Why users uninstall your mobile app

Have you recently launched your app and you’ve got a lot of downloads? Congratulation!👏 But, pay attention: 39% of people decide to uninstall a mobile app just because they no longer use it. You’ve invested a lot of money and worked so hard, but you’ve lost your users. Indeed, convincing new users to download your app is ONLY the first step in a very long journey. You also need to focus on engaging your users, or you take the risk of losing them.

When you want to release your mobile app, the first struggle is to study a great promotion strategy! Have a look at some tips here. The core marketing strategies to promote an app are focused on increasing the number of installs, but an effective promotion is not the only variable of your app’s success. Some users could decide to uninstall your app. How rude, uh? I warn you: you have to evoke a sense of curiosity to get your users’ attention.

Here are 10 solutions to prevent users from uninstalling your app

In this article, we’ll analyze the top reasons why people uninstall apps and many ways to solve this problem. Let’s start! 🚀

We can divide the reasons into 3 main categories:

  1. Generic features
  2. App performance
  3. Users’ trust

Generic reasons why users uninstall apps

1. Your app doesn’t satisfy users’ expectations

Solutions:

  • Avoid writing too much text;
  • Use only high quality images your design team has created, don’t copy;
  • Show one single feature per page. Don’t make it muddled;
  • Implement a great UX and make the flow rational and easy-to-use;
  • Humanize the experience!

2. The registration process takes too long

Solutions:

  • Give your users different options to sign up, such as Facebook, Google, etc;
  • Stop asking users for too much information to register. You can ask them for detailed information when they’ll have started using your app;
  • Lack of localization is another common problem during registration. During the users’ registration stage, you need to take into account various aspects, like country, language, and cultural differences.

3. 28% of people uninstalled apps because of too many ads and notifications.

Solutions:

  • Implement a well-designed marketing strategy, by thoroughly studying your target behavior and interests;
  • If you’re able to read your users like a book, but you struggle with your push notifications or in-app messages’ strategy, have a look at the following articles and clear your head:
  1. Follow our best practice and send astonishing push notifications to engage your users. 🤩
  2. Push notifications popping up too frequently, when least needed, push the user to uninstall the app. So think about timing your push notification! ⏰

4. Your app is weak

Solutions:

  • Enhance your app starting with the basis: the welcome message! 🎉 It represents the first touchpoint between your app and your user or, your brand. So you better do it right! If you want to be sure of writing an epic welcome message, read this article and follow our tips 😉.
  • Try to build the best app out there! If not, your user will install a new app with similar functions = they might uninstall your app;
  • Your app needs to be user-friendly! You can ask your users only a few sec to learn how to use your app. Provide simple instructions.

5. Inefficient app monetization strategy

Solution:

  • There’re many kinds of monetization strategies (In-App ads, freemium models, sponsorships, etc). Pick the best one for your app, but be aware that disturbing and intrusive adv will likely lead to uninstalls. Adv negatively affects the user experience by annoying users if you don’t use it strategically. Especially when ads are too frequent and intrusive in nature.

App performance reasons why users uninstall your app

6. Too much storage space

Solutions:

  • The average app consumes 38MB of storage space. Try to keep your app below this threshold without compromising your app’s features and performance.
  • Go for a PWA! Progressive Web Apps are a hybrid between normal web pages and mobile applications. The term “progressive” refers to the fact that they introduce new features: from the point of view of user experience, initially, they are perceived as normal websites but behave more and more like mobile apps. They are particularly efficient and can adapt their UI to the different mobile devices of users. Plus, they don’t require a real download. This means little storage space occupied on the devices because they are not actually downloaded.

7. Crashes and Errors

Solution:

  • Avoid crashes and errors by testing your app regularly. Testing is also useful to understand which of your app features your users like before its release.

8. Poor loading speed

A mobile app needs to load in 4 seconds or less. If not, guess… your users UNINSTALL!

Solution:

  • Have you ever heard of splash screen? Yes, I’m talking about the first screen that is generally displayed when you open your app! Maybe your app is not as fast as users want, so try to exploit this situation in your favor: strengthen your brand awareness by using a splash screen! Would you like to deepen some aspects? Read our article about Splash screens here.

Users trust

9. Your app requires too many permissions

Solution:

  • It’s very important to make people safe when asking for their personal information. If the information or permission is not relevant to your app, then don’t ask for it! So, to make people feel safe, show them how important data protection is for you: create your privacy policy and make it easily accessible to users.

10. Developers don't satisfy users' queries

Solution:

  • If you don’t update your app, it means that you don’t care about improving it for your users. Be careful what you do (or not) do because users pay attention to any change. You should frequently read your app’s reviews and queries and try to satisfy them.

Conclusion

Yes, you’ve created an amazing app and adopted a great acquisition strategy, but, wait, you’re not done yet. There’s still a lot to do! The most important step after launching your app is user retention. You must make an app that people love to use. If you don’t do so, it’s impossible to be successful in the market. That’s why I’ve outlined some of the main reasons why people uninstall apps. I’d like to help you and prompt you to take action and prevent this from happening. After making sure that people love your app, you’ll see that your monetization and user acquisition retention strategies will give better results.

Yes, you’ve created an amazing app and adopted a great acquisition strategy, but, wait, you’re not done yet. There’s still a lot to do! The most important step after launching your app is user retention. You must make an app that people love to use. If you don’t do so, it’s impossible to be successful in the market. That’s why I’ve outlined some of the main reasons why people uninstall apps. I’d like to help you and prompt you to take action and prevent this from happening. After making sure that people love your app, you’ll see that your monetization and user acquisition retention strategies will give better results.

It’s not that easy, I know. But if we follow my suggestions, you’ll be more likely to achieve your goal. Try also to focus on these steps:

  • Concentrate on consistent user-engagement efforts;
  • Keep collecting data on user behavior and interests;
  • Use that data to deliver the best experience ever to your customers.

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