When devs used to tell me they couldn’t reach their first $100, I didn’t believe it. A lot of them asked me where to get installs.
Then I looked at their apps and honestly, it was rough. You don’t need installs, you need to fix your product and first impression ASAP:
1. Make a clean, stylish, and clear ICON. This is your very first touchpoint with the user, it matters more than you think.
2. Create high-quality SCREENSHOTS. No blurry text, no stretched devices. If you can’t do it yourself, hire a designer.
3. Build a solid ONBOARDING. Don’t cut corners here. In 3–4 steps, clearly show what your app does and why it’s useful.
4. Add a paywall AFTER onboarding. It’s simple. Offer your product confidently. In my apps, 80% of revenue comes from the first session. I don’t get why people skip this.
5. Most important: create a STEP-BY-STEP user flow. No cluttered screens. One step = one action.
If you’ve done all five, then you can start thinking about user acquisition. But that’s a completely different game.