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u/lmtDigital
- AI App Creator
u/lmtDigital writes on Reddit…
I decided to play with the OpenAI API for the first time. No big plan. No market research. I just wanted to understand how it worked.
She built ArtScan, an iOS app that lets you scan a painting with your phone camera and get info about it.
It’s basically an AI wrapper. Nothing fancy. No original model. Just camera → API → response 🤖
At the time, I honestly thought: Ok, this will be a fun weekend project, I’ll learn something, and that’s it.
🤑 Fast forward…
- ~20K downloads
- 30–50 downloads/day, still coming in organically
- ~$10K total revenue
- 7% App Store conversion rate
- $0 marketing spend
I’m not running ads anymore. I’m not actively promoting it. And App Store analytics shows installs coming from keywords I don’t even target.
She has a full-time job and didn’t even know how to use the OpenAI API when she started.
If you’re sitting on a “this is probably useless but I’m curious” idea… maybe build it anyway.
The formula is simple: point a phone camera at something + AI = info. Could be…
- plants
- bugs
- architecture
- dog breeds
- antiques
- wine labels
Pick a niche, wrap an AI API around a camera, and put it on the App Store 🎯
