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9 tactics from Matt Rouif
How to Succeed on iOS vs. Android — Matt Rouif, Photoroom
Watch the full episode“Never, never like I would do exactly the same iOS and then one or two years later Android and I do think all the adopters of apps as a general rule of thinking would be more on iOS than Android.”
Launch iOS First, Android One To Two Years Later — Validate PMF Before Adding Platform Complexity
Matt Rouif launched Photoroom on iOS in 2019 and Android in 2021 — and would repeat that sequence exactly. Early adopters of any new app category skew iOS; Android rewards come later, after the product is proven and the team has the capacity to support two platforms well. Trying to launch both simultaneously splits engineering attention during the most critical period of finding PMF.
“When you start to do marketing, you feel like you're paying for actually you pay for some influencers and then all the comments are when is Android, going Android, and so you feel people are asking when you start to feel product market fit.”
The Signal To Build Android: When Comments On Your Paid Marketing Say "When Is Android?"
Photoroom's decision to build Android wasn't arbitrary — it came when influencer campaigns started flooding comments with Android requests. This is the real demand signal: you're paying to reach users and they're telling you exactly what they need next. Before that moment, the pressure to add Android doesn't feel real, even if you know intellectually it would expand reach.
“The ratio for photo apps was 30X so value of a user on iOS was 30X bigger than Android... there's a lot of marketing from Apple about photography — that's why a lot of the reasons why people upgrade is because the camera got better.”
iOS/Android Revenue Ratio For Photo Apps Is 30X — Know Your Category Before Deciding On Android
The general iOS/Android ARPU ratio is about 10X. For photo apps it's 30X — because Apple's entire hardware and marketing narrative is built around the camera. Photo enthusiasts disproportionately own iPhones. Before investing in Android, calculate your category's platform skew. For photo/video apps, the ROI on Android engineering is significantly lower than the default industry average suggests.
“As a business owner it doesn't matter like there's no filter on your iOS or Android person... a lot of people have small business owners there are a lot of them in the world who are Android and so they spend more, they just spend the money that the subscription makes them more successful.”
Business-Value Apps Beat The iOS Bias — Android Users Pay When The App Makes Them Money
Photoroom defied the 30X photo-app iOS ratio because their users buy for business ROI, not hobbyist enjoyment. Small business owners on Android pay just as readily as iPhone users when the product helps their store grow. The lesson: if your subscription makes users money, the iOS premium shrinks dramatically. B2C apps based on pleasure/aesthetics face a steeper Android challenge than B2B-adjacent tools.
“For a year or so I just switched as a founder as we were building the app to Android and so I was like only using that to make sure it's important and you pay attention to details.”
Switch To Android As Your Daily Driver For A Year — The Only Way To Actually Care About Quality
Photoroom's most practical Android QA advice: Matt Rouif removed his SIM card from his iPhone and ran Android as his sole device for a year during the Android build. Dog-fooding is the only thing that creates genuine attention to details — you notice the rough edges you'd otherwise never see in a formal QA pass. This is especially important in companies where most engineers and PMs are iPhone users.
“What we do give is like anyone that wants an Android as a Photoroom employee who on iOS and wants Android going to use it or test it or try it or is a PM which is you can have two device if you're going to help the Android team.”
Give Any Employee A Free Android Device If They Will Test It — Offset The iOS-Bias In Tech Culture
Tech company culture is heavily iOS-biased — most engineers and PMs own iPhones and never naturally encounter Android issues. Photoroom's fix: offer a free Android device to any employee willing to use or test it. PMs and developers who support Android are allowed two devices. It's a cheap, practical way to increase internal Android usage and catch bugs that would otherwise only surface in user reviews.
“The share icon — I had so much debate with the design team about the designs and you see this little arrow compared to the three circles like the branching on Android that is the share icon. People on Android don't understand the iOS icon and it doesn't look native.”
Adapt Native UI Language Per Platform — Using The iOS Share Icon On Android Signals "Foreign"
Cross-platform apps frequently use iOS UI patterns on Android out of convenience, but native users notice immediately. The share icon debate at Photoroom — iOS arrow vs Android branching circles — sounds trivial but represents a deeper truth: each platform has its own visual language, and violating it makes users feel the product is a port rather than a native app. Allow the Android team freedom to adapt platform-specific idioms.
“Apple is 30% commission on new subscription... Android is all 15% so it does make a difference for your margin especially for a company with GPU costs for machine learning.”
Google Charges 15% On All Subscriptions vs. Apple's 30% — Your Android Margin Is Structurally Higher
Google standardized subscription fees at 15% across the board three or four years ago. Apple starts at 30% and only drops to 15% after a user has subscribed for more than a year. For subscription apps with meaningful infrastructure costs (especially AI/ML GPU costs), this commission spread materially affects unit economics. Even with lower ARPU on Android, margin per transaction can be higher than on iOS.
“We don't have like a tightly coupled spec where we want to release everything at the same time for all platforms... if you really tie them together you don't make like big steps. We try to have some flexibility to make sure we move fast because that's the key to success for a startup.”
Don't Tie Both Legs Together — Platforms Need Different Release Cadences To Let Startups Move Fast
Photoroom runs iOS, Android, and web as loosely-coupled tracks rather than releasing all three in lockstep. Synchronizing everything adds planning overhead and slows down each individual platform. The analogy Matt uses: if you tie two legs together, you can't take big strides. Allowing platforms to release on their own cadence — with some experiments running earlier on whichever platform makes them easier to measure — preserves startup velocity.