Checking app ideas against App Store data before building them

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The author argues that cheap AI-assisted development doesn't make choosing the right app idea cheap, so they now test ideas against real store data first. The method uses Apple's free iTunes Search API to pull ratings counts, average ratings, prices and update dates for competing apps. Each idea is scored from 0 to 10 on demand, competition and revenue, with an average of 7.5 or higher suggesting a build. In the example of an ADHD habit tracker, the top competitor was free and had 768k ratings, yielding a 5.0 score and a recommendation to skip unless the idea was repositioned. The author also suggests reading low-star reviews of competitors to find recurring complaints, and has packaged the workflow into an Apify Actor tool.

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