WebMeter
An iOS widget to test website reachability
Sharing my learnings after launching WebMeter.
After one week, here are the numbers.
Installs : 33 units
Impressions: 1300 visits
Install rate: 2.5%
I did not expect it to be this bad; even without marketing.
This is proof that creating an app is not enough.
My Learnings:
- Start marketing early on the app. Show your work earlier.
- Create a landing page and test for demand (the mom test).
- Gather feedback and have beta testers
Today I decided to upload WebMeter to the AppStore. I was eager to ship WebMeter as soon as I can to see how much downloads it would gain.
I made a couple decisions to expedited my early shipping decision:
- Stopped working on Apple watch complication.
I was faced with bugs, performance issues and syncing problems with Apple Watch complications. Since Apple watch users are not my targeted audience, I decided to put watch complications on hold ( until the next release ).
- Use flycricket.com as my app landing page.
I wanted to create a custom App Landing website for WebMeter. However, it took more time than I expected. So I decided to leverage flycricket.com ( which is awesome )
The new site will be on https://webmeter.flycricket.io/
I uploaded WebMeter for public beta test on https://airport.community/ .
This beta included:
- iCloud support
- Apple watch support ( without complications )
- unlimited amount of widgets + websites
- created a new widget type
The public beta does not have any in-app purchase. I hope that users may test/experience webmeter without any limitations.
So far - I have have 19 beta testers, with no feedback yet.
Next steps is to get the website ready for launch.
Initially, I felt that adding a watch app would have been difficult. Turns out - adding a watch app was not difficult at all.
I tried to keep the interface really simple.
One screen that shows all the websites with its up/down status.
I could have added more features to the watch but at this point, i was hoping that a watch app would help visibility on the appstore.
My landing page, https://webmeter.sufiyanyasa.com/ has yet to see any luck - no beta testers are signup.
The main problem is lack of traffic and marketing. So my next focus is spending some time to market the site
WebMeter started as a simple utility app to monitor my iOT devices are running.
I have a bunch of iOT devices at home and sometimes they stop responding.
Most of the time, I only realised when it is too late.
So I decided to create a simple alpha version to test out.
I chose iOS since I am an iOS dev and I wanted to tryout iOS widgets.
With iOS widgets - I can create cool banners on my home screen without opening the app.
So far I am super happy with WebMeter so far. My plan is to update my journey as much as I can during my off development hours.
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