The Story
John McEvoy is a self-taught developer from Scotland who built Momego - a bus and train tracking app that covers over 160 cities worldwide. The app has been downloaded over 5 million times and generates $30K/month, all built and maintained by John alone.
John started his career in graphic design but became curious about development. He taught himself JavaScript, backend systems, and databases. The idea for Momego came from a personal problem: he wanted to see where his bus was on a map, similar to how Uber shows your taxi approaching. He was tired of standing at bus stops in the Scottish rain for 10-20 minutes.
The first versions were built in Xamarin using C#.NET, which was a tough process with months of building, failing, and tweaking. Later, he rebuilt the app in native Swift for iOS and Flutter for Android, which took just 2-3 months.
The real breakthrough came from App Store Optimization (ASO). John discovered that by targeting hyper-local keywords like "New York subway" or "Chicago CTA L train," he could rank at the top of search results for free. He also used multiple localizations (like Mexican Spanish) to index keywords for the US App Store.
Key Insights
App Store Optimization Strategy
- •Find location-specific keywords (New York subway, Chicago train, etc.)
- •Different cities use different terminology - research local terms
- •Use multiple localizations to index more keywords
- •Create location-specific screenshots for each market
- •Ask for ratings at "golden moments" when users are delighted
The Pivot to Subscriptions
- •Started with banner ads making ~$8K/month
- •Pandemic killed ad revenue overnight
- •Rebuilt with subscriptions and premium features in August 2020
- •Used A/B testing to optimize paywall - increased conversion from 0.5% to 8%
- •Revenue jumped from $8K to $30K/month
The Reverse Trial Unlock
- •Users who tap "close" on paywall get 7 days free automatically
- •No commitment required - just starts the trial
- •This significantly increased conversions
3-Step ASO Playbook
- •Find location-specific keywords - Add city names, local transit terminology to title and metadata
- •Use Apple Search Ads or manual research - Type keywords into App Store search to see autocomplete suggestions
- •Ask for ratings at golden moments - When users see real-time bus tracking, that's the perfect time to request a review
Tech Stack
- •Flutter (mobile app)
- •Laravel PHP (backend)
- •Adobe Creative Suite (graphics)
- •Lottie (animations)
- •App Figures (ASO research)
- •RevenueCat (subscription management)
- •MixPanel (event analytics)
- •Cloudflare (load balancing, ~$90/month)
- •ChatGPT ($20/month)
- •~20 dedicated servers (~$2,500/month)
- •Third-party APIs like mapping (~$1,000/month)
Resources
- •Follow John: https://x.com/johnmarkerpen
- •Momego: https://travelwhiz.app/