How Do I Create an App Launch That Gets Attention?

Most apps lose more than 75% of their users within the first week after download. That's not just a number—it's a reality I've watched play out dozens of times when launch planning wasn't taken seriously enough. You can build the most beautifully designed app with brilliant functionality, but if nobody knows about it or understands why they need it, it simply won't matter. And that's what makes a proper app launch strategy so important; its the difference between an app that gains traction and one that disappears into obscurity within days.

I've launched apps for tiny startups with almost no budget and for massive companies with marketing teams bigger than some entire agencies. The thing is—having more money doesn't guarantee success if you don't have a plan. Sure, it helps, but I've seen well-funded apps flop spectacularly because they rushed to launch without building any momentum beforehand. Launch day success doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone took the time to understand what needed to happen before, during, and after that big moment when the app goes live.

A successful app launch isn't about one perfect day—it's about building a wave of interest that carries your app forward long after launch day is over

What I want to share in this guide is what actually works when it comes to launch planning. Not theory or guesswork, but the tactics and pre-launch marketing approaches I've used to help apps get noticed in an incredibly crowded marketplace. We'll look at everything from figuring out your core message to measuring what matters once your app is live. Because honestly? The launch is just the beginning—what you do in those crucial first weeks determines whether your app becomes something people actually use or just another icon that gets deleted to free up storage space.

Understanding Your App's Core Message

Before you even think about launch dates or marketing tactics, you need to get clear on what your app actually does and why anyone should care. I mean, really clear—not just "it's a productivity app" or "it helps people shop better." That's not good enough anymore, and it hasnt been for years. Your core message needs to answer one simple question: what problem does this solve for me right now?

Here's the thing—most app founders get this wrong. They focus on features instead of benefits; they talk about what the app does rather than what it means for the user. I've seen apps with dozens of features fail because they couldn't explain their value in a single sentence. And I've seen dead simple apps succeed because their message was crystal clear from the first moment someone heard about it.

What Makes a Strong Core Message

Your core message should be specific enough that people immediately understand if its for them or not. "Save time on your daily commute" is better than "improve your lifestyle"—one tells me exactly what I'm getting, the other could mean anything. The best messages I've seen combine three elements: who its for, what problem it solves, and how quickly it delivers that solution.

Think about how you'd explain your app to someone at a bus stop. You've got maybe ten seconds before they lose interest or their bus arrives. Can you make them understand the value in that time? If not, you need to keep refining until you can.

Testing Your Message Before Launch

Don't just decide on your core message and move on—test it with real people who fit your target audience. Actually, test it with people who dont fit your audience too, because if they get confused about who its for, your message probably needs work. The reactions you get will tell you everything. This is also where protecting your ideas during early testing becomes important—you want honest feedback without compromising your concept.

• Write down your core message in one sentence
• Share it with at least 10 people who haven't heard about your app before
• Ask them to repeat back what they think the app does
• Note where their understanding differs from your intention
• Refine based on the gaps you discover

This message becomes the foundation for everything else—your app store description, your website, your social posts, even how you brief journalists or influencers. Get this right and the rest of your launch becomes so much easier. Get it wrong and you'll struggle to gain traction no matter how good your app actually is.

Building Pre-Launch Momentum

Here's what most people get wrong about app launches—they think launch day is when the work starts. Actually, its when the work pays off. I've seen too many apps go live with zero momentum behind them, and honestly? It's painful to watch. You've spent months (maybe years) building something, but if nobody knows it exists on day one, you're basically launching into silence.

Pre-launch marketing is where you build anticipation before anyone can download your app; its about creating a waiting list of people who actually want what you're building. Start at least 2-3 months before your planned launch date—this gives you time to test messaging, gather feedback, and build a community around your idea. I mean, think about it. Would you rather launch to 50,000 people who are already interested, or shout into the void hoping someone notices? This is where strategies for building a social media following before your app launch become crucial to your success.

Creating Your Waiting List

Set up a simple landing page that explains what your app does and why people should care. Keep it focused on the problem you're solving, not just features. Include an email signup form—this is your most valuable asset right now. Every email address is someone you can reach directly on launch day without paying for ads or hoping the algorithm works in your favour. Drive traffic through content (blog posts, videos, social media), reach out to relevant communities where your target users hang out, and don't be shy about telling people what you're working on. The goal isn't to go viral; its to steadily build an email list of genuinely interested people who'll be your first users.

Share behind-the-scenes content during development—screenshots, feature reveals, problem-solving stories. People love seeing how things are made, and it makes them feel invested in your success before launch day even arrives.

Getting Early Feedback

Use your pre-launch period to show prototypes or beta versions to small groups. This isn't just about finding bugs (though that's important too). You're testing whether your core message resonates, whether people understand what the app does within seconds, and whether they'd actually use it. I've had clients completely change their onboarding flow based on pre-launch feedback, and its saved them from launching something that would've confused users. Better to find out what's not working now than after you've spent money on launch day marketing, right?

Creating a Launch Timeline That Works

Here's the thing about launch timelines—most people get them completely wrong because they think backwards from when they want to launch, rather than forwards from what actually needs to happen. I mean, I've seen it so many times: clients tell me they want to launch in two months and they haven't even finished building the app yet, let alone thought about beta testing or app store approval times.

A proper launch timeline needs at least 8-12 weeks from the moment your app is feature-complete. Not when you think it's done, but when its actually ready for other people to use without breaking. Apple's review process alone can take anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks (and that's assuming they don't reject you the first time—which happens more often than you'd think). Android is usually quicker, but you still need time for your store listings to be indexed properly.

Breaking Down Your Timeline

You'll want to spend weeks 1-3 on proper beta testing with real users, not just your mates who'll tell you its brilliant no matter what. Weeks 4-5 should be for fixing the bugs you find and preparing all your marketing materials;your screenshots, your app description, your press kit. Week 6 is when you submit to the stores and start ramping up your pre-launch buzz. Weeks 7-8 are for building that waitlist and getting early press coverage lined up.

The last couple weeks before launch? That's when you're finalising your launch day plan, coordinating with any press contacts you've made, and making sure everyone on your team knows exactly what they're doing on the big day. But honestly—if you're still making major changes to the app at this point, you've already missed something important in your planning.

Getting Early Users and Testers

Right, this is where things get real—you need actual people using your app before launch day. Not just any people though; you need the right kind of testers who'll give you honest feedback and help you spot problems before thousands of users find them for you.

TestFlight for iOS and Google Play's internal testing track are your best friends here. They make it dead simple to distribute your app to testers without going through the full app store approval process. I always recommend starting with a small group (maybe 10-20 people) who you can communicate with directly. Could be friends, colleagues, or people from your target audience—just make sure they're actually going to use it and tell you whats wrong.

Finding Your First Testers

You don't need hundreds of testers at first. Actually, having too many can be overwhelming because you'll get flooded with feedback and won't know what to prioritise. Start small and focused. Look for people who match your ideal user profile; if you're building a fitness app, find people who genuinely care about fitness and would use something like this regularly.

The testers who complain the most about your app are often the ones who'll become your biggest advocates once you fix the issues they've found

Making Testing Actually Useful

Here's what most people get wrong—they just send out the app and hope for feedback. That doesn't work. You need to give testers specific things to focus on. Ask them to complete particular tasks and tell you where they got confused or stuck. Set up a simple way for them to report bugs (a Slack channel works brilliantly for this) and make it clear that negative feedback is exactly what you want. The worst thing is testers who say "its great!" when actually they found loads of issues but didn't want to hurt your feelings.

Give yourself at least 2-3 weeks of proper testing before launch. And I mean proper testing, not just installing the app and clicking around for five minutes. You want people using it in real situations, trying to break it, pushing it to its limits. Trust me, they'll find things your development team never thought of.

Making Launch Day Count

Right, so you've made it to launch day—congratulations! But here's the thing, launch day isn't actually about pressing a button and waiting for downloads to roll in. Its about executing a plan you've already prepared and making sure all the pieces come together at once. I mean, you wouldn't bake a cake and then forget to turn the oven on, would you?

The biggest mistake I see is people treating launch day like its something magical that happens by itself. It's not. Launch day is a coordinated effort that requires you to be everywhere at once—or at least it needs to feel that way to your audience. You need to activate every channel you've been building during pre-launch; your email list, your social media followers, your beta testers, your press contacts. Everyone who's been waiting needs to hear from you on the same day.

Your Launch Day Checklist

Here's what actually needs to happen on launch day, and I'm talking about the first few hours really:

• Send your announcement email to your full list—not just the engaged people, everyone
• Post across all your social channels at peak times (usually morning and lunch)
• Reach out to your beta testers and ask them to leave reviews immediately
• Contact any press or bloggers who've agreed to cover your launch
• Monitor your app store listing for any technical issues or crashes
• Respond to every single review and comment you get in the first 24 hours
• Track your download numbers and user behaviour from hour one

The First 48 Hours Matter Most

Launch day isn't really one day—it's the first 48 hours that set the tone for everything that follows. App store algorithms pay attention to velocity, meaning how quickly you gain downloads and engagement after going live. If you can create a spike in those first two days, the algorithms will start showing your app to more people organically. But if your launch is quiet, you'll have to work much harder to get visibility later on. Sure, you can recover from a slow launch, but why make life harder for yourself? Actually, I've seen apps with decent momentum in the first 48 hours get featured by Apple just because the algorithms flagged them as trending. That's the kind of opportunity you dont want to miss.

Using Social Proof and Reviews

Right, let's talk about something that makes a massive difference to your app launch but that loads of people get wrong—social proof. I mean, think about it; when was the last time you downloaded an app with zero reviews or a 2-star rating? Exactly. Your potential users are doing the same mental calculation every single time they find your app in the store.

The thing is, getting those first reviews is tricky because you need users to leave reviews, but users won't download your app without reviews—its a bit of a chicken and egg situation. This is why your beta testers and early access users are so valuable; they become your first wave of reviewers. But here's what you need to know: you can't just launch and hope people leave reviews on their own. They won't. You need to actively ask for them, and timing is everything here.

I've found the best moment to prompt for a review is right after a user has completed a meaningful action in your app—maybe they've finished their first workout, completed a purchase, or achieved something they were working towards. They're feeling good about your app at that exact moment, so they're much more likely to leave positive feedback. Don't ask them on day one when they've barely figured out what your app does.

Building Trust Beyond Star Ratings

Star ratings matter, obviously, but detailed reviews matter even more. A five-star rating with no written review doesn't tell future users much; a four-star rating with a thoughtful comment about how your app solved a specific problem is worth its weight in gold. When you're reaching out to your early users, encourage them to share specific details about their experience rather than just tapping stars and moving on.

And look, responding to reviews—both positive and negative—shows you're actively maintaining your app and listening to feedback. I've seen apps turn around negative reviews by responding professionally and actually addressing the issue the user mentioned. That kind of engagement builds trust with people who haven't even downloaded your app yet because they can see you care about the user experience.

Set up a simple email campaign that goes out three days after someone starts using your app, thanking them and gently asking if they'd mind leaving a review. Keep it short and make it easy for them to do—include direct links to your App Store and Google Play pages.

Using Reviews in Your Marketing

Once you start collecting positive reviews, don't just leave them sitting in the app store. Screenshot your best reviews and share them on your social channels, include them in your email campaigns, put them on your website. Real feedback from real users is more persuasive than anything you could write about your own app. Just make sure you're getting permission if you're using someone's full name or profile photo—keep it above board.

Another thing I've learned over the years is that imperfect reviews can actually work in your favour. An app with nothing but five-star ratings can look suspicious, like you've somehow gamed the system. A few four-star reviews with constructive feedback actually make your overall rating more believable and trustworthy. The key is having enough volume that your average stays strong whilst still looking authentic to potential users browsing the store.

Planning Your Post-Launch Push

Here's something most people get wrong—they think launch day is the finish line when actually its just the starting gun. I've seen so many apps put everything into that first week and then just...stop. The energy dies off, the downloads slow down, and suddenly you're wondering what happened to all that momentum you built up?

The truth is, your first month after launch matters more than launch day itself. This is when you need to be watching your numbers like a hawk; tracking which features people actually use, where they drop off, what makes them come back. And here's the thing—you need to act on this data fast. If users are confused by your onboarding, fix it. If they're not using a key feature, maybe it needs to be more obvious or maybe it just isn't solving the problem you thought it was.

I always tell clients to plan for at least three "pushes" in their first three months. Not big expensive campaigns necessarily, but deliberate efforts to bring in new users and re-engage existing ones. Could be a new feature announcement. Could be a partnership with a relevant brand. Could be responding to user feedback with visible improvements—people love seeing that you're listening to them.

Your app store listing needs constant attention too. Test different screenshots, update your description based on what resonates with users, collect and respond to reviews (yes, even the annoying ones). Understanding what makes app store screenshots convert better can significantly impact your download rates during this critical period. The apps that succeed long-term are the ones that treat launch as the beginning of a conversation with their users, not the end of their marketing efforts. Keep talking. Keep improving. Keep showing up. Thats what separates apps that stick around from apps that fade away.

Measuring What Matters After Launch

Right, so your app is live and you're probably checking the download numbers every five minutes—I get it, I do the same thing! But here's what I've learned after launching dozens of apps; downloads are just vanity metrics if nobody's actually using what you've built. The real question is: are people sticking around?

First thing you need to track is your Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates. This tells you how many people come back after their first session. If your Day 1 retention is below 25%, something's broken in your onboarding. I mean, users have given you a chance and they've decided its not worth coming back for. That's a problem you need to fix fast, not next month or when you have time.

Session length matters too—but not in the way you think. A short session isn't always bad; it depends what your app does. A banking app should have short sessions because people want to get in, do their thing, and get out. A social media app needs longer sessions to be successful. Context is everything here.

The apps that succeed long-term are the ones that track user behaviour religiously and respond quickly when the data shows problems

Look at your crash reports daily, not weekly. Even a 1% crash rate can kill your app store rankings and your reputation. And watch your customer acquisition cost versus lifetime value—if you're spending £5 to acquire a user who only generates £3 in value, you've got a business problem that no amount of good design can fix. Track your active users (daily and monthly), monitor which features actually get used, and pay attention to where people drop off in your core user journey. These numbers tell you the truth about whether your launch was actually successful or just looked good on paper.

Look, I'm not going to pretend launching an app is easy—because it's not. After all the planning, building, testing, and marketing, you might feel exhausted. And honestly? That's normal. But here's what I've learned over the years: a launch isn't really an ending at all, its just the beginning of your apps real journey.

The apps that succeed aren't the ones with the flashiest launch day (though that helps). They're the ones that keep showing up, keep listening to users, and keep making things better week after week. I mean, think about the apps you use most—they didn't just appear fully formed and perfect; they evolved based on what real people actually needed.

You've got the tools now. You know how to craft your message, build momentum before launch, time things properly, get early testers involved, make launch day count, collect reviews that matter, and push through those critical first weeks. But the real test? Its whether you can turn all that effort into something lasting.

The mobile app space is crowded, sure—there's no denying that. But there's always room for apps that genuinely solve problems and make people's lives a bit easier. Your app doesn't need to be the next big thing that everyone talks about (though wouldn't that be nice?). It just needs to be useful, reliable, and worth keeping on someone's home screen.

So take what you've learned here and actually use it. Don't overthink every detail. Start building your launch plan today, even if it feels too early. Test your ideas. Listen to feedback. Adjust as you go. And remember—every successful app you've ever heard of started exactly where you are right now, wondering if anyone would care. They made people care by doing the work. Now its your turn.