Ask HN: How do you get feedback for beta apps

2 points by totaldude87 27d ago ↗ HN

Long story short - building an app in iOS and so far been sharing with friends family and LinkedIn circle to get feedback but often feel like since they know me the reviews are mostly stellar and positive .

So where do we get critical feedback. This is going to be a free app so obviously looking for free feedback

Is show HN the place? I thought that was for apps in prod!

2 comments

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freakynit 27d ago ↗

Giving feedback takes effort and time. Unless you are willing to give something in return, the chances of random people from net giving you "honest" feedback are slim to none.

TL;DR: Offer something in return.

vunderba 27d ago ↗

I’ve noticed that whenever someone posts a Show HN and the only way to try it is by downloading a native mobile app (especially from the Apple App Store) it tends to get significantly less feedback. The friction of having to install an app, plus the fact that it’s limited to iPhone users just slashes engagement.

If at all possible, consider building a PWA for the beta. You’ll get a lot more eyeballs by making it accessible as a simple website. Then once things are more polished, you could migrate over to a dedicated app.