Solo dev here. nobody using my app. how do you actually do marketing?
solo iOS dev. made a supplement tracking app called Supplement Crash. shipped twice, went through apple review 3 times (still recovering lol).
building part is fine. marketing is the problem.
i tried HN comments, PH forum posts, IH replies, one Reddit post in r/Supplements. did i get users? not really. some karma, some upvotes, almost no downloads.
i read marketing blogs. every blog says different thing. SEO takes months. paid ads cost money i dont have. cold outreach feels weird.
few questions:
- whats actually working for indie devs in 2026?
- one channel focus or many at same time?
- how long until you saw first 100 real users?
would love to hear what worked for you. especially if you started with 0 budget.
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Same boat, solo iOS dev about to launch, zero budget. So take this as someone mid-fight, not someone who figured it out.
What moved anything for me wasn't posting, it was replying. One useful comment in a thread where my users already are beats ten posts about my app. Your single r/Supplements post is the trap, I did that too and got karma, not downloads.
Pick one channel and show up every day. For me it's Reddit plus one founder community, not five. Comments, not links.
And be real about where your users actually are. r/Supplements is people taking supplements, not people who'd track them. The room matters as much as the effort.
at zero users the honest answer to which channel is none of them yet. channels amplify a message that already converts, and you dont have that message yet, so a post on hn or reddit has nothing to amplify. the first 100 users come from doing the unscalable thing. go where people already track supplements, the subreddits and gym discords, and dm individuals. dont pitch the app, just ask how they track now and what annoys them. get 10 using it by hand and watch where they quit. that tells you the one sentence that makes someone want this, and only then does a channel do anything. five channels with one post each is exactly how you got karma and zero downloads.
Q: whats actually working for indie devs in 2026?
A: App store search is really underrated. Do best for your ASO and mock-ups. Do not rely on reddit or PH. 90% of people there - solo devs as you, they are not interested in using your app, they are interesting in working ideas. If your app doesnt help founders - there are not much traf in those channels.
Q: one channel focus or many at same time?
A: If you have only one product - it is easy to maintain many channels at one time
Q: how long until you saw first 100 real users?
A: Have 2 products for now, 100 real users is like 2-3 weeks. 1 promo ad (50$), gave me like 20-30 users. All others - from app store. But tbh - if u want growing, u need money on ads. Now, when AI generates so many apps - u need money to promote, or super unique and high demand idea.
Marketing might not be the only issue here. For a supplement tracking app, trust and first impression matter before the channel even has a chance to work.
The problem is clear: people taking supplements need consistency, reminders, effects tracking, and maybe a way to understand what is actually helping over time. That is a real wellness habit problem.
But I’d be careful with the name Supplement Crash. “Crash” creates a slightly negative health association, and in wellness that can quietly hurt conversion. Even if the app is useful, the name may make it feel less safe or polished than the problem deserves.
Before trying ten more marketing channels, I’d tighten the product angle and brand first. Auryxa .com would fit this kind of wellness-tracking app much better because it feels cleaner, more premium, and more trustworthy for a health-adjacent product.
The product does not need to become bigger overnight. But if users are deciding in two seconds whether to download a wellness app, the name should reduce hesitation, not create it.