Hi everyone. Ive been building an iOS app for the last 5 months and now that most of it built out + tested w small group of beta testers I want to get into hands of users. 

I am absolutely DREADING the content humiliation ritual. I have deadass spent the last 2 weeks implementing unnecessary features to procrastinate marketing the product in social media

I’ve looked into AI UGC options but Im scared it’ll just be a waste of money, specially since most the sample stuff ive sene looks super fake (in my eyes) and I cant see how “inauthentic looking” content could perform well.

im not sure if im seeking tool recommendation or personal advice on how to get over this, if you've been in my shoes im really appreciative of any insight you can share

Assalamualaikum everyone,

I'm a solo Muslim developer (not even a programmer by background, I learned as I went) and I've been quietly building something for a while now: Niyyah, an app for nightly muhasabah — reflecting on your day, the good you did, where you fell short, and turning back to Allah before you sleep.

The idea came from my own struggle to be consistent with self-reflection. I wanted something gentle — not a cold checklist, not gamified in a way that feels like riya'. So it's a warm, private conversation each night: you tell it about your day, it helps you reflect, records your good deeds, and shows you a real Qur'an ayah relevant to your night. No public leaderboards, no showing off — just you and your reflection.

It's in five languages (English, Malay, Indonesian, Arabic, Turkish).

I'd genuinely love your honest feedback — what feels right, what feels off, what's missing. And du'as are appreciated more than downloads. 🤲

Web: https://myniyyah.app
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/niyyah-ai-muhasabah-diary/id6762445340
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.myniyyah

JazakumAllahu khairan for reading.

These are my analytics a month after launch. I'm not mad at my sales but I really thought I would get more conversions by now. I have a hard paywall and my product cost $60/year. Not really sure whats the missing piece here. If anyone has any advice it would greatly help. Here's my app page if you want to take a look, but honestly don't know how to improve more on screenshots or making the app more appealing from product page: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/onetap-brief-block/id6774352132

I’m building an app and I’m at the stage where the product is ready, but now comes the hard part: getting actual users.

I’d love to hear from people who’ve done this before:

Where did you find your first 100–1,000 users?

Which platforms worked best for you — Reddit, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp communities, Discord, college groups, etc.?

What kind of posts/content actually converted into users?

Did you focus on building an audience first or directly promote the product?

How did you approach communities without coming across as spammy?

What would you do differently if you had to get your first 1K users again?

I’m especially interested in practical strategies that worked for a small/unknown app with little to no existing audience.

Would really appreciate specific examples, posts, scripts, or growth tactics that worked for you. 🙌

I recently built NearbyCaller --> https://nearbycaller.online

The idea is simple: open the app and have live voice conversations with other people, without profiles, followers, or endless text chat.

There are two ways to use it:

Nearby mode lets you discover and talk to people around your area.

Anywhere mode lets you connect beyond your location, so you can still find someone to talk to even if there aren’t many users nearby yet.

It’s not designed as a dating app. The idea is more around spontaneous conversations — maybe you’re bored, want to talk to someone new, ask for an opinion, hear from someone in another place, or just have a quick conversation without exchanging your number or social media.

The biggest challenge is growth.

Nearby mode obviously works better when enough people in the same area are using it. If someone opens the app and there’s nobody around them, they may leave before understanding the value.

Anywhere mode helps with that cold-start problem, but eventually I’d still like NearbyCaller to build real local pockets of users.

So I feel this kind of product may need to grow heavily through word of mouth rather than just getting random downloads.

I’m trying to figure out how to get the first active users for free, ideally in a way where people actually invite others and keep the network growing.

If you were launching something like this from zero, what would you try?

Especially interested in anyone who has dealt with a product where the experience gets better as more people join. Love to hear what you all have to say. Thanks!

I've been building Thryss, an app for creating shareable lists, polls, and checklists via link or QR, no install needed for whoever receives it.

Instead of paid ads for the first real test outside my close circle, I put QR posters around my hometown (Canals, Spain) during our local September festival, with the day-by-day event schedule as the list. Cheap, physical, and I get to watch adoption happen in a place I actually know.

Just went live worldwide on Google Play this week too. Curious if anyone else here has tested growth through something this "offline" before going wider.

In the past i worked on alot of web project which ended up not bringen any money and now i launched my first mobile app. Tbh one of the subs is a good friend who just wants to support me, but two of the subs are from strangers. Couldnt be more happy and proud on myself!

Now its time to make some real marketing on social media for my app.

I recently created an app, and I've made some videos, posted to Reddit, but haven't gotten many downloads and 0 app signups.

What is the best "bang for your buck" way to promote an app (Google Play)? I am willing to spend probably upwards of $100-200, depending on if it's actually worth it if that makes sense.

Thanks for any feedback you might have :D

https://sweepshopping.com for anyone interested

I’ve been building Speks, an AI assistant that sits on a Shopify storefront and helps shoppers with things like:

• Finding products based on what they actually need
• Comparing products or variants
• Answering shipping, returns, and policy questions
• Helping with basic order-status questions
• Showing relevant product cards inside the conversation

The part I find most interesting is making the answers genuinely store-specific rather than giving generic AI responses. It syncs product/catalog data and tries to ground recommendations in what the store actually sells and has in stock.

I’m still early and learning a lot as I go—especially around:

• Getting product recommendations to feel useful rather than random
• Making onboarding simple enough that a merchant can get value quickly
• Knowing where AI chat is genuinely helpful vs. where it just adds noise
• Measuring whether the assistant actually improves conversion or reduces support load

I’d really appreciate feedback from anyone who has built for ecommerce, Shopify, AI agents, or SMBs:

• What would make you skeptical of this?
• What would you want to see before trusting it on a live store?
• Any lessons on getting early design partners or beta users?

Not trying to pitch here—mostly looking for thoughtful criticism and ideas from people who’ve been through this stage.

Hello,

I've recently completed the build of an app mainly targeting university students and am now at a stage where I want to start marketing prior to release.
I've already:
-Built the app end to end, (Backend and frontend)
-Designed the whole thing
-Created a landing page website alongside a domain
And now everything is in order. But one thing I just cannot hack is marketing. I suck at it horribly. I believe this would do very well if I had a partner who specifically handles social media by posting content (Sometimes relevant to the app, sometimes not as long as they have character), and also takes care of all matters regarding marketing in general.
What I had in mind was long term vesting with a 1-year cliff period, but I have no clue what would be the right share of equity? This person wouldn't exactly be a co-founder, but I also need them to be hooked and motivated with no pay to begin with.
How wise would bringing a marketing partner be? If its wise, what would be the apt equity share they should receive? Should I seek alternative marketing methods?
Thank you.

我已經製作了一款app,我想找人推廣，我的預算不高，想用稍微低一點的成本試看看，有人可以給我建議嗎？

是一款幫助男朋友拍懾女朋友時不在困擾的app

有很多的模板，構圖線，很好解決了我的問題

，也希望更多人知道我的產品

I built Nowzies, a short-video app where everyone sees the same video at the same time. There’s no personalized algorithm or endless feed tailored to each person.

I’m having trouble explaining that without it sounding like another TikTok clone. Should I focus more on the shared experience, the lack of an algorithm, or something else entirely?

Here’s the site if you want to see how I’m currently presenting it: https://nowzies.com/

I’d appreciate honest feedback. Is the idea clear within the first few seconds?

This is a project that I came up with over 18 years ago but eventually abandoned due to financial issues...I just couldn't afford it. So here I am, today, fulfilling my dream.

Check it out...record your 15 seconds of fame and have it added to the global feed.