Hey everyone, Happy Showcase Saturday!

Over the past couple of years, I’ve managed to get 14 apps into production on Google Play as a solo indie developer. Going through the Play Console process so many times taught me two major lessons:

1. Coordinating Google's mandatory 14-day closed testing with 12–20 testers is by far the biggest operational headache for solo builders.

2. Building focused, utility-driven tools with clean UI consistently gets better long-term retention than bloated projects.

For Showcase Saturday, I wanted to share the 2 recent tools I built (both using Flutter) to solve problems I ran into while building:

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### 1. DeviceLab12 (14-Day Closed Testing Companion)

After failing closed testing on an earlier project because friends forgot to open the app and dropped out midway, I got tired of chasing people down on WhatsApp and spreadsheets. I built **DeviceLab12** to streamline the closed testing phase:

* **For Devs:** Connects your closed track and Google Group, tracks tester assignments, and keeps progress organized in one central dashboard.

* **For Testers:** Lets testers access Play Store testing links and submit structured daily reports and bug feedback with proof.

* **The Goal:** Making sure testing activity is actually documented so developers have real feedback to cite when applying for production access.

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### 2. Teleprompter & AI Speech Coach

While creating video demos, walkthroughs, and onboarding videos for my apps, I couldn't find a lightweight teleprompter that wasn't locked behind an expensive $15/month subscription.

* Built a floating, customizable teleprompter designed for smooth camera recording.

* Added AI-assisted speech pacing and coaching cues to help practice natural delivery without freezing or stumbling over scripts.

* Great for solo devs recording store previews, video creators, or students practicing pitches.

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### Tech Stack & Architecture:

* **Frontend:** Flutter across both apps (custom responsive layouts, Provider state management)

* **Backend:** Firebase (Auth, Firestore, Cloud Functions)

* **Key Focus:** Fast load times, zero UI bloat, and minimal permissions.

Would love to get feedback on the workflows and UX from fellow developers!

For those of you who have multiple apps in production, how are you currently managing the 14-day testing cycle across your releases?

I got tired of Google Play Console being slow to update download numbers. The download count often lags behind, so I wanted a simpler way to keep track of my app's growth.

So I built a small tool that sends me a daily email with:

- Downloads in the last 24 hours

- Total downloads

Now I don't have to open Play Console every day just to check my stats.

I figured other Android developers might find it useful too, so I've made it free.

I'd love to hear your feedback or feature suggestions!

Try it here: dailydownloads.pages.dev or click the link website link

what 200% even mean, why 54 user not shown in playstore "shroudchat" only in dashboard

Ich mache selbst Wurst und backe Brot und hatte meine Rezepte irgendwann überall verteilt: auf Zetteln, als Fotos, PDFs und Notizen.

Deshalb habe ich WURST & BROT entwickelt – eine Android-App, mit der man eigene Rezepte sammeln und übersichtlich verwalten kann.

Die wichtigsten Funktionen sind:

Rezepte fotografieren und per OCR erfassen

PDF-Rezepte importieren

Zutaten, Zubereitung und Notizen strukturiert speichern

Mengen automatisch anpassen

eigene Gewürzmischungen verwalten

Zutaten direkt zur Einkaufsliste hinzufügen

Wurst- und Brotrezepte an einem Ort organisieren

Mich würde vor allem interessieren, wie ihr eure eigenen Rezepte organisiert und welche Funktionen euch bei so einer App wichtig wären.

I’m making screenshot concepts for two apps today. The image shows the kind of work I can make, with a different style for each app.

If you’d like one, comment with your App Store link and a short description of your app. If it isn’t live yet, share a few raw screenshots instead. I’ll take the first two with enough details to work from.

DunShine: Dungeon Janitor is the game I developed after inspired from we all seen fake game ad. But I developed DunShine's core game play as you play as dungeon Janitor and clean after hero raids .

Play link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leptono.dunshine

Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks

Hi everyone,

I just added my bank account to my Google Play Console payments profile yesterday (Oct 16), and it was validated as my primary payment method.

My payments page shows:

Oct 1–17: $245.46

Sept 1–30: $247.26

Aug 1–31: $193.49

Payout threshold: $1.00 (100% reached)

I've read that Google pays out around the 15th of each month. My questions:

Since I added the account after the 15th, do I have to wait until November 15 for the next payout, or can Google still send it earlier?

Will the September balance ($247.26) be included in the November payout along with October's, or is it already paid?

There's a banner asking for tax info for Brazil. Could incomplete tax info delay the payment?

Thanks in advance for any help!

It's called slappy tank, I released it a week ago and posted in sideproject. It got about 75 downloads then stopped dead. What are some good ways to market or advertise this sort of an app without much of a budget to work with. How many users would be enough to get word of mouth growing it?

I know this is going to be pretty big but getting it started is the tough part.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.heronbone.slappytank

Finally the leader board has come to the game, what data is important for users to see on the leaderboard? Please share your experience about the leaderboard you have made or such

Link to the game 🎯

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playhub.spelbazi

Honestly, I wasn't expecting more than 50 downloads. I made this app as a personal learning project, published it, and kind of forgot about it.

I'm not sure if these numbers are good or just average, but I'm happy people are actually downloading it. I do feel like retention is pretty bad, though.

Btw, it's a Bhagavad Gita app (a Hindu scripture) with shlokas, pronunciation, translations and explanations in 3 languages. It's completely free, works offline, and has no ads or signup.

Any tips on improving retention for an app like this?

I submitted a production update for my app a couple of days ago (October 15th) to start a full rollout, and it's still sitting at "In review."

The main change in this release is that I added support for Android TV. Does anyone know if Google does more extensive manual reviews for TV apps, or if adding Android TV typically causes the review process to take longer than usual?

Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced this recently or has any insights. Thanks!

First time I translated screenshots into languages other than English:

- German,

- Italian,

- Spanish,

- Portuguese (Brasil – pt-BR).

And rolled it out on Oct 11, and the very first user from Spain installed the app on Oct 15.

I don't know why, but I didn't see users from Spain at all while the screenshots were in English. I may guess people don't even read translated description.

Hi,

i am only seeing data till 13th oct, today is 17 oct is this delayed to show?

thanks

Hi! I made Coche, a simple to-do list for Android. No account, no ads, fully offline.

If you like the app, a review on Google Play would really help me improve it and get it known (totally optional).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coche.app

Also, if you'd like Premium for free, you can grab a code here. Codes are limited, so be quick:

https://www.promies.net/promotion/c1f070a0-b8f2-4909-988e-330f60b8d303

Thanks!