Building mobile apps people actually keep using
Downloads are easy to celebrate. Retention is what matters. A few principles we apply to every web and mobile product.
Most apps lose the majority of their users within the first few weeks. The ones that survive share a few traits: they solve one problem very well, they're fast, and they respect people's time and data.
Principles we build by
- Design for real conditions — slow networks, older phones, busy people.
- Get users to their first success in under a minute.
- Measure what people do, then remove what they don't need.
- Treat performance and accessibility as features.
- Ship small improvements often instead of big releases rarely.
Great products are rarely finished at launch. They get great through steady, evidence-driven iteration with the people who use them.