Should I add more pages to my viewer app, or keep it ultra-simple?
Hi Product Hunt community,
I’m a solo developer who recently passed the production review for a mobile document viewer app.
Honestly, I built this out of pure personal frustration. I just wanted a lightweight, lightning-fast viewer to read my files (PDF, PPTX, DOCS, HWPX) without being bombarded by annoying ads. Personally, I am very satisfied with how it turned out.
But now, I’m hitting a wall of self-doubt.
If I had built this purely for myself, I could have just stopped at the closed/internal testing phase. But now that it has officially passed the production review and is live, seeing virtually 0 downloads makes me wonder: Did I fundamentally miscalculate the market? Did I build something wrong, or is it just a marketing problem?
This has brought me to a classic developer's dilemma, and I would love your advice:
1. Is "simplicity" actually enough for users?
Right now, the app is extremely minimal. It reads document files scattered across different folders and displays them on a single, clean main screen. Should I expand the app and increase the number of pages/features to make it more commercially attractive? Or do people still appreciate an ultra-simple tool that just focuses on being a good viewer?
2. The dilemma of monetization vs. user experience
Since it has no marketing, no one knows about it. If the user base eventually grows, I might consider adding non-intrusive ads just to sustain the app. However, part of me really wants to keep it 100% clean and faithful to its core identity as a pure, ad-free utility.
How do you overcome this post-launch anxiety when the download counter isn't moving? If you were in my shoes, what would be your next step?
Would love to hear your honest thoughts!
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