📱 Mobile Apps: No-Code Tools, Alternative App Stores, Getting Users

In this Trends.vc Report, we talk about finding app ideas, building apps fast, getting early users, lowering customer acquisition costs and more.

🔍 Problem

You want to have your food, bank, books, games and friends one tap away.

💡 Solution

Mobile apps offer business, personal and social services available at your fingertips.

• Uber is your driver
• Zero is your dietician
• Pi is your AI companion

🏁 Players

Mobile Apps

• EPIK • AI-powered photo editing app
• Replika • Make and talk to virtual AI companions
• Everyday • Simple and beautiful habit tracker by Joan Boixadós
• PantryPal • Collaborative grocery list app by Luke Pighetti
• Citymapper • Live bus, subway and train times
• Feng My Shui • Generate realistic images with AI by Eduardo Borges
• Castro • Manage podcasts and your favorite episodes
• Duolingo • Free, fun and effective way to learn new languages

🛠 How to Build Mobile Apps

• Solve your own problem. Someone has it too and will pay for a solution.

• Jay Rambhia wanted to track his work. He built and grew Taskito to $1,500 MRR.
• James Shepherd needed a way to meet with his patients online. He built an app with Thunkable.
• Vishesh Handa wanted a secure and lasting way to keep notes. He built and grew GitJournal to $900 MRR.
• Joel Rainwater moved from America to Europe and wanted a way to check the weather in Fahrenheit. He built Unity Weather.
• Benjamin Godlove wanted a way to remind his parents to take medication. He built Hound Reminders that sends SMS reminders.

• Use mobile app templates to build apps faster. They make it easier to build the main components and screens for your app.

• Athanasios Traitsis shares how to build mobile apps with his Flutter Boilerplates.
• Brocoders shares how they build mobile apps faster with React Native boilerplates.
• Sebastian Hoffmann used Adalo Templates to build an app for managing subscriptions.
• Krissanawat Kaewsanmuang shares how he built an app for his blog using Instamobile.

• Launch a beta test to get early users and feedback.

• Circle launched an early beta test for its mobile app.
• Daba Finance launched a public beta for its mobile app.
• Mintos launched a beta test of its mobile app for 500 users.

• Build in public to build trust and awareness.

• Luke Pighetti is building PantryPal in public.
• Engineer Girlfriend is building Todewy in public.
• Eduardo Borges is building Feng My Shui in public.

🌱 How to Grow Mobile Apps

• Use freemium to lower your customer acquisition costs. Let them try your app before buying.

• TripIt has a free and paid version with advanced reminders, alerts and travel perks.
• PlayerFM has a free and paid version with podcast playlists, custom themes and more.
• Afterlight Photo Editor has a free version with basic editing tools. It also has a paid version with premium filters, presets and more.

• Use content marketing to boost your discoverability. This also helps to educate users on how to reach their goals with your app.

• Evernote shares posts and videos with productivity tips.
• Gymaholic makes content on healthy living, nutrition and exercise.
• Headspace publishes blog posts, videos and podcasts on mindfulness and meditation.

• Use gamification to boost engagement and retention.

• Forest grows a tree while you’re staying focused.
• Todoist lets you earn karma points for completing tasks.
• Habitica helps you build habits by creating characters and slaying monsters with other users.

💰 How to Monetize Mobile Apps

• Use ads to get paid for connecting advertisers with their target audiences.

• Subway Surfers shows rewarded video ads.
• Rider shows an ad banner at the bottom of the screen.
• Color Switch shows interstitial ads at the end of game levels.

• Offer one-time payments to lower the decision fatigue.

• Paprika is a recipe management app for $4.99.
• Scrivener is a word processor for writers for $32.99.
• Monument Valley 2 is a puzzle game for $3.99 which made $10,400,000+ in the first year.

• Offer free trials to get more prospects into your sales funnel.

• Blinkist is an app for reading with a 7-day trial.
• Robinhood is an investing app with a 30-day trial.
• Roadtrippers is a road trip planning app with a 7-day trial.

🔮 Predictions

• We’ll see more alternative app stores. They will let you get apps unavailable in official app stores from Google, Apple and more.

• AltStore offers apps unavailable on the App Store.
• GetJar is the world’s biggest open app store for Android.
• BuildStore offers 500+ games, emulators, tweaks and more.
• TweakBox offers modded apps and games for iPhone and iPad.

• We’ll see more no-code and low-code tools for building mobile apps. They will make it easier to build mobile apps for non-tech founders.

• Thunkable lets you build custom mobile apps without code.
• FlutterFlow lets you build mobile apps with custom functions.
• Adalo lets you build and publish responsive apps for mobile and web.
• Draftbit lets you use no-code and custom components for your mobile apps.

• Physical products will use companion apps to boost interactivity.

• Tesla has a mobile app that helps to see your car’s charge, schedule service and more.
• BirdWeather PUC has a mobile app that shows tracked birds, plays bird sounds and more.
• Garmin has Garmin Connect™ that helps you track your energy levels, fitness goals and more.

😠 Haters

“App stores have high fees.”
This is the price you pay for building on top of their platforms and getting access to their distribution engines.

“Competition is harder than what you make it look like. 99% of users use 1% of apps.”
You can build a valuable company without targeting a mass market. Focus on who you serve instead of how many people you serve. Meet the specific needs of your users to build a loyal, engaged audience.

“Selling personal data is unethical.”
Sell anonymized data that doesn’t link to people.

🔗 Links

1. $300,000 with a Sand Drawing App for Kids • The thread for this report.
2. Building a Report on Mobile Apps • The tweet behind this report.
3. How to Create a Mobile App • In-depth guide on how to build, launch and grow mobile apps.
4. Types of Mobile Ads • The most popular ad types for mobile apps.

📁 Related Reports

• Freemium • Lower your customer acquisition costs with a free version of your mobile app.
• Product-Led Growth • Build a mobile app that sells itself.
• Growth Hacking • Find cost-effective ways to get attention and convert customers.
• No-Code • Build mobile apps faster, cheaper and better without writing code.
• Build in Public • Validate ideas, build trust and boost your reach by sharing your wins and losses.

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