It’s been an interesting few months for sure!

I spent the best part of eight weeks balancing travel and working remotely. My wife and I headed out to New Zealand towards the end of September, followed by Australia, Bali, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand. This was a trip that we’d been wanting to do for several years, but numerous obstacles meant it wasn’t possible until recently.

I’d never been to that side of the world before, and what an incredible experience it was. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend!

Being on the move was a large part of why I haven’t written anything in such a long time. I just couldn’t find the time, and honestly, I didn’t want to think about apps or coding. This was something I struggled with earlier in the trip - I felt like there was this expectation that I had to be working on my apps all the time. But that’s not true!

I’ll talk more about where I’m at with indie development further on in this post, but first…

Söka featured by MacStories

This was made public just days after my last post, so it feels a little weird to be sharing it so long after. However, John Voorhees of MacStories wrote an excellent feature about Söka! He goes into incredible depth about the app and its features, and he wrote some very kind words about the app.

This was my first major feature as an indie developer, after many years of disappointment. It just goes to show how important it is to have a press kit and to keep sharing your updates with journalists who write about apps.

You can read the feature here: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/soka-an-ai-assisted-app-to-track-your-bucket-lists/

‘tis the season… for sales!

Black Friday may have already passed us but the sales continue! To celebrate, both Söka and Classifier’s ‘pro’ tiers are on sale until November 28th.

You can get your first year of söka+ for just US$4.99, which works out at nearly 50% off the full price. To redeem, enter the code ‘INDIESALE23’ after tapping ‘Got a Promo Code?’ on the in-app paywall. Alternatively, click this link to automatically apply the promo code!

As for Classifier, you can unlock a lifetime of Classifier Pro for just US$14.99 - a discount of 25%! No need for a code for this one - simply tap ‘All Plans’ on the in-app paywall, and select the lifetime option.

A big shout out to Matt Corey for once again putting together an “Indie App Sales” catalog! If you’re an indie app developer, a highly recommend following Matt on Mastodon or Twitter to learn when the next organised indie app sale is going to be so you can be a part of it too.

Indie app exhaustion

This was not how I expected to be feeling after getting home from our trip, but alas, here we are! My hope was to feel rejuvenated and eager to build on some of the mild success I’ve found this year with my apps, but I feel the complete opposite. I have little energy after my 9-5 or on weekends for my apps, which has been difficult to come to terms with.

After being home for just over a week now, I’m now at peace that I need some time to ramp up again. My 9-5 takes priority - that’s what keeps a roof over our heads after all - and then I’ll start to think about my indie apps again once I feel like I’m performing at my best at work.

But do you know what the best part is? All three of my apps continue to generate revenue at a good rate despite my break.

Final thoughts

It’s okay to take a break. If you’re feeling burned out, there’s no point in forcing yourself to work on your app. The result could leave you worse off: half-baked features, new bugs, and losing your passion for creating apps altogether.

Have you taken a break from app development or other side-projects before? What did it take before you decided to dive back in? Let me know on Mastodon. :)