About eight weeks ago I launched NAKED EYE, an Android astronomy app I built around long chef shifts on Sark. I’m not a developer or an astronomer. I just kept missing things happening in the sky and wanted something that answered three simple questions: What’s actually worth seeing tonight? When should I go outside? Where should I look? I checked Google Play Console today and had one of those little “wait… this is actually happening” moments. In the last 28 days: • 19.8K device impressions • Play discovery is up 167% • 4.83★ rating • Google Play is now actively surfacing the app through Explore The app has also grown quite a bit since launch. It now has things like: • live sky/weather intelligence • ISS reminders • meteor, aurora and Moon alerts • Target Lock to physically guide you towards things in the sky • a paid Beyond tier that can find the best night of the week, explain why, and remind you before the best viewing window And I’m currently building something called Under One Sky — a way for people around the world to share what they’re actually seeing above them. I still have absolutely no idea whether this becomes a proper business. I’m still waiting for that first genuine stranger to subscribe to Beyond 😂 But seeing Google Play itself start showing the app to nearly 20,000 devices in a month feels like a pretty big step from sitting in a kitchen wondering whether anybody would ever download it. For anyone else building something on the side: sometimes the progress is slow enough that you don’t notice it until you look back. Happy to answer anything about the app, launching without being a developer, Google Play, or what I’ve learned so far.   submitted by   /u/Ok-Society8568 [link]   [comments]