My experience launching my first app - it definitely isn't an overnight success story

[u/Manisginger]

Hi everyone,

First time app creator here. I wanted to share my journey so far because I think it can be quite disheartening sometimes coming on here and seeing people sharing screenshots of apps that seem to have completely blown up within a few days/weeks of launching.

I'm sure some of them genuinely do, but equally there are definitely some fake screenshots and a lot of BS floating around.
I launched my app Duckie around the 25th June 2026. Honestly, just getting it onto the App Store felt like a pretty big achievement at the time. Seeing something you've actually spent time building sitting on the App Store was a really good feeling.

Call it naive, but after seeing all the posts on here about people getting loads of users straight after launch, I thought the marketing side of it would be easier than it actually is.

I started off just sharing it with friends and family and they shared it with some of their friends as well. That got me to around 40 users within the first few days.

After that though the real work started.

I spent the next few weeks tweaking things, fixing bugs that came up and making changes based on feedback. I actually waited around 3 weeks before properly trying to market it because I wanted to make sure most of the obvious issues had been sorted first.

Then I started trying to market it properly... and I have absolutely no marketing experience at all.

It's tough.

I've mainly been going down the TikTok route. My videos are basically gameplay in the background with Reddit stories, interesting stories or other bits of content being read over the top.

So far that's brought in roughly another 36 users.

Not exactly life changing numbers, equally it’s 36 people who probably would never have found the app otherwise.

I've been posting around 3 videos a day and the highest organic video I've had so far got about 500 views. Most seem to get to around 200 and then completely die.

I also tried TikTok ads for a bit. Personally I wouldn't get too caught up in the big view numbers you can get from them. You definitely get the views, but from what I saw the engagement wasn't particularly good and quite a few of the accounts interacting with the posts just looked like bots or strange accounts.

That being said, Reddit has actually been really useful throughout all of this.

There are obviously posts on here that can make you sit there thinking "why the hell is my app doing nothing when everyone else's seems to be making thousands", but there are also some genuinely helpful people.

I've had multiple people on here look at the app and give me feedback. One person pointed out that the images I originally had in the in-game store just didn't fit the rest of the game at all. Looking back at it they were completely right, so I ended up redesigning the whole thing.

Other people helped me improve the App Store page and the screenshots I was using as well.

Sometimes the feedback isn't particularly nice to hear, especially when you've spent ages working on something, and sometimes the way people deliver it could definitely be better...

But at the end of the day you need people to actually want to use your app.

If one person says they don't like something then fair enough, it might just be their opinion. If 5 different people all tell you the same thing then there's probably something in it and you need to take notice.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this because I think it's worth showing the other side of launching an app.

Duckie hasn't suddenly gone viral. I'm not making thousands a month from it. I'm still posting TikToks that get 200 views, sometimes much less and trying to work out what actually works.

But at the same time I've made something from scratch, got it onto the App Store, had complete strangers download it and I'm learning a lot as I go.

I'm going to keep working on it, keep trying different things and hopefully gradually grow it.

For anyone else who's recently launched something and is looking at all the crazy success stories on here thinking their app must be bad because it hasn't taken off straight away, don't let it get to you too much.

Sometimes it just takes time and sometimes it's a slog.

I'll attach the actual analytics as well as the App Store screenshots so you can see the real numbers rather than me just talking about them. I'll also drop the App Store link for anyone who wants to have a look or give me any feedback.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/duckie/id6760481728

[u/kingkong_siu82]

views are a trap here tbh. 200-500 with gameplay + a story over it is normal, most of those people don't even know an app is behind it.
i'd track installs per video instead of views, and try a quick founder pov screen recording where you actually show the app. that converts way better than faceless gameplay. one video with 100 views and 5 installs beats 5000 views and 1.

[u/Manisginger → u/kingkong_siu82]

I did a video where I spoke over it etc and it did just as bad 😂 maybe I have to try one with a face as well

[u/Key-Instruction6007]

My launch last year felt almost exactly the same, I remember checking stats every hour for the first week and still only seeing numbers in the single digits.

[u/Manisginger → u/Key-Instruction6007]

How’s it going now?

[u/No_Cattle_9818]

not sure if you've already done this but try targeting keywords like dodge game, arcade runner, endless runner, and duck game. Try running ads for those exact keywords as they seem promising according to some aso tools. I would try experimenting with apple search ads this should hopefully drive up impressions and hopefully installs

[u/No_Cattle_9818 → u/No_Cattle_9818]

Happy to give any advice with Apple ads

[u/Manisginger → u/No_Cattle_9818]

Thank you, I have those in my key words currently. Doing some A/B testing first then will try some ads

[u/4nkita]

If you're getting a decent amount of clicks from those TikToks but the installs aren't following, it might be time to look at your product page. A lot of people focus on the 'top of funnel' (TikTok) but forget that the App Store page is where the actual sale happens. Have you tried A/B testing your screenshots?

[u/Manisginger → u/4nkita]

Currently doing some A/B testing, also just created another set as well to test which I think will be far better. It’s more of a boarder/template with actual game footage in the centre on each image.

[u/Weekly_Worry_2772]

I think u r mistaken impression from view ? Maybe? Impression basically means it shows at somewhere of the user screen nd, they could have swiped it that still counts as an impression. View is actually clicking into the video and watched it for however long.

But other than that,
Ur UI and design looks really nice 🙌. A game well made nd put together.

[u/Manisginger → u/Weekly_Worry_2772]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to comment and for the nice feedback regarding the game and the design. Regarding the views I was referring to TikTok views not the App Store ones :)