FairwayFX: Revenue, team and how it was built
FairwayFX (Phone app that draws the flight of a golf ball on the user's video with on-device AI ball detection, USA): US$5.3K MRR, October 2026. Evidence grade A: disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor. Team: 1 person: the studio's About page says "The studio is one person", and the founder builds the apps as side projects. Launched 14 January 2026; still running, revenue flat.Added 27 October 2026
- Outcome
- US$5.3K MRR, October 2026Revenue flat
- Evidence
- A disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor
- Launch
- 14 January 2026
- Status
- Still running
- Team
- 1 person: the studio's About page says "The studio is one person", and the founder builds the apps as side projects
- Outside funding
- None reported
- Group
- Video generation
- Main channel
- Not stated
FairwayFX is a phone app that adds a shot tracer, a line that follows a golf ball through the air, to a video of a golf shot. The user taps the ball, and a machine-learning model, a program trained on many examples to recognise an object, finds the ball in each frame of the video and the app draws the line. The model runs on the phone, not on a server. The app was called Golf Shot Tracer until July 2026, when it was renamed "to avoid confusion with other brands".
Emmett Deen is the seller of the app on the App Store, as a person rather than a company; the copyright belongs to Deen Venture Studio LLC, a studio in Georgia whose About page says that the studio is one person and that the apps are side projects. The app was released on 14 January 2026. whatsthe.app, a listing site for mobile apps, reads its sales through RevenueCat, a service that records in-app subscription purchases for app makers. On 1 October 2026 it showed MRR, monthly recurring revenue, in which a yearly plan counts as one twelfth of its price, of US$5,262 from 987 active subscriptions, and US$7,114 of revenue in the last 28 days.
The revenue figures are grade A, because whatsthe.app read them from the app's subscription records. They are one snapshot: no second dated figure exists, and the studio shares its financials only with buyers who sign a confidentiality agreement, because the app is open to offers. The page also shows four earlier companies that sold automatic video editing or motion tracking and failed.
How much revenue does FairwayFX make?
Each row shows the evidence grade and the source numbers from the list at the end of this page. The grades are explained in How Aiolum verifies.
| Fact | Value | Grade | How we know | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly recurring revenue (MRR), 1 October 2026 | US$5,262 | A | Read by whatsthe.app through RevenueCat ("revenuecat-verified" in the page data), last updated on 1 October 2026 at 10:55 UTC. MRR growth over 28 days: -2.4%. | [1] |
| Run rate from the October 2026 MRR | about US$63,145 a year | calc | Calculated: US$5,262.08 times 12. whatsthe.app shows the same value as ARR. | [1] |
| Revenue in the last 28 days, to 1 October 2026 | US$7,114 | A | whatsthe.app. Calculated: 1.35 times the MRR, which whatsthe.app shows as a cash flow index of 1.4. A yearly plan is paid at once, so new yearly plans bring more cash in a month than their share of the MRR. | [1] |
| Subscriptions, 1 October 2026 | 987 active subscriptions and 277 active trials | A | whatsthe.app. Calculated: 78.1% of subscriptions were paid, which whatsthe.app shows as the paid subscriber share. Subscriber growth over 28 days: +0.1%. | [1] |
| Customers, 1 October 2026 | 9,499 active customers; 7,547 new customers in 28 days | A | whatsthe.app. Calculated: 10.4% of active customers had a subscription, and the MRR per active subscription was about US$5.33. | [1] |
| Downloads | about 7,500 in 28 days on iOS and Android; more than 10,000 in total on Google Play | B | Store figures shown by whatsthe.app. | [1] |
| Founder | Emmett Deen | B | The App Store developer and seller is Emmett Deen as a person, and whatsthe.app names Emmett Deen as the founder (X handle @emmett_deen, about 1,000 followers). The studio's About page names Emmett Deen as its founder. | [2, 1, 7] |
| Company | Deen Venture Studio LLC, Canton, Georgia | C | The App Store copyright line and the website footer name the LLC; the studio's site gives the town. | [2, 4, 6] |
| Team | 1 person | C | The About page: "The studio is one person". It says the apps are side projects and lists a job as engineering manager at Black Airplane since 2019. | [7] |
| Outside funding | none reported | C | No source mentions investors. The About page lists a US$25,000 grant won in 2022 at an Auburn University startup competition for an esports advertising idea, a different project. | [7] |
| Release | 14 January 2026 | B | The release date that whatsthe.app shows from the App Store data. The first App Store reviews are dated 14 January. | [1, 2] |
| Renamed from Golf Shot Tracer | July 2026 | B | Version 1.11.2 (4 July 2026): "App renaming to avoid confusion with other brands". Version 1.11.3 (10 July 2026): "This update renames the app to FairwayFX". whatsthe.app still shows the old name. | [2, 1] |
| How the AI works | an on-device model that detects the ball; tracing runs on the phone | C | The App Store text says the app "uses AI-powered ball detection" and that all video processing happens on the device; the privacy policy says the same. Since version 1.7.0 (4 April 2026) "The ML model now downloads on demand". No source names the model. | [2, 5] |
| Other apps of the studio | UV Tan: Tanning & Sun Tracker; Photo Dump: Shared Camera; Pocket Stylist, retired in December 2024 | B | The App Store developer page lists the three live apps; the studio's site describes them and the retired one, and marks all three live apps "Open to offers". | [3, 6] |
| Ratings | 201 ratings, average 4.4 of 5 on the US App Store; 2.9 of 5 from 152 ratings on Google Play | B | Apple's page on 27 October 2026; the Google Play value is shown by whatsthe.app. | [2, 1] |
| Age rating | 4+ | B | Apple's page. The privacy policy says the app is not intended for children under 13. | [2, 5] |
| For sale | open to offers; price not published | C | The studio's app page: "It is available. Financials are shared with qualified buyers under NDA." whatsthe.app does not list it for sale. | [8, 1] |
| Time from release to the October 2026 figure | 9 months | calc | Calculated: January 2026 to October 2026. | [1] |
How to read this table: a grade A value was read by whatsthe.app from the app's RevenueCat account through an API key. A grade B value is a record that Apple or the app stores show. A grade C value was written by the founder or the studio, on its website, in its privacy policy or in the app's store text. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it.
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 | Free download; the free limits are not stated |
| Pro Weekly | US$5.99 a week (about US$25.96 a month) or US$3.99 a week (about US$17.29 a month) | ||
| Pro Yearly | 3.33 | US$39.99 a year; also listed at US$24.99 a year, about US$2.08 a month |
The website has no pricing page. Apple lists two prices for each plan, and whatsthe.app shows the same four; no source says which users see the lower price. The per-month values are calculated: US$39.99 divided by 12 is about US$3.33, US$24.99 divided by 12 about US$2.08, US$5.99 times 52 divided by 12 about US$25.96, and US$3.99 the same way about US$17.29. No page lists what the free version includes; since June 2026 the export of hole recap videos is part of the paid plan.
When did FairwayFX launch, and how did it grow?
From a retired AI styling app to a golf video app with verified revenue in nine months. Each entry carries its grade.
- December 2024CThe studio retires Pocket Stylist, a styling app, because users had to upload many clothes and "AI and advertising costs" made it unsustainable with few users. [6]
- 31 December 2025CDate of the app's privacy policy, which says that all video processing happens on the device. [5]
- 14 January 2026BGolf Shot Tracer is released on the App Store, sold by Emmett Deen. [1, 2]
- 24 February 2026BVersion 1.5.1 adds a lookahead algorithm that compares several detection paths before it commits to one. [2]
- 30 March 2026BVersion 1.6.1 asks users to rate each trace with a thumb; a thumbs-up user can share the video "to be featured in marketing". [2]
- 4 April 2026BVersion 1.7.0: the machine-learning model now downloads on demand instead of shipping inside the app. [2]
- 13 to 15 April 2026BVersion 1.8.1 rebuilds the tracing engine; two days later version 1.9.0 returns to the version 1.7.0 tracing. [2]
- 22 June 2026BVersion 1.11.0 adds recap videos of several holes with score overlays; six days later their export becomes part of the paid plan. [2]
- 4 to 10 July 2026BThe app is renamed FairwayFX "to avoid confusion with other brands". [2]
- 1 October 2026ALast whatsthe.app update: MRR of US$5,262, 987 active subscriptions, 277 trials, US$7,114 in 28 days. [1]
- 20 October 2026BVersion 1.14.3 adds physics-based flight paths for when the ball becomes hard to see. [2]
Why did FairwayFX work?
Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.
One tap, then the model
The user taps the ball once and the on-device model follows it through the frames, at 30 to 240 frames a second according to the release notes. The user can then move control points by hand. An October 2026 review says tracing one video took 10 to 15 minutes with corrections, and a January review calls it the most accurate tracer app the reviewer had tried.
No server cost per video
The home page says "100% On-Device Processing" and "GPU-Accelerated", and the privacy policy says videos are never uploaded. The studio retired its earlier AI app, Pocket Stylist, in December 2024 partly because of AI costs. Here the phone does the work, so a new user costs the studio nothing beyond the model download.
A video made for sharing
The export is a 1080p video without a watermark, and the store text names Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Since March 2026 the app invites users who like a trace to send it "to be featured in marketing". No source says how many customers came from shared videos.
Many small releases
The App Store history shows 25 versions from February to October 2026. One rebuild of the tracing engine was taken back after two days, the setup guide added a white-ball requirement, and later releases added hole recaps, Halloween effects and physics-based flight paths.
How it was built
These details come from the App Store page (grade B), the privacy policy and the studio's site (grade C) and the whatsthe.app listing (grade A for the revenue source). [2, 5, 1, 7]
- An on-device machine-learning model detects the ball; since April 2026 it is downloaded on demand. A separate swing-detection model is also downloaded. No source names either model or the tool used to train it.
- Firebase Analytics for usage statistics, Firebase Authentication for an anonymous user ID and Sentry for crash reports, according to the privacy policy.
- RevenueCat records the subscriptions; whatsthe.app reads the revenue from it through an API key. The Apple App Store and Google Play handle the payments.
- The app runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, is 174.9 MB, needs iOS 15 or later and is offered in English only.
- The About page describes the founder as a Flutter and Dart specialist; no source says which framework FairwayFX is built with.
Tools named in the sources
Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.
Who tried this before FairwayFX, and why did they fail?
Four companies in the Loot Drop database sold automatic video editing or motion tracking before a phone could run a vision model on its own. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.
HighlightCam
The promiseAutomatic video edits made by an algorithm, without editing work by the user.
Why it diedPhones and consumer editing software such as iMovie made editing easy, and the established products added similar features.
ReelSurfer
The promiseA simple desktop tool to cut and share clips from videos.
Why it diedYouTube and Facebook built the same features into their platforms, and mobile apps took the users.
Zigfu
The promiseSoftware that let developers add motion sensing with Microsoft's Kinect camera to their applications.
Why it diedIt depended on one device, and Microsoft moved away from Kinect.
Enflux
The promiseClothing with sensors that tracked movement in 3D and gave feedback on form.
Why it diedThe clothing was costly to make, and Fitbit and Apple kept adding features to their wearables.
The failed startups come from Loot Drop, a free database of dead startups, retold here in our own words. Loot Drop describes its entries as AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so these cards carry no evidence grade.
What changed
Zigfu needed a Kinect camera and Enflux sensor clothing to follow a movement. HighlightCam and ReelSurfer edited video automatically, but lost to the editing features that phones and platforms added for free. Each raised money, from US$200,000 to US$1.25 million, and closed.
FairwayFX follows a small, fast object with the ordinary camera and the processor of a phone, so it needs no hardware and no server. One person built it as a side project, and whatsthe.app read US$5,262 of MRR nine months after the release. The HighlightCam risk remains: a golf video tracer is one feature, and a larger app or the phone makers could add it. The App Store already lists another app called Golf Tracer as similar.
Can one person copy FairwayFX now?
Yes, for a developer who can ship a vision model on the phone.
A one-feature app for a sport whose players already film themselves, with the AI on the device, is open to any mobile developer who can train or adapt a detection model. FairwayFX shows that golfers pay for it. The hard part is accuracy on small, fast objects in shaky videos, which the release notes show took many versions.
Where it is still open: Ball and object tracers for other sports that are filmed on phones, such as baseball, tennis or cricket, if no larger app already offers one.
- 1Pick a task that people in one sport do by hand on their own videos.
- 2Run the model on the phone, so that each new user adds no server cost, and download the model on demand to keep the app small.
- 3Make the output a video that users want to post, and ask the users who like it for permission to use it in marketing.
- 4Connect the RevenueCat account to a verification site, so that the figures can be checked by a buyer later.
What could go wrong for FairwayFX?
The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.
One snapshot of the figures
All revenue figures come from one whatsthe.app reading, last updated on 1 October 2026. No second dated figure, TrustMRR profile or founder statement exists, so the trend rests on whatsthe.app's 28-day growth values: -2.4% for MRR and +0.1% for subscribers. The studio shares its financials only with buyers under NDA.
Open to offers
The studio's site marks FairwayFX, UV Tan and Photo Dump "Open to offers" and invites buyers to "discuss terms and handover". It also offers contract development and a second opinion on other people's apps. This story is about the app, which is software sold to golfers; the contract work is not part of it.
Ratings and early reviews
The app has an average of 4.4 on the US App Store but 2.9 on Google Play. One of the four reviews shown on the App Store page, dated on the release day, 14 January 2026, comes from a user named "TheDeenMachine" and calls the automatic tracking "pretty accurate". No source says who wrote it. An October review says that tracing one video took 10 to 15 minutes.
Privacy label and policy
Apple's privacy label says that identifiers and usage data may be used to track users across other companies' apps and websites, and lists photos or videos as data linked to the user. The privacy policy names only Firebase and Sentry, says nothing about tracking for advertising and says that videos never leave the device. Users can send videos to the company through the thumbs-up prompt. Apple notes that it has not verified the label.
A one-feature app with competitors
The app was renamed in July 2026 "to avoid confusion with other brands", and Apple lists an app named Golf Tracer as similar. The app is rated 4+ and has no face or body scoring, so the 26 October 2026 rule on such apps does not apply.
Sources
The grade next to each source is the best grade that the source can support. "Read in full" means that the text of the page was downloaded and the numbers were checked in it.
- A whatsthe.app listing: Golf Shot Tracer, read 27 October 2026Read in full, including the data embedded in the page. The revenue, subscription and customer metrics were read by whatsthe.app through RevenueCat, last updated on 1 October 2026; the founder, release date, store ratings and downloads come from the listing and the store data.
- B FairwayFX: Trace Golf Shots on the US App Store, read 27 October 2026Read in full: description, in-app purchases, version history, reviews, privacy label, age rating, seller and copyright line. The seller, dates, ratings and age rating are Apple's records; the description, release notes and prices are written by the developer.
- B App Store developer page: Emmett Deen, read 27 October 2026Read in full. Lists three apps: FairwayFX, UV Tan and Photo Dump.
- C FairwayFX home page, read 27 October 2026Read in full. Source for the on-device processing and the description of the product. The site has no pricing page.
- C FairwayFX Privacy Policy, last updated 31 December 2025Read in full. Source for the third-party services, the on-device video processing and the children's privacy statement.
- C Deen Venture Studio home page, read 27 October 2026Read in full. Source for the studio's apps, the retired Pocket Stylist, the town and the offers of contract work and acquisition.
- C Deen Venture Studio: About, read 27 October 2026Read in full. Source for the one-person studio, the side-project status, the founder's job and the 2022 grant.
- C Deen Venture Studio: FairwayFX app page, read 27 October 2026Read in full. Source for the computer-vision description and the acquisition offer.
- C Loot Drop database export, 1,749 failed startupsLocal export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.