Hello.
I'm a developer who registered as an Android Developer in December of last year. Something happened recently that made me feel that "solo app development is not realistic — most indie developers end up being crushed by fraudulent actors." I want to share my personal experience as a warning to other indie developers. It may be discouraging or unpleasant to read for those who are passionate about development, but I don't want anyone else to go through what I did, so I hope you'll read to the end.
This is also a story about how developers who need 20 closed testers can unknowingly get dragged into fraud. Please be careful. It's a long read, but I appreciate you sticking with it.
I Was Approached with a Business Partnership 3 Months After My Developer Debut
I created an app to help developers get through Google's new policy requiring 20 closed testers. When I tried to publish my first app, I struggled enormously with finding closed testers. I wanted to make it easier for others — including myself — to get through that testing requirement so we could focus on development. Apps don't gather users right after release. I was reaching out to many developers individually to ask for cooperation, and that's when someone approached me with a business proposal.
What They Proposed — and Why I Said No
They asked me to test their app. Then they made a proposal. The gist was:
- "Partner with us"
- "We've already established a paid service for hiring testers and have many clients"
- "Most developers searching for testers through communities will also pay"
- "Partner with us and you can earn money from developers looking for testers"
I declined. The reason was simple: I built this app because I wanted developers — including myself — to be able to develop more freely. Earning money is necessary to keep developing, but I didn't want to build a paid service that I myself had wanted to avoid. They kept asking me to partner, while also asking "Similar services already exist — why do you think anyone will use yours?"
What Happened Immediately After
Less than 10 minutes after I declined, my account was banned from that community. I contacted support explaining I hadn't broken any rules (there were no custom rules beyond Reddit's). I never received a reply.
What I Did to Grow My User Base
Despite all this, I needed to focus on getting users. I did a lot:
- Launched a website
- Reached out through other communities
- Created YouTube content
- Promoted through blog posts
- Ran ads
I wanted to focus on development, but without people actually using what I built, it wouldn't matter. So I did everything I could to get visibility.
Results and What I Noticed
My user base grew slowly as a result. I learned how incredibly difficult it is to grow users. But I also noticed a lot of other things. When you try to get known, you're competing with other services. And a lot of what I saw didn't add up.
Impossible Things on YouTube
Take YouTube view counts and subscriber numbers. I searched to see if my videos were showing up. Paid tester services kept appearing high in results. I found channels with over 5,000 subscribers and multiple videos ranking well — but when I looked at those channels, they had promotional videos with 10–1,000 views alongside one or two abnormally long videos (over 2 hours) with over 1 million views. Regardless of what the service is about, achieving results like that is clearly not something you can compete with through individual effort.
Impossible Things in Communities
After my app launched, several very similar apps started appearing. Similar ideas and competing developers making similar apps — that's natural and expected. The problem was something else: comments from various people across communities were simply bizarre.
- "I got testers in 48 hours"
From someone monitoring download counts across competing apps and struggling to get users, this is simply not believable. If operators are creating large numbers of fake accounts and posting false claims about their apps, most users would be misled. Individual developers have no way to counter that.
Impossible Things on the Web
There were cases where websites plainly stated user numbers far exceeding their actual download counts.
To succeed as a developer, you have to constantly fight against fraudulent actors with far more resources. For indie developers, that's an incredibly difficult battle — and for those fraudulent actors, individual developers are just targets to exploit. Without exceptional luck, most indie developers won't see returns proportional to their effort.
Strange Coincidences — A Common Thread
Why did someone with an established paid tester hiring service reach out to me asking me to test "their app"?
Among everything that felt off about the tester situation, there was a strange common thread: many of the people involved seemed to be from the same country.
- The person who approached me with the partnership proposal
- The YouTube channel with the abnormally long, million-view video
- The person who posted the same message across multiple community threads
- The different accounts that all replied with the same answer
- The website and app whose claimed numbers far exceeded actual downloads
It might be because paid tester services are disproportionately operated from countries with large populations. Or it could be coincidence. But given how much of what I encountered was untrustworthy, users need to stay vigilant.
What Could Happen Next — What to Watch Out For
Fraudulent actors are solely focused on "efficiently making money" and will use any means necessary. What else might they do? I don't think this fraud is limited to how they acquire users.
These problems may already be happening. When fraud gets exposed, it reappears under a new name and different look. Every developer needs to stay continuously alert.
Thank You
Thank you for reading to the end. I believe most developers are honest. If this article has left you feeling unsure of what to trust, or uncomfortable, I apologize. I wrote this because I hope no one else ends up like me — exhausted and eventually giving up on development because they're fighting fraud instead of building things. If you have advice on what to watch out for, or have had similar experiences, please share them in the comments.