A week ago I launched an app that lets you earn screen time based on your step count. Here's how it went so far.

[suesabelle]

I launched an app called Stryde on iOS that lets you earn screen time based on your step count.

Has been such a great experience & have gotten some really positive feedback as well as some really constructive feedback.

For any app devs out there it uses the Family Controls framework & HealthKit framework & am happy to chat about those if you want. They're super niche & very limited documentation / community support so always happy to help a fellow dev.

What I learned.

Marketing is somehow both very hard & super easy. Coming up with copy for advertisements has been such a PITA.

So far I've had the best success with Reddit just posting to relevant communities. If you read through some of my post history you can see examples. Just being straight & up front with the community seems to be the best approach & I think people respect that. I'll be sprinkling the app name into relevant comment sections going forward as well, but am pretty much wrapping up my initial posting at least.

I tried TikTok - so far no luck, but it's one of those platforms that if you get lucky & something goes viral it can lead to thousands of downloads so I'm going to keep trying until the algo loves me. Low effort content on there does not seem to work at all. You'll just get capped at 200 views. It was originally verrry difficult to talk to the camera but I bit the bullet, and now its kinda easier. I suspect this will get easier over time.

LinkedIn - made a post on there that reached 448 people. Could see through my analytics platform that people were actually downloading it there & probably 10 downloads just from 448 views. Only 1-2 are probably users who are actually wanting to use the app & the rest I suspect are old coworkers being curious.

Tried posting on ProductHunt - The platform seems to be geared towards mostly other developers & startups. I suspect this could have gone better if I planned better, but my product didn't feel like a great fit anyway so didn't put too much effort into it. Got 6 upvotes & suspect 0 downloads out of it.

Books I read

The SaaS playbook - If you're working on a Startup or a side project that you want to actually promote, I cannot recommend this enough. Actually gives play by play on what to do during launch, iterations, etc. Its geared towards bootstrappers, not VC startups, so the advice was really relevant. First book I've ever bookmarked pages to actually go back to later.

Hacking growth - More focused on corporate level growth hacks & building a 'growth team', but a lot of really relevant information for startups. A lot of focus on analytics & product iterations. Interesting info. Would read again (maybe)

Hook point - Mostly covers brand building & how to create copy that makes you stand out (think Nike Just do It). Was a super easy read, would read again

Results

Am a week out of launch now & have gotten ~250 downloads on iOS. Which is not great, but what I'm super excited about is having a ~40% retention rate from day 1 users. Users seem to actually be enjoying the application, using it, & incorporating it into their lives.

I'm hoping this leads to some word of mouth, & it's funny because on Firebase Analytics every once in a while I'll see a first use pop up in an area, & then 10 minutes later see two more pop up in a similar area. So Word of Mouth seems to be happening naturally.

Wish I had great success so I could be more helpful but if anyone has any questions on my experience so far would be happy to answer any questions.

(Also check out Stryde on iOS - cmon you knew I had to throw that in)

Thanks,

John - founder Stryde

 

[afra]

@suesabelle Ngl I would use this. Please launch on android.

 

[suesabelle]

@afra There’s been so much interest for Android on Reddit . So hard because it’s such a specialized framework it would have been really hard to make it cross platform. Essentially I just would have just been doing the same work twice. I did make a sign up page if you want to be notified if we do ever go to android

 

[cr0cus]

@suesabelle Rebuild the app in react native expo, and deploy to both platforms simultaneously.

 

[phdjones]

@suesabelle Such a great idea. Another potential Android customer here!

 

[minnieys]

@suesabelle wild idea, definitely following

 

[beaubrand]

@suesabelle This is really cool.

From a targeted marketing approach I could really see parents liking this app. This was my immediate thought when I read your post…how can I use this on my son’s phone.

 

[suesabelle]

@beaubrand Yeah so there’s a couple ways I can think of to offer something like that & just curious which sounds more appealing.

One would be to allow the parent to control the settings remotely, the only caveat to that is that you would have to make sure your phones are in the same Apple family group, and then sync your apps. (There are some screen time apps that do this although they’re not step/activity based.)

The other option I can think of is to allow setting a passcode when starting the monitor, that way the child wouldn’t be able to disable it without the passcode.

I’ll see if I can implement password blocking over the weekend shouldn’t be too difficult. Keep an eye out next week for an update

 

[beaubrand]

@suesabelle For sure. Especially with summertime approaching I think you’re launching at an ideal time if you can figure out parental controls

 

[thecookdebra]

@suesabelle Thanks for sharing I'm a competitor to your app, as I'm building an untraditional to-do/goalsetting app, with a social angle. Can I ask how the app works, do you specifically set a reward, or does it automatically generate screentime based on steps? How was the integration with health kit as well? PS: Loved the apps name, "Stryde"!

 

[suesabelle]

@thecookdebra Thank you. Competition just means there’s a market right

Yeah it automatically generates screen time based on steps. Pulls data from health kit & uses family controls framework to block apps. When the pull from health kit finds more steps it unblocks apps & will reblock again at the appropriate time.

 

[saidative]

@suesabelle This is a Fakespot Reviews Analysis bot. Fakespot detects fake reviews, fake products and unreliable sellers using AI.

Here is the analysis for the Amazon product reviews:

Name: The SaaS Playbook: Build a Multimillion-Dollar Startup Without Venture Capital

Company: Rob Walling

Amazon Product Rating: 4.6

Fakespot Reviews Grade: D

Adjusted Fakespot Rating: 1.6

Analysis Performed at: 04-21-2024

Link to Fakespot Analysis | Check out the Fakespot Chrome Extension!

Fakespot analyzes the reviews authenticity and not the product quality using AI. We look for real reviews that mention product issues such as counterfeits, defects, and bad return policies that fake reviews try to hide from consumers.

We give an A-F letter for trustworthiness of reviews. A = very trustworthy reviews, F = highly untrustworthy reviews. We also provide seller ratings to warn you if the seller can be trusted or not.

 

[suesabelle]

@saidative Good bot lol. Sadly it’s not my book + no affiliate link but I did enjoy it

 

[christian1991]

@suesabelle LOL, and I have bought exactly zero reviews for that book. Unless someone else has been seeding my book with fake five star reviews, this bot is a .

 

[suesabelle]

@christian1991 I take back my good bot then. Yeah it's funny cause if you go to the analysis page it shows your other books as A rating. Also funny seeing you here. Enjoyed the book

 

[waiarlap]

@suesabelle Right but somehow the author shows up

 

[suesabelle]

@waiarlap Haha that was my first thought tbh. Im assuming he’s got some kind of bot set up to get notified if it’s mentioned. I’m here promoting my app not his book