How to get your first 100 app downloads (with no budget)

Most apps never get past their first month with fewer than 100 downloads. With nearly two million apps on the App Store and over three million on Google Play, "build it and they will come" stopped being true a long time ago. The good news: your first 100 downloads don't require a budget or a marketing team. They require a listing that converts and a handful of deliberate, unglamorous moves. Here's a practical playbook for getting there.

First, fix the thing every download depends on: your listing

Before you drive a single visitor, make sure they convert when they arrive. You can pour effort into promotion, but if your store page doesn't sell, you're filling a leaky bucket. Roughly 60% of App Store downloads come from search, and the visitors who land on your page decide in seconds. Three things do most of the work:

• Screenshots. Your first two screenshots carry the conversion. Lead with a clear benefit, big legible captions, and your real app in a clean frame — not a wall of tiny UI. This is the single highest-leverage asset on your page.
• Icon. It's the first thing anyone sees in search results. Simple, high-contrast, readable at thumbnail size.
• Title and keywords. Put your main keyword in the title, fill your keyword field, and don't waste space repeating words. Most of your competition does ASO badly, which is your opening.

Get these right first. Everything below sends people to your page; this is what turns them into installs.

Tap your network — without shame

Your first downloads come from people who already know you. Message friends, family, former colleagues, and any developer friends. Ask them to install, actually try it, and — if they like it — leave an honest review. The first 50 reviews are the hardest to get and the most valuable; a handful of genuine reviews early gives your listing credibility for everyone who comes after. Be direct about what you're asking, and never ask for fake reviews.

Show up where your users already are

Find the online communities built around the problem your app solves — subreddits, Discord servers, niche forums, Facebook groups. Don't drop a link and run; that gets you ignored or banned. Instead, be useful first. Answer questions, share what you learned building the app, and mention your app where it genuinely fits: "I struggled with this too, so I ended up building X — but here are a few other things that helped." Authenticity converts; spam doesn't.

Use the free launch platforms

There's a whole ecosystem of places that list new indie apps for free — Product Hunt, indie directories, "show your work" subreddits, and launch newsletters. Each one is a small, qualified burst of traffic and a backlink. None will make you famous alone, but stacked together over your launch week they add up, and the backlinks help your long-term search visibility.

Localize for a few key markets

This is the most underused lever for indie devs. A large share of the world doesn't search in English, and even a basic localized listing beats showing English to a non-English speaker. You don't need 30 languages — pick three to five big markets (Spanish, German, French, Japanese, and Chinese cover enormous audiences) and localize your title, keywords, and screenshot captions. Localized listings consistently convert better and open up search traffic you were invisible to before.

Earn reviews the honest way

Beyond your launch network, build reviews into the app itself. Use the native review prompt (SKStoreReviewController on iOS, the In-App Review API on Android) and trigger it after a success moment — when the user just finished something and feels good, not on first launch. Respond to every review, especially early on. A real developer replying personally is something the big players can't replicate, and it turns a one-time user into an advocate.

Pick one thing and commit for 30 days

The biggest mistake is trying everything for a day each and concluding "nothing works." Growth at this stage is slow and compounding. Pick one channel — say, being genuinely active in two relevant communities — and work it consistently for a month before you judge it. Track your downloads so you know what's actually moving the needle, and double down on whatever does.

The takeaway

Your first 100 downloads aren't won with a big budget — they're won with a store page that converts and a few weeks of deliberate, honest outreach. Fix the listing, lean on your network, show up where your users are, localize, and earn reviews the right way. It's not glamorous, but it works, and it builds the foundation everything else grows from.

The listing side is the part you fully control, and it's where we can help: build high-converting screenshots, an app icon, and ASO copy — free, in your browser, no signup. And for the strategy behind a screenshot set that converts, read our guide on screenshots that convert.