broader, more competitive terms. [24]
Do I need a perfect paywall to make money with my app?
No. This app's paywall is very basic, yet it converts well due to the high volume of downloads. A "lame" paywall can still generate significant revenue if your distribution is strong. [2] However, optimizing it by highlighting benefits can improve conversions. [3]
Should I promote my in-app purchases on my App Store page?
You should test it. The speaker notes that while this successful app does it, they have seen it hurt overall conversions in some cases. It's a feature to test on your own app rather than copying directly.
Can I really build a successful app in a weekend?
The speaker suggests that an app this simple could likely be built in a weekend using modern tools like AI. The key isn't complex development, but rather identifying a simple need and mastering App Store Optimization (ASO) to get discovered. [4]
Final Thoughts
Distribution is king. Trust me, we have distribution because of our YouTube channel. It's helped with everything else. Period.
Disclaimer: This content is based on a direct analysis of the provided transcript. All insights and opinions are preserved from the original speaker.
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