Under the Radar

00:00:00 ◼   ► Welcome to Under the Radar, a show about independent iOS app development.

00:00:04 ◼   ► I'm Marco Arment. And I'm David Smith. Under the Radar is never longer than 30 minutes,

00:00:08 ◼   ► so let's get started. So today we're going to talk a lot about

00:00:12 ◼   ► what it's like to launch a new version of your app or a new app. This is

00:00:16 ◼   ► launch day, planning launch day, and then what actually happens on launch day.

00:00:20 ◼   ► Now David, you recently went through a notable launch of one of your notable

00:00:24 ◼   ► products. Do you mind telling us about that? Sure. So yeah, so the part of this

00:00:28 ◼   ► idea to do this was I recently launched a big update to my sleep tracker for the Apple

00:00:32 ◼   ► Watch sleep++. It's been a while since I'd gone through the process of like, okay, this

00:00:39 ◼   ► is like, whenever you like some updates, you just kind of put out without really any desire

00:00:44 ◼   ► or goal or need for attention. But every now and then you find yourself in a place that

00:00:48 ◼   ► you're like, this is one of those things that if possible, I would really like people to

00:00:54 ◼   ► to pay attention to.

00:00:55 ◼   ► I think it's worthwhile, I think it's interesting,

00:00:57 ◼   ► it's compelling, but how do I get that out?

00:01:01 ◼   ► And so for C++, I went through all the steps

00:01:04 ◼   ► that we're about to talk about, of trying to understand

00:01:07 ◼   ► what is compelling, what is interesting,

00:01:09 ◼   ► what is the message about why this is worth

00:01:11 ◼   ► paying attention to, and who should I tell?

00:01:13 ◼   ► And trying to work that out, and writing a bunch of emails,

00:01:16 ◼   ► and preparing blog posts, and eventually putting it out,

00:01:19 ◼   ► putting it out in the store, and thankfully,

00:01:22 ◼   ► it had a really nice reception.

00:01:23 ◼   ► got picked up in a lot of places and had good downloads,

00:01:26 ◼   ► and so overall I would say it was a success.

00:01:28 ◼   ► And so hopefully we can talk through this process

00:01:31 ◼   ► and other people can learn from the mistakes

00:01:34 ◼   ► and the lessons we've both had from,

00:01:36 ◼   ► we've each probably launched at least several,

00:01:40 ◼   ► like dozens of these kind of big updates

00:01:41 ◼   ► where you're like, how am I gonna get attention for it?

00:01:44 ◼   ► And hopefully it's something to learn in that process.

00:01:47 ◼   ► - Yeah, absolutely.

00:01:48 ◼   ► I mean, for me, almost every update or launch,

00:01:52 ◼   ► it has some degree of underlying stress and preparation

00:01:55 ◼   ► and anxiety until it's actually like in people's hands

00:01:58 ◼   ► and seemingly not totally broken.

00:02:01 ◼   ► But certainly like the big ones,

00:02:04 ◼   ► like in the next version of Overcast,

00:02:07 ◼   ► I'm planning on calling it version 2.5,

00:02:10 ◼   ► 'cause I've made a lot of improvements since 2.0

00:02:13 ◼   ► and I feel like I kind of half want it to be a big deal.

00:02:16 ◼   ► Like it isn't a 3.0,

00:02:17 ◼   ► but it is a substantial improvement over 2.0

00:02:20 ◼   ► in a number of areas.

00:02:21 ◼   ► So that's why I feel like, okay, 2.5, I feel like it deserves that level of PR, if

00:02:28 ◼   ► that makes sense. Do you ever do like a 0.5 or you just go, you know?

00:02:31 ◼   ► I think I tend to do just, I would just call it the next big number, because the number

00:02:36 ◼   ► only sort of matters, and it's just a much clearer message, often, maybe, to just say,

00:02:41 ◼   ► like, you know, this is, it's like, if people understand what, if the first number gets

00:02:45 ◼   ► bigger, typically that means big, cool stuff. Whereas 0.5, like, unless you realize that

00:02:51 ◼   ► that the previous version wasn't 0.4,

00:02:54 ◼   ► that wouldn't be as significant.

00:02:56 ◼   ► But I definitely have that same thought of it's like,

00:02:58 ◼   ► you're trying to weigh when you do an update of like,

00:03:01 ◼   ► is this, how notable is this?

00:03:03 ◼   ► Because I feel like you only have a certain amount

00:03:06 ◼   ► of attention that you can reasonably expect

00:03:09 ◼   ► to sort of garner with any update.

00:03:11 ◼   ► You know, and so if every single update I did,

00:03:13 ◼   ► every minor bug fix, every little change I made to the app,

00:03:17 ◼   ► I should have treated it as though it was a big deal,

00:03:20 ◼   ► I would very quickly sort of dilute any credence I had

00:03:25 ◼   ► with people in the press or with my audience,

00:03:27 ◼   ► and you kind of have the boy who cried wolf problem

00:03:30 ◼   ► and no one would pay attention.

00:03:31 ◼   ► And so I definitely see when you say,

00:03:33 ◼   ► it's kind of like half a big deal,

00:03:35 ◼   ► you're kind of signaling that and indicating,

00:03:36 ◼   ► hey, I know this isn't as this massive important thing,

00:03:40 ◼   ► and that's okay, but it's important,

00:03:42 ◼   ► so maybe take a look at it.

00:03:44 ◼   ► But just being honest about that

00:03:46 ◼   ► and finding that balance of how important it is in reality

00:03:49 ◼   ► versus how often you can sort of bang on the drum

00:03:54 ◼   ► and say, hey, come and look at me.

00:03:56 ◼   ► - Yeah, that makes sense.

00:03:57 ◼   ► I mean, really, when you're talking about version numbering,

00:03:59 ◼   ► I mean, your users will so rarely

00:04:01 ◼   ► even see the version number.

00:04:03 ◼   ► I mean, they will notice when they launch the app,

00:04:05 ◼   ► which has been auto-updated, and it looks different.

00:04:08 ◼   ► But they won't notice that, oh, the version number

00:04:12 ◼   ► in the store is now a new even number

00:04:14 ◼   ► because they're not gonna look at the release notes.

00:04:16 ◼   ► Nobody looks at the release notes anymore on iOS.

00:04:19 ◼   ► And so it really, it's mostly a signal, in my opinion,

00:04:22 ◼   ► the version number and the major versus minor

00:04:24 ◼   ► improvement numbers are mostly a signal to the press.

00:04:27 ◼   ► It's like you are kind of using the version number

00:04:30 ◼   ► to tell the press when it's a big deal.

00:04:33 ◼   ► So if you have reached version 4.0 after five years,

00:04:38 ◼   ► that's worth somebody paying a little bit

00:04:41 ◼   ► of attention to at least.

00:04:42 ◼   ► That's worth like, okay, I have this giant email inbox

00:04:46 ◼   ► as a press person, I have all these people pitching me

00:04:49 ◼   ► what new app updates and what new apps they have, but oh, this app I've heard of for five

00:04:53 ◼   ► years just released version 4.0, I want to at least read that and pay attention to that.

00:04:59 ◼   ► And you're right, like totally the cried wolf situation happens where, I mean what version

00:05:03 ◼   ► is Chrome and Firefox running now? They're in like the 40s and 50s now or something,

00:05:08 ◼   ► right? I mean, like, you know, they've decided that that no longer matters, and that's fine,

00:05:13 ◼   ► advantages to that too. But I think for indie apps, absolutely, use version numbering and

00:05:21 ◼   ► major versus minor as a way to signal to the press when something is important and worth

00:05:28 ◼   ► further consideration and coverage.

00:05:30 ◼   ► Yeah, because I think, and it's also probably worth saying, in all of your preparations

00:05:35 ◼   ► for this kind of marketing, this type of trying to get attention, the most important advice

00:05:42 ◼   ► I could ever give to somebody is to try and make sure that you have a very clear and concise

00:05:46 ◼   ► story about what's changed, why that's important, that if you can't tell somebody in two or

00:05:55 ◼   ► three sentences what's changed, why this would be interesting, if it's a new app, like why

00:06:00 ◼   ► this app is new or interesting or is worth paying attention to, you're really going to

00:06:05 ◼   ► struggle.

00:06:06 ◼   ► And all of these little things is trying to boil the coolness of your update down to something

00:06:12 ◼   ► very concise.

00:06:13 ◼   ► And so if you can say, "Here is 2.0.

00:06:16 ◼   ► It does X, Y, and Z," you're in a much better place than, "Oh, it does 50 new things

00:06:21 ◼   ► or 100 new things."

00:06:23 ◼   ► That's not really compelling.

00:06:24 ◼   ► It needs to be something that's a very clear story.

00:06:28 ◼   ► And you may need to structure the changes you make to fit a story.

00:06:32 ◼   ► Sometimes I'll look at that and I'll have features that are added into, that are part

00:06:37 ◼   ► of the update but aren't really important, and I won't really mention them in my update

00:06:41 ◼   ► notes because I find it's better to be able to say, "This update is all about this.

00:06:47 ◼   ► Here's the theme of what's going on."

00:06:49 ◼   ► Because A, it's easier for someone in the press to write a story about, and B, it's

00:06:53 ◼   ► just easier to understand, both to someone in the press or to just a customer.

00:06:57 ◼   ► If they go to the app store and they click on the "What's New" section, and it's

00:07:01 ◼   ► Like, this is now better because X.

00:07:04 ◼   ► The sleep analysis engine can now differentiate between multiple different sleep types and

00:07:11 ◼   ► giving you better data.

00:07:13 ◼   ► That's a simple, straightforward story.

00:07:15 ◼   ► That was most of what my recent C++ update was about.

00:07:18 ◼   ► That was the story I was pitching.

00:07:19 ◼   ► It included a whole bunch of other fixes and changes and improvements, but that was the

00:07:23 ◼   ► story that I was telling, and that makes it simpler.

00:07:25 ◼   ► Because you want to end up with something that you'd have someone look at and be like,

00:07:29 ◼   ► "Oh, wow, that's cool.

00:07:30 ◼   ► I want to download that or I want to explore that more.

00:07:33 ◼   ► Or if you're in a press and you've got 50 pitches, what's the thing that's going to

00:07:36 ◼   ► hook them and make them want to continue reading your description or your pitch?

00:07:43 ◼   ► And this doesn't apply only to 2.0, 3.0 kind of updates.

00:07:46 ◼   ► This applies to the entire app.

00:07:47 ◼   ► This applies to your 1.0, if not even more so.

00:07:51 ◼   ► Because your app—this is kind of like what I was talking about in my NS Conference talk

00:07:54 ◼   ► last year about app marketing, where like your app, if you can't boil down why somebody

00:08:00 ◼   ► should care about it at all in one or two sentences, it's going to be very hard to

00:08:05 ◼   ► get attention and to get press, or at least to get attention that lasts. And you can do

00:08:11 ◼   ► it, you know, you can have like an everything text editor that just, you can do everything

00:08:14 ◼   ► with this app, you know, or, you know, and everything, some kind of like everything bucket,

00:08:17 ◼   ► like oh, you can capture all your data and organize it, you know, like something very

00:08:22 ◼   ► vague but you know that it's very hard to stand out from the crowd with that or

00:08:27 ◼   ► if you say like you know this is the the iOS audio editor with 300 plugins like

00:08:34 ◼   ► okay like that doesn't it doesn't tell as compelling of a story as if you can

00:08:39 ◼   ► boil it down to a few specific noteworthy and useful sounding or

00:08:45 ◼   ► compelling sounding specific bullet points about like my app does these

00:08:50 ◼   ► three things, period. And then version two has these two or three big changes that will

00:08:55 ◼   ► help you. And yeah, you're right, one of those changes should not be fixed 60 bugs.

00:09:02 ◼   ► No one needs to be announced to that you fixed bugs. You should be fixing bugs and you shouldn't

00:09:08 ◼   ► even need to use PR to advertise that you are fixing bugs. You should just fix them.

00:09:17 ◼   ► the reason why somebody should care about your new version is not because

00:09:20 ◼   ► you fixed more bugs from the previous one. That's kind of an insult to your own

00:09:24 ◼   ► product. Fix the bugs, yeah, but also have other reasons that people should

00:09:29 ◼   ► care about and kind of downplay the bug fixing if you can. Like summarize it all

00:09:33 ◼   ► as one bullet point. Bug fixes and improvements, you know, like I always in

00:09:36 ◼   ► my business I always have like, you know, like the top few bullets of my

00:09:41 ◼   ► change logs in iOS will always be like, you know, interesting features. Like if I

00:09:45 ◼   ► I have to remove something that'll be up top.

00:09:46 ◼   ► That's usually not the case.

00:09:48 ◼   ► Otherwise it'll be interesting, compelling things

00:09:52 ◼   ► in those first few bullets.

00:09:53 ◼   ► And then the lower ones, I'll consolidate

00:09:56 ◼   ► almost everything else that nobody cares about

00:09:59 ◼   ► into a single bullet that says bug fixes

00:10:01 ◼   ► and other minor improvements.

00:10:03 ◼   ► Because nobody cares that, oh, I increased

00:10:05 ◼   ► the artwork size by four pixels.

00:10:07 ◼   ► It doesn't matter.

00:10:08 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I think this is the kind of thing

00:10:09 ◼   ► that it's an important distinction that,

00:10:12 ◼   ► I know it took a long time for me to learn as I started making apps, is marketing and

00:10:18 ◼   ► PR is a different thing than software engineering and making things.

00:10:25 ◼   ► And not necessarily that it's...

00:10:28 ◼   ► I still, in all of my marketing materials, strive to be honest and clear and straightforward.

00:10:34 ◼   ► But it's not that...

00:10:37 ◼   ► I want to tell people things that are going to be attractive and interesting and sell

00:10:44 ◼   ► my app to them.

00:10:45 ◼   ► I'm selling to them.

00:10:46 ◼   ► I want to emphasize the good and downplay the bad, because if I don't, it's not going

00:10:53 ◼   ► to be compelling.

00:10:54 ◼   ► And your example with bug fixes is a great one there, because while it's true that fixing

00:11:00 ◼   ► 60 bugs may actually be important and have made the app way, way better and be a really

00:11:04 ◼   ► important thing, what you're saying when you say that, like the message that sends to your

00:11:09 ◼   ► customers is like, "Here's my app. Now it's less terrible." And that's not compelling.

00:11:17 ◼   ► You don't want to tell somebody, "Hey, here's this thing that's less terrible than it used

00:11:21 ◼   ► to be." It has to have that positive, exciting, interesting flair to it. It's awesome because

00:11:28 ◼   ► of this, and emphasizing things like fixing bugs isn't probably going to be it. It's like

00:11:33 ◼   ► You wanna have something that is going to be,

00:11:37 ◼   ► have that positive impact on them rather than, yeah,

00:11:39 ◼   ► less worse.

00:11:41 ◼   ► That's probably, that's a pretty low bar

00:11:44 ◼   ► to try and get someone's attention.

00:11:45 ◼   ► - Exactly.

00:11:46 ◼   ► - So once you have the story, you've come up with

00:11:50 ◼   ► what is this compelling feature set,

00:11:52 ◼   ► what is this thing, this hook that you're going

00:11:54 ◼   ► to give to people, the next thing you have

00:11:57 ◼   ► to kind of work through is who are you actually

00:12:00 ◼   ► going to tell, it seems?

00:12:02 ◼   ► And obviously, you'll talk to your friends and your family,

00:12:05 ◼   ► colleagues, your network.

00:12:07 ◼   ► But inevitably, to have any kind of big splash,

00:12:10 ◼   ► you need to reach out to the press.

00:12:13 ◼   ► And these are all kinds of people.

00:12:14 ◼   ► They could be from websites, from blogs, podcasts,

00:12:19 ◼   ► YouTubers.

00:12:21 ◼   ► It could be whatever.

00:12:23 ◼   ► YouTubers dwarf our audiences, just for the record.

00:12:25 ◼   ► If you can get MKBHD to talk about something,

00:12:27 ◼   ► that's so much better than any tech blog you've ever heard of.

00:12:31 ◼   ► >> Yeah. And you need to reach out to them. And one thing I always wanted to mention here

00:12:36 ◼   ► is it's okay for that to be really, really scary because I've been doing this a long

00:12:42 ◼   ► time. I've been an independent developer for almost eight years now, I think, or seven

00:12:46 ◼   ► years. And it's still every time I sit down to write an email to someone in the press,

00:12:51 ◼   ► many of these people who I know personally now who I'm good friends with and will meet

00:12:56 ◼   ► up when we're in the same town and things, it still is scary because whenever you actually

00:13:00 ◼   ► have to put virtual pen to ink kind of thing.

00:13:05 ◼   ► It's like you have to say, OK, I think this is cool.

00:13:09 ◼   ► I hope you do too.

00:13:11 ◼   ► And there's a certain vulnerability about that, because if they come back and say, I

00:13:14 ◼   ► don't think that's actually very cool or interesting, that's kind of not great.

00:13:19 ◼   ► But you have to kind of work past that and understand that, well, you worked on this

00:13:23 ◼   ► for a long enough time.

00:13:24 ◼   ► You owe it to your app and to yourself to put your best foot forward and to move past

00:13:28 ◼   ► that and to say like, "Oh no, these are the people I respect," because if people ever

00:13:33 ◼   ► ask me who I should reach out to, it's like, "Well, reach out to the people whose opinions

00:13:38 ◼   ► you would respect, and people who, when they recommend apps, you treat that with a fair

00:13:45 ◼   ► bit of regard, because presumably there's reasons why you think that, and there's reasons

00:13:50 ◼   ► that other people would think that too."

00:13:51 ◼   ► Yeah, and it takes a certain degree of getting over the shyness fact that you kind of alluded

00:13:58 ◼   ► to.

00:13:59 ◼   ► Like a lot of developers, they kind of just want to be Steve Wozniak.

00:14:02 ◼   ► Like I'll just make something cool and the world will respect it I guess, but I'm not

00:14:06 ◼   ► going to be out there being the showman.

00:14:09 ◼   ► Because a lot of developers, that's just not the kind of personality that we often have.

00:14:14 ◼   ► And the fact is that that's not enough.

00:14:19 ◼   ► enough when it was 1970s whatever and there were no other computers out there and Steve

00:14:25 ◼   ► Wozniak was making brilliant things that like a few other people discovered because they

00:14:29 ◼   ► were brilliant and there wasn't much else out there. That worked then. But that wouldn't

00:14:33 ◼   ► work today in a very very crowded market where if you don't get some kind of recognition

00:14:40 ◼   ► to make you stand out from the crowd then no one's ever going to find you. And so you

00:14:45 ◼   ► You have to, to some degree, be willing to take on the role of being the show person

00:14:51 ◼   ► for your app and developing some kind of quick pitch to be able to brag about it.

00:14:59 ◼   ► Not to say like, I'm the greatest person in the world, but I've made this app that's

00:15:03 ◼   ► really cool and useful for this short list of reasons or for this use case that you might

00:15:09 ◼   ► have.

00:15:10 ◼   ► And you have to be able to communicate that clearly and confidently, because if you can't,

00:15:16 ◼   ► it's very unlikely anybody else will do it for you these days, because they won't ever

00:15:20 ◼   ► see you, they won't ever find you.

00:15:22 ◼   ► Yeah, and it's also, I think, worth mentioning here that this is the place that I think you

00:15:27 ◼   ► often run into the, like, you look at someone who has been doing this for longer, and you

00:15:33 ◼   ► see the size of the audience they have, and you see the sort of the splash that they're

00:15:38 ◼   ► able to get. And it's easy to kind of look at that and be like, "Well, that's fine

00:15:42 ◼   ► for them, but I'm never going to get there."

00:15:45 ◼   ► I've never heard that before.

00:15:47 ◼   ► But the reality—and I think back to myself, like many years ago—I'm doing the same

00:15:54 ◼   ► things now, but I have a bigger audience for them. But when I launched an app back there,

00:16:00 ◼   ► I still wrote a blog post. I would still try and reach out to as much of the press as I

00:16:04 ◼   ► as I could, I would do all the same things.

00:16:06 ◼   ► And A, that was good practice for getting good at that

00:16:11 ◼   ► when there's a smaller attention on it,

00:16:13 ◼   ► so you can build the skill.

00:16:17 ◼   ► But it's also the understanding that that's just

00:16:19 ◼   ► what you have to do to ever get to that point.

00:16:22 ◼   ► No one just one day turned around and all of a sudden

00:16:25 ◼   ► had this massive audience with a big following

00:16:27 ◼   ► that when they put something out got a lot of attention.

00:16:29 ◼   ► You build that over time, and the only way

00:16:31 ◼   ► you're ever going to get there is to get started.

00:16:34 ◼   ► There's no point in saying, well, I may not as well even

00:16:38 ◼   ► try because I'm never going to get to where they are.

00:16:41 ◼   ► It's like, well, OK, I guess if you don't try,

00:16:43 ◼   ► you're definitely never going to get there.

00:16:45 ◼   ► But if you want to get there, if you

00:16:46 ◼   ► want to have a successful business that

00:16:49 ◼   ► gets a lot of attention and lots of downloads,

00:16:52 ◼   ► you're going to have to start by doing the things

00:16:55 ◼   ► that other people do.

00:16:56 ◼   ► And understand that to start with, maybe that'll go slowly.

00:17:00 ◼   ► But over time, if what you're making is good,

00:17:03 ◼   ► in my experience, it will find its audience,

00:17:05 ◼   ► and it will gather its success,

00:17:07 ◼   ► and you'll end up in the place of those people

00:17:10 ◼   ► that have been doing it for longer.

00:17:13 ◼   ► 'Cause some of it, there's no shortcut.

00:17:14 ◼   ► The only shortcut is experience,

00:17:16 ◼   ► and you're just to keep trying and trying and trying again.

00:17:20 ◼   ► - Exactly.

00:17:20 ◼   ► And also, before we move off the topic of promotion,

00:17:23 ◼   ► two quick things that are not to be discounted

00:17:26 ◼   ► and that are very important here.

00:17:27 ◼   ► Number one, don't forget to promote to non-tech sites

00:17:32 ◼   ► that might be relevant to your app.

00:17:33 ◼   ► So look around, if your app is not just like

00:17:36 ◼   ► how to sort your RSS feeds,

00:17:38 ◼   ► like if it's something that is not just appealing

00:17:40 ◼   ► to the people who read sites about iOS apps

00:17:43 ◼   ► and iPhone news and stuff, like look around and see,

00:17:46 ◼   ► you know, are you making an app that is,

00:17:49 ◼   ► like you have my recipe book, right?

00:17:51 ◼   ► You still maintain that, right?

00:17:52 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

00:17:53 ◼   ► So like, that's an app for baking and recipes and cooking.

00:17:56 ◼   ► like go to blogs that have audiences that are about cooking with recipes and using iPads

00:18:02 ◼   ► in the kitchen. Like, you know, something like, you go to relevant places for any non-tech

00:18:08 ◼   ► interests and, you know, go to those blogs and everything. Because like, look, every,

00:18:11 ◼   ► and this goes for the tech blogs too, these blogs and everything, they want good stuff

00:18:15 ◼   ► to post. They, you know, if they're trying to make one to five posts a day or whatever,

00:18:20 ◼   ► you know, depending on the site, it could be more than that if it's Rene Ritchie. You

00:18:24 ◼   ► You know, it's, man, that guy's a machine.

00:18:26 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:18:26 ◼   ► You know, you're trying to make, you know,

00:18:28 ◼   ► these sites need stuff to write about.

00:18:30 ◼   ► They need content.

00:18:31 ◼   ► You are doing them a favor by giving them something good,

00:18:34 ◼   ► and they are out there looking for something good

00:18:37 ◼   ► to write about every single day.

00:18:39 ◼   ► So, you know, the demand is there,

00:18:42 ◼   ► and the more narrow you can go with the site,

00:18:44 ◼   ► the better it will be for your chances

00:18:46 ◼   ► of them writing about it, you know,

00:18:47 ◼   ► if you have any kind of narrow appeal.

00:18:49 ◼   ► The other thing I want to mention is

00:18:51 ◼   ► use Apple promotion as well.

00:18:53 ◼   ► You know, the App Store has a similar issue of they,

00:18:56 ◼   ► every Thursday, they put in a whole new set of apps.

00:18:59 ◼   ► And by the way, there's not just one App Store

00:19:01 ◼   ► all over the world.

00:19:02 ◼   ► Each like category, like each region of the world

00:19:05 ◼   ► has its own editorial selections in the App Store usually.

00:19:08 ◼   ► And so you have all these different App Store

00:19:11 ◼   ► editorial teams looking for apps to feature

00:19:14 ◼   ► in all these different categories,

00:19:15 ◼   ► and all these different subcategories,

00:19:16 ◼   ► all these different special collections,

00:19:18 ◼   ► and especially around like new iOS releases,

00:19:21 ◼   ► if you're taking advantage of new APIs or anything.

00:19:23 ◼   ► Apple wants to feature good apps,

00:19:25 ◼   ► especially if they are making Apple's technologies

00:19:28 ◼   ► and devices look good.

00:19:29 ◼   ► So first of all, that should maybe be a consideration

00:19:32 ◼   ► when you're designing your app.

00:19:33 ◼   ► But second of all, once you are ready to launch your app,

00:19:37 ◼   ► Apple's been telling us for the last couple of events

00:19:40 ◼   ► they do for developers now, there's an email address,

00:19:43 ◼   ► I believe on the top of my head,

00:19:44 ◼   ► I believe it's appstorepromotion@apple.com,

00:19:46 ◼   ► is that right, Dina?

00:19:47 ◼   ► - That sounds right.

00:19:48 ◼   ► - So we'll look it up, we'll confirm,

00:19:49 ◼   ► but I believe it's appstorepromotion@apple.com.

00:19:52 ◼   ► And they actually ask you to please email them there,

00:19:56 ◼   ► you know, maybe four to six weeks ahead

00:19:58 ◼   ► of your intended release.

00:20:00 ◼   ► And tell them about the app,

00:20:02 ◼   ► tell them when you plan to launch,

00:20:03 ◼   ► what your marketing plan also includes,

00:20:06 ◼   ► so, you know, 'cause they don't wanna feel like,

00:20:07 ◼   ► the only people promoting you.

00:20:09 ◼   ► But, you know, tell them about your app,

00:20:12 ◼   ► and tell them why it's cool, maybe show them,

00:20:13 ◼   ► you can send them beta builds,

00:20:15 ◼   ► you know, they might not ever use them,

00:20:16 ◼   ► but it's worth attaching a two meg email attachment

00:20:18 ◼   ► or whatever, like go for it.

00:20:21 ◼   ► you know, use that. And look, they might say no, but they're actually asking developers.

00:20:27 ◼   ► Well, knowing Apple, they would probably say nothing rather than no. But they're, you know,

00:20:31 ◼   ► you're not bothering them, you're not putting them out by sending them an email saying,

00:20:34 ◼   ► "Hey, this is what my app is going to do. You know, I'd love it if you consider featuring

00:20:37 ◼   ► it or promoting it or whatever." Because they're actually asking us to do that. They're asking

00:20:41 ◼   ► developers, "Please email us with your promotions at this email address that includes promotion

00:20:46 ◼   ► in the email address. This is exactly what this is for. So use that. And chances are,

00:20:52 ◼   ► most of the time, it won't work out. But sometimes it will, and that'll be worth it.

00:20:55 ◼   ► Exactly. And I think that, to close up the discussion of the materials you're putting

00:21:00 ◼   ► together, I also want to emphasize the importance of what you put in iTunes Connect, because

00:21:04 ◼   ► the reality is, like, your description there, your screenshots, especially your screenshots,

00:21:09 ◼   ► are the thing that most people, that's all they're really going to know about your app

00:21:14 ◼   ► is what they see there.

00:21:15 ◼   ► And from Apple's perspective, I imagine

00:21:18 ◼   ► that is the first thing they look at.

00:21:19 ◼   ► How will this app look in the App Store?

00:21:23 ◼   ► And if it doesn't look good, if your screenshots

00:21:25 ◼   ► are all messy and ugly and your status bar

00:21:30 ◼   ► isn't cleaned up or all those types of things

00:21:32 ◼   ► that can make it look compelling.

00:21:33 ◼   ► - You have 1% battery life?

00:21:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's not compelling.

00:21:35 ◼   ► You have to make, that is the place

00:21:37 ◼   ► that is going to be the longest lived

00:21:40 ◼   ► attention and marketing tool for your app

00:21:42 ◼   ► is what your screenshots look like,

00:21:43 ◼   ► your icon looking good, and your description being clear and concise.

00:21:47 ◼   ► And if you do those things, you have a much bigger chance of getting Apple's attention,

00:21:52 ◼   ► you know, explain it to the App Store reviewers, look at it like if it's easy for them to understand

00:21:57 ◼   ► and get your hook and what's important, why this is cool, it's more likely they're going

00:22:00 ◼   ► to forward it on to editorial, and every time your customer comes to the App Store and opens

00:22:04 ◼   ► up their page, you want them to have that impact and have that same kind of like, "Oh

00:22:08 ◼   ► wow, yep, I want this, this is cool, I need to try this out."

00:22:13 ◼   ► Next we're going to talk a little bit about what it's like to launch an app, but before

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00:24:05 ◼   ► OK, so now that you've come up with your compelling narrative, you've put together a pitch, you've

00:24:15 ◼   ► sent that out to both the press, to Apple, to your friends, your family, to everybody

00:24:18 ◼   ► you know, now it's time to actually launch your app.

00:24:23 ◼   ► And this is where it gets both kind of terrifying and exciting, because you get to pick a date.

00:24:28 ◼   ► Typically I tend to launch apps at a predetermined date.

00:24:33 ◼   ► It's probably not a great idea to say, just release whenever this gets approved, because

00:24:37 ◼   ► you have no idea when that is.

00:24:38 ◼   ► It could be in the middle of the night, it could be on a weekend, it could be whenever.

00:24:42 ◼   ► So when you're submitting it, say hold for developer release.

00:24:47 ◼   ► And especially if you have a particular date, that's often helpful with the press.

00:24:51 ◼   ► If you say, "Hey, I'm going to launch next Thursday," or on a particular date, so that

00:24:55 ◼   ► they can write their piece ahead of time and know when it is.

00:24:57 ◼   ► And I imagine most of these publications have schedules they're trying to keep to.

00:25:01 ◼   ► And by the way, this also matters for Apple promotion purposes.

00:25:04 ◼   ► This is why you see so many releases on Monday and Tuesday, because if you do it earlier

00:25:08 ◼   ► in the week, remember I said Apple, as you probably know, App Store features cycle on

00:25:12 ◼   ► Thursdays, which means they probably have to decide by like Tuesday or Wednesday what's

00:25:17 ◼   ► going to be in them.

00:25:18 ◼   ► And so if you can launch on Monday or Tuesday, if there's going to be any other press regarding

00:25:23 ◼   ► your app that you might anticipate, or if it's going to make a big splash, or you

00:25:26 ◼   ► think it might make a big splash, or you hope it might maybe someday maybe, you know, might

00:25:30 ◼   ► if there's any chance of there being a big splash,

00:25:32 ◼   ► release it on a Monday or Tuesday.

00:25:34 ◼   ► Because then, the Apple editorial teams

00:25:38 ◼   ► will have a chance to see any other press about it,

00:25:41 ◼   ► notice it, and maybe put it in that week.

00:25:43 ◼   ► But if you release on a Thursday,

00:25:44 ◼   ► when they just cycle out the apps,

00:25:46 ◼   ► it's more likely you're gonna get missed.

00:25:48 ◼   ► - Exactly, and once you pick your day,

00:25:50 ◼   ► you're gonna put it out there, and then you just hit go.

00:25:54 ◼   ► Like, you're gonna need to release it,

00:25:57 ◼   ► it, and the actual day is kind of fun. I mean, I don't... it's kind of weird being...

00:26:02 ◼   ► I think we're both independents, and so like, for the most part, so much of our

00:26:06 ◼   ► work is kind of lonely, for lack of a better word. It's, you know, it's

00:26:11 ◼   ► like, we're just... it's just us sitting at our... at a desk doing work, and...

00:26:14 ◼   ► Solitary. It's solitary. Solitary is maybe a... That's a nicer word. A less sad word than lonely.

00:26:20 ◼   ► Yeah, my dog is usually in the office with me. There you go. But it's... like, launch days

00:26:26 ◼   ► are fun, because it's kind of like we have permission to... people interact more. It's

00:26:34 ◼   ► more of a community, outside, external event, rather than just being something that we're

00:26:39 ◼   ► doing. The development part is just us at a computer working. But launch day, the whole

00:26:46 ◼   ► point is to talk to people about what you're doing, and to be out and about, whether that's

00:26:50 ◼   ► on social media or in emails with customers or whatever it is, it kind of can be fun and

00:26:56 ◼   ► exciting. And obviously you're on the lookout for bugs and issues and problems, but it's

00:27:01 ◼   ► also you're on the lookout for people saying, "Wow, this is awesome, I love it," and

00:27:07 ◼   ► having that kind of positive affirmation that is super cool.

00:27:10 ◼   ► Yeah, and really, hopefully you have a chance to sit back and enjoy it. If your servers

00:27:17 ◼   ► are exploding, that's a different story, but that probably won't happen and hopefully you

00:27:21 ◼   ► can just sit back and enjoy it because it really is nice to have worked for all that

00:27:24 ◼   ► time and then to have anybody, whether it's like, you know, five people or five hundred

00:27:31 ◼   ► people, to have anybody tell you like, "Hey, this is really cool," or to see other people

00:27:36 ◼   ► talking about the app who don't even know you, to say like, "Hey, look at this cool

00:27:40 ◼   ► app that I just launched or that I just found." It's incredibly fulfilling.

00:27:44 ◼   ► Yeah, and it's also probably something that I know it was a sort of like a discipline

00:27:49 ◼   ► I had to get into, but it was the importance of actually making sure that we do take the

00:27:53 ◼   ► time to celebrate these kinds of things.

00:27:55 ◼   ► Because I remember like when I used to work in an office job, when we finished a big project

00:28:01 ◼   ► or had a big milestone, like, you know, we'd all go out to lunch together and have a big

00:28:06 ◼   ► thing.

00:28:07 ◼   ► Like, there was an environment where it made sense as the team to go and celebrate.

00:28:13 ◼   ► And I know I had to learn that just because I'm an independent, just because there's not

00:28:17 ◼   ► a bigger team, that doesn't mean I shouldn't celebrate.

00:28:19 ◼   ► So I try very hard in our family.

00:28:22 ◼   ► When I do a big launch or something, I talk to my kids about it.

00:28:26 ◼   ► Me and my wife will sometimes have a special dinner, we'll do something to try and make

00:28:30 ◼   ► it special, to not just discount, "Well, just because I'm by myself, it would be kind of

00:28:36 ◼   ► silly for me to just be down in my basement by myself popping open a champagne bottle

00:28:40 ◼   ► and being like pouring one glass.

00:28:42 ◼   ► that's not very interesting. But doing that with my wife or doing that with my, you know,

00:28:46 ◼   ► having a special dinner with my family or something is an important way of kind of building

00:28:52 ◼   ► that motive because it helps motivate you to keep going. Like it makes it exciting to

00:28:56 ◼   ► get to the end, which is sometimes important. Like the, you know, three weeks before when

00:29:00 ◼   ► you're kind of really stuck dredging through problems and bugs to look forward to like,

00:29:05 ◼   ► "Hey, I look forward to when I can celebrate this," and, you know, make that an exciting

00:29:09 ◼   ► process.

00:29:10 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's really cool.

00:29:11 ◼   ► It's something that you taught me too a while ago

00:29:13 ◼   ► and I've learned from that

00:29:14 ◼   ► and have really, really enjoyed it since then.

00:29:16 ◼   ► So anyway, we're out of time for today.

00:29:18 ◼   ► This is the end, we can celebrate.

00:29:20 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:29:21 ◼   ► Sorry.

00:29:22 ◼   ► Thank you very much for listening everybody

00:29:24 ◼   ► and we will see you next week

00:29:25 ◼   ► where we will be talking about designing for misuse

00:29:28 ◼   ► of services and apps.

00:29:29 ◼   ► See you next week.

00:29:30 ◼   ► - Bye.

00:29:31 ◼   ► [ Silence ]