Over the years’ mobile app industry has grown exponentially, be it growth, usage, revenue or adoption. However, most of these apps don’t sustain a longer run. According to statistics, an average app loses 77% of its users in the first three days, yet another says that more than 50% of app users go away within 3 months.
Having said that, there have been some apps that could perfectly define this trend. These apps came with a bang but went away sooner than expected. Here is a list of 5 apps that failed to maintain users unbelievably.
1. Pokémon Go:
Early this year, we all heard of the Pikachu gang that appeared in markets, as Pokémon Go. The app gained immense hype. People all around talking about it and were frantic to get it for their smartphones and tablets. Within a few days, it had around 45 million users playing the game every day. Unfortunately, this data reduced to 30 million the next month and is negligible today. Nobody ever expected Pokémon go to away that quickly.
2. Dubsmash:
Dubsmash is the next app in our list of one-hit wonders. It came out almost a year back. The app was all about recreating movie scenes and music videos via lip-syncing. It was available for free on the Android and iPhone app stores and gained immense popularity in no time. Its simplicity and fun element attracted the masses including various celebs. But even these couldn’t hold users for a longer run and the ‘Dubsmash hangover’ went away pretty quickly.
Note: This app has been discontinued.
3. Prisma:
2016’s had its fair share of trends that died out earlier than expected. Another example of such a trend is the Prisma app. The app was launched in mid of the year and soon joined the rank of failed apps. The app turned smartphone photos into stylized artworks based on different artwork/graphical styles. Initially, it gave a pleasing experience to users but soon that was wiped out. Or maybe they realized that this was 2016 and a photo editing app is nothing new. It’s slow processing was also one of the major reasons for it to fade away.
4. BBM:
Remember the time when Blackberry redefined instant messaging with their BBM app? It was later made available for Android and iPhone users. It created a surge amongst users and reached to masses in a short span. However, the rage for BBM pin couldn’t persist for longer, especially with WhatsApp’s existence in the market. People said good bye to BBM app in just a few months.
5. Viber:
Viber is the last app on our list of failed apps list. It offered free voice calling over the internet. Viber’s calls were way better than most free calling apps available and pretty much devastated the skype market. It allowed users to make calls to people who had the Viber apps installed on their smartphone or tablet. The voice quality was considerably good but it often crashed. With that been said, it was one of the biggest reason for Viber to fade away before it was expected.
While mobile apps are immensely popular, their future growth and user preference goes unanticipated. Unique concept along with user-friendly interface are a perfect blend for any product to sustain users. We expect newer app developers to consider these facts and offer high-end experience to users in the future.