Top 10 indicators that your app has flopped

You should know when to give up on your app and move on

We all aspire to be successful and in that pursuit we try to ignore certain signs, which indicate failure. It’s always good to fight till the end but you should know when that proverbial end has arrived. I am listing down 10 strong indicators and if you are seeing 6 out of 10 happening to your app then its time to do something new.

Its been 6 months and your app has got less than 10k downloads. No matter which category your app belongs to, if you are getting just 100 installs a day then its probably never going to pick up

Your first 1000 ratings are less than 2.5. Early users are the best judge. Unless you have some drastic redevelopment plans to improve this rating, stop working on this app

Your 80% app store reviews are negative. Read every word, reach out to them (you can post reply on Play Store) and find out the reasons. If reviews are just saying stuff like “Bad App”, “Do not download”, “Waste of time” then you dont need to probe them further

No word of mouth. No one is talking about your app except you on Twitter or Facebook or Blogs. If you cant manage pre-release hype, work all out to get post release hype and WoM. Get your app showcased everywhere possible, get press to cover it, ask friends to push it. If all this is not happening despite your best efforts then its time to retire the app

You have less than 0.1% conversion. If your app has IAP and conversion is less than 0.1% despite your best efforts over 6 months period, you are not able to excite the users to spend money.

Tech issues are plaguing you. You made a great app with nifty features but you are encountering unknown bugs and not able to resolve it despite your best efforts then please start afresh

Active base is less than 5%. Most good apps would have upwards of 10% active user base. If you see 5% or less active user after 6 months of launch then your app is not exciting enough for users to come back

Uninstall ratio is more than 90%. World average for uninstall rate is 25% for a good app going to 60% for regular apps. Extremely bad apps can also have 100% uninstall rate. But hey don’t wait for that. Moment you see 90% uninstalls happening and there are no apparent technical bugs then its not a good news for your app

Your best friends don’t use it. Unless you have made an app targeting a particular profession (eg. lawyers, doctors, shopkeepers), your friends must use your app over your competition’s — yes, true friends would have that affinity towards your hard work. If they are not using it then don’t break your friendship with them, its indicting something else

You start to get that feeling. We all have a sense when things do not work out. We continue to work on it till we find something else worthwhile. If you are getting that sense already about your app then nothing else is important

ALL THE BEST

This post is not to discourage you. If you still believe in your app despite 6/10 indicators saying otherwise, I would recommend you go on and prove everyone wrong.

Do share your views with me at dabbot@gmail.com or connect with me on Twitter @deepakabbotFollow my blog at medium.com/@deepakabbot/latest