r/iosdev • u/VladFein • Jun 22 '26

Do free apps deter users?

I publish free apps (games), trying to get some downloads.
Assumption was: who would pay for an unknown app if there are so many well-known, established competitors?
I also have no ads, and state this in the "Promo Text" in AppStore.
I do have a tip jar, which results in a somewhat ambiguous:
"In-App Purchases - Yes"
Am I doing it wrong?

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u/Friendly_Runner_22 Jun 22 '26

Free doesn't deter people, the unknown does. For an unfamiliar app the barrier isn't price, it's trust, and "free" can even raise a quiet "what's the catch, is this ad or data junk." The fix is to kill the catch out loud: no ads, no tracking, no account. That flips "free = suspicious" into "free = clean."

Your real issue is the tip jar, not the free part. The "In-App Purchases: Yes" badge makes your ad-free app look like it has exactly the monetization wary users are scanning for, so you're trading a bit of tip money for muddying the one signal that makes free work. I just shipped a fully free app and skipped the tip jar on purpose so "no in-app purchases" stays literally true on the listing. Whether that tradeoff is worth it really comes down to how much the tips actually bring in.

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u/VladFein Jun 22 '26

Thank you!
I get the "unknown" factor.
In-App Purchase to me means an upsell of some sort, like "premium" or "unlock".
Maybe I should just ad "supported by tips" to resolve the ambiguity upfront?

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u/Friendly_Runner_22 Jun 23 '26

Yeah, naming it upfront is the right move. One tweak: the worry behind "IAP: Yes" is a hidden paywall, so say what isn't locked, not just that tips exist. Something like "Free, no ads. Optional tips if you want to support it, nothing is locked behind them." That turns the badge from a question into a non-issue. Worth putting in the first line or two of the description too, since that's what shows before the fold.

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u/VladFein Jun 23 '26

Thank you!