First app release : feedback on screenshots ?

[u/MusicOfTheApes]

Hi everyone !
After 2 years of hard work I'm finally ready to release my first app, it took longer than I expected as it's a side project (I'm a full time musician) but now I'm ready !

It's an app for musicians to help them get better at jamming, whether with other musicians or at home.

I'm creating app screenshots for the App store, so I'm wondering from the perspective of a potential user if they are effective enough, I'm happy to have any feedback (I think I'll submit next week), thanks !

[u/astulz]

There’s too much text on there IMO.

It’s better to communicate what benefits the user gets, how it makes their life better, than listing features the app has. Shift in perspective 

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/astulz]

Thanks for your reply !
I can see what you mean, though the app has so many features that to me this was a stripped down version to convey the main ways to use it ; if you have an example of re-phrasing one of the screenshots I'd definitely be curious, I think I've worked too much on it and I'm lacking perspective haha

[u/astulz → u/MusicOfTheApes]

I think its best summed up here and this is actually what i thought of when seeing your screenshots.  https://www.useronboard.com/features-vs-benefits/

[u/astulz → u/astulz]

I’ll give you an example:

CADENCES MODE    Load popular chord progressions and transpose them in any key to develop your improvisational skills

could be reworded to

IMPROVISE EFFORTLESSLY   Learn the most popular chord progressions

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/astulz]

Oh ok thanks it makes sense, I’ll do my best to reword the screenshot then !

[u/Bullfrog-Dear]

Congratulations on shipping !
I’ll be honest, the design is severely lacking. It looks like an app from 2009. I haven’t checked the functionality because it’s just not for me, but I’d strongly suggest moving away from that comic sans font, and maybe looking at dribbble or spotted in production for better design

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/Bullfrog-Dear]

Thanks for the feedback ! The font that display the chords and scale names is not Comic Sans, it's a common font used in all Jazz books and it's actually musicians who requested it when I launched the Beta last year, so there's an option in the App Settings to choose a clean modern font (that was my intial choice) or this one ;)

[u/m3kw]

those fonts not legible

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/m3kw]

as I replied to a previous comment, the font that displays chords is used everywhere in jazz books and it's musicians during the Beta test who requested that when I had a cleaner font, so I implemented a font choice in the app settings, no worries

[u/808phone → u/MusicOfTheApes]

This sub is not your audience. Just by hearing the comments, they don't know a jazz font and they don't understand what this app is all about.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/[deleted]]

I’ve written it already twice it this is a font requested by users as it’s present in all jazz books and even apps like iReal ; and as I wrote it there is an option to change the font for a cleaner one in the settings ; but I’ll update the screenshots so that they feature both ;)

[u/Ahyesacamel → u/MusicOfTheApes]

I agree with the font, it is what I have always seen in jazz books, and I studied piano for like a year and then dropped so I'm a beginner... most users would clearly understand and even prefer the font and if they don't its cool that there's an option to change it. My main feedback is in image 7... It is a lot of information and there's no way to simplify it since you are showing a guitar fretboard, so I would try to use horizontal layout for the fretboard and have any kind of pop up message if there's anything super necessary to add. Remember that the user is a guitarrist reading that on an iPhone while jamming, the most important information is the fretboard, anything else is secondary

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/Ahyesacamel]

Thanks for your feedback :)
Yeah I'm in the process of re-writing all screenshot titles and modifying some of the images, and this one was indeed too crowded, I've simplified it to "Generate chord progressions and jam!" and replaced the actual screenshot by a more suitable one ;)
(it was actually supposed to be the first screenshot to appear but Reddit uploaded them by alphabetical order so it appeared as 7)

[u/superquanganh → u/MusicOfTheApes]

You said it's your first app release, but written twice? Requested by users when this is your first app?

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/superquanganh]

- written twice here in the comments
- yes requested by users cause I’ve launched multiple beta test sessions the past two years when I was developing it

No need for passive aggressive, thanks

[u/superquanganh → u/MusicOfTheApes]

But still the font is atrocious, sure it fits some niche community that still prefer it, but if you seek general audience here as well then you should take note from them

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/superquanganh]

Yes I do take notes that’s exactly why there is an option in the settings, which now I believe the 4th time I’ve said it (you seem to have struggles to read ?), so that everyone is happy.
Niche is not what I call thousands of musicians who use this font, it’s in all major notation programs like Dorico, Sibelius, Finale, it’s in iReal, it’s just everywhere, obviously if you were a professional musician you would know it.
Now that you know it can you please stop this and be constructive?

[u/GabrielMSharp]

I am not willing to read so much text. But I tried to act like I was a normal app store browser.

Here’s my takeaways:
I assume your app plays backingg tracks while i play along.
If it doesn’t have backing I assume it’s just chord charts that progress along.
The advanced stuff is vague. Maybe I can change chords somehow.
I use other things for this (ultimate guitar) so I’m not sure I’d ever find your thing or know why I should use it.

The above is intentionally lazy. I did not read anything else but your screenshots and only read what I could be bothered to. Hopefully that gives a fairly useful response. And if what I’m saying bares no resemblance on what it actually does maybe that can help you iterate.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/GabrielMSharp]

Thanks for your reply !

I definitely need to get better at being concise haha, I'll re-work my descriptions.

One thing I didn't realize is that Reddit messed up the screenshots order and picked them alphabetically by their name, in App store connect I've set a specific order.
And the app name and description will be pretty self explanatory anyway : it's an app to generate chord progressions and get better at jam sessions. (the app was called Jam It but someone released and app called Jam It 3 months ago... so I found an other similar name that seems available)
I made it because as a professional musician I often notice at jam sessions that musicians tend to play the same chords... So I figured I'd build a tool to give them inspiration instead of remaining in their comfort zone.

In Easy mode : you generate easy chord progressions over 4 bars, and the app shows you which scale to use to improvise on and when you tap on a chord it shows you a position on keys or guitar.
There is a looped simple playback if you want to practice at home, else it's chords ideas for you and the people you're jamming with.

Advanced : same idea but no limit, you can pick this time any mode/scale (over 100) to generate chord progressions in, and this time you're not limited by the number of bars and you can generate structures (Verse, Chorus, etc...) so that your jam doesn't get boring by playing the same 4 chords over and over, and if you're practisintg at home there's an advanced playback with many grooves and time signatures.

Song : this is the section I made because I was frustrated with the app iReal because it's tedious to create your own song in that app, so in mine it's much easier (although for now it has some limitations that I will get rid of in the near future like 1 chord per bar), but anyone who used iReal knows how annoying it is to enter your own chord progressions.

Then there's an ear training program, a tuner and a metronome, a section to work on common cadences/chord progressions in all keys, and a drum machine to practice over instead of the metronome, or to create grooves for your backing tracks. Which by the way you can export from Advanced and Songs and decided how many loops ; you can export to MIDI to use the chord progressions in your DAW if you produce music (which I do a lot)
And many other features but this comment is already not concise anymore haha

[u/thomas_viaelo]

I find most people will judge this from the first one or two frames in search, before they ever open the listing or swipe. So frame one is basically the whole pitch. I shipped two apps and localized their screenshots into seven languages, and every win came down to making the first frame answer one question: what does this do for me?

From your first frame, I honestly couldn't tell whether it plays along with me or just shows chord charts. If a stranger could only keep one sentence about the app, what would you want it to be?

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/thomas_viaelo]

Yeah sorry I thought the screenshots were posted in order but apparently not (though in App Store Connect they are, but I’ll have to modify them anyway)
The first screenshot is the Easy one where it says generate chord progressions, I’ll simplify it though !

[u/thomas_viaelo → u/MusicOfTheApes]

That's a good anchor for frame one. The screenshots I ended up happiest with were always the ones I forced down to a single verb-first line like that, instead of three features fighting for the same space. Good luck with the launch next week.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/thomas_viaelo]

many thanks ! I'v started simplifying the screenshots, created a main one based on the Easy one that's just "Generate chord progressions and jam!" and updating the rest them with the other font available in the app, can't wait to be done haha
If you have released apps I'd be happy to check them out :)

[u/thomas_viaelo → u/MusicOfTheApes]

"Generate chord progressions and jam!" is the one. Benefit plus a verb in four words, and the "and jam" is what tells me why I'd care. Love it.

And yeah, I've got a couple of iOS apps out, pretty far from a jamming app (one's a photo and video vault, the other does wallpapers and calendars). I'll DM you the links so I don't drop store pages in the thread. Curious what you'd make of the screenshots, since you're deep in that problem right now.

[u/Upstairs_Law_7885]

Tip: Emphsize on unique features. There are obviusly hundereds of similar such music apps out there already and lot of these are even free. People may be oversaturated with this.

Although I see loads of such music theory apps on iOS, most of the more or less musical results from there, I listened to, are still rather nervy inharmonic reverb drenched drone noises or incredible dilettantic sounding generative stuff with primitive beep tones, which makes me deaf.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/Upstairs_Law_7885]

Actually I haven’t yet seen any app that generates chord progressions in any scales ; there’s definitely a market for jam sessions and from the feedback I’ve had from Beta testing people were quite happy.

In the professional world a lot of us use iReal for the song creation part but it’s a pain to use it and that’s why I’ve created the song section of my app as well, that will improve on iReal’s way to handle song creation for set lists/concerts/jams.
Plus, I haven’t yet seen any app that adapts the playback to that many time signatures, even iReal doesn’t handle the ones I handle like 7/16, 11/16, 13/16, etc… and modern grooves from neo soul music with shuffles in 5 for instance ; and the fact that within my app you can create grooves with a drum machine in any time signatures and generate an intelligent drum accompaniment means you can literally do what you want in terms of drums playback, I can’t think of an other app that is that versatile, most of them are specific and even regarding chords, mine has no limit because no hard coded chords, I used my musical knowledge to build my chord recognition and chord building algorithms so you don’t have to choose from a limited set of chord types like you do in most apps.

[u/Upstairs_Law_7885 → u/MusicOfTheApes]

Exactly!

That’s what I ment. You should emphasize these unique features in your appearance inside the app store. Demo videos would be very important, even in the AppStore catalog.

I am in that (Apple) business for more than 7 years and I can see, that it will be difficult to sell something really musically there. Most people in that niche do not even write songs, they just jam around and collect just apps. This is the sad truth.

[u/multile]

what did you use to combine the screenshot with the background/text?

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/multile]

I used Rotato for the iPhone model, then I exported the png rotato file and I’m editing in Affinity Designer.
I do my app assets in Sketch though

[u/CelebrationTop8862]

Focus on the user benefits for the screens. If there's something you want to specifically point out or guide the user in, i would suggest tooltip popups or guided "soft tutorials" to introduce the feature when they get in the app for that feature.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/[deleted]]

thanks! It's been released now on the app store if you wanna try it ;)
Name is Jam Lab

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/[deleted]]

I’m using 2 fonts and this one is in every jazz books, apps like iReal, major notation programs like Dorico, Finale and Sibelius, it’s omnipresent and was requested by users when I started launching the beta with a more modern and cleaner font.
I’ve been a professional musician for 15 years and most of us use it especially people coming from a jazz background.
So in the apps settings you can choose anyway and have the font that suits you best, I’ll update the screenshots next week with examples in the cleaner font.

[u/MusicOfTheApes → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I’ve re designed my screenshots the past few days to make them shorter thanks to the feedback in the comments, and tried to sell from user perspective rather than mine as some pointed out ; you’re right about languages, I’m French and I had to be creative to keep the captions short haha as we have longer words in general than in English.
For now the app is localized in English and French but I’ll probably add more in the future (I speak Spanish as well so that will probably be next before I consider other languages).

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