We’ve been working on HabitBull for 7 months now. As in any startup, the highs and lows are extreme. A few weeks ago we were demotivated because we weren’t getting enough active users a day. It’s one of the most important metrics of any consumer facing business and we were fucking it up. Not enough growth.
When you get demotivated, you start talking about solutions. Wasting time drinking coffees. But no real work gets done.
It’s scary to think about our beloved baby in terms of hard data and facts. We talk a lot with the people who are using our app, and I love seeing how HabitBull can actually change their lives. But sometimes it’s necessary to take a long hard look in the mirror.
We hadn’t been growing much for a few weeks in a row, and we couldn’t figure out why. Even worse, we couldn’t even imagine new features which would help us gain any significant amount of new users.
More coffees. More procrastination. More brainstorming.
Then we found an interesting correlation.
We started asking people for money a while back. It seemed to be a win-win situation: we got some money to pay the bills, there was no backlash and we kept growing.
Except that we didn’t. You see, there’s quite a bit of lag on the number of active users. It’s really hard to notice any patterns while they’re happening. Hindsight really is 20/20.
So 2 weeks ago we decided to make the app completely free. Before, there was always some kind of restriction. You either had to send us an email with feedback to unlock all features, or share the app with some friends, or pay. But now, for the first time you didn’t have to do anything.
A fairly average growth rate in weekly active users is 5%. When you get to 7% it’s pretty good, while 10% is killing it. Last week we got a whopping 37% without any marketing at all!
Now, one week doesn’t mean anything. That’s an event, not a trend.
But at least our motivation is back! 🙂
Great to hear! I’ve been using HabitBull for two or three weeks only – and liked it very much from the first day 🙂
As for additional features… maybe show current / longest streak in the widget? I’ll check if it has already been mentioned in the forum and add it there if I can’t find it.
Thanks and best regards, Jutta
Hi Jutta, I’m glad you like it 🙂 We’re trying to find a way to show the streak in the widget but it seems there’s just not enough space to put everything in there.. We recently released a new version of the app with a weekly view widget though 🙂
Why not make it internationally available. Surely you can get more users. I tried accessing it from india and it showed “not available for your country”.
Hi Kiran, the app is since recently available in India, check it out 🙂
Already done 🙂
Hi Thomas and Boyan,
It looks like a great product that will help me and others. I saw it on Product Hunt…. I haven’t installed yet. I use apple devices and have I looked for it on I tunes but it is not there.
keep up the good work.
jim
Hi Jim, unfortunately we don’t have an iOS version yet.. But we’re thinking about how to make this possible asap 🙂
Forget iOS, that sucks like a sucky sucky sucker.
Keep up the good work for Android. I only been using it for a few days and it is improving my habits, I want streaks baby.
Haha thanks Bob, glad you like it 😉
Surprisingly I did not find this when I was researching for a habit tracking app last month. Glad that you made it free and grew your consumer base and I could notice you. Although, I am worried how you would pay your bills now. I am already in love with the app and I wouldn’t want to lose it.
Hi Satrujeet, no worries, we’ll be able to pay our bills for now. We are currently taking part in a startup accelerator and looking for additional investment 🙂
Great app! I am a premium user. For only 4€ is a fantastic investment
One tip! Would be fantastic that HabitBull team write a examples of habits to use in this app! The blog would be a good platform! 😀
Best regards
Would be great if the Discussion foruns were avaliable also in a windows desktop.
Instead of charging for a premium version, you could ask for donations. HB is a so usefull, great tool, that I guess a lot of people would give some money.
Well, we tried it. However, it was nowhere near close to even covering our expenses…
I love your app. I am terrible at keeping track of habits but your app makes it so much easier. Do you guys think there will be an windows app soon? This way i can keep track of habits on my phone but also on my laptop.
I hope i’m going to create good habits with your app, without your app i wouldn’t even try!
Just starting with it and have a lot of things to track. What would be awesome is a webpage (it’s why I’m here – looking for one) where you could do the “heavy lifting” (all the typing / commenting / whatever) so we don’t have to type that much stuff on phones / tablets.
I agree with the above. Would love a desktop interface of some sort.
Also, would be nice if it would integrate with time and project management programs.
I use a couple of different ones: Trello for projects and Kanbanflow for daily time/task management.
If I could connect the data in some way between time worked on types of, or specific projects in these programs it would make one less thing for me to have to do.
If there are other time/task/project management programs Habitbull integrates with I would be interested. It would be nice to get them all talking with each other.
Hi Thomas and Boyan. This app is great. Works beautifully and you guys seem to genuinely care about your users. Only one concern – you haven’t really included any academic research, links, proper references or solid information to support your claims about habit forming. It would make the benefits of using this app more credible if this information was easily accessible.
Hi, just started using this. My son turned me on to it. One question, how do I change my email address in my profile?
Hi Karen,
Currently you can’t change the email address associated with your profile..
Would love for there to be a web based version. I am often on a computer, (I am a programmer) and I would love for a web or desktop version of habit bull so I could update without having to have my phone.
Hi!
Great app, i love it. But, it would be nice to have a web version. Can we expect something like that?
Yes, not sure when though 🙂
I own a paid version on Android. Is there anyway to restart to day one?
Hi there. This app seems great! Is my email address made available to other users? Thanks and great job!
Hi, just uploaded app. Is there a web version yet?