A developer’s app suddenly goes viral because Apple eliminates the competition. Users are looking for a completely different app, but end up downloading another app. The developer later decides to donate the earnings to a charity.
In 2016, 17-year-old Steven Cravotta released an app called “Wordle!” in the Apple App Store. Many years before the much more well-known browser game by Josh Wardle went viral, which is now owned by The New York Times.
However, when Josh Wardle’s browser game Wordle exploded at the end of 2021, many users searched for an app version in the Apple App Store and came across Cravotta’s “Wordle!”. The app experienced a sudden massive influx and millions of new downloads. Cravotta himself reports on X.com.
Because Apple removes the competition, his app is downloaded millions of times
The developer explained that his app was downloaded millions of times because Apple removed all the competition from the App Store. Only his app remained, as it was the first in the store. He explains on X.com:
Many other app developers tried to copy the game, but Apple removed them all… except mine, because it was the first one developed before there were other Wordles.
Apple eliminated the entire competition. I was the only “Wordle” in the App Store.
What did Cravotta do next? Cravotta initially profited financially from advertising revenue and in-app purchases. But instead of just keeping the money, he contacted Josh Wardle to jointly donate the earnings for a good cause. He said (via pepperdine-graphic.com):
I said, ‘Hey man, your game is bringing me a lot of traction.’ His [Josh’s] whole mission was that he didn’t want to profit from his game, so he didn’t place any ads, and that’s why it is free.
I thought: ‘I respect that, and as a developer, I understand it. But I would like to find a charity that focuses on literacy and that I can donate the earnings to, because this Wordle thing is just crazy. Nobody expected it, so let’s do something great with it.’
In the end, Cravotta donated $50,000 to an educational organization. This was reported among others by the English-speaking Washington Post.
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