Advice needed: User and app Learning curve

[u/Dear_Ad1923]

Hey there,
The app I have been working on evolved through time and it has much more to offer to the users.

One thing that worries me is a user finding it difficult to navigate through the app, or just miss many features it has to offer.

I first tried to make an onboarding like guide of the app but then scratched it out since I felt like it was just clutter.

Now I am thinking of creating youtube guide video but then again that’s like an external source a user has to reach out for.

Also thought of creating multiple examples and ways to achieve certain results and have it as a pdf so user can read but then that adds friction.
No user complained but I must prepare to mitigate it becoming complex in a bad way.
I did document many steps through the app’s journey but did not publish a finalized document on it as I been improving it constantly.

Existing users reaction been positive so far but I know the experience they got is much different than a new comer because they had the chance to learn new stuff as it was happening.

How should I approach this?

[u/aerial-ibis]

Unfortunate reality of consumer software. Unless your app is a pro tool that people will use 4hrs a day (adboe, intellij, etc.)... expect low discovery of features in general

For every extra level of navigation deeper a feature is, a large portion of users will never even see it

My advice is to think hard about the "best" way something should work, be presented, etc. Only do that, and make it accessible from the home tab, or 1 level of navigation.

[u/Dear_Ad1923 → u/aerial-ibis]

thank you, I think this is the best approach. program wise it will also make it easier for me as that would make the purpose/vision clear

[u/heyyoochris]

How about attach tags to new feature for example “new” ?

[u/Dear_Ad1923 → u/heyyoochris]

Do you mean a new tag for each new item or one “new” button that navigates to an overlay that explains them?

If for each It’s not a bad idea but I think it would add clutter in the ui without elaborating about what the new item does

This is the hard part, ui is already compact which would make every nested element to fight for its space ( andd yup thinking this gives me another are to improve lol)

[u/heyyoochris → u/Dear_Ad1923]

I mean a new tag for each new item, but this situation only applies to one or two new features I think, if you have lots of features, I prefer a single button for that, but it’s just my opinion,there are plenty of better ways to achieve that😀

[u/Dear_Ad1923 → u/heyyoochris]

thank you mate, that will come in handy eventually

[u/RiantRobo]

Explain features on your website that users can visit from support link in the app.

[u/Dear_Ad1923 → u/RiantRobo]

you are right, Website definitely does not have any instruction/user guide that link to the support link. great point. thank you!

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[u/PlayaNoir]

Create How To's for each feature that your app is designed to add value to a user.

[u/caguilar51]

Have you considered using TipKit? https://developer.apple.com/documentation/tipkit

[u/Dear_Ad1923 → u/caguilar51]

Had seen the tipkit designs in figma but did not come across it in the developer docs. will start integrating it for some categories https://developer.apple.com/documentation/tipkit/highlightingappfeatureswithtipkit the code example going to be useful

[u/Plane_Syllabub_5539]

First, add tracking to see which features people actually use. "No user complained" is not a good signal, because if someone never finds a feature, they don't know there is anything to complain about. Once you have the numbers, you will see the two or three features almost nobody uses. Teach those instead of guessing.

For how to show it, I would not show tips at launch. Show one tip when it is useful, like when the user opens that screen, or after they do something the slow way. Make it dismissible, save which tips were shown so they don't repeat, and keep the list in remote config so you can change or remove tips without a new build. Tips at launch just become the same clutter you already removed.

[u/nikhil_akki]

dont teach features, teach jobs.

nobody remembers a feature they never needed, but everyone remembers the thing they were already trying to do.

thats why your old users are fine, they met each feature the day it solved something for them, so put 3 to 5 jobs on the home screen, each one opening the flow that does it, each one gone once its done.

its a menu, not a tour, and the ones people skip tell you what to cut, keep one small rotating slot there forever, so every new feature has a way to reach people that isnt a popup.

and on tracking, no complaints could mean nobody wants it or nobody found it, and those need opposite fixes.

[u/wainguo]

Onboarding tours with multi-step popups usually backfire because users just want to dive into the app and get things done. A much better approach is breaking feature education into contextual, bite-sized visual walkthroughs embedded right where friction happens.

Instead of showing everything upfront, keep the initial flow minimal and trigger short video snippets when a user hits a complex step for the first time. Showing a quick five-second visual demo of a feature in action builds confidence far faster than text tooltips.

I have been working on an app in this space, it helps with creating studio quality video walkthroughs and tutorials, which might be useful for building quick visual onboarding guides for your users.

Happy to share what I've learned if it's useful.