21 ratings squeezed into Taiwan's finance Top Grossing chart: a dividend app a stock investor built for himself, and how he sells it on Threads

"ETF配息通" is an iPhone app built by an individual developer in Taiwan that answers just one question: for the ETFs I hold, when does the next payment land, and how much will I receive this month and this year in total. It launched in Sep 11, and by Nov 6 it had only 21 ratings, yet it has stayed between #15 and #70 on Taiwan's App Store finance Top Grossing chart. The features aren't exclusive. A rival with nearly the same functions and half the price, and not a single rating, appeared around the same time. The difference is who is selling: the developer is himself a dividend investor, and he sells the app on Threads while posting his own holdings.

"I'm not a company, and I'm not rich either."

In Sep 17, on the app's sixth day, a user with the handle "Only Chunghwa Telecom can log in!" gave it 2 stars:

The free tier only lets you add three ETFs, which is far too few. I deleted the app right after downloading it… Purchasing is only monthly or yearly subscriptions, with no one-time purchase 🥲

Two days later the developer replied:

Servers, cloud storage, and the time it takes to build an app all cost money. I'm not a company, and I'm not rich either. I don't understand why everything has to be free for you 🥲. When I built it, I thought three slots would be enough for most people. If you want more features, paying 60 dollars isn't expensive 😭

A reply like this is off-limits under any large company's customer service rules, yet here it worked. In Oct 30, a 5-star review came in: "I just want to say, one of the comments left me speechless 🙄🥱 Keep it up, author." The same day, another 5-star review said, "An app this convenient must support the developer!" The 2-star reviewer had asked for a one-time purchase, and he actually did it: in Oct 22 he launched a lifetime Pro version.

What it is

Taiwan ETF dividend calendar with a built-in income calculator. On the App Store (11-06):

• Dividend per unit, ex-dividend date (gold) and payment date (mint) for each ETF. The calendar covers the whole market, or just your watchlist.
• Enter how many shares you hold and your buy/sell history. The app checks, period by period, whether you qualify for each payout, and projects your next payment, this month's total, and the full year's total. It sits front and center on the home screen.
• Desktop widget, five color themes, no sign-up, no ads.
• The free version shows all the data but only lets you set full alerts for 2 ETFs (it was 3 at launch). Pro unlocks unlimited watchlists and alerts, alerts one day before or on the ex-dividend date, and a dividend ranking.

Price (App Store Taiwan storefront, 11-06): NT$60 per month, NT$590 per year (7-day trial), NT$2,490 lifetime. iPhone and iPad only, no Android version.

The developer is CHEN CHUN FAN, and this is the only app under their name. They shipped 15 versions in 6 and reply to nearly every review. The release notes ask for downloads directly: 1.0.10 says "I'm working hard on this app, hoping everyone will share it," and 1.0.11 says "Please help share the app."

Why now

Retail participation in Taiwan ETFs is surging. Central Depository data (reported by MoneyDJ and Economic Daily News) shows that as of mid-October 2026, Taiwan ETF holder accounts hit a record 19.2M, with 7.07M added this year alone, and 0050 alone has 3.74M holders. High-dividend ETFs that pay monthly or quarterly, like 0056, 00878 and 00919, have led many newcomers to ask every month, "When does the money land, and how much?" The answers are everywhere: fund-company websites, the TWSE dividend lists, Wantgoo, MoneyDJ, broker apps. But they're scattered, and you have to look them up and do the math yourself.

The review pain point says it plainly: "I don't have to calculate what I'll get every time. Just enter my shares and it tallies it up." The developer replied: "I built it, and it's a feature I use myself."

Where users come from

Almost entirely the developer's own doing.

Their Threads account.@vfann___, "Taiwan ETF dividend life | Ivan," with 1,118 followers (11-06). The bio reads: "ETF long-term holding + stock pledge + small credit leverage. Using ETF high dividends to cover my living costs, aiming for 50k monthly payouts... I built an app called 'ETF Dividend Pass.'" Posts are about everyday holding, market swings and complaints, with App Store links under them. When Taiwan stocks pulled back in early November, he posted: "Crashed hard... I bought more 0056, 00878, 00919 today. This app can help calculate dividends." Individual posts get from tens to a couple hundred views.

Promo codes in the launch post.The launch post said: "Originally just a small ETF dividend tool for myself, it grew more complete and I released it... there's a promo code in the comments." Another post said: "Exclusive launch promo code for Threads followers."

A bit of luck.A user shared a screenshot on Threads, and Meta AI auto-replied: "The account owner uses the app 'ETF Dividend Pass.'"

Store search (inferred).The name itself is the search term "ETF dividend."

I found no paid ads, creator partnerships or press coverage, and no one discussing it on PTT, Dcard or X.

The chart movement lines up too: from Oct 30 to Nov 1, it climbed from #162 to #15 on the Taiwan Finance Top Free chart (overall Top Free: #185), and by Nov 1 it reached #15 on Top Grossing. In the past few days he has also been posting dividend-stock threads on Threads back to back. Claiming a causal link is an inference.

Why does an app with 21 ratings make Top Grossing?

Because the bar for Taiwan's finance Top Grossing chart is very low. On the same chart in Nov 6, CMoney's "ETF Long-Term Holding Plan" had 6,203 ratings and ranked #22; "ETF News" had 30 ratings and ranked #49; ETF Dividend Pass had 21 ratings and ranked #30. At this rank, a few dozen NT$60-tier subscriptions are enough (estimate).

So to be clear: it "charted," it didn't "get big." A third-party estimate puts global installs at 1k+. Revenue backed out from the rank works out to roughly a few dozen subscriptions a month, a few hundred dollars a month (estimate).

Who it's competing with

The one to watch is ETF Dividend Quick Check. It launched 4 days after Dividend Pass, with similar features at half the price, and has zero ratings. That suggests Dividend Pass isn't winning on features.

Risks

• The data needs constant upkeep.1.0.5 and 1.0.6 both had two versions in a row with notes like "Dividend data was wrong, fixing gradually, please be patient." 10-07 has 4-star reviews saying "Many dividends were announced days ago, but the app hasn't caught up." Accuracy is the product, and once the data is wrong, trust is gone.
• Low ceiling.One market, one asset class, one creator's audience. That caps the size.
• Thin product moat.Copying it takes a few weeks, and Taiwan already has five or six similar apps in this niche.

If it were you

B. Worth trying, but don't copy the Taiwan play.What you can copy is the approach: be a retail dividend investor yourself, and use a real persona in a community to softly promote a small tool that answers "how much will I get." Taiwan is crowded now, so pick another market. Keep revenue expectations low. This is side-project scale.

Who it suits:Indie developers who actually hold ETFs and collect dividends, already have an account in an investing community and are willing to post their holdings daily, can read local fund-company announcements, and will spend time each week checking data. A native speaker of the target market's language is best.

Who it doesn't suit:People who want to write code but won't show their face or post (ETF Dividend Quick Check is the counterexample); people hoping to grow through organic store traffic or paid acquisition (ticket size is NT$60, a few dozen subscriptions a month can't fund ads); people unwilling to maintain data long-term.

How to do it: Pick a market where dividend-income retail investors are growing fast and no good "payout calendar" app exists yet. Candidates are Japan's high-yield ETFs and NISA dividend stockholders, Korea's monthly-dividend ETFs, and Hong Kong's income stocks and ETFs. Heat and competition in these markets are unverified, so before you commit, search "配当", "배당" and "派息" in each local App Store and count the results. The core is only three things: a holdings payout simulator, ex-dividend and payout reminders, and a desktop widget. The free version caps the number of reminders but not lookups. At launch, offer monthly, annual and one-time lifetime purchase together, so you don't wait for bad reviews to push you there. For the next features, follow the reviews: Taiwan users are already asking for tax info like "股利 54C and capital gains split", and some want multi-account and family-combined stats.

How to get users:Go where local retail investors gather. In Taiwan that's Threads; in Japan, look at X; in Korea, try Naver blogs or communities (inferred). Post from your own account: your holdings, screenshots of dividends landing, your market mood. Add the link to each post. At launch, share a community-exclusive promo code in the comments. Personally reply to every store review, including the negative ones, in a personal voice, not a corporate one.

When to launch:There's no hard deadline, but sign-ups for dividend tools cluster around the peak ex-dividend and payment seasons, and during big drops when people buy the dip. Launching a little before a major local ex-dividend season lets you catch the first wave of "when does the money land" demand.

What would show you misread the picture:(1) Dividend Pass drops out of the top 100 of Taiwan's finance Top Grossing chart before January 2027 and doesn't recover, showing that even the original's persona couldn't keep paying users; (2) an unpromoted clone like ETF Dividend Quick Check starts charting steadily, showing that demand and store search are doing the work rather than the creator, which would undercut the "you must personally promote" premise and make the space more crowded; (3) a broker or fund-company app adds a "holdings-based payout calendar," and the reason for this small tool disappears.