Users spend 10+ min on onboarding then never use the core feature — a solo dev's conversion cliff
A built an AI recipe app, live on iOS and Android, designed to answer the daily 'what do I cook tonight' question. Ad costs per install are strong — around £3, with some under £2.60.
is high: a large share of users fill in ps, pantry contents, and allergy info, including optional steps, spending over 10 minutes setting up. Yet many of those same highly engaged users never generate a single recipe — even though the first one is completely free with no paywall.
After that first recipe, a paid trial is required, and recently zero users have started one. The developer has confirmed billing works on their own devices across iOS and Android, but has not yet tested the full new-user flow on a brand-new Apple ID and device, leaving open the possibility of a bug that only affects fresh accounts.
Key points
- Install costs around £3 are healthy — top-of-funnel is not the problem
- Users investing 10+ minutes in setup still do not generate a single recipe
- First recipe generation is free with no paywall, making the especially puzzling
- Zero trial starts recently — a billing or paywall bug affecting new accounts cannot be ruled out
- Testing on a completely fresh Apple ID and device is the critical next diagnostic step