3k+ Users in 4 Weeks: How I Built and Shipped a Privacy-First Tool Using Next.js 14

It’s been almost four weeks since I launched my side project, an anonymousTwitterWebViewer, on Jan 7. As of today, we just hit 3,034 active users.

As an indie developer, I've learned that shipping a product is 20% coding and 80% distribution. Here’s the breakdown of how I moved the needle:

1. Your First 5 Testers are your VIPs
   Early on, a random user from Reddit became my unofficial QA lead and Product Manager. She provided brutal feedback on iOS-specific WebKit focus bugs.Without that "this feels off" valuable and challenging moment from a real user, I would have spent months self-testing in a bubble.

2. Build in Public with Real Data
   I started sharing real numbers and frequently use build in public hashtags. This transparency attracted other engineers. Interestingly, this tool has become a productivity hack for developers who need to check threads without the friction of login walls.

3. SEO is Boring, but Shipping > Coding
   As engineers, we love Next.js 14 and clean SSR code. But I’ve learned that a well-built product with zero SEO is just a ghost town. I spent time on building daily backlinks. It’s tedious, but essential.

4. The "German Pivot": Localized SEO Wins
   While English is the main battlefield, I noticed a huge demand for privacy in the DACH region. I launched a German version to target low-competition keywords like "Twitter anonym lesen".
   🇩🇪 Für meine deutschen Freunde: Lies X/Twitter Threads anonym und ohne Anmeldung. Jetzt mit vollständiger deutscher Unterstützung unter twitterwebviewer.com/de. Keine Tracking-Cookies, 100% Privatsphäre.
   

5. Most importantly, love your own product and use it daily before pitching to others
   I shipped a PWA version and put it on my own home screen. Using the tool daily is the only way to catch the small bugs that drive users away(although I'm not a fan of it).

What's next? I'm applying these lessons to my new projects: IG Profile Viewerand an Excel AI Assistant.Also,
Still early days for twitterwebviewer, but the next milestone is getting closer to 10k users (mostly by improving onboarding and smoothing out the rough edges). We'll see where it goes.

I’m happy to chat in the comments about my stack, SEO distribution, or how I’m scaling to the 10k user milestone!

Comments

[peter_anderson33]

Thanks for reading! One thing I didn't deep dive into in the post was the caching strategy I used with Next.js 14 to keep the thread loading snappy while maintaining 100% anonymity.

Also, that WebKit focus bug was a nightmare for our iOS users, if anyone has dealt with similar mobile browser quirks, I'd love to swap stories!

Check out the live view twitter without login tool here: twitterwebviewer.com and if you're in Germany, try the localized version: twitterwebviewer.com/de. 🇩🇪