Going indie is exciting. Total freedom, no 9–5, no meetings - just building your own app. I imagined quiet mornings, deep focus, full control over my day. And some of that is true. But once you’re actually doing it, you discover a whole other side of indie life.
The loneliness. The pressure. The constant decision-making. The endless context switching. All the invisible work that isn’t coding. These are the things you learn once you’re already in it.
It’s more chaotic and demanding than it looks, but also more rewarding in ways you don’t expect.
You’re On Your Own
Being independent is a dream many have. To work on your own product, your own app, for yourself, on your own time. You’re no longer tied to a desk and a regular 9–5, and that sounds exciting.
After a couple of failed attempts to build and release my app while working a full-time job - I quit and went indie. I released my app Nunch this year.
I gained deep respect for anyone who’s able to build an app and have a full-time job at the same time. It’s hard. But, it does get a bit easier once you release the app.
You’re Doing All The Work
In a company, you’re the developer, you focus on one area of the product. You work together with other developers, designers, product owners, and other people. As an indie, you’re the developer, designer, product owner, and everything else. You’re doing all the work.
As a product owner, you need to have a clear vision on the features and the roadmap. As a designer, you need to think about the UI and UX. And then you have to do all the work of developing new features, fixing bugs, and maintaining the code. It’s a lot of work for one person.
Some indie developers hire other developers as freelancers to help them out on a feature. They hire a designer to create app icons and other artwork. You don’t have to do everything yourself, you can outsource any work you’d like. But you will, for the most part.
Working Alone
Being independent is lonely, you have no colleagues to talk to, no one to ask questions, no one to bounce off ideas. But, you can find other indies and join different Slack or Discord chats - there are many.
Another option is to build in public and share what you’re doing on social media. Interact with other developers and it might feel less lonely.
You don’t have to go completely alone if you don’t want to. But it will never be the same as working in a company as part of a team. I know a few developers who don’t want to go indie - they love working in a team and don’t want to lose that culture.
Paywalls, Analytics, Marketing… Oh My
Doing everything yourself means doing things you might have never done before. Or ever thought you would. Writing code, designing the user interface, and releasing an app - we can do, but that’s only one small part of the work.
If you want your app (or apps) to succeed and eventually become your full-time job, you have to do more than just release it.
As developers, we think, once we release our app, people will find it and use it. But that’s far from the truth. Once your app is out, you need to bring users to your app. That means figuring out the marketing. Creating promo materials, writing content, sharing on social media, reaching to influencers - there’s a lot you can do. You have to figure out what works for your app.
Then there’s analytics. You can rely on App Store Connect or add custom SDK to learn how users interact with your app. Again, this decision is yours.
Then there’s paywalls. Also ASO (App Store Optimization). And support - you need to reply to any bug reports or feature requests.
Users Decide Everything
As an indie, your users become your team, your investors, your stakeholders - all at once. Your entire business depends on people choosing to use the thing you built. That means listening to them, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Some will send thoughtful feedback. Some will report bugs you didn’t know existed. Some will leave glowing reviews that make your whole week. And some will drop a one-star review because your app is not free.
It’s humbling. You don’t get a product owner shielding you, or a customer support team filtering things. Everything comes straight to you - the praise, the criticism, and the frustration. You need to decide what to act on, what to ignore, and what fits your vision for the app.
You owe your users a good experience. They’re the reason your app survives. You have to earn their trust, keep improving, and keep showing up. That relationship becomes a huge part of indie life.
Time is Everything
As an indie, you’re trading hours between building new features, fixing bugs, supporting your users, marketing, and simply staying sane. The hardest part isn’t the work - it’s choosing what to work on. Time is the most precious resource your have.
Whether you’ll fix that pesky bug you’ve been trying to figure out for weeks or work on that exciting new feature. Or you have to work on marketing and paywall optimization. You have to learn to prioritize. There’s no right or wrong decision, but whatever you decide shapes your progress.
Freedom from the regular 9-5 is what developers usually seek when going indie, among other things. Choosing when to work, how to work, and what to work on is exciting.
You can choose to wake up later and work a couple hours from your local coffee shop. You can, pretty much, do anything.
A Day In The Life
I still choose to work 9-5 because my hubby works those hours and then we finish at the same time. But I can go to the gym in the early afternoon. It’s less crowded. Sometimes I take a break and play Silksong or go outside and take a walk. Because I can and it gives me a nice mental break.
I’ve been in situations where I’m coding something 8 hours a day in full focus mode for a few days. A couple of days in and I find myself staring at Xcode having no idea what I’m working on anymore. In a company, you rarely spend your whole day doing focused work. You get interrupted with meetings and other things. You can’t work in full focus mode for a long time.
Now I take breaks to do some other work. I’ll check my analytics or read an article I bookmarked on marketing. I’ll see if I can optimize my paywall or brainstorm features.
Not every day is the same, but most days I’m still just writing code. You find your rhythm.
To AI, or Not to AI
We have to mention AI.
Vibe coding is a thing now and people are building apps faster than ever. Some without any prior programming experience. There are people who only use AI to build things and never write a single line of code themselves. There are those who use AI for some use cases. There are some who don’t use it at all.
Everything I’ve said above is still the truth, whether you use AI or not. But, AI can definitely help speed things up. I use AI for some things. It helped me fix a few bugs a couple of times and decode weird Xcode errors. It’s great for writing text and simplifying user-facing copy.
I look at it as a fellow junior colleague whom I can talk with and gives me different perspectives. There are days where it’s really bad and I waste my time. There are days where it’s helpful. It’s great for some tasks but I use it sparingly. It’s especially bad with new APIs.
I love writing code so I don’t want to give that part away.
Resources
Before I wrap up, I want to share a couple of resources that have helped me on this journey.
Astro from Matteo is a great tool for App Store Optimization and figuring out your App Store keywords. Once you get a hang of things, it’s easy to use. He also wrote a few short books to help you learn more about keyword optimization and I think you should definitely read them. They are free!
Antoine has an awesome Going Indie course and a free podcast where you can learn more about being an indie from other indies.
Paul wrote a book called Everything But the Code, which I highly recommend. It’s self explanatory, but he says it’s designed to provide everything you need to go from Xcode to App Store – from coming up with killer ideas, to launch strategy, to breakout success.
Adam has an amazing YouTube channel where he shares his indie journey and how he works on his apps. It’s a treasure trove.
This is not an extensive list, but worthy mentions.
Final Thoughts
I know I mentioned multiple times you have to do everything yourself. It’s true. You kinda know this going in but you still get surprised with things you never thought about. And I haven’t even talked about the bureaucracy of running your own company and dealing with taxes.
Being indie sounds exciting but might not be for everyone.
It’s lonely and requires you to be a jack of all trades. You’re the developer and the designer. You’re the product owner and the marketing department. You’re everything. If you enjoy working in a team - it might not be for you.
It’s also uncertain. You depend on your app doing well, and you don’t know what tomorrow brings. You have to make sure you bring new users and keep current users happy. You constantly have to be on top of things.
I enjoy everything indie life brings. Building and releasing an app on your own, then figuring out marketing, paywalls, and ASO strategies. It’s exciting and you learn a lot. You make mistakes and you learn some more. It’s a journey.
Please feel free to reach out on X (Twitter) or Mastodon if you have any questions, comments, or feedback.
Thank you for reading!