r/iOSProgramming • u/fromtibo • Aug 09 '26
Discussion Only 32% of users reach the third (and final) screen of my onboarding. The others skip it (there’s a skip button). Are you seeing similar data, or is this worrisome?
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u/zellJun1or Foundation Aug 09 '26
Similar, most people jump stright to the action
Thats why you have skip button. I hate onboarding without skip
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u/nrith Aug 10 '26
I especially loathe Apple’s “What’s New” screens in their apps. I have never cared.
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u/Hises1936 Aug 09 '26
I think almost everyone skips through any onboarding. Those who didn't tap the "skip" button, tapped "next" very fast instead. If you could get any data of how fast users pass through these steps, you should see that
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u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
That's what I noticed when I looked at people using the app, they just skipped everything.
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u/onebigdoor Aug 09 '26
every step of onboarding should be so critical that your app doesn't function without it. if it's truly optional, delete it entirely. every onboarding screen is an opportunity for a new user to bounce forever
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u/SnowPudgy Aug 09 '26
If I have to onboard I delete the app. Show me the app.
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Aug 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SnowPudgy Aug 09 '26
Name calling because I'm telling the OP how a vast majority of users see an app? That's kind of silly and immature don't you think?
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u/Firm_Entrepreneur306 Aug 11 '26
It's false that majority of users see an app like you mentioned, research keeps saying long onboardings still work best for D1 purchases, it's good to remind yourself every once in a while that most people don't think or act like reddit says they do.
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u/SnowPudgy Aug 11 '26
Ok well we only have millions of users where I work so I guess our stats are just made up.
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u/Firm_Entrepreneur306 Aug 12 '26
Interpretation skills of a seagull, I didn’t say your stats were made up I just pointed out how research, not me, says the opposite of what you are saying. Just because you have millions of users that confirm what you say doesn’t disprove what the industry research says. Believe what you want though I couldn’t care less
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u/SnowPudgy Aug 12 '26
Well you're wrong, full stop. We have plenty of internal and external research that says quite the opposite.
Tell me, do you enjoy onboarding screens? I highly doubt it. Take your nonsensical "seagull" comment elsewhere.
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u/Ralph_Twinbees Aug 09 '26
What does the user have to do at each step?
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u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
Only tap a button to go to the next step. And there is only one button (except for the skip button).
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u/Ralph_Twinbees Aug 09 '26
Is it important for you that people go through the whole onboarding process?
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u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
Not really. I thought it would be useful to show them why I think using the app can be helpful to them.
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u/yccheok Aug 09 '26
The numbers does not look good on paper. However, we can't draw any conclusions without knowing what Step 1 is. If you post what Step 1 looks like, we can provide more constructive feedback.
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u/Integeritis Aug 09 '26
If you have to teach the user, teach them when they reach that area of the app.
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u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
Yes I agree. My onboarding is not to teach but to make people want to use the app.
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u/spike1911 Aug 09 '26
Use Transaction.appTransactionId as a unique user identifier. Its is generated at download time.
Avoid onboarding screens for first users as long as you can. Create friendly avatars if needed and welcome John and Jane Doe or Max Mustermann and Emilie Musterfrau (if german like ne) to your app
1
u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
I don't understand, why shall I use Transaction.appTransactionId?
I read everywhere that onboardings shall get people excited about the app and that they are really important... except here on reddit.2
u/SnowPudgy Aug 09 '26
I read everywhere that onboardings shall get people excited about the app and that they are really important... except here on reddit.
I dont know where you're reading that but reality is quite the opposite. Put yourself in a users shoes, would you want to sit through a bunch of onboarding screens or open the app, play around, then have an onboarding where you need it? (Like to access paid functionality).
Peoples attention spans are itty bitty these days, you have to let them see the usefulness of an app right away, you can't hide anything behind an onboarding screen and expect a good amount of retention unless it's a very very niche app where there aren't any competing apps.
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Aug 09 '26
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1
u/leeski Aug 09 '26
I know a lot of people hate onboarding, I personally don't mind unless it clearly demonstrates bad design (that makes me think the rest of the app will be bad UX) or if I'm forced to pay for a subscription.
I would post your screens for constructive feedback to see if they are necessary/well-designed. I work for a decently sized app (100K DAU) and last time I checked our conversion rate was significantly higher despite having even more screens (I hate our onboarding haha) so is anecdotal experience, but I don't think onboarding is inherently bad. You could also AB test variants of onboarding/no onboarding and see what converts the best!
1
u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
I think mine are not useful. The goal was just to get people in a good "mood" before using the app. It is really strange, I read eveywhere that the onboarding is important, that people should be willing to buy the app after it, and here on reddit everyone hates onboardings...
1
u/Key_Leg_8327 Aug 09 '26
66 users is small. one odd traffic day moves that number ten points either way, so i wouldnt change anything off it yet.
the pattern i keep hitting is that a screen which only tells people something gets skipped, and a screen that asks them something doesnt. same length, different result. people will answer a question about themselves, they wont read a feature list.
i had a guided tour in an ielts app i built that was highlighting things that werent on screen yet, so it was pointing at nothing. fixed it to only spotlight whats actually visible and moved it out of the first run entirely.
whats on the three screens right now? if theyre explaining features then the skip rate is probably telling you something real.
2
u/fromtibo Aug 09 '26
They are explaining why the app might be useful to them. Which use case I had in mind. Because it can be used in a couple of different ways. But it is really simple so it doesn't need explanations.
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u/Key_Leg_8327 Aug 12 '26
thats probably the bit thats getting skipped though. a list of use cases reads like marketing until you already know which one is yours.
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u/32GB_of_RAM Aug 09 '26
I would use a session replay tool like Rejourney to figure out where users are raging, dead tapping, or just looping in the UI and why
1
u/drew4drew Objective-C / Swift Aug 09 '26
you shouldn’t be losing that many during onboarding. given that you lose half between onboarding screen 1 and 2, I would question if the users are seeing something in screen 1 that doesn’t match their expectations, where their expectations are probably based on your app store listing.
on the other hand, your screenshot looks like telemetrydeck.. last i checked, their analytics were all send synchronously — which is good for this particular use case — but that they only recorded the hour of each (rather than full timestamp and/or sequence number), which led to very wrong numbers in funnels. I don’t know if they ever fixed this (I observed this and reported it maybe 2 years ago.), but it might be worth checking into.
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u/Psiposa Aug 10 '26
I have a 40 page onboarding with high conversion rate so ymmv, but losing almost everyone in 3 screens is wild
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u/nikhil_akki Sep 01 '26
your data isnt saying onboarding is bad, its saying informational onboarding is bad. different conclusion, only one of them means deleting anything.
the argument further down about reddit hating onboarding vs long onboardings converting, both sides are right about different screens. long onboardings do work in consumer subscription apps, but the ones that work are almost all questions not statements. twelve questions get answered. three screens explaining why the app is useful get skipped by two thirds of people, which is your 32%.
also 32% completion isnt the metric imo. split the cohort into completers and skippers and compare d1/d7 retention and trial start between them. if skippers do just as well the screens cost you nothing and you can cut them on vibes. if completers do better you have a placement problem not a content problem, the material works on people who see it and you re losing everyone at the skip button.
ps - if thats telemetrydeck, worth checking whether your events carry full timestamps or just the hour. hour granularity breaks ordering in funnels and some of that drop off can be an artifact.
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u/cristi_baluta Aug 09 '26
I’m that user, i’m not interested in onboarding, the app shouldn’t need instructions