Kevin Reutter is an independent app developer for Apple products. In this interview, he reveals how he started out, his successes and some tips for those looking to get into the field.
Casting a glance at the App Store, App of the Day pops up. Curious to see if it’s anything new, I take a closer look. It’s something I do often. But who’s really behind all the apps suggested to me each time I visit the store? In a bid to get to the bottom of it, I had a virtual chat with Kevin Reutter, an app developer for Apple products.
He’s been working as an indie developer since 2017, a job he started during his Bachelor’s in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Hamburg.
How did you get into app development? My passion for it started when I was at school. I had really good computer science classes, and as a nerd, I took an early interest in web design and server-side web development. I especially liked Apple’s platform, and since I had a lot of Apple stuff anyway, I decided to get better acquainted with it. As a side project, basically.
What does your typical work day or week look like? I work very flexibly. If I don’t have fixed appointments like this interview, I’m free to schedule my time as I choose – and I take full advantage of that. For instance, I really enjoy working at night. I don’t have a coordinated process dictating when exactly I do certain tasks. It was more difficult to coordinate things when I was a student, but I’m done with my studies now.
The idea for Freshy came about as another problem solver. When I first moved away from home, I wanted to keep track of the best-before dates on my food. I kept forgetting what I’d had in the fridge for a while and what urgently needed to be used up.
**Where are your apps doing particularly well? ** Most of my main customers are from the USA and Europe, especially Germany. But that’s not surprising. Since I’m from Germany myself, my apps and I are given more media exposure there. Besides that, England and China are two of the most relevant large markets for me. The rest of my customer base is scattered across the world.
At the end of the day, the thing I always recommend is to just start. Learn by doing. Everybody’s different, but that’s how I’d do it. Pick a project that’s fun and easy to get started on, then learn and grow. In fact, I know this from other developers who started out in the same way. It’s like having a baby that you want to nurture and allow to grow.
Thanks very much the great interview. All the best for the future!
At 28 years old, the Hamburg local currently has five apps in his portfolio: Planny (a daily planner), Flippy (flashcards), Freshy (a food tracker), SleepingTemp (a temperature tracker worn on the wrist) and SleepingRecovery (a sleep health tracker).
And that’s how you ended up creating your first app? Yeah, that’s right. That was the time Planny, my first project, came about. I mean, you need to start somewhere, right? The way I like to learn is by programming myself. About half a year later, I had my first taste of success with my app in the store. After that, I kept on improving it and, eventually, I was able to make a living from it. That’s also why I’m still doing it to this day. I’ve turned my hobby into a profession.
Planny is a smart daily planner designed to help you get your to-do list done. The app does this by making it quick and easy to organise tasks into lists. By combining your tasks with your calendar, Planny gives you an overview of everything you need to get done and when.
Your hobby has made you into a young entrepreneur, too. What kind of challenges does that present? I still see a lot of development potential in both myself and my products when it comes to marketing in particular. I’m planning to do more professional development in that area especially. App development will always be in my heart, which is why I’m going to keep on doing it. That being said, software eventually reaches the point where it no longer needs to be maintained every day because it’s already running smoothly. And I’d like to use the time this frees up to do some professional development in other areas. This’ll benefit not just me, but also my products. Of course, there’ll still be updates, but in the future, I’ll be focusing more on the business side of things.
After Planny, you launched two more apps in 2018 and 2021. How did you come up with those ideas? Whenever I was studying for an upcoming exam, I’d notice how often I got distracted, say, by the TV. I also constantly found myself on social media platforms or other websites instead of focusing on working or studying. That’s when I got the idea for the Flippy app. I realised that I definitely wasn’t the only one struggling with those kinds of distractions. So I thought, why not develop an app that helps me minimise distractions and maintain my focus?
Flippy is a flashcard app designed to help you optimise your revision. For example, the app uses eye tracking to detect when you’re distracted and gives you a nudge to keep your focus on studying. You can create flashcard stacks divided by topic. What’s more, it’s completely up to you whether they involve text, drawings, sketches or graphics.
The Freshy app allows you to manage your groceries. This means you’re always able to keep track of which food products are about to go out of date. You can also activate reminders so that you’ll be notified whenever you need to quickly use up that yoghurt before it expires. Other widgets also make shopping easier and help you keep track of everything.
What’s your work process for updating your apps? It’s a hybrid process. On the one hand, I often think of features I’d like to implement myself. On the other hand, I get a lot of requests from customers. In the case of the latter, I have to weigh up whether the feature will be of interest to numerous users, or just to one. And the amount of time it’d take me to implement the update is also a factor. If we’re talking 10 or 20 minutes, I can implement it quickly. Then there are all the operating system updates – when one is rolled out, I scrutinise the new features to see if they’d be a good fit for my app.
WWDC (a globally held annual developers’ conference organised by Apple) took place in June. It’s primarily aimed at software developers for macOS, iPadOS, iOS as well as the developers of visionOS, watchOS and tvOS, whose major updates are presented at the conference. How do you approach the work to be done around such an important conference? It’s a long process. Before a conference like this, there are various rumours about what might come out of it, including the interactive widgets from this year. It’s a feature I’ve always wanted to implement. In the run-up to the conference, you think about what these kinds of features could look like and how Apple could implement them. WWDC started off with the keynote, followed by the first big event. For me as a developer, though, it only really gets interesting as the week goes on and there are all these different sessions you can listen to. They give you more in-depth input. I listened to a lot of the sessions live, but caught up on others over the course of the week.
You’ve been doing this for a number of years now. What have you learned from using this approach? I do things a little differently now compared to previous years. I used to start developing right from day one, but then too much would change, for instance, through the betas. Or bugs would crop up. Instead, I get into a creative thinking process and jot down notes. I like using Apple’s Freeform app for that. By the way, starting in autumn, my apps will include interactive widgets.
You’ve released two new apps this year. How did that come about? Purely as a hobby project that came out of my free time. I’d bought an Apple Watch Ultra and was surprised at the fact that it didn’t display the temperature. I decided to just implement the feature, and at the same time, to upload the app that came out of it (SleepingTemp) onto the App Store. SleepingRecovery followed about three months later, basically as a kind of upgraded version. That app in particular is where I see some potential for further development.
As an Apple Watch app, SleepingTemp monitors your wrist temperature and can help you identify issues preventing you from getting the best possible sleep. If, for instance, your wrist temperature is consistently too high or too low, it could mean you’re not sleeping deeply enough or that your sleep is being disturbed by external factors.
With SleepRecovery, you measure and track your body’s recuperation during sleep using heart rate, respiration rate and body temperature on compatible Apple Watches. The app uses this data to create a recovery score, which you can then optimise by adjusting your workout regime, sleep habits and lifestyle.
Are there noticeable differences between markets? The pricing structure is an unusual point. In the US, for example, I almost exclusively sell subscriptions and no lifetime licences at all. Almost all of those go to the German market, with some of them going to the European market. There’s still a lot of pushback against the subscription model in Germany. Some countries also have lower income levels, so I obviously have to make sure the I lower their prices slightly.
How do you decide which app features to put into the freeware and which to put into the premium version? I think it’s really important to closely familiarise yourself with an app based on its basic functions. The central concept behind it has to be understandable to the user. With this in mind, an app’s core functionality at the very least should be fully available to users. In my view, it wouldn’t be right if I excluded a lot of the core functions from Planny, for instance. If I did that, the user would just see the software as a regular to-do list app and immediately uninstall it. Beyond that, I always take the time to consider new features.
You’re only developing apps for iOS at the moment. What would Android have to do for you to develop Android apps too? What would you expect from them? That’s a tough one. I used to use Android a lot, but now I feel more at home with Apple products. For me as an entrepreneur, I also have a problem with the fact that little to no money can be made with apps on Android. There are exceptions, but customers are simply more willing to buy stuff from Apple.
What would you recommend to beginners who’re interested in app development? Which programming language do you think would be best for someone starting out? If you ask me, the best gateway programming language is Swift. I initially learned using two books: one to learn Swift and the other for app development with Swift. In addition to that, there’s now the Swift Playgrounds app, where you can learn even more programming. I also think it’d be interesting to look at the Swift UI kit as a step on from that. Following that, there are other new topics – databases and iCloud. You can now get Swift Data or Cordata.
What are your top 5 most frequently used apps? I’ll need to check to see what my top 5 are, but Xcode, Apple’s developer tool, would definitely be in there. I’m also a big Twitter user because I have a huge community there who I’m always able to exchange ideas with. Planny, my planner app, would definitely come in third place. It’s where I plan all my apps, my entire daily routine and my to-do lists. I really like the Freeform app because, in my opinion, it’s a well-implemented note-taking app. It’s built in a more visual way than others, and gives me, the user, much more freedom. Last but not least, I’m a big fan of WhatsApp. Mind you, I do regularly use the Apple Messages app.
As an app developer and freelancer, you can work from anywhere. Could you imagine living and working somewhere else? I was actually thinking about that a little while ago. About moving to somewhere else in Germany, I mean. I have the great advantage of being able to work from anywhere – I just have to like the area. And of course, I want to have nice people around me as well. Funnily enough, Switzerland is exactly the sort of place I could imagine living in if I were to move abroad. Even though it’s really expensive there, I find Switzerland very attractive: the whole way of life, the people. That being said, I don’t have any concrete plans to move there yet.
Indie app developer Kevin Reutter currently has five apps in his portfolio. Source: Kevin Reutter
