We all aspire to be successful and that pursuit, we try to ignore certain signs, which indicate failure. It’s always good to fight till the end, but you should know when that proverbial end has arrived. I am listing down 10 strong indicators and if you are seeing 6 out of 10 happening to your app then it's time to do something new.

1. Top 10 indicators that your app
has flopped
You should know when to give up on your app and move on

2. We all aspire to be successful and in that pursuit
we try to ignore certain signs, which indicate
failure. It’s always good to fight till the end but you
should know when that proverbial end has arrived.
I am listing down 10 strong indicators and if you
are seeing 6 out of 10 happening to your app then
its time to do something new.

3. Its been 6 months and your app
has got less than 10k
downloads. No matter which
category your app belongs to, if
you are getting just 100 installs a
day then its probably never
going to pick up

4. Your first 1000 ratings are
less than 2.5. Early users are
the best judge. Unless you
have some drastic
redevelopment plans to
improve this rating, stop
working on this app

5. Your 80% app store reviews are
negative. Read every word, reach
out to them (you can post reply on
Play Store) and find out the
reasons. If reviews are just saying
stuff like “Bad App”, “Do not
download”, “Waste of time” then
you dont need to probe them
further

6. No word of mouth. No one is talking about
your app except you on Twitter or Facebook
or Blogs. If you cant manage pre-release
hype, work all out to get post release hype
and WoM. Get your app showcased
everywhere possible, get press to cover it,
ask friends to push it. If all this is not
happening despite your best efforts then its
time to retire the app

7. You have less than 0.1%
conversion. If your app has IAP
and conversion is less than
0.1% despite your best efforts
over 6 months period, you are
not able to excite the users to
spend money.

8. Tech issues are plaguing you.
You made a great app with
nifty features but you are
encountering unknown bugs
and not able to resolve it
despite your best efforts then
please start afresh

9. Active base is less than 5%. Most
good apps would have upwards
of 10% active user base. If you
see 5% or less active user after 6
months of launch then your app
is not exciting enough for users
to come back

10. Uninstall ratio is more than 90%. World
average for uninstall rate is 25% for a
good app going to 60% for regular apps.
Extremely bad apps can also have 100%
uninstall rate. But hey don’t wait for
that. Moment you see 90% uninstalls
happening and there are no apparent
technical bugs then its not a good news
for your app

11. Your best friends don’t use it. Unless
you have made an app targeting a
particular profession (eg. lawyers,
doctors, shopkeepers), your friends
must use your app over your
competition’s—yes, true friends
would have that affinity towards
your hard work. If they are not using
it then don’t break your friendship
with them, its indicting something
else

12. You start to get that feeling.
We all have a sense when
things do not work out. We
continue to work on it till we
find something else
worthwhile. If you are getting
that sense already about your
app then nothing else is
important

13. ALL THE BEST
This post is not to discourage you. If you still believe in your app despite
6/10 indicators saying otherwise, I would recommend you go on and
prove everyone wrong.
Do share your views with me at dabbot@gmail.com or connect with me on Twitter
@deepakabbot
Follow my blog at medium.com/@deepakabbot/latest