Mobile App for Women to keep track of their Monthly Cycles
Entrepreneur behind the app LoveCycles, John Paul, tells us more John, what is the problem you are trying to solve with LoveCycles app?
This app is ideal for women looking to keep track of their monthly cycles. LoveCycles helps by improving effectiveness of contraception and conception and takes the chore out of it and throws in the fun and easy!
Some of my friends and family used excel sheets to track their cycles. Many others used diaries, post-its and the calendars hanging on their walls! Although these are okay, they are also low on portability and give no useful metrics. Smartphones make this essential data portable, give a wide range of statistics and make it accessible anytime, anywhere.
Can you tell us a bit about the features of LoveCycles?
The best features of LoveCycles are its superior design, simplicity and highly intuitive user interface. We have worked really hard to keep the design fun and easy to use. Apart from tracking and predicting cycle phases, it lets users maintain notes for each date, and enter reminders onto the device calendar. The feature that excites me the most is LoveCycles’ versatile cycle prediction capability. As usage increases, it provides greater accuracy in cycle prediction.
Are there any other similar apps in the market?
Yes, there are quite a few. We wanted to do it better in terms of usability, accuracy and excitement.
Why did you choose Android to begin with?
Updating newer versions on Android is fastest as there is hardly any approval process involved. That allowed us to iterate on the versions really quick and deliver the best ‘use and feel’. We are live on the Windows Phone Marketplace as well.
Which other platforms are you looking at launching soon?
Apple’s iOS and Samsung’s bada. We are awaiting approval for both and are expected any time now.
Is the app paid / free?
We have taken a hybrid approach. The free versions have all the features and are ad supported. For those who don’t want the ads popping up, we also have the paid version.
How has the acceptance been for an app like this in India so far? How many downloads do you see per day?
For LoveCycles, India is seeing the second highest number of downloads after the US. We will let the market play out a bit before we begin our marketing efforts. Our analytics show that downloads in India so far are mostly from the big cities. The challenge to address a larger audience in India (and the world) is translating it to different languages. We are averaging roughly 50 downloads a day worldwide.
Any interesting learnings in the first few days of launch?
We have a long way to go and it is humbling to know that we are competing with the best in the world. We need to keep getting better at designing, developing and marketing superior software. Based on feedback from our beta testers, we have planned better event logging and data backup features.
Any interesting feedback from early adopters that you would like to share with us?
The initial responses from our users have been extremely positive and they have been encouraging us with 5 star ratings. They seem excited about the app’s simplicity. What is also interesting, are the strong ‘sentiments’ we have been hearing about the logo! :)
What is your take on the booming mobile app space in India?
In India, smartphone sales figures are still at the tip of the iceberg as a majority of the devices being sold are feature phones. As smartphone prices drop, adoption is accelerating and so is the demand for apps. India is a price sensitive market though, and Android seems to be the best positioned platform to win here. Price sensitivity also applies to apps in India. Free is more sought after than paid right now.
What are the challenges you face as a mobile app entrepreneur in India?
There are three on top of my mind. First, finding expert hands in the mobile space is tough because this is still a fairly nascent field and there are multiple technologies to deal with. Second, localizing apps into different languages is difficult. Third, if you develop on multiple platforms, testing on multiple devices is challenging. On that front, I did like to reach out to fellow developers. If you are from Bangalore, and need devices to test your app on, feel free to get in touch.
Anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
Do check out LoveCycles by downloading it to your device and spread the word. Feel free to send in your suggestions or new ideas to implement. We are always listening.
To know more, visitwww.lovecycles.me
What are your views on this mobile app? Do let us know by leaving a comment.
