Fishing AI App: Revenue, team and how it was built
Fishing AI App (iPhone app that recommends fishing lures from a photo of the fishing spot, USA): US$2.3K MRR verified through RevenueCat, October 2026. Evidence grade A: disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor. Team: 1 founder, Christopher Alonso, who publishes it under his own name; no staff reported. Launched 10 June 2025; still running, revenue falling.Added 25 October 2026
- Outcome
- US$2.3K MRR verified through RevenueCat, October 2026Revenue falling
- Evidence
- A disclosed by a company or a filing, or verified by a payment processor
- Launch
- 10 June 2025
- Status
- Still running
- Team
- 1 founder, Christopher Alonso, who publishes it under his own name; no staff reported
- Outside funding
- None reported
- Group
- Learning and study
- Main channel
- Creators and short videos
Fishing AI App is an iPhone app that picks fishing lures. A lure is an artificial bait, made of metal, plastic or wood, that an angler pulls through the water to make a fish bite; the right shape and color depend on the light, the water and the fish. The user photographs the fishing spot, and the app combines the photo with live weather, water clarity and the time of day to suggest which lures and colors to use. The App Store page names this "AI-Powered Lure Recommendations" as the first core feature, and its subtitle is "AI Lure Picker & Catch Log". A catch log, weather screens and, since August 2026, fish identification come with it. The app is free to download, but a hard paywall, a payment screen that the user must pass before using the main features, asks for a subscription: reviewers write that the app analyzes the spot and then asks them to buy premium.
The App Store lists Christopher Alonso as the developer and seller, and the same account publishes three other small subscription apps. The TrustMRR profile names the founder by the X handle @chrisnl_, which is also part of the app's bundle ID, com.chrisnl.FishingAI. The app was released on 10 June 2025. On 25 October 2026 it had monthly recurring revenue (MRR), the subscription income that repeats every month, of US$2,271 from 663 active subscriptions, and US$29,424 of revenue since launch. Revenue by month was low from November 2025 to April 2026 (US$893 in six months), rose to US$5,893 in August 2026, then fell to US$3,808 in September.
The revenue figures are grade A. TrustMRR, a site that shows startups' revenue read directly from their payment accounts, and a second site, whatsthe.app, both read them from RevenueCat, a service that records App Store subscription payments for app makers, and their figures agree. The founder's own statements on TrustMRR, such as 14,000 TikTok followers and a 60% profit margin, are grade C. The app has been for sale since May 2026, at US$20,000 on TrustMRR and US$120,000 on whatsthe.app. The page also shows earlier companies that sold expert advice for an outdoor hobby, or object recognition on a phone camera, and failed.
How much revenue does Fishing AI App 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), 25 October 2026 | US$2,271 from 663 active subscriptions | A | TrustMRR snapshot, revenue synced 25 October 2026 from RevenueCat through an API key; MRR up 4.0% in 30 days. Calculated: US$3.43 per subscription per month, and US$27,252 a year at that rate. | [1] |
| Second tracker, 28 days to 2 October 2026 | US$3,514 of revenue, MRR of US$2,210, 627 active subscriptions | A | whatsthe.app, which says "All metrics are verified with RevenueCat". Calculated: US$3.52 of MRR per subscription, close to TrustMRR's US$3.43; TrustMRR's MRR three weeks later is 2.8% higher. | [2] |
| Revenue by month | US$136 in November 2025, US$169 in April 2026, US$732 in May, US$2,597 in June, US$5,545 in July, US$5,893 in August, US$3,808 in September, US$2,359 in 1 to 25 October 2026 | A | TrustMRR monthly table. Calculated: November 2025 to April 2026 together brought US$892.79; September was 35.4% below August; June to 25 October 2026 brought US$20,202. | [1] |
| Revenue in the last 30 days, to 25 October 2026 | US$2,961, down 25.1% | A | TrustMRR. The last 3 months brought US$12,746 and the last 12 months US$22,029. Revenue counts a yearly subscription in the month it is paid, so it falls faster than MRR when fewer people subscribe. | [1] |
| Revenue since launch, to 25 October 2026 | US$29,424 | A | TrustMRR all-time figure. Calculated: the monthly table from November 2025 sums to US$21,826.79, so about US$7,597 came in June to October 2025, the first five months after release. | [1] |
| What the subscription pays for | AI lure recommendations from a photo of the spot, plus weather, catch log and fish identification | B | App Store description: "Snap a photo of your fishing spot, and get custom lure suggestions". A review of 6 August 2025 says the app "analyzes my area and says it knows what I need to use. Then it asks me if I want to buy premium". No source lists exactly which features are free. | [3, 4] |
| Prices on the US App Store, October 2026 | US$29.99 or US$19.99 a year; US$7.99 a month | B | In-app purchase list. The August 2025 copy shows the same US$29.99 yearly and US$7.99 monthly plans; the discounted yearly plan appears by July 2026. | [3, 4, 5] |
| App Store ratings in the US | 399 on 16 August 2025, 956 on 22 July 2026, about 1,500 on 25 October 2026; average 4.8 | B | Wayback Machine copies and the live page (shown as "1.5K Ratings"). TrustMRR's App Store data gives 1,478 on 12 October 2026. whatsthe.app counts about 2,000 ratings in all countries, with Canada, the UK and the Netherlands next after the US. | [4, 5, 3, 1, 2] |
| Release on the App Store | 10 June 2025 | B | whatsthe.app gives the worldwide release date of 10 June 2025; the App Store version history dates version 1.0 to 11 June 2025. whatsthe.app says business operations started in June 2025. | [2, 3] |
| Updates | 8 versions from June to August 2025, none from September 2025 to April 2026, version 2.0 on 7 May 2026, then 6 more to 12 September 2026 | B | App Store version history. Version 2.0 improved the camera screen; 2.5 (13 August 2026) added fish identification; 2.6 (12 September 2026) improved fishing spots. Revenue rose from May 2026, after the 2.0 update; no source says that the update caused the rise. | [3] |
| Founder and seller | Christopher Alonso, developer account in his own name | B | The App Store lists him as developer, seller and copyright holder. TrustMRR names the founder "Lens Chris" with the X handle @chrisnl_ (466 followers), and its App Store data gives the bundle ID com.chrisnl.FishingAI. whatsthe.app shows the same handle. | [3, 1, 2] |
| Team at the October 2026 figure | 1 founder; no employees reported | C | TrustMRR lists one founder, and the App Store account is an individual's, not a company's. No source mentions staff or contractors. | [1, 3] |
| Funding | none reported | C | No source mentions investors. TrustMRR records a profit margin of 60.0% for the last 30 days, a figure that is not among the metrics it says are verified. | [1] |
| Other apps on the same developer account | SoulFast (Christian fasting), learn lock (study before unlocking distracting apps), PetScan (pet food ingredient scanner) | B | App Store developer page and each app's page. All three are subscription apps; none of them sells a feature that the site's purpose rules exclude. | [6, 7, 8, 9] |
| Marketing | TikTok, with 14,000 followers | C | Founder-written TrustMRR fields: marketing channel TikTok, "14K Followers on TikTok", and "Top app under Fishing AI Search on AppStore". This page could not check them: TikTok blocks AI agents. | [1] |
| Tech stack | React Native, RevenueCat | C | Founder-written TrustMRR fields. No source names the AI model that reads the photo. | [1] |
| Sale listing | US$20,000 on TrustMRR, first listed 27 May 2026; US$120,000 on whatsthe.app | C | TrustMRR: 44 offers received, 0.6 times revenue. whatsthe.app: 2.8 times revenue, 0 inquiries, the listing not claimed by the seller. Calculated: US$20,000 is 0.56 times the last 30 days of revenue times 12 and 0.68 times all revenue so far. | [1, 2] |
| Time from store release to the October 2026 figure | 16 months | calc | Calculated: June 2025 to October 2026. | [2, 1] |
How to read this table: a grade A value was read from the app's RevenueCat account by TrustMRR or by whatsthe.app. A grade B value is a record that Apple shows on the App Store, now or in a Wayback Machine copy. A grade C value is a statement by the founder on his TrustMRR profile, or a directory's summary. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it.
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fishing AI Yearly | 2.50 | US$29.99 a year; premium features | |
| Fishing AI Yearly Discount | 1.67 | US$19.99 a year; premium features | |
| Fishing AI Monthly | 7.99 | premium features |
The App Store lists three subscriptions and does not say which buyer sees the discounted yearly price. Calculated: US$29.99 a year is US$2.50 a month, and US$19.99 a year is US$1.67 a month. The same monthly and yearly prices were on the App Store page in August 2025. The App Store description says "Some features require a premium subscription" and does not list which ones.
When did Fishing AI App launch, and how did it grow?
From a release in June 2025, through a quiet winter, to a summer peak in 2026 and a for-sale listing. Each entry carries its grade.
- 10 June 2025BFishing AI App is released worldwide on the App Store, under Christopher Alonso's own developer account. [2, 3]
- 27 June 2025BVersion 1.0.5 adds lure color recommendations based on real-time weather and water clarity. [3]
- 20 July 2025BVersion 1.0.15 lets users get recommendations only from the lures in their own tackle box, with tips on why each one works. [3, 4]
- 16 August 2025BThe App Store page shows 399 ratings with an average of 4.8, and subscriptions at US$29.99 a year and US$7.99 a month. [4]
- June to October 2025calcAbout US$7,597 of revenue in the first five months. [1]
- November 2025 to April 2026AUS$893 of revenue in six months, and no app updates from September 2025 to April 2026. [1, 3]
- 7 May 2026BVersion 2.0 improves the camera screen; four more updates follow in May and June. Revenue rises to US$732 in May. [3, 1]
- 27 May 2026CThe app is first listed for sale on TrustMRR. [1]
- July and August 2026ARevenue reaches US$5,545 in July and US$5,893 in August. Ratings pass 956 by 22 July. Version 2.5 adds fish identification on 13 August. [1, 5, 3]
- September 2026ARevenue falls to US$3,808. Version 2.6 improves fishing spots on 12 September. [1, 3]
- 2 October 2026Awhatsthe.app reads MRR of US$2,210 and 627 active subscriptions from RevenueCat, with the app offered there at US$120,000. [2]
- 25 October 2026ATrustMRR reads MRR of US$2,271 from 663 active subscriptions and US$29,424 of revenue since launch; the asking price there is US$20,000. [1]
Why did Fishing AI App work?
Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.
One question, answered at the water
The app is built around one decision that every angler makes: which lure to tie on. A photo of the spot plus live weather, water clarity, time of day and moon phase gives an answer in seconds, so a new angler does not need a guide or a long video. The catch log, weather screens and fish identification are added around that question.
The AI result is what the paywall sells
The app analyzes the spot first and then shows the subscription screen. A reviewer wrote in August 2025 that it "analyzes my area and says it knows what I need to use" before asking for premium. Another reviewer, in August 2026, complains that the trial offer cannot be skipped. That makes the AI answer the thing a user pays to see.
Short videos for a hobby audience
The founder lists TikTok as the marketing channel and says the account has 14,000 followers (grade C). A fishing spot and a lure suggestion are easy to show in a short video.
Season and updates
Revenue was high in the first summer, fell to about US$150 a month in the winter of 2025 to 2026, when there were no updates, and rose again from May 2026 with version 2.0 and the summer season. The sources do not say which of the two caused the rise.
How it was built
These details come from the App Store records and the founder-written fields of the TrustMRR profile. The App Store records are grade B; the tech stack is grade C. [1, 3, 4, 7]
- A React Native app, according to the founder's TrustMRR fields, published for iPhone and iPad under the developer's own name.
- Subscriptions are sold through Apple's in-app purchase and recorded in RevenueCat, which also gives TrustMRR and whatsthe.app read-only access to the revenue.
- The camera screen sends a photo of the fishing spot for analysis; the App Store privacy section lists photos, precise location and purchase history as collected data. No source names the AI model.
- Weather, cloud cover, wind, moon phase and time of day are added to the photo to choose lures and colors; users can restrict the choice to their own lures.
- Fifteen versions in 15 months, most of them in two bursts: June to August 2025 and May to September 2026.
- The App Store page links its privacy policy to a placeholder address, yourdomain.com/privacy, while the developer's other apps link to pages on Notion.
Tools named in the sources
Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.
Who tried this before Fishing AI App, and why did they fail?
Four companies in the Loot Drop database sold expert advice for an outdoor hobby, coaching for an amateur sport, or object recognition through a phone camera, and failed. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.
Edyn
The promiseA solar-powered garden sensor and water valve that read soil, sunlight and weather and told gardeners what to do.
Why it diedThe database summary says hardware costs were high, sales stayed low, and gardening demand is seasonal.
Garden.com
The promiseExpert gardening advice online, with plants chosen for the buyer's climate.
Why it diedIt shipped perishable plants at a loss, paid about US$200 to win each customer, and sold mostly in spring.
Moodstocks
The promiseObject and image recognition on a smartphone camera.
Why it diedIt could not stay different from Google's own image recognition, and Google bought it in 2016.
Charge Running
The promiseLive running classes with a coach speaking in your headphones.
Why it diedThe database summary says AI fitness apps gave personal coaching on demand, without fixed class times.
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
Edyn and Garden.com sold advice for a seasonal hobby, and both needed physical goods to deliver it: sensors and valves, or live plants shipped across the country. Each raised venture money and ran out of it. Moodstocks built phone-camera recognition as a technology and had to sell it against Google. Fishing AI App needs no hardware and no inventory, and it does not build its own recognition technology: it uses a phone camera, public weather data and an AI model that no source names, and sells the answer as a subscription through the App Store.
The seasonal problem has not gone away. TrustMRR's monthly table shows US$893 of revenue in the six months from November 2025 to April 2026, against US$5,893 in August 2026 alone. A one-person app can survive a quiet winter that would have ended a funded company, because its costs are small; the founder states a profit margin of 60% (grade C). The App Store page also lists ten other fishing apps under "You Might Also Like", four of them with AI in the name or subtitle, so the niche is no longer empty.
Can one person copy Fishing AI App now?
Yes, for a niche hobby with one clear question.
Nothing here needed an audience, funding or new technology. One developer chose a hobby question that a photo and weather data can answer, put the answer behind a subscription, and kept the app small. The limits are visible in the numbers: revenue follows the season, and competitors with the same idea appeared quickly.
Where it is still open: Other seasonal outdoor hobbies with a choice at the moment of doing it: fly selection for fly fishing, wax for skis, planting times for gardeners, and bait for ice fishing in the winter months when this app sells little.
- 1Pick a hobby where people ask the same practical question at the moment of doing it: which lure, which bait, which setting.
- 2Answer it from the phone camera plus public data (weather, time, place), and show the answer before the payment screen so users see what they would pay for.
- 3Charge a low yearly price, here US$29.99, next to a monthly one, and record payments in a service such as RevenueCat.
- 4Plan for the off-season: update before the season starts and expect most yearly subscriptions to be sold in the busy months.
What could go wrong for Fishing AI App?
The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.
A seasonal fall
Revenue fell from US$5,893 in August to US$3,808 in September and US$2,359 in the first 25 days of October 2026; TrustMRR shows the last 30 days down 25.1%. Last winter the app made US$893 in six months. MRR held at about US$2,200 to US$2,300 because yearly subscriptions bought in the summer still count, but it could drop below US$2,000 a month when those come up for renewal.
Two asking prices that do not agree
TrustMRR shows an asking price of US$20,000 with 44 offers received; whatsthe.app shows US$120,000 for a listing that the seller has not claimed. No source explains the difference, and no source says the app was sold. The App Store still shows the same developer.
Many copies of the idea
The App Store page recommends ten other fishing apps, four of them with AI in the name or subtitle: Fish AI, FishAngler, Fishing Spots and tackle - AI Fishing Assistant. The founder says the app is the top result for the search "Fishing AI" (grade C); that position is the main thing a rival could take away.
An unnamed AI model and a placeholder privacy link
No source names the AI model or its cost per photo, so this page cannot say how the margin would change if the provider raised prices. The App Store page links the privacy policy to yourdomain.com/privacy, a placeholder address, although the app collects photos and precise location.
Founder statements not checked
The TikTok audience of 14,000 followers, the 3,000 estimated users and the 60% profit margin are founder-written fields on TrustMRR, not verified metrics. TikTok blocks AI agents, so this page could not read the account.
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 TrustMRR profile of FishingAI, as read on 25 October 2026Read the markdown profile in full; revenue synced 25 October 2026 from RevenueCat through an API key. Revenue, MRR and subscription counts are grade A; the founder name, the description, the tech stack, the marketing channel, the user estimate, the profit margin and the asking price are written by the founder or not verified, grade C.
- A whatsthe.app listing of Fishing AI AppRead in full on 25 October 2026. Metrics "verified with RevenueCat", last updated 2 October 2026. Source for the second revenue reading, the release date, the ratings by country and the US$120,000 asking price.
- B Apple App Store: Fishing AI AppRead in full on 25 October 2026. Source for the features, the in-app purchase list, the ratings, the reviews, the seller, the version history, the privacy section and the similar apps.
- B Apple App Store: Fishing AI App, Wayback Machine copy of 16 August 2025Read in full. Source for the 399 ratings, the 2025 prices and the review about the payment screen.
- B Apple App Store: Fishing AI App, Wayback Machine copy of 22 July 2026Read the header, the version history and the information section. Source for the 956 ratings and the three subscription prices in July 2026.
- B Apple App Store: developer page of Christopher AlonsoRead in full on 25 October 2026. Lists the four apps on the account.
- B Apple App Store: learn lock: study to scrollRead the description. Checked for the site's purpose rules: it blocks chosen apps until the user answers study questions.
- B Apple App Store: PetScan - Pet Food ScannerRead the description. Checked for the site's purpose rules: it scans pet food labels for ingredients.
- B Apple App Store: SoulFast - Christian FastingRead the description. Checked for the site's purpose rules: a fasting tracker for Christians.
- C App Pricing Lab: Fishing AI AppRead in full. A directory built from App Store data, last updated 31 August 2025; it repeats the developer name, the release date and the 530 reviews of that date, but says the app has no in-app purchases, which the App Store copies of 2025 contradict.
- C Loot Drop database export, 1,749 failed startupsLocal export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.