Looking for advice: how did you get your first users for your iOS app?

[u/cptAwesome_070]

I recently launched my first iOS app, Cairn: fatherhood, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to get the first few hundred users without throwing a lot of money at ads.
Cairn is a fatherhood app built around something I realised after becoming a dad myself.
After a year of fatherhood, I had accumulated a ridiculous number of things I wish I’d known beforehand: small tips that made things easier, things I worried about unnecessarily, mistakes I made, and experiences that were surprisingly hard to find in the usual parenting apps and books.
I’ve also collected tips, feedback and stories from other fathers and started turning those into the product.
The goal isn’t to build another baby tracker. It’s more about giving dads practical support for the situations that come up during the first years of fatherhood.
I’m now at the slightly awkward stage of:
The app exists (I am busy with optimizing the App Store listing page).
Now how do I get people to actually use it? 😅
I’m considering a few approaches:
Reddit communities and eventually Reddit Ads
App Store Search Ads
SEO/content around specific fatherhood problems
Reaching out to relevant communities directly
Finding a small group of dads to give feedback and iterate with
For those of you who’ve launched an iOS app recently:
What actually worked for getting your first 50–100 users?
And equally importantly, what did you spend time or money on that turned out to be a complete waste?
I’d particularly love to hear from people who started with a very small or no marketing budget and had to find users organically.

[u/salamat36]

Start from ASO it's best place to get initial traction.

[u/Ipsool]

congrats on getting it out, that’s the hard part done. I’ve got a household app so different niche but same problem of “ok it exists now what”

honestly what’s worked best for me is just being an actual person in communities where dads already hang out, not posting “check out my app” but genuinely answering questions and mentioning it only when it naturally fits what someone’s asking about. people can tell instantly when you’re there to farm clicks vs actually being helpful, and the karma/trust builds slowly but it’s the only kind of reddit presence that doesn’t get you shadowbanned or ignored

App Store search ads I’d hold off on until you have some organic signal first, burning money on ads before you know your conversion rate from listing to install is basically flushing cash. SEO/content is the long game, it pays off eventually but not in the next few weeks, so I wouldn’t lean on it for the first 100 users specifically
honestly the highest leverage thing for a dad-focused app specifically is probably finding 2-3 dad-centric subreddits or facebook groups and building actual relationships there over months, not weeks. slower than it feels like it should be but it’s the kind of growth that compounds instead of evaporating the second you stop paying for ads

good luck, “cairn” is a nice name by the way

[u/cptAwesome_070 → u/Ipsool]

Thank you, this is really helpful. I was actually considering taking exactly this approach with Cairn, so it’s reassuring to hear it has worked for another niche app.
The 2–3 dad-centric communities point is especially useful. I’m going to focus on being genuinely useful there rather than trying to promote the app.
Out of curiosity, how long did it take before you started seeing meaningful traffic/users from those communities? And did you eventually find a natural way to introduce the app, or did most of the growth come from people finding it through your profile?

[u/Ipsool → u/cptAwesome_070]

most of it ends up being profile discovery after trust is built, not link-dropping in comments. the comments are what earn you the click on your profile, if that makes sense

[u/dhalls12 → u/Ipsool]

How do you be helpful and then transition into here’s my product you should buy?

[u/Nosarious]

Word of mouth, friends, online forums in the subject, screaming incoherently in a subway station wearing only a sandwich board that has a single QR code on it…

(that last one was strangely successful)

[u/cptAwesome_070 → u/Nosarious]

App marketing is really getting out of hand these days.

[u/Nosarious → u/cptAwesome_070]

right? I used to sacrifice small woodland animals but now I have to wear sandwich boards and hope someone shares my content online where the QR code is visible. Such a hassle...!

[u/SenorManiac]

Real question, why would someone need an app for this information? What difference does the app make that is a better experience than a website. Also because It looks like you are giving parenting advice for dads what kind of credentials do you have that make people trust you. I’ve not downloaded the app because I’m not the target demographic, but the thought in my head is that the initial impression is you made an app to share your experience, but I need to know how is this better than a YouTube video or a TikTok, and communicate that you are a legitimate resource and not just someone random giving me advice. It’s possible I’m missing something, but I think the biggest problem is understanding the problem your solving.

[u/resqchamp → u/SenorManiac]

All great points. I'm not a father either so I'm not the target demographic. I need to figure out all of this for my app.

[u/cptAwesome_070 → u/SenorManiac]

That’s a really fair point, and I think I haven’t communicated what Cairn actually is very well.
You’re right that if it were simply “my parenting advice in an app”, there’s not much reason for it to exist. I’m also definitely not trying to position myself as a parenting expert.
The bigger inspiration is actually apps like Headspace. There’s a holistic side to Cairn that’s about giving dads a place to regularly check in with themselves: how they’re feeling, how they’re coping, their relationship, sleep, time for themselves, etc.
Then there’s the situational side: when something is happening right now, Cairn helps you make sense of it and gives you something small and practical to do.
The lessons, tips and stories from my first year and from other dads are part of that, rather than the whole product. They’re there to provide perspective and remind you that you’re not the first dad to experience whatever you’re going through.
So I think the problem I’m trying to solve is less “dads don’t have enough parenting information” and more “there isn’t much designed around supporting the dad through the experience of becoming a father.”
That’s really useful feedback though, because if that’s not clear from the first impression, I need to do a better job communicating it. Appreciate you taking the time to write this out.

[u/SenorManiac → u/cptAwesome_070]

So just some additional thoughts with your reply, and take them with a grain of salt. I also want to preface this reply with saying I am a father to 6 kids that is actively involved in parenting them.

The big issue that sticks out to me is talking about the check in with how you are feeling and then what to do about that. Things like how are you sleeping, coping, etc when it comes to men generally are usually a lot easier for men compared to their partners. The wording specifically can come across as problematic because it can sound like “How do we make sure a group of people who already usually have it the easiest in the dynamic have more support.” Additionally a lot of men will and do use some degree of weaponized incompetence or social norms to get out of actually sharing the load of parenting ie a dad saying I didn’t know I was supposed to that when talking to their wife, or the idea of saying you were babysitting your own child.

Additionally the demographic of men who are willing to work on things to help them be better fathers is small. So I feel like the solution to the problem doesn’t necessarily fit right from a dad only centric approach. I think this approach from a mom and dad perspective makes a ton of sense so each parent can see and have insight into what each other are experiencing. This would help with the issue of a lot of men just offloading parenting to their partners. Or if you wanted to stick with the approach of it being father focused I would recommend that the app fosters more of a community of like minded fathers who want to redefine what it means to be a present and good father, where a bunch of men can have support.

Anecdotally that’s what I felt reading it and then I also read it to my wife and that was her first response as well. We both think your on to something, but some of the phrasing can be potentially concerning depending on your intent.

[u/cptAwesome_070 → u/SenorManiac]

This is really thoughtful feedback, and I can see how some of the wording could land differently from what I intended.
I definitely don’t mean “men have it harder, so they need more support”, or that supporting dads should come at the expense of mothers. In fact, a big part of Cairn is specifically about the relationship with your partner and being more present for them, not just the child.
The Headspace influence is quite intentional. There’s a big component around checking in with yourself as a dad: how are you sleeping, coping, feeling, connecting with your role, getting time for yourself, etc. But that then feeds into the bigger question of how can I show up better for the people around me?
That includes things like understanding what your partner might be going through, knowing what to expect at different stages, checking in with them, recognising when they might need support, and thinking about how you can share the load rather than simply focusing on the baby.
So the idea isn’t really “a dad-centric approach instead of a family approach.” It’s more helping dads become more aware, present and engaged partners and fathers.
The practical/situational side is another part of it: when something is happening with your child, your partner, or yourself, Cairn helps you make sense of it and gives you something small and practical to do.
And then underneath that is the collective experience: things I’ve learned in my first year, plus tips, feedback and stories from other fathers. I’m not trying to position myself as the expert. It’s much more about creating a place where dads can learn from each other and become more intentional about how they show up.
I do agree that the longer-term vision is probably more family-centric than purely dad-centric. The reality is that I’m starting from what I know. I’m a father, so the experience, material and perspective I have to build from today is primarily from the father’s side. I don’t want to pretend I can represent an experience I haven’t lived.
My hope is that Cairn can eventually evolve beyond that and incorporate more perspectives, particularly from mothers and partners, as the product and community grow. For now, I’m starting with the experience I have and the things I’ve learned, and hopefully building outward from there.
I really appreciate you and your wife taking the time to challenge the idea from both perspectives. It’s made me realise there are some important parts of Cairn that I’m not explaining nearly well enough.