Little Free Library
44
Quality Score
Emerging
Little Free Library
by Little Free Library, Ltd
Medium confidence
✍️ Bumetric analysis
“
Little Free Library is an iOS app from Little Free Library, Ltd in the Food & Drink category, currently rated 3.4★ across 126 ratings. Initial signal reads as mostly critical sentiment so far: users flag rough edges and unmet expectations.
Quality Score is 44: Emerging (early traction worth watching). For a Food & Drink app, that means early traction worth watching. The full BU Investment Matrix below scores 8 dimensions including monetisation, growth, and operational risk.
Track changes month-over-month in the Performance section below: live snapshot history and revenue forecast included.
💰 Monthly revenue · now vs forecast
● Right now
$500
per month
→
12-mo forecast
$437 – $1575
per month
→
24-mo forecast
$405 – $3644
per month
INDIE tier
💡 Grow this revenue
Free AI audit of this app’s store listing
- Title & subtitle keyword fit
- Description hook & conversion structure
- Screenshots, ratings, reviews strategy
Typical impact: +2-5× organic installs
📊 Performance Tracking LIVE
42 snapshots on record
Rating
3.4
Reviews
126 reviews
Forecast Revenue / mo
$500
Snapshots tracked
42
since Oct 2021
ONE-TIME · BUILD
💰 Estimated build cost
$85K
↳ What it cost to build · not monthly revenue
Likely range $65K – $115K
$25K · MVP floor
$100K · indie scale
$500K+ · studio build
📈
Slow ROI — current MRR is well below build cost
Synthetic estimate. Inputs: category complexity, file size, screen count, monetization layer, platform reach, age × team-size proxy. Calibrated against 2024-2026 indie-agency rate surveys. Full math + source list on /methodology.
Where the money goes
| 🧱 MVP baseline (design + 1-store ship) | +$28K |
| 📱 5 unique screens × $4.5K | +$22K |
| ⚙ Food & Drink complexity ×1.10 | +$5K |
| ⚙ 5.0y maintenance × ~1-person team | +$29K |
Total estimate
$85K
ONE-TIME · EXIT VALUE
💵 Estimated acquisition value
$5K
↳ What it would sell for · not monthly revenue
Marketplace range $5K – $10K · 14× MRR multiple
💸
~0.1× build cost (under-water)
Synthetic estimate. Multiple band derived from ad-supported + age, rating quality, category demand, and user-base maturity. Calibrated against 2024-2026 indie-app-marketplace closed-deal medians. Full math + comparable deal list on /methodology.
How the multiple was built
| 📺 Ad-supported base | 15× MRR |
| 📅 5.0y proven track record | +20% |
| ⭐ ★ rating < 3.5 (weak) | -18% |
| ⭐ Small user base (<1K ratings) | -8% |
Final multiple
14× MRR
👥 Estimated audience size
9.4K
Lifetime downloads (US-equivalent)
Monthly active
1.0K
Daily active
200
Synthetic estimate from ratings × category benchmarks. Calibrated against 2024-2026 mobile-attribution retention + DAU/MAU reports. Numbers are US-storefront-equivalent — true global audience can be 5-10× larger for international apps. Full math + source list on /methodology.
How we sized it
| 📲 Food & Drink engagement | ~100 installs / rating |
| 📅 5.0y of rating accumulation | -25% |
| 🔁 Food & Drink D30 retention | 14% |
| 📍 DAU / MAU stickiness | 0.20 |
DAU / MAU
20% sticky
🛠 Estimated tech stack
🍎
Native iOS (SwiftUI)
High confidence · 80%
Also possible
Native iOS (Swift / UIKit)
Heuristic guess from app bundle size, category, store description signals, and release-date stack era. Bumetric does not disassemble binaries — for binary-level certainty you would need an SDK intelligence tool or the manifest itself. Reasoning chain on the right. Full ruleset on /methodology.
Signals we read
| 📦 App bundle size | 17 MB |
| 🏷 Category context | Food & Drink |
| 📦 Compact iOS bundle | → Native SwiftUI (post-2020 era) |
💀 Maintenance status
Active
15%
Last shipped 2026-09-22 · 11 days ago
0 · Active
50 · At risk
100 · Abandoned
Heuristic risk score from time-since-last-update + ratings velocity proxy + Editor's Choice / curated featuring signals. Calibrated against 2024-2025 app-store ranking decay reports. Not a guarantee — a quiet app with a healthy codebase looks the same as an abandoned one until something breaks. Full math on /methodology.
Risk signals
| 📅 11 days since last update | Active development |
| 👥 Small user base (126 ratings) + 5.0y old | +10% (solo-project pattern) |
Verdict
Active
🔬
How we forecast this revenue
LOW CONFIDENCEBaseline
$500/mo · ML-estimated from 234 triggers
Growth rate
+6.0% MoM · INDIE tier baseline (compound monthly)
6 months
$426 – $993
12 months
$437 – $1.6K
24 months
$405 – $3.6K
Compound growth at +6.0% MoM (tier baseline for INDIE). Range widens with horizon — typical noise band ±40% at 6mo.. Ranges widen with horizon — distant futures carry more uncertainty.
📊
BU Investment Matrix
Pre-traction · 37/100INDIE TIERlimited signalGrowth Velocity
5.0
Founder Strength
3.0
Product Quality
4.7
Revenue Strength
2.7
Monetization Maturity
1.0
Defensibility
3.2
Market Position
2.0
Operational Safety
8.0
- 💰 Revenue: Marginal — $200 - $1250/mo · INDIE tier · medium confidence, trajectory unclear.
- ⭐ Quality: 3.36★ across 126 reviews — below category median.
- 📍 Market: Not yet charting in any of the 9 monitored markets.
- 📈 Growth: Insufficient signal to assess trajectory.
- ⚠️ Risk: Moderate — no material risk signals detected.
🎯 For competitors: Mixed picture. Worth competing if you have a clear UX or pricing edge — otherwise crowded segment.
💵 For acquirers: Estimated asking range 18-32× monthly = $9K-$16K.
Composite of 8 dimensions computed deterministically from public signals — no LLM, every score traces back to a measurable input. Default weights shown; "compete" / "acquire" / "invest" lenses re-weight without re-fetching.
Range:
💰 Forecast Revenue / mo
MODELRevenue forecast computed from BU's 234 trigger model on each snapshot. Calibrated against ground-truth from 58 verified-revenue apps.
🔬Forecast Breakdown — Why This Estimate?Top 8 of 8 triggers
Our ML model uses 200+ signals from public data. These are the most influential for this app:
| bugsREVIEW | −$1,800 | |
| Below-average rating (3.4★)METRIC | −$1,500 | |
| highly recommendREVIEW | +$1,400 | |
| slowREVIEW | −$1,200 | |
| Established app (4y old)METRIC | +$800 | |
| Ad-supported / freemiumMETRIC | +$600 | |
| Early-stage install base (126 ratings)METRIC | +$400 | |
| Single-language (English only)METRIC | −$400 |
METRIC = structural app data · REVIEW = mined from user reviews · ✓ VERIFIED = Stripe-verified anchor (TrustMRR)
📈 Reviews Growth
LIVECumulative review count from first BU snapshot. Each point = a tracked update.
⭐ Rating Trend
LIVEAverage rating evolution. Updates with each new review batch.
🆕 What's New · v1.13.10
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Profile & Insights
Everything we know — and don't — about this app and its company.
Identification
- App name
- Little Free Library
- Developer
- Little Free Library, Ltd
- Bundle ID
- com.littlefreelibrary.LFL
- App Store URL
- Open in App Store
- Category
- Food & Drink
- Content rating
- 4+
- Languages
- EN
Company
- Website
- Not found
- Tagline
- Today
- Description
- Find apps and games for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more on the App Store.
- Founded
- Not found
- HQ / Address
- Not found
- Employees
- Not found
- Logo
- Available
Revenue
- Reported revenue signal / mo
- Not found
- AI revenue estimate / mo
- Not found
- AI annual estimate
- Not found
- Model estimate / mo
- $500/mo
- Top-grossing rank
- Outside top 100 in US Food & Drink
- All-time revenue
- Not found
- Pricing
- Not found
Founder
Founder data not yet collected for this app.
Funding
Funding data not yet collected for this app.
Press & Links
Press & Links data not yet collected for this app.
Contacts & Socials
Contacts & Socials data not yet collected for this app.
📈Ratings growth169 ratings+5533% lifetimeShow 3-year history estimate ▾
Tracked (42 weeks) Pre-tracking estimate (0 weeks) · model-based, ±5% noise · anchored to release date and current value
🌍Geographic ReachNot ranked
This app is currently outside the top 100 grossing in all 9 countries we monitor (US, UK, DE, FR, JP, CA, AU, BR, IN). Niche or new apps often launch this way — popularity rankings appear once daily revenue clears the regional threshold.
🚀Update Frequency · Releases per Quarter5 releases tracked
🚀Version Release Timeline5 releases tracked
Profile is built from iTunes Lookup + developer site scrape + ML revenue model. Empty fields show "Not found" — additional sources (Crunchbase, X, IndieHackers, Acquire.com) coming.
📝 About this app
The Little Free Library app makes it easy to find little library locations near you! Use the search filters to narrow in on little libraries you want to visit, easily get directions to the nearest ones, or create a route. See a library you like? Add it to your list of favorites. Track the libraries you visit using the handy check-ins feature. If you’re a Little Free Library steward, there’s a section of the app just for you that lets you edit your library’s listing in real time!
Little Free Library Map:… View full description on the official store →
Little Free Library Map:… View full description on the official store →
App Specs
🔐 Own this app? Claim & verify MRR →💾 17 MB🔞 4+📱 iOS 15.0+🔖 v1.13.10🔄 updated 1w ago🌐 EN📂 Food & Drink💰 Free🚀 Launched 2021 (4y old)
📅
What Worked™ · Development Pipeline
16 EVENTS TRACKEDDetected changes in this app over its tracked lifetime — each event links cause (what changed) to effect (what moved). Sorted newest first.See full history →Version history →
2026-09
🔧
Shipped update — v1.13.8 → v1.13.10
2026-08
🔧
Shipped update — v1.13.6 → v1.13.8
→ 30 days after: reviews +8 high confidence
2026-07
🔧
Shipped update — v1.13.2 → v1.13.6
→ 30 days after: rating −0.09★ · reviews +13 high confidence
2026-06
🔧
Shipped update — v1.13.0 → v1.13.2
→ 30 days after: rating +0.27★ · reviews +27 medium · co-occurring
2026-05
🔄
Monetization changed: freemium → free
→ 30 days after: rating +0.27★ · reviews +27 high confidence
2026-03
⭐
Rating ↑ 2.73 → 3.40 (improved 0.67★)
→ 30 days after: rating +0.65★ · reviews +52 high confidence
2026-03
📈
Crossed 100 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
→ 30 days after: rating +0.65★ · reviews +52 high confidence
2024-08
📈
Crossed 50 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
2022-08
⭐
Rating ↓ 3.56 → 3.24 (dropped 0.32★)
2022-03
📈
Crossed 10 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
→ 30 days after: rating −0.22★ high confidence
2022-03
📈
Crossed 10 ratings — social-proof flywheel kicking in
→ 30 days after: rating −0.18★ · reviews +5 high confidence
2022-02
⭐
Rating ↓ 4.50 → 4.11 (dropped 0.39★)
2021-11
⭐
Rating ↓ 5.00 → 4.33 (dropped 0.67★)
→ 30 days after: rating +0.17★ high confidence
2021-11
⭐
Rating ↓ 5.00 → 4.20 (dropped 0.80★)
→ 30 days after: rating −0.67★ high confidence
2021-10
🚀
First tracked snapshot — initial data captured
→ 30 days after: rating −0.67★ medium · co-occurring
2021-10
🚀
First tracked snapshot — initial data captured
→ 30 days after: rating −0.67★ medium · co-occurring
🌍
Multi-Country Performance
Available in 9 of 9 monitored markets| Market | Rating | Reviews | Current version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 AU | 2★ | 1 | 2★ this version |
| 🇧🇷 BR | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇨🇦 CA | 2.54545★ | 11 | 2.54545★ this version |
| 🇩🇪 DE | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇫🇷 FR | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇬🇧 GB | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇮🇳 IN | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇯🇵 JP | 0★ | 0 | — |
| 🇺🇸 US | 3.55621★ | 169 | 3.55621★ this version |
🔔
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📝 Description
95
BU Score · Transcendent
Full revenue analysis
Read the article-style breakdown for Little Free Library: category rank, percentile, growth signal, comparable apps, and how the forecast is calibrated against verified-MRR anchors in this niche.
About this analysis
Why medium confidence: 126 ratings · no founder-verified revenue (model estimate only).
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
10 answers · auto-generated from this app's public dataHow much does Little Free Library make per month?▴
Based on our ML-calibrated revenue forecast, Little Free Library earns approximately $500/mo. This is a US-storefront-equivalent estimate; global revenue can be several times larger for internationally-distributed apps. See the methodology page for the full formula and confidence bands.
Is Little Free Library profitable?▴
With estimated build cost $85K and monthly revenue $500, Little Free Library looks well below break-even — current monthly revenue is much smaller than the estimated build cost. Profitability also depends on paid-acquisition spend and refund rate which the public model doesn't see.
How many users does Little Free Library have?▴
Estimated audience: ~9K lifetime downloads, ~1K monthly active users, and ~200 daily active users. Derived from ratings count × category installs-per-rating × age decay. US-storefront-equivalent — global audience can be 5-10× larger for internationally-distributed apps.
What apps are like Little Free Library?▴
Browse the full Food & Drink category catalog to find similar apps with revenue, build cost, audience and tech stack data. Each /p/{slug} page also shows a Compare side-by-side widget with three peer apps from the same niche.
What is Little Free Library built with?▴
Our heuristic places Little Free Library on the Native iOS (SwiftUI) stack (High confidence, 80%). Signals: app bundle size, category context, store-description markers, release-date era. We don't disassemble binaries. Alternative possibilities: Native iOS (Swift / UIKit).
Is Little Free Library still actively maintained?▴
Maintenance status: Active (15% abandonment risk). Last shipped version was 11 days ago. The risk score combines time-since-last-update with Editor's Choice / curated featuring + user-base maturity adjustments.
How much would Little Free Library sell for?▴
Estimated acquisition value: $5.0K (marketplace range $5.0K – $10K). Calculated as 14× monthly revenue using the standard multiple for the detected monetization model + adjustments for age, rating quality and category demand. Calibrated against 2024-2026 Flippa / Acquire.com / MicroAcquire closed-deal medians.
When was Little Free Library last updated?▴
Little Free Library last shipped a new version on 2026-09-22 — less than a month ago. This is the date Apple / Google last accepted a new build, not a content-only push.
Who makes Little Free Library?▴
Little Free Library is published by Little Free Library, Ltd on the Apple App Store. See the full publisher portfolio (other apps by the same developer) via the More by developer block on the product page above.
What is Little Free Library's BU Score?▴
Little Free Library has a BU Score of 44/100 (Emerging). The score combines App Store rating, ratings count, monetization model and revenue signals calibrated against founder-verified MRR anchors. See the BU Score formula.