Ask HN: Is there a market for privacy-first apps?

3 points by b-pixel 5 years ago | 6 comments

Free apps are convenient, but they are most likely free because they collect and sell personal information. Are you willing to pay for a privacy focused version of an app that is otherwise free?

davismwfl 5 years ago |

Not really answerable in general terms at this point. People have shown they will pay for some apps but not others. Social apps require the network effect which is hard to build so adoption is the hardest problem to solve, hence any friction (e.g. payment) can lead to less people signing up etc.

But other apps are fairly easy to get people to pay for where privacy could be a key differentiator. Let's be honest, very few actually do give you privacy beyond maybe a couple of email providers. Spotify which people pay for to remove ads still winds up using data about you and almost surely selling profile information as a revenue stream. I don't know this for a fact so feel free to correct me, but I would be shocked if they didn't as most companies do today because charging $10-15/month is hard to build a large company off.

b-pixel 5 years ago | |

“But other apps are fairly easy to get people to pay for where privacy could be a key differentiator”

Yeah apps that collect super personal information (i.e security solutions, baby monitors) I can imagine privacy being key. But what about everyday apps like fitness trackers, journals, habit trackers and personal finance? From what I gather people complain about privacy of those apps but would rather go a manual route instead of paying for a private version of it.

davismwfl 5 years ago | | |

I think the reason most people don't pay for privacy on the apps you listed is the value proposition isn't there. e.g they can do it manually cheaper, faster and easier then the app would allow them. So that could be bad app design, bad problem statement or low value to cost. With consumer apps you have to convince people the value of the app is more then what they spend, and consumers are picky. Not to mention you have to stand out in a crowded market, which is an even harder problem in many ways.

upen946 5 years ago |

There are a ton of products (not typically apps) that are super profitable. See some at https://microsaasidea.substack.com/p/micro-saas-products-pri...

b-pixel 5 years ago | |

Makes sense for B2B services where data collection is the core product (i.e analysis, crash reporting). I can see businesses wanting to pay for a service that wouldn’t take their metrics and sell it. But what about B2C?

r_singh 5 years ago |

I’m visiting Germany from India right now and it seems to me that everyone around here will pay an extra buck for higher (perceived) privacy. Whether it’s for email, VPN or anything for that matter