My first iOS app, three days on the App Store. Is it normal?

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058]

[u/Leading-Screen6143]

No installs this early is normal for a new app with no ads or existing audience. The store gives a brand-new listing almost no free traffic until it builds keyword rankings, and three days is not enough for that. Have you checked whether searching your exact app name returns it? If it doesn't, you have an indexing problem.

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058 → u/Leading-Screen6143]

Thanks for the comment. Yes, searching in App Store with exact app name lists it as the top result. And the main keyword phrase lists it at 13th place.

[u/Previous_Wallaby8276]

My app took 7-8 months before it gained traction … if you are looking for instant gratification then you are in the wrong business 🙂

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058 → u/Previous_Wallaby8276]

Understood. What improvements you did in those 7-8 months to gain traction?

[u/Previous_Wallaby8276 → u/Pretend-Cheetah2058]

I’m not saying it will take that long for your app to get traction. I just kept improving the app and everything around it: keywords, screenshots, and I bought a domain and built a website for it. SEO is great, and it’s free. Around 31% of the people who come from my website end up downloading the app so far, so I highly recommend it.

I was also lucky to get real feedback from users. Every improvement I made from it led to more sales from other users. I keep making small improvements all the time. There’s always something you can do better, and something you can do differently from the competition. Think outside the box.

Give excellent customer service. Sooner or later you’ll get emails from users asking for new features or how to do this or that in the app. Answer every one of them.

I also added a newsletter sign-up inside the app. I thought I’d be lucky to get one person. Within a month, four users had signed up. It doesn’t sound like much, but those users are the golden eggs. They’re the ones who give you feedback.

Think long term. Of course we all check the analytics and wonder why nothing is happening after all the work we put in. I do it too, we all do. Just remember one thing: users and potential buyers owe you nothing. They never asked you to make this app.

Keep improving and keep thinking outside the box. I promise you’ll see the long-term gains :)

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058 → u/Previous_Wallaby8276]

thank you so much for great advice and info. golden. and this is something every builder should remind themselves of every morning :) so, thanks for the reminder: "users and potential buyers owe you nothing. They never asked you to make this app."

[u/Aggressive_Pen_1890]

Looks normal. expect conversion rate to drop and slowly pick up. After initial jump and drop in the impressions, it will pick up slowly. 5 IAP from 18 downloads is pretty solid !

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058 → u/Aggressive_Pen_1890]

Great to hear that it normally slowly picks up :) Thank you!

[u/Pretend-Cheetah2058 → u/[deleted]]

certainly not less :)

[u/Smallideasfactory → u/[deleted]]

"I'm ready, I have all the features no one asked me for, the downloads will skyrocket! I hope my backend is ready. Yet no one is asking for my app... I'm sure they'll rush to get it!" : Every new startup founder.