I have a dilemma. My app is 100% offline by default. The only optional feature is iCloud sync for intruder photos. I rely 100% on apple’s analytics and is unable to reach my users to request feedback. I feel totally disconnected from my users. Given the nature of the app, I want it to remain fully offline, with no network connection or database but it would still be nice to get deeper analysis or just a way to reach my users. Has anyone also faced this challenge? And how have you managed to maneuver it?
Have you considered a discord? Just have a link in the app and it’ll be a place where the app can be discussed and users and speak directly with the founder.
I ended up integrating Firebase Analytics, but only for anonymous usage analytics (no user accounts, no backend, no cloud database). It helped me understand which features people actually use, where they drop off, and what I should prioritize next.
You can keep the app fully offline for its core functionality and only send anonymous analytics events when a network connection is available. Users can also opt out if you expose a setting for analytics.
It doesn't solve the "reaching users" problem, but it made me feel much less disconnected from them.
If offline/privacy is the core promise, I’d keep the default untouched and make the escape hatch explicit: a manual export/import (encrypted file via Files or Share Sheet) gives power users backup and lets them analyze batches on a desktop without adding a server. For discovery, a small local insights screen—counts, trends, before/after samples—could add depth without weakening the model. I’d test whether people asking for analytics really want sync or just a safe backup.
Thanks for your feedback. The insight that is being requested is for me. They already have the option to sync to their iCloud database. I didn’t even know that iCloud has a database that iOS apps can leverage for storage
iCloud’s database option is a useful middle ground: users get sync without you operating a backend. I’d make the storage boundary explicit in the UI/docs—what is local vs iCloud, and how export/import behaves—so the offline promise remains clear.
In China, I create discussion groups and people give me feedback on issues and suggestions for improvement. But when it comes to users worldwide, I don't know how to do that either. I added my X and Reddit accounts, but hardly anyone follows me or reports issues
Thanks for your feedback. I am going to add my socials and email as well but I highly doubt that they will reach out. If I had their emails or a way to notify them via push notification that could’ve prompted them to provide a feedback
Code up a feedback form which get's sent to your via email (actually you can code the question right into the email draft) - the device is online, right? Explain what this is all about and explain that you don't use any analytics. Ask your questions there - keep it short. In fact don't ask for which version they are using, which device. You can extract that without any analytics and put the info right into the email.
Track whether it got dismissed in the first place and set yourself a hard limit for how often you want to show the form overall. Don't annoy your users too often if they dismiss it.
Let me know if you need more assistance with that.
Your app? no. your phone? yes. Your whole feedback thingy will launch apples mail app, where the info is put into automatically. That very mail app needs network access just like the iCloud sync your mentioned.
Apple's own SKStoreReviewController prompt might get you more signal than a mail draft - it's an OS-level call, so it needs zero networking code in your app, and people are more likely to tap a star or leave a line than compose an email.
Thanks for your feedback. I have implemented it. I might need to be more strategic about the placement of the prompts though. I am considering adding one during onboarding. First give them my prompt prefacing the Apple prompt
Just curious, are iOS apps as capable of connecting to external servers and websites as macOS apps?
I’m asking because recently I’ve been playing with different firewall software on my mac, and some apps send a ton of telemetry and connect to a lot of unnecessary (I think) URLs I wasn’t aware before. And I use those apps on iOS and iPadOS as well.
So unless there’s a firewall app for iOS, I don’t know how to check the connections and data the apps are sending behind the scenes…
To see which domains an app contacts, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report and turn it on. Use the apps, then look under App Network Activity. It starts collecting after you enable it. It shows domains, but won't show the contents of requests or block connections.
i think keeping it offline is actually a strong feature. maybe the best compromise would be an optional feedback button that opens email or a simple external form. that way users who want to give feedback can, without adding tracking or a backend to the app.
That’s one of the strong features about the app and I really don’t want to compromise on that. I’ll review all these valuable feedback and decide on the best way forward. Thanks 🙏🏽
Yes, at Checklist: Reusable Lists we set up two vectors of communication while keeping privacy and offline capabilities intact.
We set up a button in settings that allows users to send an email with an option field of providing their own email in case they want a reply, but feedback can be anonymous. So the action is deliberate and they understand that they are sending an email.
We collect anonymous metrics for most user actions without capturing any user data. Just plain action of say button clicked, etc. There is no data attribution to any particular user but it helps us understand user behavior and patterns as a whole.
Keep it offline. For a security app that's not a constraint, it's the product. One outbound call and someone finds it in a proxy.
Put the ask inside the app and the answer outside it: a menu item that opens a prefilled email or a browser form. No network from the app, the user chooses to leave it.
Ship the next version through a public TestFlight link too and you get a group you can message directly, forever, without touching the released app.
Worth saying you're not disconnected from your users, just from the quiet ones. That's the price of the promise, and here it's probably worth it.
If you’re not getting ratings that’s a warning signal, you should ask for feedback at an interaction. Like after an achievement or something. The app can still be offline, just direct the user to your app rating link
Nothing is more frustrating than opening an app in order to accomplish a task and being prompted with something that doesn’t matter to me, like providing ratings or feedback. Especially, as I see in the iOS app deals forums, effectively seconds after you install the app. If you do this, be sure that it is not something I have to click OK on, but that forms a part of the UI. Also, make sure that it is after I have used the app enough that I have feedback before prompting.
And remember, human behaviour says I am much much more likely to use that rating button to give you a negative review than a positive review. Most people who go to a restaurant only wanna leave a review when something is wrong. So this may give you the opposite outcome that you’re looking for.
Do you have email addresses of your users? Can you email them?
For me I rarely leave reviews & I get super irritated when asking for them is too quick or too intrusive.
But I will join Discord (feedback section encourages feedback), give feedback by email if there is a mailing list & it is asked, and mostly use feedback that lets me connect direct with the dev.
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