No Meat Today

I'm curious to understand why:

• think they eat the right amount of meat (from zero to a lot)
• think they should eat less meat but fail to act
• think they should eat less meat but find it challenging

You can answer the survey (2 min) here: https://forms.gle/FpSwBfPAY66y9Ukx9

I almost released 2 versions back to back, but I wanted version 4.0 to be all about iOS 15, and it probably was worth it because I was featured in a couple of places.

This update included 2 cows for both Canadian and American Thanksgiving.

https://nomeat.today/blog/4-1/

This is a major update, I started working on this version back in January.

• iCloud Sync: it was time-consuming in itself, but the process to migrate data for my existing user base added to the complexity. I learned a tons and plan to share what I learned there.
• SwiftUI Redesign: I wanted to progressively turn my app into a SwiftUI app. One thing led to another and I ended up redesigning the part that shows the cows entirely. Users love it. Being an indie and in charge of the roadmap is ideal for this kind of unexpected turn
• New paywall and pricing: this is another of the biggest changes. It's a bit soon to tell, but it seems the work I did there already started to pay off.

You can read more details in the article below.

https://nomeat.today/blog/4-0-cloudkit-meets-ios-15/

In the last quarter of 2020, I spent most of my time creating new cows and little time updating the code. There have been a few updates with new features (like random cow names), but not the core features I want to work on to improve the app.

For some of these 2020 cows, I suffered from creator blockage for weeks. But for these 5 new cows, it took me about a day in total (over 3 weeks...). I think it's not just creative juice or whatever you call it. I have somehow improved my method; we'll see how it goes in the long run.

Here are some things I've changed that have helped me in my creative process:
1/ inherited from last year, I plan much more in advance; I give myself time to mature ideas, make mistakes and start over again.
2/ I start by looking for inspiration and collect images in Eagle.cool. It's more or less guided, depending on whether I already know the direction I want to go in or not.
3/ I don't expect to finish the design on the first pass. I know I always need to come back and rework it. I dedicate time, and I try to progress, even if it's only to find new sources of inspiration or... to decide to throw away what I've done and start over again. By committing to spend some time, rather than achieving a result, it is easier to motivate myself.
4/ I'm much more disciplined. I do not allow myself to work on anything else. I forget what I want to do next. I forget how long I will have to wait. Meditation has helped me to tame these myriad ideas that call for my attention and to focus on the task at hand.

Since the first version, I added a lot of cool things to the app, such as a Watch extension and Widgets.

But mostly, I made it even more fun by adding the possibility to attract special cows I create to celebrate notable dates in the year.

It was time to talk about those changes, and there was no better way to do so than to create a special Product Hunt design: the Kitty Cow.

You can get the Kitty Cow in the app today, but the PH post includes a link to the shop where you can get it as free wallpapers.

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/no-meat-today-2

My recipe so far:

• make the best possible app and try to adopt the latest iOS technologies
• have a fair price with regards to what people expect to pay for a small utility app
• launched on Product Hunt (with no community)
• posted once on Reddit
• add seasonal content (funny looking cows) that is limited to the paid subscription
• be a bit more active online
• 0 paid ads

I released a major update of No Meat Today with an Apple Watch app, a way to see your cows from up close and name each of them. It also introduces an exclusive cow design to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, and I already sketched two more cows I plan to add in the coming months.

I based all of those features on ideas I had before releasing the first version, but they made it into this version because I received feedback and requests from users that were matching those ideas.

Before I published the app, I was building an app that would please only me, and imagining that some people might love it.

Now I build features that still please me, but I also think about those users. And I always send them a follow-up email when a feature we talked about makes it to a new release. This is a big boost for motivation, knowing that at least one or more users will feel a bit of joy when the feature becomes available.

The Watch app is built entirely with SwiftUI, which I knew nothing about. It took me less than an hour to build the first version of the UI. The hardest part was actually to learn about Watch Connectivity and make it work with SwiftUI.

For the cow population tab, I decided that I needed a zoom transition. It took me a whole weekend before things finally clicked, thanks to a Stack-Overflow answer.

So I learned a lot, hit a couple of roadblocks, and felt quite lonely at times, but I had a lot of fun.

Lastly, I'm trying something about the subscription. I know people tend to dislike subscriptions, so I added a small text which explains why it is a subscription instead of a one-time purchase. I also make it easy for users to contact me if they think my business model is unfair. We'll see how that goes.

Ok, this is scary for me, I've mostly lived in the comfortable shadows of this community.

I was hunted by Chris Messina, who made it really easy for anyone to get ready and ask him to https://chrismessina.me/hunt-me. Even if you don't plan to launch on PH anytime soon, it's worth visiting.

We'll see how that goes 🤞

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/no-meat-today

This post gave me the idea to submit my app on the SideProject subreddit.

I got more upvotes than I hoped for. It sparked a couple interesting conversations as well.
It felt really good to have that level of recognition, this was my first post outside of my comfort zone.