Indie Frame #2 — Joe Crabtree, Polynome and Polynome Explorer
This week we’re talking to Joe Crabtree, drummer and author of Polynome and Polyrhythm Explorer, about his apps and how he uses Shareshot.
Joe’s been testing Shareshot since the very early days and provided excellent feedback throughout!
Q: Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background leading up to becoming an indie iOS dev, and your apps.
I was a professional drummer for many years, and in 2011, I had an idea for an app. At that time, I had no experience in iPhone development, so I teamed up with another drummer who was also a developer. He created the first basic version of the app.
Later, I had some time off from touring and developed ideas for new features, but my partner was too busy to continue. So, I began learning to code by watching iTunes University lectures and reading tutorials. After about six months, I became hooked on development. Although I was still learning, I took over the app’s development and have been working on it for the past 13 years.
Over time, the app has grown significantly, and it now has a dedicated community. After COVID and with two children at home, I stopped touring and became a full-time indie developer.
Q: In a crowded app market where there’s often a race to the bottom in terms of pricing, Polynome is an app with a long history that seems to have great success with a more premium approach. Can you talk about that and any insights you have drawn from it?
The first version of the app was priced around $3, and it performed decently, averaging $10 to $50 per day. As the app evolved with more features, I experimented with different price points. By 2016, the app was priced at about $10 with an additional $10 in-app purchase.
This higher price point allowed me to invest in Facebook ads with a positive return on investment. Although I eventually stopped using Facebook ads, the app continued to grow organically. I believe that a higher price point attracts users who have done their research and are truly interested, leading to a happier customer base.
When COVID hit, I needed to make a full-time living from the app, so I introduced a subscription model. This allowed me to continue adding features and gave users a way to support ongoing development.
I was a little worried at first, but the subscriber base has allowed me to pursue this full time and in the last few years I’ve added a lot of great improvements to the app.
Q: When it comes to Shareshot, what kind of things are you using it for? How does it fit into your marketing workflows?
I create many online user guides for my apps, and the process needs to be as easy and frictionless as possible (otherwise I probably wouldn’t do it).
My workflow involves using Craft to create documents and web pages, which is simple and efficient and can be done from my Mac or my iPhone whenever I have a spare moment. When I need to reference something from the app, I prefer to show it within a device frame rather than just a raw screenshot.
I actually use Shareshot via a shortcut I set up. I can take multiple screenshots of the things I want to show, then run the shortcut. It frames them with my preferred settings and copies them to the clipboard. I can then paste them straight into the doc either on my iPhone or Mac (via the shared clipboard).
It’s so painless that I get a little dopamine hit every time I do it!
Q: What features would you most like us to add to Shareshot so that we can make things even easier for you?
The biggest feature I’d love to see is the ability to frame videos in device frames. I do this often and currently use another app for it, but it’s not as polished as Shareshot.
It would be fantastic to manage everything in one place. I trust that Marc will come up with some innovative ideas that I haven’t considered, and I’m excited to see what improvements might be added in the future.
Thanks Joe! For the musicians out there you can find Polynome in the App Store or at polynome.net.
His new app Polyrhythm Explorer is also available and provides a great way to dip your toes into the art of playing two different timings at once.
If you are an indie who enjoys using Shareshot and fancy being featured in a future instalment of “Indie Frame”, please contact me. We love to share the love!
