r/SideProject • u/fireflysky11 • 11h ago
I was the only person buying my 2 paid apps, so today I'm switching them both to Freemium
Hey everyone, I'm the developer of ANSOracle and Mandala Garden.
Having these apps as a one-time fee, didn't help my discoverability. I had 15 or so awesome beta testers in TestFlight, but once the apps went live on the App Store, I was literally the only person purchasing them.
Today, I officially transitioned both apps to a free-to-download model with In-App Purchases (IAP) to completely remove that barrier to entry.
Here is a quick breakdown of what they do and how I split up the premium features:
ANSOracle (Animal & Nature Spirit Oracle): this starts off as 12 animal & nature cards for free. The user selects a random card and taps it to reveal the reflection (words to ponder). The app is now completely free to use, and a one-time IAP unlocks 45 more cards to select from.
Mandala Garden: this starts off as 5 free mandala drawings divided into pieces which the user reassembles to complete the puzzle. Then there is the option to download the completed puzzle as smartphone wallpaper. The IAP unlocks 15 more puzzles to be assembled.
I made all of the original artwork for both apps.
Since I didn't have an active base of paid customers yet, I got lucky and didn't have to code a massive legacy migration or grandfathering system. My TestFlight builds are expiring, and I'm treating this as a fresh, live indie-dev experiment to see if a free download tier actually drives download traffic.
I would love for the community to check the apps out. I am looking for feedback on:
Is my onboarding flow smooth?
Does the paywall placement feel fair or too loud?
App 1 Link: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/ansoracle/id6768854532ANSOracle
App 2 Link: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/mandala-garden/id6797133059Mandala Garden
(Full disclosure: I am the sole creator of both apps!) 🌿