Show IH: I cut TinyPDF down to one input field — and it got better

Hey everyone,

This is a "doing less" update rather than a "shipping more" one.

When I started TinyPDF, I had a backlog that looked like every other PDF tool: batch upload, cloud history, account sync, presets for every platform, mobile. Then I looked at what people actually did with it — they opened the page once, had exactly one file that was too big, and left.

So I cut most of it. What's left is one page and one question: how big does this file need to be?

What removing things bought me:

• No account meant no "sign in to download" friction — which was most of the drop-off
• No file history meant far less to explain, and honestly far less to worry about storing
• One core path made it much easier to make that one path good

What it cost me:

• Batch compression is genuinely painful to work around — recruiters applying to many roles ask for it most
• No mobile yet, and it's the single most requested thing
• Some users arrive expecting a full PDF suite and bounce immediately

The part I keep going back and forth on: adding platform presets. LinkedIn here, Behance there, various ATS systems. It would remove one small step — but it also means maintaining a list of other companies' limits that can change whenever they feel like it.

For those of you shipping small tools: did keeping it narrow actually help you, or did you end up regretting the features you said no to?

TinyPDF → https://tinypdf.cn/?utm_source=indiehackers&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ih_subtraction_2026-09-28&utm_content=ih_subtraction_2026-09-28

Free, no account, no watermark, up to 100 MB. Still honest about the limits: desktop only, no batch mode, and asking for a very small size does cost you image quality.