Snaplight is a free app though, so while the 10k number is high I think it would be hardly reached if he had placed a 99 cent tag on it, given the niche. Some people (me included) like to download and try new apps, only to remove them after the utility hasn't proven valuable enough.

That shouldn't stop you from finishing your app though. Building and later publishing an app to your audience can be an awesome experience. Go for it!

From the original screenshot in the post, it looks like it debuted at $0.99, I wonder if there's a way to look up App Store price history

You're right, totally missed from the screenshot and based my comment on the current App Store data.

I looked the app on Appannie (non paid account) and the pricing history is quite interesting:

26 Mar 2017 - 0.99 to Free

29 Mar 2017 - Free to 0.99

19 Jul 2017 - 0.99 to 1.99

20 Jul 2017 - 1.99 to Free

02 Aug 2017 - Free to 0.99

04 Feb 2018 - 0.99 to Free

10 Feb 2018 - Free to 0.99

03 Mar 2018 - 0.99 to Free

27 Mar 2018 - Free to 0.99

04 Dec 2018 - 0.99 to Free

03 May 2019 - Free to 0.99

05 Sep 2019 - 0.99 to Free

From the above details, it was a paid app for most of it's time. I wonder why the developer played with the pricing as much though?

I just looked at the lifetime stats for the app and in total it only ever generated ~$4,000 in profit.

I would often change the price to 1. See if I could squeeze a few more dollars out of the work and 2. Generate more downloads.

A fun "trick" for getting more downloads is to temporarily make a paid app free, as many, many people follow "Apps Gone Free" type of bots or directories and if your app has any substantial numbers behind it more people tend to notice when it switches to free.

Probably to allow it to pick up some steam when sales slow down

That looks like just generating numbers for income models to predict what might work best.

In the spirit of the discussion, maybe there's an opportunity for an app that does that ...

I'm not sure if it is still the case, or if my memory is lying to me, but I think AppAnnie did/does this.

You should look at how old this all is. The app was released in 2015 and last updated over a year ago. The app climate has changed a lot over the past four years so take it with a grain of salt.

I definitely will. Still, the article was written last year and I've been hearing that the gold rush is over since way before 2015.

Article is from 2015, not 2018. Title is incorrect.

You should follow the link to the AppStore where it says:

“This app is no longer supported by the developer“

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snaplight-photo-highlighter/id...

He probably got 10,000 downloads a week while he was featured on that page then dropped to almost zero. Millions of apps in the store means you won’t get much random traffic.

I only recently (as of a few weeks ago) stopped fully supporting my apps because I want to invest more time in other efforts.

I made a comment elsewhere here (and updated the article to state) that downloads currently are around 40 each week, with an occasional bubble of a few thousand when a blogger or news site re-discovers the app.

I was shocked seeing 10,000 downloads per week for a paid app but it appears to be free now and “no longer supported by the developer”.