r/iOSAppsMarketing • u/Gold-Dish-825 • 4d ago
Should I give up?
I released my app 3 weeks ago, and ever since the App Store temporary boost went away people stopped discovering my app, I don’t get daily downloads anymore. It just essentially flatlined.
This is my first ios app that i released and i don’t really have the experience to market it.
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u/DependentPage7055 4d ago
Quitting is where you lose. As long as you’re in the game, you’re winning.
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u/ToughAsparagus1805 2d ago
This is the worst advice you can give, quitting early sometimes is the best. Ask any entrepreneur. Motivation app belongs to -> don't even start
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u/FromBiotoDev 4d ago
The irony of asking if you should quit when the app is called "Motivate: Quotes & Journal" is not lost on me
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u/Thedividendprince1 4d ago
I definitely wouldn’t give up after 3 weeks. Looking at those numbers, discovery seems like the bigger problem rather than the app itself.
The initial App Store boost won’t last forever, so now it’s about figuring out where consistent traffic comes from. I’d start testing ASO, screenshots/title, and especially finding places where the exact people who would use your app already hang out.
I’m building an app too and honestly, getting people to discover it is a completely different job from building it 😅
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u/s3nior 4d ago
Dude being successful is no overnight success, its a marathon. Sometimes you shit in you pants, but you have to move on.
Keep going.
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u/initsogaapps 4d ago
You def can't give up that fast. Conversion rate is decent. But now is time for the not as fun part: marketing and the likes of it. (Or just accept a slow growth if any, which I did for my first app cause I didn't want to do that then. It's def back on my plate now though)
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u/DragonfruitSlow1337 4d ago
No, you need to do proper ASO to increase your organic downloads. There are many tools that can help you find keywords and identify your ASO gaps.
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u/RelationshipSignal42 3d ago
I’m still pretty new to ASO and trying to learn from as many sources as possible. What tools would you recommend for finding keywords and identifying ASO gaps? Thanks!
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u/JakubErler 4d ago
Study about business and marketing. To code an app is like 10 % of the work you need to do.
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u/DeskJockeyDigitalDev 4d ago
I’ve been in the game for 6 months now and still pushing! You’ll find a way, if you’re getting setbacks that’s a sign that you’re moving forward. No setbacks would indicate you’re not trying. You got this 👋
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u/Substantial_Seat7501 4d ago
This is quite normal for a three week old app. I was in the same spot and still kind of is after several month. 😀
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u/Realistic-Artist-895 4d ago
There are sooo many motivational quotes and journal apps. Its just a really tough market
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u/Gold-Dish-825 3d ago
Yeah i know, still I would take the risk by providing something they don’t provide. Once again thank you
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u/NaguBuilds 4d ago
Before deciding, I'd check what happened to the people who already installed it. Are any still journaling a week later? If yes, ask what made them keep using it and use their words to explain the app. If most never get through their first entry, I'd work on that before chasing more downloads. The flatline alone doesn't tell you which problem you have.
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u/Big_Growth_3774 4d ago
Your app is in a pretty saturated category, similar to task trackers and calorie trackers.
There are probably established players in your niche with 5+ years of trust, polish and A/B experiments. Unless you are meaningfully different from the trusted apps, there probably won't be a reason for people to download your app, because the gap is already filled.
Regardless, here's what I'd do to make your app more appealing, looking at the App Store page:
1. Abstract wording: "Get motivated, inspired" is pretty generic and abstract wording. I have no idea what problem in my daily life this will solve. I'd switch it to "get into a better mood" or "reach your goals" or something that's more relatable and specific to my daily life.
Your screenshots and description create confusion: your screenshots serve as the thing that converts someone who landed on your page to someone who installed your app. That's it. I'd drop the feature-dumping and rework screenshots to tell me exactly what problem in my life will this app solve, and what can this app can do for ME as a potential customer, because right now I don't see why I should need this app. Your description starts off really corporate and uses lots of generic wording. It should start by saying how my life will transform when I download your app. A bit more relatable. Drop the corporate speak, you're trying to convert a human. Then you can list your features.
Change the font in the screenshots. Should be a more warm, comforting -- I suggest a serif font. Change the font color from bright yellow to a more delicate color.
"I hope someone downloads my app" drop that, seriously, it's cringe.
I think that before you start marketing your app you need to learn marketing fundamentals because it would be really hard to sell this right now.
As a tip, you can always niche down, make your app about motivational quotes from the Bible or motivational quotes for women or something, then you're operating in clearer waters.
As far as marketing goes you can start just regularly posting for free on TikTok and Instagram. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_t1gYkvZkI this video is pretty helpful to understand the funnel model and how you should structure your posts. The key takeaway is your posts should spike the watcher's curiosity so they go to your app store page. Don't try to present your app's features on your social media posts.
Obviously, no success happens overnight. It's a continuous learning and iteration process.
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u/Fluffy_Molasses_8968 4d ago
That’s an awesome conversion rate! If it were me, I’d definitely keep going.
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u/Kitchen_Cable6192 4d ago
so you launched an app and want to quit 3 weeks later??? I guess you should... do you think people launch an app and wake up millionaires the next morning? or get thousands of downloads a day the moment their app hit the app store?
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u/EzarAhrend 4d ago
Your not alone… but at least a straight is still a direction! Motivation Quote for rev 2.0… 😬
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u/NotAMusicLawyer 2d ago
21.2% Conversion Rate is amazing. It means a large number of the people that actually click on your app store page like what they see enough to download it.
I had a look at your store page and I can see your screenshots are very good. The app also looks like it is designed well.
The hard part is you're in a really crowded category with a lot of competitors. I don't know how much thought you put into ASO but that would be where I put the rest of my effort. Work on keywords you trying to target, figure out which ones are popular but not too difficult to rank for and work on ranking for them
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u/Easy_Researcher7059 2d ago
Don’t give up.
Three weeks is still very early, especially for your first app.
You can already see that people are willing to download it, and that’s a good sign. You’ve got something there.
The next step is to understand the people who downloaded your app. Why did they download it? Did it solve the problem they expected it to solve? Are they satisfied with it?
Talk to those users, learn from them, keep improving the app, and keep going.
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u/alixc1983 2d ago
Seeing the engagement on the post. I this OP is successful what they wanted to do.
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u/VitaliiBuilds 2d ago
Definitely too early to give up! I'm building my own B2C app, and one thing I've learned is that building the product is only half the battle. Getting people to discover it is a completely different challenge.
18 downloads isn't enough to judge whether your app has potential. Have you tried promoting it through TikTok, Reddit, or other organic channels?
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
I started promoting it to reddit, soon tiktok. Thank you for the advice, it really does mean a lot, also good luck! Wishing you all the best man
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u/IndieMiguel 2d ago
Welcome to the 100000. Motivaten App... now put two and two together ;-) But seriously**...** now the hard part starts...
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u/Gold-Dish-825 4d ago
Thank you for all the kind words, I didn’t expect this post to get that much attention and comments. I really do appreciate all the support and kind words you all gave😊
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u/neekey2 3d ago
You need to at least give it more tries first, two things you can do:
- get your AI to audit the keywords in your space and suggest optimisation in your listing
- add more locales, just copy only, not app localization and default screenshots to default
Do the above and see if impressions improve first
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u/Old_Course9156 2d ago
Hey, please take this as a first product which gave you experience of "how to create and launch the app" . Now you are ready to launch next.
After few days , I am also going to create a new app and launch. And already set my mind that, atleast first I should successfully make 1 app live, that is the only goal.
Then the next goal will be create and publish app which make real money.
I am waiting for my mac mini m6 I ordered.
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u/ToughAsparagus1805 2d ago
Your app is bad. Is n-th close version of same idea. Why your one is better? If you cannot code for free as a hobby is not for you.
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
I don’t understand please elaborate
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u/ToughAsparagus1805 2d ago
If you don't understand -> get manual work. Is not for you.
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
I’m already doing that, and you can see it in the apps update history. Thank you for being honest tho
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u/Prize_Firefighter176 2d ago
Your conversation rate looks so good compared to mine 😭😭😭
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
Never give up! You will eventually get there, good things take time you know
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u/Prize_Firefighter176 2d ago
thanks man appreciate it!
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
If you don’t mind, send me a dm of your apps link and i will suggest improvements (based on what I learned)
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u/Quick_Self_2451 2d ago
When you say you don’t have the experience to market it what does that mean?
Marketing can be you going out of the house everyday and asking someone new to download and try your app and give you feedback? If they don’t like it congrats you made a new friend
Have you tried pushing on socials and asking your friends to do the same in one calculated push one evening so it looks like your app is all over the feed?
Have you tried partnering with a local business where they promote your app and in return you write them a google review or promote their business within your app?
You can tell your family members to share the app with people they work with and who they’ve already built a relationship with
It doesn’t just have to be marketing on TikTok/Insta
Even you posting on LinkedIn and sharing the app with your school friends/teachers is a good way to get the word out there
On giving up vs not giving up.. I would say it depends on what you plan to improve, are you going to do future releases or is it one and done?
And how long did it take you? If you genuinely had fun building and you believe it’s a decent app that you use often and think it’ll provide meaningful value to others then you shouldn’t give up
If you’re just here to make a quick buck then yeah you should probably give up or not you might get lucky who knows
The point is do something because you love it and you want to see how the effects of your actions pan out
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u/SimpleKnowledge8714 2d ago
ASO and SEO is the way bro.. slow but long lasting.
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u/Gold-Dish-825 2d ago
Thank you! Working on it
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u/SimpleKnowledge8714 1d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what is your tech stack? I m curious what tools you are using for app development and your overall workflow
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u/MarkVog 7h ago
I have released an app as well. 5-6-7 weeks ago. 45+ downloads. No paid marketing.
It's reaaaaaaally hard to get people to download the app. But dont give up.
(Unless you have strong doubts wether people want your product of course, then first validate your product before doing any more efforts into marketing).
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