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What makes people pay for mobile apps or not?

A topic related to SAAS or APPs

Breeze_Interface

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I want to make mobile apps. I have the technical skills and alot of ideas for apps that would be useful to people. However, I'm having trouble in the monetization step because I'm having a hard time differentiating between useful products that people would pay for VS useful products that people wouldn't pay for. The latter, is a product that solves a pain point but the pain isn't sufficiently annoying for you to give your money away.

Because I intended on specializing in Android apps I've seen countless apps that are useful but I would never pay for. Most of the apps in this case will get monetized via ads instead of being behind a paywall.

We know that users on Android are less likely to pay for apps than those on iOS.

How to identify which category an app idea would fit in? (Especially the characteristics of an app that people would pay for)

I'm also aware that the third case is that you have basic functionnalities for free but can upgrade for more features or buy digital items. My question applies in this case aswell what makes the user decide to go further and spend money?

In my experience I have countless apps that uses this model but never ever felt a real need of upgrading so I just use the free tier. There is also the case when the free tier is so restricted that I just don't use/download the app. How to avoid my app of being in this case?
 
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tylerwilkinson

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People I interact with spend on in-app purchases. Especially in games. Need more points? $0.99. Need the next cool skin? $1.99. And so on.
 

tylerwilkinson

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It's understandable for a game but what if your app is an utility app?
I think that’s a much harder wall to break. There is a different pleasure center in the brain for the instant gratification of points in a game. Perhaps adding a social aspect where the app works better if other people use it too, and even better if you pay to somehow benefit from their data/info/network etc.
 
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Andy Black

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Apps for business owners?

I’ve paid for timekeeping and task management apps. A few dollars is nothing if it’s going to help.
 

ryanbleau

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My company has an app that steers farm equipment using our controller. The app is free but the controller is $4k. Contract your skills to build apps that interact with IOT devices and get the manufacturer to pay you for the app and any updates/bugfixes
 

WillHurtDontCare

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