4 days ago

Update on Shipaton judging

We've officially finished our final prize selections for Shipaton 2026. All participants with a submission should now have an email in their inbox letting them know whether their app was selected for a prize.

We reviewed thousands of submissions over the past couple of weeks, and it’s been amazing to see what this community has built.

I want to take a moment to say congratulations to everyone who shipped an app. Whether you won a prize, submitted before the deadline, or needed a little more time to get it out into the world. You took an idea and turned it…

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12 days ago

Now YOU get to judge us!

Our team is in the middle of judging all your amazing Shipathon submissions, and we thought it’d be fun to turn the tables a little bit.

You might remember the Conflict of Interest Award, our dedicated category for RevenueCat employees and sponsor employees to participate in the Shipathon without being eligible for the actual prizes.

Well, we want you to pick the winner.

We built a little tool where you can check out those submissions and rank them. Anyone who registered for the Shipathon is eligible to vote, whether you made the submission deadline or not.

Check out…

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15 days ago

Final Friday Newsletter: Submissions are officially closed!

Hey Shippers!

Wow, what a couple months! Yesterday we officially closed submissions for Shipaton 2026. We finished with nearly 5× the submissions from last year!

Congrats to everyone who shipped! Taking an idea and turning it into something people can actually download is a huge accomplishment. Take a minute to enjoy that.

And if you’re still stuck in app review, or didn’t quite make the deadline: congrats for building. Finish it out and you're still left with your very own app in the store! Please don’t let this be the end of your app’s story.

We made a little thank-you…

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17 days ago

Deadline extended!

Hey Shippers!

The deadline is fast approaching, and we know many of you are still waiting on app review and could use a little more time to submit.

To give everyone a better chance, we’re adding a bit of extra time: the official Shipaton deadline has been extended by 12 hours! Submissions will now close on Thursday, October 1st at 12:00 PM (noon) Pacific Time.

We’re still on a tight judging schedule, but we hope these extra hours give you the breathing room you need to get your apps live in the store and finalize your submissions on Devpost.

Good…

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19 days ago

Final call for submissions

There are only 3 days left to complete your submission for RevenueCat Shipaton 2026.

22 days ago

Shipaton Week 8: five days left to submit

Week 8 in 60 seconds: Five days left. Yaroslav from AppFollow joined me to talk about getting found when thousands of apps hit the store every day, and Dan covered what your data is telling you now you're live. One more prize too: category winners who make it to New York can demo their app in Times Square on October 22. Final AMA today. And check your Devpost submission before the deadline — store link, working video, awards you're going for.

Final AMA: ask us anything before the deadline

Live in an hour — Friday September 25, 9am PT /…

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29 days ago

Shipaton Week 7: Check your submission before the clock runs out

Week 7 in 60 seconds: 12 days on the countdown clock. Devin and Robert from Tminus on getting through App Review without a rejection, and Lucas from AppStack on scaling Meta ads. Next Gen is now open to students aged 13 and up. Apps are landing in the stores! 792 in the Showcase. Make sure yours is too. Take two minutes to check your Devpost submission for a store link and a working video, because good projects are sitting there ineligible over fixable things. And apply for Apple's Small Business Program if you haven't: it halves Apple's cut.

Check your

…

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about 1 month ago

Shipaton Week 6: dodging App Store rejection and hunting London buses

Week 6 in 60 seconds: Just 19 days left on the countdown clock. Charlie broke down web-to-app funnels, and Julie roasted paywalls straight from Discord. Today: Meta ads with Appstack. Tuesday: dodging App Review rejections. The Showcase hit 559 apps, now with likes. Clucky made TechCrunch, BOOP crossed 613 boops in 16 countries, and Seoul's meetup topped 130 signups. London builders: hunt Shipaton buses for ramen and cash. Next week: surviving app review, then reading your data.

Community highlights

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about 1 month ago

Shipaton Week 5: 26 days left

Week 5 in 60 seconds: Mike Khristo from Layers on turning a shipped app into a growth loop. Nitelore featured by the App Store in 16 countries. Kirill's first $9.99. The project gallery is public — 507 submissions to learn from. Julie is roasting paywalls on Tuesday, so send yours in. There's now a countdown clock on the site, and it says 26 days. And The Shippies is happening: a red carpet awards show in New York on an actual ship. Next week: paywall design, then scaling Meta ads.

The Shippies

We're announcing the Shipaton winners at a red…

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about 2 months ago

Shipaton Week 4: You're halfway

Week 4 in 60 seconds: Charlie broadcasting from a studio in St. Louis, with Diego from Noise on getting your first users with no budget. Kotlin Multiplatform with JetBrains. Unroll and Nitelore both live on the App Store. Pakistan's first Shipaton event this weekend. 47 upcoming events across 20 countries. Noise still giving away $200/week. September 1 is the halfway mark. If your app isn't in review yet, get it in this week. Next week: from build to growth, with Layers.

Community highlights

  • @th2049 is building Pile, which turns clearing out your camera roll into a card-swiping game.…

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about 2 months ago

Shipaton Week 3: Your judges have arrived

Week 3 in 60 seconds: Cardiff Crack sandwiches with Miguel. Bria Sullivan on building for influencer audiences. George from OneSignal on winning the first 7 days in the user lifecycle. AdMob webinar on ad monetization. Judges announced (28 experts). Noise still giving away $200/week. 44 upcoming events across 22 countries. Next week: Kotlin Multiplatform with JetBrains, and UGC growth with Noise.

Community highlights

  • @sinasamaki is building a task app in Jetpack Compose, and this week added a 3D spin animation that triggers on long pressing a completed task. No 3D models, just Compose. Some of the most incredible UI…

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2 months ago

Shipaton Week 2: First apps are hitting the stores

Week 2 in 60 seconds: Rik taught you how to validate. Stripe showed you how to deploy. Noise is giving away $200 in credits to 5 builders every week. Next week: influencer apps, AdMob ($1K bonus for first 500), and retention with OneSignal. 63 events worldwide. Apps are shipping.

Community highlights:

  • @RIMSHADPCS is building a nutrition app for the influencer category and posting some seriously polished onboarding animations. If you're entering the influencer awards and want to see what good looks like, follow along on X.
  • @adrianabelarde_ is building Clucky, an alarm that looks like a chicken. The build-in-public…

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2 months ago

Shipaton Week 1: First apps in review, Tokyo Catfe, and finding your idea

Ahoy Shippers!

Week 1 in 60 seconds: Some apps are already in review and a few are live. The Shipaton Catfe wrapped four days in Shibuya. Perttu and I broke down how judges score submissions, and Matt took an app from prompt to store listing with Replit; both recordings are up. Next week we help you find and validate your idea, then get into web funnels with Stripe. Eleven IRL meetups are happening in the next 12 days, from Victoria to Chennai. And your Ship Kit has 27 partner perks sitting in it right now.

 

Community highlights:

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3 months ago

Shipaton 2026 is live – here's everything you need to start building

Ahoy, shippers!

Shipaton 2026 is officially underway. We kicked things off with a countdown party live from the 18th floor of CE LA VI Tokyo – watch the replay here if you missed it.

Now it's your turn. You've got 8 weeks to build a brand-new app, ship it to the store, and compete for $1M in prizes. Here's everything you need to get moving.

The essentials

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