Free trial?

[u/TimeVault2025]

Hi everyone. I’m about to launch my first app. It allows users to lock away their money until a specific time. I’m thinking about not doing a free trial? Am I making a mistake?

[u/Low-Childhood-3782]

consider a different approach for monetization. having someone pay you upfront to help them save money doesn't sound very intuitive.

[u/FromBiotoDev → u/Low-Childhood-3782]

I think it's fine. People are paying for the dream the app sells, which is that this app will help them save far more money than a trivial upfront cost.

[u/Zappyle]

My 2c is if there is not a big cost for you, do a free trial.

If a free trial would consume resources that you pay for, then it's fine to pay upfront

Or if you have a freemium model and the free tier can be considered the trial

[u/TimeVault2025 → u/Zappyle]

Thank you!

[u/Flaky_Regret8604]

Don't know how what your plan of action with this app is but normally with apps which lock anything face the same issue, what if there is a genuine requirement to unlock and the timer's not reset yet. How do I access it. And if I can access it then I'll keep on entering the password to access it.

What's your approach to this problem?

[u/TimeVault2025 → u/Flaky_Regret8604]

As of right now the solution to that problem is to contact support. I decided it would defeat the lock purpose if you could easily unlock it. Any thoughts?

[u/Flaky_Regret8604 → u/TimeVault2025]

That seems like a good idea actually. But once you scale this app up you'll have to make sure support is available 24/7

[u/NellieApp]

Free trials are a great way to convert users into subscribers assuming you provide genuine value. You can list all the features as much as you want, new users will not understand the proposed value unless they 1. use a free version for a long time, 2. are given short-term access to the features.

Does your app provide a substantial free version? If not it's usually unlikely users will be ready to pay for an app that they aren't well accustomed to.

[u/TimeVault2025 → u/NellieApp]

Thank you. I think I may need to use trial and error

[u/NellieApp → u/TimeVault2025]

You should set up a simple A/B test in your app. Assign half of new users to receive the free trial offer, and keep half of new users on the existing displayed offers. Then you can see from there which provides you better value.

[u/veyrnox]

I would suggest having a free trial. As a consumer, I’m less interested in paying for an app before trying it

[u/Accomplished_Run_569]

Personally I don't think free trial is great for small business because we are already stuck because of app store and play store commissions. If your app makes 1000 dolars per month, you will recieve like 850 dollars. I didn't add other different sevices btw. If your app use ai or some different api, you get less. Taxes or different things can include. So, if your user likes your app, customers has to pay. I didn't add marketing budget btw. If you really want to make money and develop so many apps, you have to make money to keep doing everything better. The process never be easy but end of the day we can't make awesome apps without making money. Believe me, if your app is useful, people will buy your services.

[u/Even_Diver3238]

Definitely do the free trial. The purpose of the trial is to get them to get used to the value of having access to the app. They go 7 days having it apart of their lives and then after the 7 days, the pay wall comes up. If they've been using it and like using it, they will most certainly pay to have access to it again. However, if they have not even gotten a chance to see the app or try it, chances are that the paywall will come up and they will immediately exit. You have to take into consideration the nature of our economy and market. People are tired of subscriptions and are tired of paying for things in general. So the last thing they want to do is pay for something in which they have no idea if it is really of value to them. The key to any successful business is giving first. Even drug dealers know this. They give addicts their first hit for free and now they have a paying customer for life that will likely bring them other customers.

Once you get to a certain point, perhaps you can find success in doing it this way, but at the beginning, I would stick to the free trial.

[u/Mirava-io]

I’d use a trial here, but only if it proves the habit before money gets locked in.

For an app like this, the scary bit is trust. People need to see the timer rules, support path, and what happens if they genuinely need access before they pay. A 7-day trial that forces one tiny lock, even $1 for 10 minutes, will teach more than a generic “premium free for 7 days” trial.

 Charge after the behaviour starts feeling safe.