How to Buy, Sell, and Actually Profit From Mobile Apps: A No-BS Beginner's Guide
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How to Buy, Sell, and Actually Profit From Mobile Apps: A No-BS Beginner's Guide

Thinking of buying a mobile app instead of building from scratch? This no-fluff guide walks you through how to find, evaluate, grow, and flip mobile apps the smart indie way – without getting scammed or wasting your money.

Indiemaker Team

By Indiemaker Team

1. Skip the Hard Part: Why Buy Instead of Build?

Let’s get one thing straight: building apps from scratch is hard, slow, and expensive. Buying one skips the painful part and drops you right into something that already has users, revenue, and a working product. The catch? You need to know what you’re doing – or you’ll buy a lemon.

This guide covers:
- Where to find apps for sale
- How to evaluate if they’re worth it
- What happens after you buy
- How to sell when you’re done
- Common mistakes that make you look like a clueless amateur

Let’s get into it.

2. Deal Hunting for Indie Hackers

The best deals come from other indie founders – people just like you, building things in public, working solo or in small teams, and sometimes ready to move on.

Start here:
- Indiemaker marketplace – A community-first place to buy and sell indie projects.
- Founder-to-founder deals – Reach out directly to indie devs on Twitter, Product Hunt, or indie communities.
- Cold outreach – See a solid app in the App Store that looks abandoned but still ranks well? Shoot the owner an email. You’d be surprised how many founders will sell if you catch them at the right moment.

Sourcing your own deals means less competition, better pricing, and a more honest backstory. Just don’t be a weirdo—be respectful and straightforward.

3. Due Diligence or Due Disaster

Don’t fall for a shiny UI and vanity metrics. Dig deeper.

Must-haves:
- Revenue + Expense History – You want at least 6 months of clean numbers.
- Code Quality – Is it a spaghetti mess? Hire a dev to audit it.
- User Retention – Are users coming back, or just passing through?
- Marketing Funnel – Is there one? If not, guess who gets to build it?

Red Flags:
- Sudden spike in revenue? Could be ads or bots.
- Seller won’t give access to analytics? Hard no.
- Source code written in a dead framework? That’s future-you’s nightmare.

And let’s be clear on this: retention beats revenue. A high-revenue app with terrible retention is a ticking time bomb. But a low-revenue app with loyal, engaged users? That’s an engine you can tune.

4. From Flop to Fortune: Why Failing Apps Can Win

Because “failing” doesn’t always mean “useless.” Some apps are diamonds buried under garbage UI and nonexistent marketing. Here’s how to spot potential:

  • Are users sticking around despite everything?
  • Can you monetize better than the last owner?
  • Is the tech salvageable without a full rebuild?

If you’re willing to do the work, these fixer-uppers can be gold mines. Think of them like distressed real estate – ugly on the outside, but cheap and full of potential.

5. Congrats, You Bought It. Now Don’t Break It.

Your job starts after the deal closes. Here's what to focus on:

  • Smooth Handoff – Get source code, databases, app store access, analytics, and documentation. No excuses.
  • Understand the Stack – Know how the backend works. Or pay someone who does.
  • Fix the Pain Points – Bad onboarding? Ugly UI? No push notifications? These are low-hanging upgrades.
  • Talk to Users – They’ll tell you exactly what sucks. And what doesn’t.

Treat the first 30 days like you're onboarding a new employee. You're learning its quirks, strengths, and bad habits.

Need help navigating the legal side? Check out this guide on how to legally buy and sell mobile apps – contracts, IP rights, liabilities, and all the other unsexy stuff that can bite you if ignored.

6. From Asset to ATM: Your Post-Acquisition Playbook

Buying the app is only the beginning. Now comes the part where you turn a lukewarm side project into a full-blown cash machine. Most rookie buyers stop at ownership. The smart ones build.

Stabilize First

Don’t sprint into new features or branding. Start with stability:
- Patch bugs.
- Clean up bad UX.
- Fix glaring performance issues.

You want users to stop bouncing before you do anything else.

Monetize Better

Now look at how money flows (or doesn’t). Many apps are under-monetized out of laziness or lack of imagination.
- Add a freemium tier.
- Introduce subscriptions.
- Use ads (judiciously).
- Offer one-time unlocks for power users.

If you wouldn’t pay for your own app, neither will anyone else.

Reboot the Marketing

The old owner probably did zero marketing, or worse – ran bad Facebook ads and called it a day.
- Rebrand if necessary.
- Redo the App Store/Play Store page.
- Get proper screenshots, a solid description, and legit reviews.
- Create a basic SEO landing page.
- Build an email list, or at least a way to talk to users.

Push your updates, share your progress, and make noise. An active app signals value.

Build in Public (Optional, but Powerful)

Tweet your updates. Share growth numbers. Ask users for feedback. Show people the behind-the-scenes journey. This gets you free eyeballs and builds community equity. In the indie app world, that stuff converts.

7. Sell Like a Pro, Not a Desperate Flipper

Apps are assets. Eventually, you’ll want to flip them. Timing and prep matter.

Do this first:
- Clean up the code.
- Streamline costs.
- Get your analytics bulletproof.
- Write a playbook for the next owner.

Don’t just list your app and pray. Create a narrative. Why is it a great investment? What kind of person or team would grow it further? Make buyers want it.

Where to sell:
Start with your indie network. Post on IndieMaker. Ask around in your communities. The tighter the circle, the more trust you'll have during the process.

8. Rookie Moves That Will Cost You

  • Buying based on gut, not data.
  • Ignoring hidden costs (e.g., Apple dev fees, b

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