- One of the best app concepts come from actual issues, not brainstorms. Nearly each indie Mac developer I checked out began by fixing an annoyance they’d themselves, then came upon 1000’s of others shared it.
- A crowded market is an effective signal, not a cause to stop. If an app already exists, somebody has confirmed folks pays to resolve that drawback. Poor product-market match drives 43% of startup failures, so a validated drawback is a bonus. Your job is to do it higher, less complicated, or for a sharper viewers.
- Area of interest communities present you the place it hurts. Reddit threads, App Retailer evaluations, and boards are full of individuals describing issues out loud. Be taught to pay attention.
- Understanding what to not construct issues as a lot as the concept. Each characteristic you ship is a characteristic you keep eternally. Self-discipline beats ambition.
- Obtained an app prepared? Setapp helps you attain Mac customers who already pay for high quality software program. Publish your app on Setapp!
Discovering an excellent app concept appears like the toughest a part of constructing software program, and it type of is. You’ve got ten half-formed ideas in a notes app, no clue which one is price months of labor, and a creeping worry that every little thing has already been achieved.
Most app concepts fail earlier than the primary line of code, not as a result of they’re badly constructed, however as a result of they clear up an issue no one truly has. This information walks by tips on how to discover an app concept price constructing, with confirmed strategies backed by indie Mac builders who turned good app concepts into apps folks use day by day.
Why most app concepts fail earlier than the primary line of code
An excellent app concept doesn’t should be authentic. It wants to resolve an actual drawback for a particular group of individuals higher than the present choices.
The info backs this up bluntly. CB Insights analyzed 431 venture-backed firms that shut down since 2023, and whereas “ran out of capital” topped the listing at 70%, the report is evident that operating out of cash is the ultimate symptom, not the basis trigger. The deeper cause, named in 43% of instances, was poor product-market match: founders constructed one thing, then found not sufficient folks needed to pay for it.
Supply: CS Insights
The flood of AI-built apps in 2026 makes this sharper, not weaker. When anybody can ship a product over a weekend, the market fills with near-identical instruments. Standing out now not comes from being first. It comes from choosing an issue price fixing and sticking with it longer than everybody chasing the following fast construct.
I spoke with the builders at Setapp, analyzed the market, and compiled a listing of the preferred methods to seek out concepts for excellent apps.
|
Technique |
Greatest for |
Good to know |
|
Remedy your personal drawback |
Recognizing unmet wants early |
Your every day friction is shared by 1000’s |
|
Watch the place folks complain |
Validated demand from actual customers |
Reddit and App Retailer evaluations present the gaps |
|
Enhance an present app |
Newcomers and crowded markets |
A competitor proves folks pays |
Discover an app concept by fixing an issue you even have
Probably the most dependable solution to discover an app concept is to start out with your personal every day friction: the duties, workarounds, and small annoyances you hit repeatedly. If one thing irritates you typically sufficient, it nearly definitely irritates loads of different folks too, and most of them have quietly accepted it. A few of the greatest app concepts are simply somebody refusing to just accept an issue everybody else tolerated.
That acceptance is the chance. Sindre Sorhus, the developer behind Supercharge, Dato, and a protracted listing of different Mac utilities, put it nicely in our developer survey:
“A whole lot of my work comes from noticing the small annoyances folks settle for as simply a part of utilizing a pc, and taking them critically.”
His personal abstract of the place his concepts come from is even shorter:
“Scratching my very own itches and making macOS higher.”
The sample repeats throughout indie builders. Rafael Conde constructed Hand Mirror as a result of, through the pandemic’s countless video calls, he was uninterested in opening Picture Sales space simply to verify his digital camera earlier than becoming a member of. A tiny, particular irritation grew to become a centered app.
Valerijs Boguckis constructed TextSniper for a similar cause. Taking on-line programs, he saved needing data locked inside lecture movies and needed to retype it by hand:
“I started to think about how a lot simpler it could be to easily spotlight any textual content on the display screen and have it immediately transformed into an editable format”.
He researched OCR, constructed a prototype, and shipped a instrument that captures textual content from anyplace on display screen, together with video and locked PDFs.
The founders of ByDesign attain the identical conclusion from a unique start line. After a number of pivots, their recommendation for locating an concept is one sentence:
“Remedy issues that you simply personally expertise.”
How one can apply it: preserve a operating be aware of moments the place you assume “this must be simpler.” Do not filter for ambition. The smallest annoyances are sometimes the clearest, most buildable concepts.
Discover app concepts by watching the place folks complain
One other confirmed solution to discover an app concept is to observe the place folks complain on-line. If your personal issues run dry, take heed to different folks’s. Social platforms exist for folks to assemble and speak, and when folks speak, they speak about what frustrates them. Each recurring grievance about an present instrument is a candidate for an excellent app concept.
A number of dependable locations to look:
- Reddit communities in your area of interest, the place folks vent about instruments that fall quick.
- App Retailer and review-site feedback, particularly the one- and two-star evaluations of present apps. Every grievance is a characteristic hole.
- Boards, Discord servers, and X threads a couple of product or a workflow.
In Your Face began precisely this manner, besides the grievance was about an individual. Martin Höller had a coworker who ignored each calendar notification and was at all times late to conferences. As Martin tells it:
“The concept got here from a coworker who was at all times late to our conferences. Whereas we have been already within the assembly room, he would nonetheless be coding, utterly ignoring all calendar notifications.”
Martin constructed a prototype over a weekend that pushed a full-screen alert unimaginable to disregard, put in it on the coworker’s machine, and the lateness stopped. That was his sign that he had one thing actual. When the pandemic moved everybody to video calls, the app took off.
Martin can also be clear-eyed about why this issues extra in 2026:
“Now within the time of agentic coding it’s so simple to rapidly push new apps and it turns into tougher and tougher to get seen among the many flood of low effort, low high quality merchandise. Discover a real-world drawback, construct a person base, and keep it up.”
How one can apply it: decide two or three communities the place your goal customers already hang around. Learn the complaints for every week earlier than you write any code. If the identical frustration retains surfacing, you’ve got discovered a validated drawback.
How one can discover an app concept by enhancing one which already works
It’s also possible to discover an app concept by taking one which already exists and doing it higher. That is essentially the most beginner-friendly path, as a result of the onerous work of validating demand is already completed. Your solely job is to distinguish: make it higher, cheaper, or aimed toward a extra particular viewers. Most of the greatest app concepts have been by no means new ideas, simply sharper executions of acquainted ones.
Markus Müller-Simhofer discovered MindNode this manner, nearly by chance. He was caught on a unique app concept when he found thoughts mapping as a method.
“Since there have been no good Mac native thoughts mapping apps accessible on the time, I took a break from my authentic concept and created a small easy thoughts mapping app. That is the way it began and I by no means got here again to my authentic app concept.”
The idea of thoughts mapping was not new. An ideal native Mac model of it was. That hole was the entire alternative, and MindNode has now run for practically twenty years throughout Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Imaginative and prescient Professional.
How one can apply it: listing the apps you already use that frustrate you. For every, ask what you’d change. A greater model for a narrower viewers typically beats a broad instrument attempting to serve everybody.
How one can validate an app concept earlier than you construct
After you have an app concept, validate it earlier than writing any code. A good suggestion on paper shouldn’t be the identical as a viable one. Validation means confirming, rapidly and cheaply, that sufficient folks share the issue and you could construct a helpful first model. Run a couple of checks earlier than committing months of labor:
- Search demand. Use Google Developments to see whether or not curiosity in the issue is rising or fading. Purpose for issues on an upward curve.
- Learn the competitors’s evaluations. Current apps’ weak spots inform you precisely what customers want they’d.
- Estimate the viewers. A distinct segment will be small and nonetheless viable, however you should know roughly how many individuals share the issue.
- Verify feasibility. Are you able to construct a minimal, helpful model with out large sources? The primary launch of most profitable indie apps was intentionally easy.
The purpose of validation is to kill weak concepts early and decide to robust ones with confidence, to not chase certainty you will by no means have.
From concept to customers: getting your Mac app found
Discovering the concept and constructing the app are solely the primary half of the journey. The tougher drawback, particularly now, is getting it in entrance of people that pays for it.
For Mac apps, Setapp is one route price understanding. It is a curated subscription platform the place customers pay one charge for entry to a whole lot of high quality apps, which suggests your app reaches an viewers already keen to pay for good software program, with out you operating the entire acquisition and billing operation your self.
What the builders above worth most is the connection. Zac Cohan, a creator of Soulver, contrasted it with the App Retailer:
“There’s a private relationship with the Setapp crew… They deal with indie builders like actual companions, not line objects, and that makes all of the distinction.”
Carmen Huidobro, CTO at Unimaginable Bee, pointed to the sensible facet:
“Evaluation cycles are leagues higher than the Mac App Retailer, and the crew is aware of questions and suggestions. For a long-running indie store, these two issues matter greater than nearly the rest.”
Discovering the fitting app concept, in brief
One of the best app concepts come from taking note of your personal friction, to the place folks complain, and to the apps you already want have been higher. Validate the demand, scope the concept all the way down to the one factor it does greatest, and have the self-discipline to go away the remaining on the desk.
As soon as you’ve got constructed one thing price transport, the final piece is getting it found. Distributing by Setapp places your app in entrance of customers who already pay for high quality apps, and it takes the operational weight off your plate: Setapp handles app activation, licensing, billing, taxes, and buyer help, so you’ll be able to keep centered on the app itself. Publish your app on Setapp now!
FAQ
How do I discover a good app concept?
Begin with issues you expertise your self. Hold a be aware of every day frustrations the place you assume “this must be simpler,” then verify whether or not different folks share the identical drawback in communities like Reddit, App Retailer evaluations, and area of interest boards. The strongest app concepts clear up a particular, actual drawback quite than chasing originality.
How do I do know if my app concept is worthwhile?
Verify whether or not demand is rising utilizing Google Developments, learn the evaluations of competing apps to seek out their gaps, and estimate how many individuals share the issue. An present competitor is a constructive sign: it means folks already pay to resolve that drawback. Your activity is to distinguish by being higher, less complicated, or centered on a extra particular viewers.
The place can I distribute or promote my app?
Past the Mac App Retailer and direct gross sales, Setapp is a curated subscription platform that places your app in entrance of customers who already pay for high quality Mac software program. Indie builders on the platform spotlight sooner evaluation cycles and a real partnership with the crew. Be part of Setapp!
