SaaS founder · @cristianandreibot
Cristian Andrei Bot
Founder background
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Products
Tipryx
Save words with personal clues and revisit them through gentle recall reviews.
Jourmora
Travel smarter. Get more back.
Recent posts
“Is it available on Android?” Now I have a better answer.
A creator I reached out to said he’d try Tipryx, then asked if it worked on Android. At the time, I could only point him to the browser version. Now the Android build is published in Google Play closed testing. There’s still friction: testers need to join a Google Group, opt into the test, then install the app. My next step is making those instructions clear on the beta page. Another outreach conversation exposed a different problem: I packed the app explanation, a video idea, pricing, and audience questions into one message. The reply was basically: “I don’t understand.” A reply isn’t the same as a clear pitch. I’m simplifying mine. Tipryx lets you save a word you often forget with your own clue, then practise recalling it later. You can also share the clue as a riddle for friends or family to guess. Looking for Android testers who’ll try it and tell me where they get stuck. Comment or message me and I’ll send the install steps.
11/100 testers. What 90 outreach messages taught me
60 cold emails, 29 DMs on TikTok and IG, 1 on Telegram. Result: 11 TestFlight installs, a few real users. My first real tester came from here: I tested her project, gave detailed feedback, and she tried mine back. Give first, then ask. Big creators are priced for brands: €3,500–7,000 per video, €2,000 with a discount. Small, niche creators (study, language, med and law students) reply more often. The emails that worked quoted something specific from the creator’s content. Inside the app, new users weren’t saving a first word, so build 31 asks for a reminder instead of showing Premium. Next: a small test with a financial education initiative after Oct 22.
Build 31: reminders that never arrived
Found while studying for a history test: 4 words saved, reminder set, nothing came. Root cause: the reminder preference is stored on the account, but notification permission belongs to each install. After a reinstall, the switch said “on”, permission was never requested, and scheduling exited silently. Fix: the switch reflects preference AND real permission, permission is asked only on tap, and the first-word flow now offers reminders before Premium (moved to word 3). Lesson: when state lives in two places, show the one the user can’t see.
My first fix wasn't the fix
Last post I said the phantom testers were fixed. They weren't. • Build 24 stopped treating "unreadable storage" as "no user". But my own update to it still produced a new install id • The real shape: on the first launch after an update, storage wasn't unreadable. It was readable and empty, for that whole launch, then normal again on the next • So the id no longer depends on it alone: it also lives in the iPhone Keychain, paired with the app's install time. An update keeps that time, so the same id comes back; a reinstall changes it, so a reinstall still gets a new one • The app now reports how many stored values it could see when storage looked empty, so the next occurrence tells me why • Switching off anonymous stats now also deletes what was already sent from that device • Two updates since: no phantom testers Still don't know the root cause. But now the bug can't lie to my numbers. Beta, still aiming for 100 real testers: tipryx.com/beta Question for founders: when you can't find a root cause, how long do you keep digging before you just contain it?
My numbers were lying, and a goal: 100 real testers in 2…
Starting from 6 testers. Before chasing 100, I found out three of my "new testers" were me. • On the first launch after each TestFlight update, the app briefly couldn't read on-device storage. It treated "unreadable" as "nothing stored", minted a new install id and signed me out, so Home showed empty and my first saved word triggered the new-user Premium screen • That "Premium press, four seconds after the first word" looked like the first sign someone wanted to pay. It was me • Fixed: unreadable now means wait and retry, never a new identity. Words only load once the session is known • Also shipped, from a tester's feedback: the "moment" of a word can now start from a smell, a taste, a place, a sound or a color, and a Home card shows how to save a word from a book with the iPhone camera Free iPhone beta, if you want to help me get to 100: tipryx.com/beta Question for founders: how do you make sure the users in your analytics are really new, and not you on another build?
Tipryx iPhone beta is live
Apple approved build 19 today. Public TestFlight, 100 spots. • Save a word with your own clue and the moment you needed it • It comes back the next day, then at 2, 4, 7, 14, 30 days • Copy a word anywhere, one tap on Paste to save it • Free, no account, 24 languages The only metric I'm watching: how many people come back on day 2 for a real review. https://testflight.apple.com/join/Xm8EBYcs Founders: happy to test your app in return. Drop your link.
Check what your metric counts before you trust what it says
• New words were due the moment you saved them, so a review 5 seconds later counted as a "return". They now wait until tomorrow. • Home shows "A word is ready to come back" for exactly one word, in all 24 languages (plural rules in Russian or Latvian treat 21 as "one", so it's a separate string) • Tabs no longer go blank on fast taps: the navigator only switches, each screen fades itself in • Paste button redesigned as a primary action • Build 19 submitted to TestFlight Beta Review Question for founders: what was the first metric that turned out to be counting the wrong thing?
Two days of making the app stop lying, then running out of…
The honest part: • Letter hints stop at half the word. Finishing from them is never "remembered" • Reviews end on the win, then name the words to relearn, with a mark for revealed vs finished-from-letters • That result stays on Home until the next review • Practice gets a result too, and shows the date of the real review • Memory: floating + button, list stays smooth at hundreds of words • Premium button works before payments do: it counts presses and says nothing was charged — a better signal than asking "would you pay?" The expensive part: a slide animation between tabs that left a screen blank if you tapped quickly. Two builds to add, one to remove. 16 builds in two days, on a free tier that gives 15 a month. Eight days until it resets. How do you decide a polish item is worth a build?
Six more TestFlight builds, and analytics caught the first…
• The clue is optional now: save the word, write the clue at your first review • Copy a word anywhere, open the app, tap Paste. No paste permission prompt • It refuses anything with digits or symbols, so passwords and card numbers are never offered • The free tier limit can be changed from the server, no App Store release • Tapping a reminder opens the review on the exact word it mentioned • Saved words appear instantly instead of after 4 server round trips The bug: the Paste offer was shown 6 times and used 0 times. On the phone the button was an empty box. The numbers found it before a screenshot would have. Next: a public TestFlight link. Would you rather test on iPhone or in the browser?
Shipped all day on Tipryx: three TestFlight builds
• First time on a real phone, so reminders finally work. Three builds later, it's a different app. • A reminder used to say "2 words are waiting". It now shows the clue of the word waiting longest: "Finding value by accident" — does the word come to you? A number states a fact; a clue asks a question. • "Finish later" stayed on screen after you answered a review, so you could see the result, leave, and meet the same word again. Gone once an answer is up. • The wheel's countdown is one ticking clock instead of a rounded "returns in 6 hours". • Press feedback on buttons and rows, and real screen transitions. • A legal pass: age check, terms of use, and a free data export. Still web for anyone without an invite: https://tipryx.expo.app If you try it, tell me where you got stuck. Three testers found three things I'd never have seen.