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I had promised you a post launch update.
The past three weeks have been quite intense. I’ve taken a couple stabs at this and keep failing to be more concise. But I felt I owed you a a timely update. You can also join a discussion for it I’ve set up on our forums here. |
In Hindsight |
We totally failed on two major fronts that might’ve averted most of the launch issues. We should have tested Clear 1.x > Clear 2.0 migration at scale and caught these data migration bugs and crashes for long lists ahead of time. We will be prioritizing redundant data backup in the early roadmap. We failed on a basic communication level, to reach out thoroughly and directly with proper advance notice of the syncing sunsetting and major changes coming in the 2.0, along with the dire situation that necessitated this kind of a Hail Mary rescue attempt.
This was a terrible way to learn, but we have deeply internalized some lessons moving forward. |
The Disastrously Turbulent Launch |
Our first day was exciting! Some great launch press and reactions. Some very happy early fans. Shop humming to life. But then things quickly took a harrowing turn.
It got darkest a few days in, when we began to realize the scale of the data migration issues (seemingly closer to 10% than the <1% we initially suspected). We were combing through logs but did not yet have any theories to start working on fixes, and all the while buffeted by a storm of hundreds of 1 star reviews from angry and panicking longtime users. |
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I am someone who is happiest when my work is delighting people. I thought the toughest part would be the no’s that Clear’s initial revival would require. No sync, no Mac. No we can’t keep the design exactly the same, etc.
But to have failed and betrayed some of you so seriously with possible data loss, and all overnight at once… was crushing.
On Friday night the team latched onto two key possible fixes – a ‘legacy data’ store that we had missed in our data migration, that the app would create if its own internal data migration failed at some point in ~2014 to fallback to. And an initial basic crash fix to very long lists (many, many of you with ten years worth of checked off tasks uncleared etc.)
Both of these key issues heavily targeted our most hardcore base who had been using the app the longest and relying on it the hardest, in a further cruel twist of the knife.
(BTW if you are experiencing sluggishness especially with long lists, please reach out, we do have workarounds for a snappier experience until we can further optimize this and consider it the current top remaining issue to improve and resolve for many of you who have accumulated so many lists and completed tasks over many years.)
With the 2.0.1 fixes out, things began to turn for the better as the majority of those locked out, were now back to listing. And we moved on to triage what we could in the 2.0.2, which focused more on the most urgent remaining pain points for 1.x fans (e.g. missing settings) and onboarding confusions we could address quickly.
I think we all still feel shellshocked, but more hopeful now with some traction under our feet. |
We’re Now Stabilizing |
Going into this, we knew we would be losing some of you through this relaunch, especially the subset that relies on syncing, and to some extent a group of traditionalists who would not accept the amount of change in the 2.0. Though of course, anyone who lost data… this was worst unexpected factor. |
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Aside: we had many Clear Mac users incredulous that we would cut it and sync for launch. This is an Apple’s usage reporting from a month long period last year well before launch. Clear has a surprisingly concentrated base on iPhone compared to most productivity apps with almost 99% of its sessions on iOS. Clear 1.x Mac + iPad + syncing cost approximately 5x the production costs of Clear iPhone 1.x and multiplied our ongoing costs moving forward. |
After some weeks to let the numbers start settling in… we think we lost around 10% of you. 😓
This sucks, and we do hope to win back a real chunk of you back over the next year or two… (P.S. if you are one of those who relied on sync, you can reply and ask for a refund and I will help. Same if we were unable to rescue your data.)
But thankfully… around 90% of you have stuck with us so far, and the majority of you who did, seem generally assured in its direction (albeit with its bugs to work out and refinements and performance fixes to do) and heartened by a real signal that this app has a pulse and a future now.
Ratings and reviews are also starting to turn around since the 2.0.2. Still a polarized battlefield of 1 and 5 star reviews, but turning towards the better. Thank you everyone who wrote in positively through this transition, I look forward to sharing some of our favorites. |
From the Ashes |
We had a number of key problems to solve with this revival (the ticking time bomb of an ancient codebase, the dusty design and years of no evolution to catch up on, etc.) but the existential one that was truly dooming Clear was a broken business.
Clear 1.x had been in the red for most of the past decade, and the trickle of $5 sales cut it off from reaching an entire generation.
We found the business models others were using unacceptable for various reasons. We did not like gating functionality behind money. (Selling more features feels both wrong for Clear, and puts pressure on feature creep.) Ads were unacceptable. Investors come with baggage and unhealthy agendas too.
But it was important to make recurring revenue from our biggest fans who are getting the most ongoing value from Clear.
So we decided to try a 100% optional cosmetics shop. And otherwise totally free to download and fall in love with. |
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Some of the shop’s daily rotations so far |
It was the best business model we could find (or really, design) after thorough and creative searching, that harmonizes with Clear’s unique strengths and principles.
It’s Clear’s commitment to minimalism that makes it so satisfying to transform with personalization, and its natural affinity to light game mechanics and the dopamine of the loop of getting things done, that has always made its secret unlocks etc. feel productive and fun.
We also felt it was important the update feel generous to you all, for having stuck with Clear all these years, and did not want to force some kind of upgrade pricing.
The strangest part? It is working so far: |
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$10,200 so far is quite encouraging in our humbler indie context. This funds real development which we hope will continue making Clear even more valuable to you. And after all these years of just a trickle of ongoing sales while we were working on the new version, it honestly feels a little miraculous.
And this was a moment for a quiet fist pump here. At the end of the day, for all the things that went terribly wrong for launch… there are 10x as many whirring pieces and quite a few experimental gears that silently worked. And I’m proud of the team for all that did go right. |
We Owe You |
To our 1,150 shop patrons so far, and especially the frequent shoppers and collectors, you have been heroically funding our early updates so far through this year. We are particularly grateful to you for going out on this limb with us, early adopting the super experimental shop and proving it as a concept. As a business, you are the ones performing CPR right now and recovering this beating pulse and bringing Clear back to life.
And don’t worry, if you haven’t bought anything yet that’s OK too! We remain committed to the shop being entirely optional and believe in some kind of karmic longterm return there. Please continue enjoy the app, and one day when you’ve had a super productive week with it and something catches your eye, treat yourself!
There are plenty of other ways to support us too, like spreading the word, converting a friend or family member to our little listing cult, writing a review, etc. which I know many of you have already been supporting us warmly and generously with 🙏
Overall this relaunch has further articulated a sense that Clear will find its way and do its best by further delighting those of you who adore it the most. And that’s what we’ll set out to do with our first year of updates with our new lease on life. |
A New Generation |
Clear is now very ready to meet the world again, on our terms.
While the other todo apps furiously compete amongst themselves, we can credibly pitch Clear as:
• Uniquely beautiful, pristine, striking, colorful design • Uniquely fluent listing on phone via trademark gestures etc. • Uniquely personalizable, perhaps more than any other app on the store • Uniquely fun and satisfying to use and even shop in, if you’d like! • Uniquely free to use and generous with 0 functionality gated |
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Our strategy this year will be leaning into these unique strengths and further refining and distilling the best parts of the Clear iPhone experience that stands apart from every other app.
With our new foundations, we will be able to move quite nimbly.
The goal is to both further satisfy you all, and also begin connecting with a new generation who don’t know about Clear.
We do not have the resources immediately to match the competition’s sync support with our own sync support. But we are bristling with unique angles we can work that no other todo app can even sanely consider tapping into. |
Next Update… |
If you made it to the end, thank you. In meaningful ways you are a stakeholder in this project, and I felt you deserved a real report.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the new Clear. If not reach out and let me know what we need to improve. (Though I can assure you getting to syncing when we are able to is already on the list!) |
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We’re now working on Clear 2.1 that will feature the return of widgets along with other fixes and refinements. I’ll email you next when we have this ready for you.
As I mentioned we’ll be able to move quite nimbly on our new foundations, so we’re expecting this update released mid-February or so. |
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The Quest So Far… |
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