"Finally Here": a Durban university student's matrix of South African past-paper apps, Geography ranked #5 with zero paid cold start

Tz Studios is an individual developer in Durban making South African NSC past-paper apps, one per subject. In 2026 July he applied the same template to Grade 5 geography, and in under 4 months it got 20.9k installs. The app didn't really blow up: the curve is flat, and among South African geography apps it's a small player. It's worth a look because this "one app per subject, one brand, tied to the exam calendar" approach means that when the Nth app launches, users are already waiting to install it.

A review with 15 likes

In 2026 Aug 21, shortly after this "Geography Grade 12, 11, 10" listing on Google Play had launched just over a month earlier, someone left a five-star review that later got pinned:

"It's about time. I mean these people make the BEST past paper apps… Maths, Physics, Life Sciences, English are all there. What more do you want?" (It's about time. I mean these people make the BEST past paper apps…)

15 people marked it helpful. Another review also said: "Good app, they have other subjects too."

The people writing these reviews didn't stumble onto it by searching "geography." They'd used the maths or physics app and had been waiting for geography. The cold start for this subject was already done by the earlier apps.

What it is

A South African CAPS-curriculum high school geography revision app, with Grades 10, 11 and 12 in one package: past papers and memos (the South African term for marking guides), sorted by year and exam type (November finals, June tests, prelim/trial mock exams); separate notes for Paper 1 (climate and geomorphology) and Paper 2 (settlements, economic geography, map work); calculation practice for map work (distance, gradient, bearing, magnetic declination); plus AI explanations, flashcards and audio lessons. Most features work offline.

Free, ads only, no in-app purchases (the Play store page says "Contains ads", 11-06). On Play it has 4.9 stars from 40 ratings, a very small base. There's also a complaint: in Aug 13 one review said "Grade 12 settlements and economic geography get mixed up", and 12 people marked it helpful.

The address on the developer page is Amanzimtoti, south of Durban. According to founder Thandolwethu Zondi's LinkedIn, he's still studying at the University of Johannesburg and says his education apps have been used by over 50 million students.

One app per subject, five subjects in four years

There's also an engineering drawing app (EGD), and a South African radio app is visible under "More by" on Play. The maths app's package name is com.android9hacks.maths, unlike the com.tzstudios naming of later apps, which looks like a name he used when first setting up the account (inferred). The first four apps together have roughly 780k installs.

Each one shares the same skeleton: the title names all three grades, the content is past papers, memos and notes, plus practice specific to that subject. The maths app already sells in-app purchases ($2.49–2.99); the geography app is currently ads-only, and it will probably follow the same path later (inferred).

Where users come from: returning users, search terms, the exam calendar

Returning users installing the new app is the strongest evidence. The two reviews above are the proof. The developer's Play page and the "More by" section under each app all funnel traffic to new subjects; his Linktree puts geography first. Whether the app has an in-app entry to "more subjects" wasn't checked by installing it, so it's unverified.

One package captures three grades' search terms. South African students search terms like "geography grade 12" and "grade 11 geography past papers". The title "Geography Grade 12, 11, 10" covers all three, and the description repeats past papers, memos, mapwork, NSC, June exams and prelim. The established rival JSDT uses one app per grade.

Ranking tracks the exam dates exactly. Install curve (AppstoreSpy estimate): early August, a few dozen a day; mid-August to mid-September, steady at 150–500 a day, which is when schools hold trial/prelim mocks; late September, schools close and it drops to single digits; October, back to 200–330 a day, with 10-21 to 10-26 averaging 332 a day, the highest stretch since launch. NSC Grade 2026 geography Paper 1 is sat in Oct 29. The day after, it reached its best rank of #58 on South Africa's Google Play free education chart, then slid to #138 by 11-05 and went back to #103 by 11-06. The leader JSDT's "Grade 12 Geography" followed the same shape: it climbed to #9 around 10-30, then fell to 99. Paper 2 is in Nov 12.

Channels that aren't there. No official TikTok account (the @tzstudios handle that turns up is a photo studio in Los Angeles), and nobody mentioned it on X in the last 90 days. The official site sapastpapers.co.za has SEO pages for "grade 12 past papers", but as of 11-06 it only lists 5 subjects, with no geography. The daily install curve has no spikes, which doesn't look like bought traffic. Whether it ran ads can't be fully checked from outside.

Who it's competing with: this market is already crowded

South Africa's NSC past-paper app category is a mature niche that has been around for years (Google Play installs, 11-06):

Its installs over the last 7 days, 2,484 of them, are roughly 1/8 of the JSDT geography trio. Three grades in one App, newer features, a higher rating: those differences can explain why existing users would install one more, but not how it took volume from the flagship, and in fact it took little.

A side branch is worth mentioning: on Play there's an app called "SA Papers : Past Papers", package name com.tzstudios.sapapers, but the developer name is Taptic Education, and the contact email belongs to the long-running past-paper site sapapers.co.za. Listed in April 2025, 26k installs, #59 in South African Education. What Tz has to do with that site, the outside can't tell (unverified).

Money: very little

Only ads. Ad prices in South African education are low, and with 20k installs and only a few months of real use per year, ad revenue can't be large (estimate, no public figures). Taken together, the whole catalog looks more like a university student's side income. The ceiling on scale is also visible: one country, one exam, and only so many FET-phase students (grades 10–12).

If it were you

Bottom line: This geography App isn't worth chasing on its own. The South African market is already filled by JSDT, Ultra-Deep, Hlayiso and others, and ad prices are low. What's worth learning is the catalog play behind it: build one subject into something well-reviewed, then roll the same template out one subject at a time, so each new subject launches with existing users waiting.

Who it suits: Developers who know a country's exam system well, ideally students, teachers, or people who just sat the exams there, with access to past-paper sources, who can accept slow accumulation and modest income.

Who it doesn't suit: Anyone wanting fast growth or high income. The business has only a few peak months a year, each user is worth little, and there's no breakout moment. Without knowledge of the local curriculum and access to past papers, it can't be done.

How to do it:

• Pick a different country's exams rather than crowding into South Africa. Look for fixed exam calendars, publicly available past papers, and students who mostly use Android: Kenya's KCSE, Zimbabwe's ZIMSEC, Ghana's and Nigeria's WAEC. Nigeria's JAMB/WAEC all-subject practice Apps are already crowded (Myschool 2.41M installs, TestDriller 690k). Based on the South African experience, there's room for "one subject per App, done deep" single-subject Apps, but competition in single-subject Apps in these countries hasn't been checked one by one (inference).
• Start with the subject that has the most demand, like maths or physics, build its ratings and reputation, then roll out subject by subject. Put several grades in the title so one listing covers several search terms.
• Offline use is a hard requirement, since mobile data is expensive for local students. The negative reviews for this South African App complained about content placed in the wrong chapters, so accuracy matters more than adding features.

How to get users: Early on, rely on store search, writing titles and descriptions with the terms students actually type (like "grade 12 geography past papers"). The concentrated acquisition window is the one or two months before exams, so launch before the mock exams. After that, each new subject cross-promotes within existing Apps and on the developer page. Local TikTok tutoring accounts that recommend free past-paper sites are also a route, through partnerships (inference).

When to be early: There's no window, since the exams happen every year. What matters is the year's exam calendar: launch one or two months before the mock exams to catch the first peak.

Signs you've misread it: The first subject doesn't reach a few thousand installs over a full exam season; the country you picked already has a deep single-subject catalog; or past-paper copyright is an issue locally and the store takes you down. If any of these happens, stop expanding the catalog.