Opal · screen time and focus app
Let users tap to crack open a gemstone when they hit a focus milestone
The app's most loved moment; users remember it and talk about it
Workedretentionproduct-virality
What they did
The whole experience revolves around gemstones (the name Opal is a calming gemstone). When users pass a milestone (e.g. a number of days using the app) they are granted a new gemstone and tap to crack it open to reveal its color and shape. Took a few weeks of investment despite not being measurable and competing with more urgent features and bug fixes.
What happened
The most loved interaction in the app; people remember and talk about it, building the brand.
- Stage
- scale
- Effort
- a few weeks of design and engineering
“You get to tap to crack the gemstone. That's the most loved interaction. People really remember this, talk about it, and really helps build the brand”
“It's difficult to make the decision to say, "Wait, I'm actually going to invest whatever, a few weeks building this thing, and doing it right." But in the end, that's what people remember.”
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More from Opal
All 10 Opal tacticsMore from this episode
- Opal: Drop the hard paywall and give the core app away for freePaying share of users fell 20% to 9%, but organic growth, 1M+ DAUs and revenue rose
- Opal: Test how many app blocks free users get; settle where free users still love it3 free blocks gave free users a great experience while power users still pay
- Opal: Sell the app to schools as a phone policy after students asked for itGrew from one school to many US high schools; front-page LA Times coverage
- Opal: License a stranger's viral video about phone overuse and run it as your adSeen by dozens of millions; still running 1-2 years later
- Opal: Hire a user who posted about you to run her own educational channel for you0 to ~700K followers and millions of views in a few months
- Opal: Add focus streaks with an animated flame and gemstone rewards at milestonesBiggest win of the year for retention and growth; no numbers
- Opal: Buy a New York billboard saying "Scrolling Kills" with no app linkNo effect on downloads or revenue; helped close one school deal
- Opal: Hand out thousands of "Scrolling Kills" stickers that don't mention the app