The Success of Quit That!

A few months ago, I created an app that lets you track bad habits you are trying to quit. It is a simple app and I borrowed (heavily) from Stuart Hall‘s 7 Minute Workout app. I had read his awesome An App Store Experiment article and it motivated me.

The app is called Quit That! and it has received a lot of praise and some success. I measure the success not on how much it’s made (not much), but on downloads, reviews and customer support emails. As an independent with a full time job, I’m trying to build my knowledge and portfolio, learning along the way. The feedback I have received from the app is immeasurable.

Quit That! has been downloaded about 8,000 times. That’s not a ton compared to some of my other apps. Engagement is good, though, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to get tons of emails telling me how much the app has helped them. There are plenty of bad habit apps on the store, but I wanted one that was dead simple without all the features that can bog down the main purpose.

“Ah!! A free app, a good app, that is without ads, and voluntary donation!! That is to my heart. Beautiful. Thank you.” -Anne

“Just donated. No intrusive ads, early iPhone 6 support. This is a great model for apps and you’ve helped me give up smoking for 23 days. Thanks from the UK.” -Paul

I get emails like this all the time. Also, if you take a look at the reviews, it’s more of the same. People from all over the world love the app.

Now the hard part. Quit That! doesn’t make any money. I’ve made less than $100 since it was released back in August 2014. I wasn’t trying to make money on the app. It was more of an exercise to see what I could do with a week and some motivation from Stuart Hall (Thanks Stuart!). The experiment part of it for me was making it donation ware. Not a good model to make money, huh? Here’s the donation page I used.

I wanted to make it personal. (BTW, I know it doesn’t look the best on iPhone 6 Plus, I only have so much time!) I think it works pretty well, but you’re not going to hear a bunch of stories of developers living off their donation ware.

Why is Quit That! successful?

• I learned a few new tricks while developing it (nice clean flat ui, iCloud, etc)
• I learned more about ASO and marketing the app with no budget
• I get great feedback which motivates me to improve Quit That! and my other apps
• I have genuinely helped many people fight their addictions (have I mentioned this is cool)
• I added to my arsenal of app templates if I want to create something similiar (I already have and will post about that experiment soon)
• I did make $100 so it paid for 1/5 of my new iPad

Success in the App Store is what you get out of it. Quit That! is a step in the right direction. I do plan on adding a few features and making a Pro version, so maybe I can turn Quit That! into a nice app that pays for dinner every day.