Aleksei Rozhnov

AI gives you the tools to build lots of garbage really quick, so that you iterate faster and create smth great in the end

7/ This isn’t production code - it’s just to visualise the target state. You’ll still need to reimplement everything from scratch later, but I found this to be a much faster way to get there.

6/
5️⃣ Prompt animations - quickly try out a few animation styles, pick what feels best.

6️⃣ Switch AI models - Claude and GPT-5 have totally different design “tastes”. Try both and compare.


🎯 What it won’t do:

5/
3️⃣ Set up a starting point - prompt it to create an empty phone frame in the middle of the screen with a single “Hello” screen.

4️⃣ Prompt static screens - build out your pages one by one. Iterating is so much easier this way.

4/
1️⃣ Create a blank Next.js project - even if you’re designing a mobile app.
AI models work way better with web frameworks like Next.js than with Swift, Kotlin, or even React Native.

2️⃣ Open it in Cursor or Claude - I use Cursor because I like proper interfaces in my tools.

3/ Figma used to be my go-to - it’s where you collect references, make wireframes, and start mockups.

Then came a wave of expensive AI design tools trying to replace it. They’re impressive, but they don’t fit my workflow. Here’s what does 👇

🧠 My AI design workflow:

2/ I’m originally a backend software guy who obviously had no idea how to build appealing interfaces. Over the years, I’ve taught myself design - and now I can finally build things that look and feel right.

1/ Steal my killer AI design workflow - sorry Figma 🥲

This is my go-to workflow for trying lots of design ideas fast before investing time into actual implementation.

1/ 🚀 Better decisions start with better visibility.

As mobile developers, we have so many important decisions to make all the time – pricing, features, bug fixes, updates, UX, etc.

Ending the experiment with Tier 3 Android ads at £0.04 per install

It probably won't break even, but let's wait a few weeks ⏳

P.S. Lots of 1-star ratings because the app is paid - downside of targeting cheaper regions

Unbelievable, after I fixed the free trial toggle on the paywall, I actually...
Just broke it the other way around 🕺

After my last update no-one could disable free trials 🚀

That's how you do business

#BuildInPublic

Amen

After removing the rc-ignore tag, it hit 50 Android trials in a just few hours.

I'm testing an ad campaign in Philippines to confirm all Android events and revenue values sync with Firebase, Google Analytics, and Google Ads.

Cheap traffic is perfect for this 🧠

#BuildInPublic

Okay, now that makes more sense 🙈

People DO enable the free trial toggle, as long as it actually works ahah

Let's see if throwing Android trial events into the mix will confuse the hell out of Google Ads

#BuildInPublic

14/
We've built an Apple-native platform @mobileanalytics.io - to give you customer-level revenue data directly from Apple in real-time and without touching your app's code.

The world is changing - and so are we 🙌

Which way are you leaning?

13/
- Think twice before locking into a 3rd-party. The Apple-native path is maturing fast, and every day there's more reasons to choose it
- Revenue analytics in iOS is now a SOLVED PROBLEM regardless the billing path you choose

12/
2️⃣ Ability to push new paywalls remotely

This can matter if writing code slows you down and when you’re operating at scale, with enough traffic and resources to run constant experiments


🔍 My takeaways

11/
🧭 So what’s actually left?

After all this, the main benefits of using a 3rd-party billing service come down to just two things:

1️⃣ Multi-platform data in one place
We’re still waiting for Android 🤖 to catch up with StoreKit2

10/
Finally, about pushing new paywalls remotely:
• You can do it, but only for existing products and prices
If you’re adding new ones, you still need a full app release.

9/
And if you’re doing A/B testing:
• You’re probably testing app flows, not just paywalls
You’ll need your own mechanism anyway. I use PostHog, and it works great for testing paywalls too.

8/
As for paywalls:
• UI paywall builders aren’t that fast 😅
With AI tools, many of us can build faster in code than in no-code editors (I've done both and click-click-click amount can go crazy).

7/
🚀 Reality check

Most of the “cons” above are no longer real for StoreKit2.

Apple’s new App Store Server APIs now give you:
• Real-time data ⏱️
• Per-customer purchase history 🕺
• Directly from Apple 🍎
But not many founders even know these APIs exist 👀

6/
• App Store Connect still sucks for analytics
• ~2-day delay on analytics data
• No per-customer visibility
• Paywalls have to be built in code instead of drag-and-drop UIs (is it a con though 🤔)

5/
🍎 2. Native StoreKit2

✅ Pros:
• Simpler than ever - no backend required now
• 100% native, no extra layers or SDKs to maintain
• It’s free! No extra commission to pay

❌ Cons:

4/
• Another SDK to integrate, maintain, and keep up to date
• An extra layer of indirection with its own rules and complexities
• Extra complexity that can break (we all know what happened 2 days ago 😶‍🌫️)
• Commission on every purchase (unless you’re within a free tier)

3/
✅ Pros:
• Built-in charts for analytics - better than App Store Connect 🤮
• Per-customer real-time data
• No-code paywall builders and A/B testing tools
• Consolidated multi-platform data in one place

❌ Cons:

2/
1️⃣ Use a 3rd-party billing provider
2️⃣ Go fully native with StoreKit2

I’ve used both - here’s my breakdown 👇

😺 1. 3rd-party billing providers

1/ When RevenueCat went down, so did revenue for thousands of apps.

It was a reminder of how fragile billing setups can be - and for iOS founders, one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make - how you implement it.

There are two main paths for handling billing:

1/ 📱 Why no SDK is a big deal for mobile developers

Most analytics tools ask you to embed SDKs, update your app, ship a new version, and wait for enough data to trickle in before anything useful shows up.

We thought that was…not right.

Here's a direct consequence of the RevenueCat outage 🙁

Tbf It's not them to blame, it's AWS that fell, which is the best humanity's got.
But this doesn't change the point

Think 10 times before using a third-party service in the critical path of your application, like billing.