Ask HN: What should I do with my app? 130 downloads 3 real subscribers

7 points by oyaa52 36 days ago | 17 comments

Hey guys, My app PairCare has 2-9 downloads every single day but haven't had new trials for weeks so far. It's been a month after launch, a total downlaods is around 130 but I got 3 real subscribers and 3 people tried and canceled right away. Only one tried and canceled when it's almost to subscribe. I'm thinking it's because of onboarding so I'm gonna fix it but maybe it's time to give up... I don't know. If you have any advice I'll appreciate it.

sminchev 36 days ago |

Who is your customer? Each application solves particular problem for particular group of people. And you need to know as much as possible about them? Gender, age, working/non-working, kids, free time, what are their problems you are trying to solve, do they keep, focus, what colors do they prefer, what kind of subscriptions can they pay? etc, etc... Once you have this information, you know how to create a product that will be used, or at least the chances are bigger. If you do int differently, it can work, but it is a pure gamble how things will go on.

Usually, this is the beginning of everything, before you write any code. You make this for other people, you need to know what other people need and look for.

Talk to people, make interviews, do analysis of the results, see what's missing...

I searched for your product in Google Play but could not find it. I wanted to have a look and give honest opinion.

oyaa52 35 days ago | |

Honestly I made it because I need it. So I guess I'm the part of the customers. But I know it's a very small niche.. - You have to be couples - You both have iphone (because I haven't built android one yet) - Because it's more helpful if you both use it so both of you are willing to use it..

So I was thinking "should I make viral app over this?" but still I love my app it helps me a lot and it's my first app so I have big love on it. At the same time, because of above reasons, I was also thinkging I cannot see the situation clearly like maybe it's time to give up.

Just in case if you want to look up this is the website for the app: https://paircare.love/

sunny678 33 days ago |

Practical advice- Share your app on product hunt and reddit community. You will get the genuine feedback from the users. Based on that you can make the changes. This will definitely work.

dankwizard 34 days ago |

Maybe you should create an app that people want.

From Google it looks like PairCare is to do with period tracking. There are already a plethora of apps that do this, a large number of which are free. I'm almost certain it is also a part of the Apple Health stack.

You're an unknown entering into a very large market with a vibe coded SaaS - This isn't going to work.

fandorin 36 days ago |

1 month is not that long. And also you need to expand your traction meaning: increase the number of downloads. So… marketing. You should try to find your main acquisition channels and focus on this for now, do not spend your time on trying to improve your product if you don’t have higher number of downloads. If it’s a b2c app then usually conversion rate (install-to-purchase) is around 1-4%.

oyaa52 35 days ago | |

Yeah. I think I tried paid ads only a few days.. I'll try my best for 6 months on marketing! Yes mine is B2C app :) Thanks for the advice!!!

shivaniShimpi_ 33 days ago |

literally put up a link get community feedback, product hunt, hackernews, reddit, linkedin, as many as you can - talk to your users, see what's been up. my personal go to is always user-first approach if you're not building for the user they wont use it. core mantra. talk and iterate make them feel they're a part of the growth

Cindy_Yingxin 35 days ago |

My application is facing similar challenges, I've learned a lot from the suggestions in the comments section, and I will need to improve my product as well.

KaiLetov 36 days ago |

It probably wouldn't hurt to set up Microsoft Clarity - it's a free solution that lets you see how people actually use your product and identify bottlenecks and pain points. It also has a “copilot ai” feature that can offer some suggestions (though it's just a copilot, so don't expect too much). But I’m sure that as soon as you see exactly what users are doing, you’ll be able to spot the problem areas.

oyaa52 35 days ago | |

Thanks for the recommendation! Never heard of this one but looks good

_virtu 36 days ago |

Have you tried reaching out to people who have installed your app and asking what they did and why they did it?

oyaa52 36 days ago | |

Honestly I haven't thought about that. Thanks for the tip! I'm doing it right now

PocketBot 36 days ago |

The "I'm gonna fix onboarding" instinct is almost always the wrong first diagnosis when users cancel immediately after trying. Onboarding is a funnel problem. Immediate cancels are a positioning/expectation problem - they expected X, saw Y, bailed inside 30 seconds.

Three canceled immediately and one got to the paywall and canceled. You have a sample size of 4 users who engaged. That's not "optimize conversion" territory, that's "call them personally and ask what they expected vs what they saw" territory imo. A 15-minute call with each of them will teach you more than any onboarding A/B test from my experience.

If the three who canceled immediately say the same thing ("I thought this was going to do X and it doesn't") — well that's your answer and copy tweaks won't fix it. If they each say something different — the product isn't legibly positioned yet.

At 130 downloads with 2-9/day organic, you don't have a traffic problem. You have a "does this do something specific enough that people want" problem. Fixable, but only by talking to the people who bounced, not by guessing. You must established a channel of communication with your users.

oyaa52 35 days ago | |

Yeah thanks. I emailed some of people who stopped in the middle of onboarding (because I track at least the onboarding steps for the features) and nobody answered haha I should reach out to more people I guess

isekaiZen 33 days ago |

It looks like you already got a ton of great advice on here and just to hammer it home, feedback is such a big thing. Otherwise you're working off of assumptions. It's awesome that you use your own product btw. Look into more ways to get that feedback because not everyone will respond. Do you have anything set up for customer feedback tracking externally? I used to use a simple Excel doc way back when but I'm sure there are a ton of tools you can use nowadays. Anyways, good luck.

elsuave 35 days ago |

Rome is not builded in one day, results take time.

You should ask for feedback constantly.

Improve code quality.

Improve UI/UX.

Write a website for the app, is usually a good landing page.

oyaa52 35 days ago | |

Thank you for your advice! I'm currently working on SEO for my website for the app too