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Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by amnesthesia on Friday August 19, 2016 @04:12AM (#12318608)
I've thought about this as well but haven't come to a conclusion.

Some ideas I've had are:

* Website templates (i.e WordPress). Downside: Will require constant maintenance to stay up to date with latest versions, bug free, and, secure

* Apps. Downside: Very competitive field

* Very NICHE apps.

This last point, is what I think would be really useful. For example, there's a sync for Fitbit / Apple Health. The guy who made it, has made two different apps, one for each direction, and they both cost $7 each. If you want to sync FROM Fitbit to Apple Health, that's $7. The other direction? Another $7. This app does it well and because it's such a niche thing - only for Fitbit and Android users who want their data into Apple Health or from Apple Health, it seems to work.

The problem here is finding these niche areas where there's a void to fill - these apps are so simple because it's basically just 2 UI controls (to/from date, and a button) and then two API calls.

I'm now trying to think of these things whenever I end up in a situation where I felt "damn, other people must want this too, why is there no simple app that does this?"

Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by SmurfJuggler on Friday August 19, 2016 @06:24AM (#12319062)
I would pay for an app that let me take a picture of the ground and circled anything that looked like a 4-leafed clover.
Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by amnesthesia on Friday August 19, 2016 @07:36AM (#12319321)
NICHE DETECTED

SPRINT PLANNING BEGINS NEXT WEEK

Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by dvh on Friday August 19, 2016 @05:46AM (#12318925)
> Very NICHE apps

You will have like 3 installs per month. I made niche website that used 7 people in it's peak, now only 1~2.

Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by anc84 on Friday August 19, 2016 @06:21AM (#12319055)
Was/is it worth it?
Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by dvh on Friday August 19, 2016 @07:20AM (#12319269)
No
Re:Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer? by iends on Friday August 19, 2016 @12:24PM (#12321194)
If you build a portfolio of niche apps you can probably sell them all to somebody spammy?