After 15 years in IT support, I launched my first public Android app
For most of my career, I've worked in IT support and infrastructure.
A few months ago, I decided to challenge myself and build something of my own from scratch.
The result is HealthMap, a health and well-being tracking app that helps users track mood, symptoms and daily well-being over time.
The hardest part wasn't actually coding the app.
It was learning everything around it:
- UX design
- Google Play publishing
- Android builds and signing
- Authentication flows
- User onboarding
- Product decisions
Today the app is live on Google Play and I'm continuing to improve it every week.
For those who launched their first product:
What surprised you the most after launch?
Congrats on getting it live.
One thing I’d be careful with after launch is assuming the next problem is more features.
For HealthMap, the bigger issue may be first-user trust. Health and mood tracking is personal, so the name, onboarding, and first promise all need to make someone feel clear on why they should use it repeatedly.
I wouldn’t try to solve that loosely in the thread because the answer changes positioning, onboarding, and what early user signal you should measure first.
If you’re open to it, share your email and I’ll put the tighter first-user read together properly.
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it.
I agree that trust and onboarding are probably more important than simply adding new features, especially for a health-related product.
At this stage I'm trying to gather feedback directly through the platform and continue iterating based on user behavior and comments. For now I'd prefer to keep discussions here rather than move them to email.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Totally fair.
Just to clarify, the deeper written version is paid work I do for founders when they want a tighter positioning or first-user read. I’ve already done similar focused passes around homepage positioning, GTM clarity, and early-user messaging.
For the thread, I’d keep the next feedback loop narrow: don’t just collect general comments, watch whether first-time users understand why they should come back after the first entry.
That repeat-use signal will tell you more than broad feedback right now.
Good luck with the launch.