Cold start: how to lift a new app from zero downloads 

The app just launched — zero downloads, zero reviews. We show how to create the first spike the algorithm notices and starts showing you.

The hardest moment in an app's life is the first week, with zero downloads and zero reviews. The store algorithm looks not at «how many total» but at speed: how many people downloaded right now. So the cold-start task is to create a spike in a short time.

Make a launch day, not a quiet release

Don't release the app quietly. Concentrate everything into one day: warn beta testers, subscribers, your chat, make a post with a direct link, mail your base. 100 downloads in a day do more than 300 over a month — because the algorithm reacts to tempo.

Buy the first spike with Apple Search Ads

While there's no organic reach, ads in store search are the most effective cheat. You pay for first installs by keyword, and those downloads also lift free search. You can start at $5–10 a day, budget under control.

Collect the first reviews by hand

Ask real first users — clients, friends, the team — to leave an honest review in the first days. Build a rating prompt into the app itself and show it after a successful action, not at launch. The goal — 10–20 reviews at 4–5★ within a week.

Enter through narrow queries

A new app won't break through on generic words like «booking» or «CRM» — giants sit there. Pick long, specific queries where the top is weaker: not «booking» but «barbershop booking». That way you actually reach the top for a concrete query, and the first organic users come from there.

Retain those who came

A spike lifts the app, but if people delete it the algorithm pushes it back down. So in the first days it's critical that the app doesn't crash, doesn't lag and delivers value from the first screen. At RADOBO we build apps exactly this way — so a cold start isn't wasted on technical problems.