Whether you’re just starting out or already a Fortune 500 giant, App Secrets is for you. App Secrets will show you how
All of the most successful apps, including Candy Crush, Instagram, Airbnb, Uber, and Snapchat incorporate the same fundamental traits. These elements are made easy to understand in what Sean Casto calls “App Secrets,” to drive breakout success and achieve explosive growth. App Secrets uncovers how you can use these same strategies that today's fastest growing apps use to create your own Million Dollar or even a Billion Dollar app. You’ll discover why some die and others succeed so you can avoid big mistakes and develop big winners. You will learn, step-by-step, highly successful methodologies, “Skyrocket Downloads Method” - Discover how apps DOUBLE, TRIPLE, or even 10X downloads through strategic organic marketing initiatives. This same method mastered by Flyp and TagFi can turn an app into a global phenomenon. “Viral App Blueprint” - Learn the specific blueprint of how today's smartest apps like Pokemon Go and Uber go viral and become instantly adopted by Millions. “Addiction Framework” – Discover the framework championed by Candy Crush and Snapchat to get people addicted to using your app every day, and making it indispensable.
There are very few secrets to be found in "App Secrets" unless you've never read a marketing book before. A significant portion of this book could have been (and pretty much has been) written by any other tech brofluencer out there. Gary V's "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook" comes to mind.
For the most part, the author explains how all of the successful apps you've ever heard of have these incredibly obvious characteristics that anyone can replicate, while also sharing apps you've never heard of as examples of his success. Not everyone needs to be the Instagram, but also, this book isn't going to make you the next Instagram.
There are a couple of pearls for designing an actual business plan, like selling benefits to the user instead of features of the app or measuring important metrics like downloads, retention, and value creation instead of vanity metrics like time in-app, etc. But there's also advice that almost comes across as a joke. For instance, one of the important steps for getting downloads is to stage a multi-million dollar PR campaign so that news and entertainment sources with millions of viewers all promote your app when it launches. So, I guess don't skip that step when you're starting out.
There's also quite a bit of gross Silicon Valley guru advice. To hear Mr. Casto explain it, the user is a piggy bank, and your job is to do whatever you can to manipulate them into a download, and then dupe, addict, and exploit that user for profit. The only reason for the app to actually do anything or serve any purpose is so you can figure out your app store category and identify your customers.
It looks like this book was hashed together quickly as an ebook. I bought a print copy, and there are typos and what are clearly meant to be web links that weren't removed. There are plenty of places where the author didn't have enough to actually fill a chapter, so there are weird filler illustrations or phrases like "This has worked for so many companies, and now I'm going to explain my secret to you" repeated for the 10th time. The author wanted to add "best selling author" to their hype bio, so that's what you get. There's a reason that Casto founded an app marketing company and is a public speaker, and isn't offering advice as the founder of your favorite app.
I bought it new based on a recommendation, and now I understand why I couldn't find used copies. If you want to create the umpteenth candy crush clone or photo filter app, this might be a good read. If you're looking to build an app as part of an established business offering or are really bootstrapping a start-up with a small team, there's more fluff than substance for you here.
This is a book that aims at those who want to build an app but are afraid of moving on. It is like those self-help books that focus on boosting your confidence and esteem but just stop there, like a call to arms that doesn't really teach you how to fight. The second half of the book, which speaks about marketing strategies and monetization, is a little more interesting, but then comes a reproduction of Nir Eyal's Hooked Model allegedly "adapted to the App ecosystem" that, honestly, it is just Eyal's model, period. That, to me, said a lot about how Casto collected and combined the rest of the book's content... Anyway, at least it is a short read...