Snap Search
Get 100% privacy over your search queries
It's been almost two months since I last recorded a milestone here. Honestly, it's been my fault.
I've put my head down into development and improving certain aspects of the app, I've hardly focused on anything else.
HOWEVER! I'm super excited to share what is perhaps one of my proudest engineering achievements. In this update, I've done lots to improve the browser and actually give users what they want (and a little something extra too).
Here's the detailed post: https://snapsearch.online/app-updates/tabbed-browsing-using-snap-search/
Here's the TL;DR of the major improvements:
- Introducing tabbed browsing
- Pattern lock to protect the app, and/or screens inside the app
Even these two aside, there are so many small improvements here and there that make this such a solid update! Can't wait to see how the users respond to it 😄
Back in July, I realized that Snap Search was now earning enough to support the continuous development. And I really wanted to do something more with the money earned - something fruitful, something that felt like a 'real' contribution. This led to partnering up with One Tree Planted and a commitment to plant a tree for each subscription we get, each month.
We finally planted our first set of Trees! 26 trees in August in Uganda, dedicated to the Chimpanzees there. Feels super great and I'm sure this feeling will only get better once the number increases.
You can read more about it here if you would like to 🙂
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this is AMAZING!!!
Thank you for being conscious, thank you for the care -
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I love this idea!
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Thank you 😁
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Awesome! The community at https://collective.energy would definitely love to hear about this initiative :)
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Hi @ericvanular, thanks for sharing that. Seems like another great community. Have posted there too 😁
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That's amazing Rajat!
I will also plant some trees in the Amazon rain forest soon for each sale I made of my eBook Start With A Side-Project! Can't wait =)-
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That's so cool! I hope you get to plant many, many trees 🍻
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... And what a rollercoaster ride it has been!
Honestly, I never thought I could ever build something and focus on it for so long. It feels great though to be able to celebrate such a milestone.
Importantly, I have to acknowledge the community here. Without IH, I would've probably given up long ago. The motivation and support one receives from this amazing place is unparalleled online. Thank you, all of you 🙏🏻
I've written more about my experience Building a Browser for Android for the past 1 year if you're interested. Nonetheless, have an amazing day today 🥳
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That's great. Focus on a given project without going side ways is important.
I have to say that whenever I see snap search mentioned I always think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_(package_manager).
After SO much of trial and error, and almost 6-7 A/B tests later I finally managed to improve the download conversion rate for visitors to Snap Search's Play Store page!
Feels great! Check it out:
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Congrats Rajat, this is awesome! What where the factors/changes that had the biggest impact?
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Thank you 😁
I think improving the keywords so that I'd rank higher had a lot of to do. I guess my app started showing up in search for those who were looking for an app like it. Then it was a matter of experimenting with screenshots and descriptions. Each time I'd manage to improve by ~4-5%
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Thanks for that! Makes sense, get the search right and then the media.
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WOW, wonderful screenshot. How you did it. What teach did you use, React Native or Native.
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Hi Steve,
I assume you're asking about the tech for Snap Search? It's Native Android (Java)
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Well done on increasing the conversions!
I'm curious about how you obtain feedback about your A/B testing? Do you have some analytics for each feature to determine whether is has the desired effect or do you communicate with users directly in some way?
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Oh haha, this is the conversation rate for new users to download the app from the play store. It’s how many people downloaded it after viewing the play store listing 😅
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Very impressive! What would you say were the major wins that got you there?
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Continuous A/B testing definitely. Screenshots have changed 4-5 times and the description too!
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That’s fantastic!!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Chris Messina was kind enough to hunt Snap Search on Product Hunt 😁
This is really exciting! Hoping for some good feedback and decent exposure for Snap Search. Can't wait to see how the day goes.
If you got a minute, do leave us an upvote if you can or wish to. Would appreciate it 🙌🏼
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Upvoted.
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Appreciate it 🙌🏼
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Congrats for your launch
Upvoted! All the best-
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Thank you @Hlne_Makezu 🙂
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Exciting! Congrats on being #5 for the day! Upvoted :)
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Thank you! It’s been going a lot up and down the whole day 😅
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Congrats on your launch on PH, wish you all the best 💪
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Thank you @Zwenza 🙌🏼
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This comment was deleted 6 years ago
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Appreciate it man 🙂
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When I started along the path of developing Snap Search I didn’t think too far down the road. I knew the browser space had a lot of competition, and there probably wouldn’t be too much room for improvement. So I focused as much as I could on the privacy aspect of the app. Multiple app updates later, it feels good to know that even today I could add something new and which hasn’t been done before – something that makes Snap Search even more unique.
I'm super proud to share v4.6 with ya'll! It has so many improvements and feature updates that set it apart. Here are some:
↪ You can edit web pages you visit!
↪ Expand shortened URLs easily.
↪ Auto close the irritating GDPR & Cookie consent popups
↪ Disable AMP on Google Search results
↪ Added a 'Fastest' server option for proxy mode.
↪ Improved downloading capability of the browser.
↪ Lots of new settings to modify the behaviour of the app.
You could read more about the update here, or just go ahead and download it from the play store 😁
This feels more like a personal milestone for me. I'm not a very patient person. I don't create mockups, I code. I don't do much post development testing, I release.
This time, I've created a blog post in advance, I'm making sure I test everything and in the meanwhile I've launched an A/B test for new screenshots to see how they perform. By the time the results from that are out, I'll be ready to release the app.
It feels good to be more 'organised'. Also, I've got my fingers crossed about this update for Snap Search. Can't wait to share more with you guys! 🙂
I finally bit the bait and went ahead and added them on the home page.
I tried searching online if this has any SEO advantages but couldn't really figure out. But more than just that, it's a small way to say thank you to all the kind folks that bothered mentioning my app. It felt good reading it on so many places (there were many, many more but didn't list them all).
Hopefully this will add some cred 🤷🏻♂️
It felt so good writing so many 0's 🥳
Happy to share that more than 100,000 searches have been completed using Snap Search. It finally feels like I've at least made a small contribution towards privacy online, and so many people have trusted me with it.
Here are some important numbers we've recently crossed too:
- 100+ Subscribers
- $200+ in MRR
- 6000+ Bookmarks
- 800+ DAU
You can read more about this milestone here or, if you're an Android user: Download Snap Search 🙂
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Sorry for my ignorance, how is this different from duckduckgo?
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DuckDuckGo was built as a competitor to Google. Snap Search is not a search engine. It’s a browser that provides a container around multiple search engines like Google, DDG etc (45+ supported currently).
And as for the Android browser by DDG, here is a proper comparison showing the differences. Some ways they lose out are they ask for permissions, do not block most trackers and are slower in performance.
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I used to maintain this locally just for me to keep track of the progress I've been making. So I thought, why not make it public and just put it on the site. not necessary everyone will be interested in reading it - but for those looking for one, even if it's just one user - it's there now.
You can check it out here
This also coincided well with our latest update bringing so many new features to Snap Search 🥳
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Great progress. Keep going!