Mobile-first growth

Plenty of installs, almost no activation. We rebuilt onboarding for the small screen — and the funnel followed.

The problem

The app was designed for desktop, then squeezed onto a phone. Over half the people who installed it never did anything meaningful. The first run was just too much on a 5.5" screen.

What I did

  1. 1

    Tested small

    Watched users on the smallest screens we had.

  2. 2

    Cut to one

    Six onboarding steps became three.

  3. 3

    Mobile patterns

    Bottom sheets, gestures, login last.

  4. 4

    A/B'd it

    Shipped the version the data picked.

Get to the first "aha" fast — not auth, settings, or permissions. Value first, account later.

The results

Same 1,000 daily installs — far more people made it through.

Open the app43% → 85%
Reach first use43% → 73%
Come back day 2~3× more
BeforeAfter
0
Day-2 retention
Takeaway

A small screen won't let you hide sloppy priorities. Deciding what comes first made every other surface better too.