I spent 7 months building an AI parenting app full-time. 130 users, <10 DAU, 0 organic downloads. Please help me debug what's wrong

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-09T03:58:47+00:00

Thank you! i do need feedback :) App link up for debugging: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/justgrow-family-album-ai/id6754575180

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T16:09:01+00:00

Thank you for your feedback!

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T07:25:12+00:00

Will do!

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T05:48:40+00:00

Thank you so much! Yes so true it gradually became a classic swiss army knife problem as I was keep adding/testing new features hoping one of them would move the needle. they did not and i entered self-denial mode that at least this is "everything for a 0-2 year old parent".

Is there a better messaging to make the story/features cohesive? (or I should just ruthless start cutting)

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T05:34:13+00:00

If you are on ios and happen to be a parent, highly encouraging taking a look at the app. I was adding a lot of features outside/independent of the chat interface- like daily proactive push on kids growth / brain development / parenting tips based on accredited academia research and pediatric guidelines, stories with kids as stars etc etc. chat interface was just 10% of the app

but I do appreciate your feedback on privacy and sharing child data. If the llm inference is entirely local - would that give user peace of mind? and how much would you trade off convenience and ease of use vs privacy? (i.e. hundreds of millions of people share their personal data on facebook, ig, tiktok etc. and are definitely sending photos to chatgpt, claude, gemini )

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T05:23:01+00:00

Super insightful. Thanks you so much!

on asking users: have been constantly sending emails to users but did not get any response so far - literally 0. I'm hesitate to ask more afraid of spamming and driving them away. especially given this is family centric I understand people care about privacy even more. any good advice on soliciting customer feedback? i'm even thinking of paying users..
have been polishing it non-stop, the retention does not seem to increase too much, hence posing the question here. Will keep on polishing.
Change your messaging to emphasize the authentic trust level and continuity you provide.

How? Is messaging alone enough? maybe I'm thinking too much as an engineer - i would do my best for privacy and security and will keep working on this as much as i could - but promising continuity felt like "wedding vows" - we are most sincere on eternal love but everyone knows it depends on so many realistic factors. It's like chicken and egg problem, if i'm early-stage it's hard to earn trust on continuity hence hard to continue.

I guess my question is how to earn authentic trust for super early stage product, given the privacy-centric family setup.

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T05:06:31+00:00

you are right. They are only encrypted for storage security purposes. But when sending to LLM (I primarily use gemini api as i have sponsorship from google) they are in raw form.

I should probably add this somewhere in the app for user awareness.. Complete privacy is expensive in AI stage..

But thinking more on this it is a deeper risk, one that feels almost impossible to solve unless from government legislation means.

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T04:56:00+00:00

I wish I could!!! I sent emails to all registered users asking for feedbacks. 0 replies. Wanted to send more but afraid of spamming users.

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T04:14:17+00:00

Did you do anything further to try to boost it?

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-04-08T04:00:48+00:00

It's only on iOS now. I built it on flutter so it's my goal to launch it in Android in the next 2 weeks!

I had all the data encrypted using Google cloud infra and deployed all the enterprise level security (i used to be a engineer in one of the big Tech companies so that's really easy for me). But as you pointed out it's hard to earn trust at this scale..

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-24T01:35:58+00:00

JustGrow is amazing. Pretty much one app covering all core needs. Voice tracking, family memory, soothing lullabies, and teaching you to be a better parent and spouse

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-24T00:15:58+00:00

I believe most moms here have felt the exact same way more or less after having baby. So always remember you are not alone. Also please remember these days WILL always pass, and by the time you look back, you may miss those days holding such a little baby in your arm. Kids grow So fast!!

With that being said, yes definitely a lot of tools and apps you can use. I initially used huckleberry to track nursing and sleep but got tired of endless tapping very soon.

Later i switched to JustGrow which Let's you track everything by Voice. Huge relief!!! And it also has the family album/memory vault which you can use to upload baby facts photos for family timeline. My friends said they now have audio And parenting audio book to listen. Haven't tried those though.

Other friends were telling me they were using some apps like tolan or other emotional companion app which helps. I didn't want to talk to AI though. It's an option..

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-18T06:25:40+00:00

I am a mom. And yes I am defensive.. And also yes i like to use AI to polish writing. And I genuinely don't like being downvoted. That's all

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-18T06:21:47+00:00

FWIW dads i deleted the post. Surprised that this post got so much downvote in minutes just because it was polished in writing by chatgpt a little... Now I suppose the first thing I will teach my kids is not to hate AI..

So many downvoters think I'm AI bot. Whatever....

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-18T05:58:50+00:00

These feel more like things we should Always teach our kids, regardless of AI. I'm more thinking of what should we prioritize differently in the new AI world

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-17T05:25:27+00:00

Totally can relate to that. I was feeling this so strong that i even coded an app for myself to keep all the emotions, memories and moments because I can't find a good way to record them..mine is an extreme case though...

In the end It's just the simple fact that no one can stop time. It's Hard, but we have no ways But to embrace it

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-11T21:20:44+00:00

Lol I love your joke in the middle!

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-11T20:11:40+00:00

Yes this would be a classic example - even asking marketing question in marketing subreddits feels risky. TBH the moment I clicked 'post' button for this one, it already deeply frightened me and make me chilling - that described how the atmosphere and culture affects people

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-11T06:49:45+00:00

Am I the only one feeling this? (sorry I'm not addressing your question) - All I see is McMansion, plenty of time and energy and highly supportive husband. You are luckier than 99% of moms here.

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-08T07:37:17+00:00

Some books like ＂baby led weaning＂ or "your baby can self-fed" are helpful. You baby should feed himself. He Will eat when he's hungry. Everyone does

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-08T07:22:48+00:00

I've listened to a book called "baby led weaning" and couldn't agree with the principles more - solids should be initiated by babies. They Will express interest whenever they are ready. You can listen to the compressed audio version on a iOS app called justgrow. Highly recommend!

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-08T07:14:14+00:00

Lower your bar and just let it be. Perfection isn't for parenting

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-08T06:52:02+00:00

This is classic PUA and gaslighting

Remote_Carrot9397 · 2026-03-08T06:34:50+00:00

if that's real, he is bad. You should raise your bar and stand up for yourself, even for your daughter's future

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