Escaping the App Trap

For years I’ve been building iOS apps — some in Flutter, others in SwiftUI — and I still get a rush every time I see an idea come to life on screen. There’s nothing like the thrill of hitting Run and watching the simulator bloom to life with something you created from thin air.

But somewhere along the way, a quiet voice started whispering: “Wait a minute — am I part of the problem?”

🧩 When Building Apps Starts to Feel Like Feeding the Machine

The modern app economy doesn’t really reward usefulness anymore. It rewards attention — the currency of the distracted age. The more eyeballs you hold, the more “successful” you are. Every notification, every “one more thing before you go,” is designed to stretch attention just a little further.

I’m not even on TikTok or Instagram because I find the whole attention dynamic kind of bleak. Yet there I was, making apps that used the same principles to survive. It felt like standing outside the casino criticizing the gamblers while selling them energy drinks through the window.

🤔 The Ethics of Enjoying the Craft

I love building apps. The problem is, the ecosystem sometimes feels designed to turn every developer into a mini attention merchant. Marketing, that necessary evil, revolves around capturing attention and refusing to let go.

At some point I had to ask: is there a way to keep making apps without feeling like I’m manipulating people?

Turns out — yes, but you have to be deliberate. You start by redefining success. Instead of chasing engagement graphs that look like EKGs, you focus on how well your app serves someone. You make tools that help people finish and log off. You charge money honestly instead of selling eyeballs. You join humane tech communities like IndieWeb, Center for Humane Technology, or Small Tech Foundation — the rebels of the attention wars.

In short, you build things that make people’s lives a bit quieter.

🎯 Marketing Without the Manipulation Hangover

Once I made peace with ethical app design, a new villain appeared: marketing. Because if you want your creation to survive, you have to get people to notice it.

So I started reimagining what “marketing” could mean. Maybe it’s not about grabbing attention but about earning it. Maybe it’s less about virality and more about trust.

Here’s what I found works:

Approach	Description
Transparency	Share how and why you built the app. People love seeing the craft.
Usefulness	Offer something valuable for free — a tool, blog, or insight.
Community	Connect with like-minded builders rather than chasing influencers.
Authenticity	Be human in your writing and marketing. Users feel that.

Sure, it’s slower. But it builds credibility the algorithm can’t fake. And the people who come in through that door? They tend to stay.

📈 The MRR Mirage

Of course, the attention economy has a cousin: the metrics economy. I’ve watched my RevenueCat dashboard like a nervous stock trader, measuring “success” by how much I made in the last 30 days.

Spoiler: no number is ever high enough. That’s when I realized I was chasing the same validation loop my apps were trying to free users from — different screen, same dopamine.

So I built a new kind of dashboard — one that measures meaning as well as money.

Dimension	Metric	What It Means
💰 Financial Health	Is my income stable and sufficient?	Freedom, not growth.
🧍‍♂️ User Impact	Do people say it helps them?	Human outcomes > retention.
🧠 Craft	Did I learn or ship something I’m proud of?	Joy in the process.
🌿 Wellbeing	Am I sleeping, resting, present?	Burnout isn’t a business plan.
💡 Integrity	Are my decisions aligned with my values?	The “sleep at night” index.

It’s amazing how liberating it feels when “enough” becomes a metric too.

🌱 Building in a World That Wants Your Attention

So here’s where I’ve landed: I’m still making apps, but I’m building against the gravity of the attention economy. My apps might live in the same ecosystem as the addictive ones, but they orbit differently.

Because being a developer isn’t just about clean code. It’s about deciding what kind of world your code belongs to. And if I can make things that give people back even a sliver of calm, agency, or self-respect — then maybe that’s the best kind of “growth” there is.

⚙️ TL;DR

• Don’t build for attention — build for intention.
• Don’t market for clicks — market for trust.
• Don’t measure revenue alone — measure meaning.