Gumroad is my secret weapon for finding underground Android apps

When it comes to purchasable software — including apps, games, wallpapers, icon packs, screensavers, and utilities — we’re all familiar with today’s deeply entrenched ecosystems: the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, the Microsoft Store, the Amazon Appstore, Steam, Epic Games, and so on and so forth.

The problem with these closed, ecosystem-dependent storefronts isn’t just that they’re proprietary — it’s that big tech giants rule the roost and impose arbitrary restrictions and penalizing fees on developers. While free and open-source alternatives like GitHub and F-Droid are worth dabbling in for hobbyist work, they aren’t designed with monetization in mind, and so they aren’t viable e-commerce replacements for indie creators and the like.

That’s where a digital distribution platform called Gumroad comes into the picture: it’s a one-stop-shop for digital creators to sell their products directly to customers, without the need to rely so much on big tech, and without the need to set up complex infrastructure setups. And, while fees are still a part of the equation, they’re kept relatively reigned in, which is a nice bonus.

Personally, I find Gumroad doesn’t receive the love it so rightfully deserves. No, it’s not the only e-commerce platform of its kind ( Shopify, Lemon Squeezy, Payhip, and itch.io are among the competing platforms with steady user bases), but it’s the one I always turn to for all things indie software related due to its massive library of digital goods.

A treasure trove of indie development

E-commerce without all the stipulations

Gumroad hosts a diverse collection of software products and applications from a broad base of developers, ranging across both mobile and desktop. In the past, I’ve relied on the platform to purchase various macOS utilities and screensavers, as well as to snag expertly crafted icon packs for iPhone and iPad.

I’m a fan of the clean, no-nonsense approach to design that the platform embraces, with its simple iconography and its liberal use of negative space. Even with this simplicity in mind, there are small delights to be found across the interface, such as the reactive effects that animate when hovering over certain UI buttons with a cursor.

Gumroad’s discover section is curated with tons of products, and each entry offers a full-featured page with a rating and review section, a description, photos and videos, and the option to add it to a wishlist. Importantly, there’s a prominently placed ‘nutrition label’ on deck as well, which conveys details about a given product’s operating system and processor architecture support, license details, version number, and payment structure.

If I had one complaint about Gumroad, it’d have to be the subpar mobile app experience it provides. Across both Android and iOS, Gumroad’s mobile interface is clunky, dated, and limited in terms of utility. With so much software discoverability potential, it’s a shame to see the app in the state that it’s currently in.

Though far from a perfect platform, Gumroad remains my secret hangout spot for finding indie apps, utilities, and more. It’s where I discovered and subsequently purchased the excellent Bauhaus Clock screensaver that I recently wrote about, and it’s also where I grabbed the Festivitas app for some seasonal vibes during last year’s holiday season.