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Apps Poison Maps: The Ultimate POI app for the watch

I don’t plan on giving up yet. I’ll give it a month or two before looking for a “proper” job. And even then I will be putting out new releases every few months to keep the data up-to-date. There just won’t be as many new features, but there are plenty of original features in the app already. And I will keep trying to market it in my spare time.

I have tried many ways to contact websites. I started with emails, then tried press releases, and now send emails with a press release at the bottom. I have tried short emails, long emails and even multiple emails (one for each new feature). I have tried writing formally and informally.

I usually include promo-codes and links to the AppStore, my website and YouTube videos. Although I have also tried skipping them in case a news website has an auto-filter to exclude app reviews.

Sometimes I concentrate on just one aspect of the app. I sent a tip to a news website yesterday where I barely mentioned the app and concentrated purely on the 3D panning gesture.

For the previous release I often researched where a website was based and sent screenshots of the app showing various aspects of that city. But this usually took ages per email, and none of them replied, so I decided not to bother this time!

Basically I have tried all sorts of approaches over the years, but with no joy whatsoever. Maybe I should take the hint that the app is not good enough! However people always seem impressed when I demo it, and a very high proportion of users buy the in app purchase, so I reckon that it is good enough, but just not enough people are hearing about it.

For instance I just received yesterday's sales figures, which are 17 downloads and 6 sales (across all 11 versions of the app). From what I can tell from the web this is an excellent take-up ratio, but it doesn't matter how good the ratio is if you only get 17 downloads! And this is on a very good day (many thanks to you folk on this thread); I don't usually get that many sales in a week!

I can’t really afford to hire a professional marketing agency, but SEO is a very good idea. I can probably optimise my website to be a little more crawler-friendly.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
I am based in the UK, so I have to bear in mind what time it is for the US websites that I send the emails to. I try to send them during their working day as I feel there is less likelihood that they will get overlooked. Well that's the theory at least!

Sometimes I get the timing very wrong. My multiple email "campaign" was designed to involve one email a day for a week, but about halfway through the week I realised that it was Thanksgiving in the US and that no-one would be around for the Thursday, and possibly not for the rest of the week. That resulted in them receiving emails every few hours, which may have done more harm than good!
 
Just purchased the UK version with extension... Please persevere with this app, I think it's the best app of it's type and is a really good example of how to write an app for the Apple watch, something a lot of developers appear to have little clue about.

I have to agree the name and icon are doing you absolutely no good whatsoever and have little to do with the app itself. I do like 'pointer' and the dog icon idea. A change along this lines I believe will give you a better chance. Best of luck...
 
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Many thanks. Even if I did stop working on it full time I would still update the data regularly and would hopefully be able to add new features in my spare time if they are useful enough and relatively quick to implement.

For example if the next Apple Watch has a built-in compass then I will definitely add a sign pointing to the selected POI. It would be very useful, as well as being consistent with the iPhone app.

Also, a new name containing "pointer" isn't really appropriate for the watch app at the moment, but it would be very relevant with such a compass sign.

And as a dog owner (our previous dog gets a mention in the app credits) I do like the idea of a dog icon!
 
Other thoughts.

You have too many apps in the App Store and that might be putting people off? I know I pondered over whether to get just the basic version and buy the North America upgrade, (pro = small size on iPhone) versus just buying the whole world version (con= large size, pro=I occasionally travel internationally, pro=all in one and simple)

My point being that: pondering all the options delayed me from hitting the [Buy] button. :D

If you somehow restructured it to one app only, you'd simplify the buying process. You also see a star rating appear sooner, since you'd hit the critical number of star ratings faster.

And, as others have pointed out, your watch app is a great example of what a watch app can do. It's pretty impressive, but that's no good if nobody knows it.

So you you should heavily stress the watch functionality when approaching reviewers and bloggers since good watch apps are comparatively rare right now. You got to market early and with an impressive offering. That might get their attention more than yet another mapping app for the iPhone which is a crowded and mature market.
 
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Thanks for the advice and for the kind words about the app.

I have got some ideas about restructuring into one single app, but they involve hosting data on my own servers, rather than relying on Apple. This is too expensive for me at the moment, but if the app takes off then I could afford it. It would also allow me to implement several other ideas that I have for the app.

I have concentrated on marketing the Watch app for exactly the reason you say: there aren't many good Watch apps out there. I still haven't got any responses though. I think most news sites and bloggers try to avoid app reviews (unless by a major player) and most review sites are much more interested in games.

I have also sent emails about the app's 3D Touch gesture, which I figured would be of interest with 3D Touch in the news recently. It allows you to pan around the map by temporarily zooming out according to how hard you press the screen. This is very different from the usual shortcuts and peek/pop enhancements that most apps are adding (which are great, but not as original). But no-one seems interested in that either, despite it being a credible alternative to pinching and swiping in a lot of cases (IMHO).

Thanks again for the input. And thanks to everyone who has tried out the app. The sales have gone up to about 15 purchases a day in the last couple of days, which can only be due to this thread (no-one has replied to a similar thread I posted on another forum). The most encouraging thing is that over 25% of people who try out the app are buying it, which is far higher than the industry average, so I am still optimistic...
 
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I have just seen the first ever news story on Poison Maps. CultOfMac did a nice post on the 3D Touch aspect of the app a couple of days ago, even going as far as to ask why Apple didn't think of it for Apple Maps:

http://www.cultofmac.com/400726/3d-touch-poison-maps/

I expect that was part of the reason for the increase in sales over the last couple of days. They dropped a bit yesterday, but are still much higher than before this thread was started.
 
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If only! Although some people have said that the patent on the gesture has a better chance of making some money than the app (which wouldn't be difficult to be honest!).

If so then it would be "lovely jubbly"!

Apologies to those unfamiliar with classic UK sitcoms...
 
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Great looking app which I was happy to purchase.

I'm also based in the UK and most of the time the app is bang on the money but local take aways, restaurants are missing from the database.

Is there a way to add these so other users will get the benefit?.

Keep up the good work pal

Andy
 
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Thanks for such a nice, constructive comment about the occasional missing POI, which every app will have. I have been dreading getting one star reviews because the app does not have someone's nearest hairdresser!

The data is taken from OpenStreetMap, which is sort of the wikipedia of maps, where millions of volunteers have created an open data map of the world. It is an incredible project that goes into an amazing level of detail in places but, like every online map, has areas where not all the information is shown. Generally all the major POIs are present, but not every town has had every shop and restaurant mapped. However I would say that the data is at least as comprehensive as Google Maps, and considerably better than Apple (IMHO). And it is improving all the time, at an accelerating pace.

There are lots of ways to contribute data to the project. I tend to use the editors on the website (www.openstreetmap.org) but there are several apps as well, such as this one: Go Map!!

They also do great charity work. The Humanitarian team maps areas that need emergency aid, so that volunteers on the ground can get around and help those in need. When there is a natural disaster the volunteers meet up in groups around the world and use multiple resources to quickly map the affected area as much as possible.

It's also good fun if you enjoy that sort of thing (which I do) and it's satisfying to know that any changes that you make to the data will be reflected in hundreds of websites and apps.
 
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That's a good call, I've not checked to see if my hairdresser is on your app......


Just checked, that's not on there either!

*rushes to change my review

Good looking/working app pal, already recommended it to others with the Apple Watch thingy.
 
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Just tried the free version and immediately bought the global version. This will be a wonderful tool traveling! :)
 
I have installed the free version. The killer test for me is if recognises the independent shops in the local village that don't appear on any other map app.

Upgraded.

No. It doesn't show the local petrol station but it does have the bank that has closed down :-(

Is there a way to notify errors/missing things?
 
The data is taken from OpenStreetMap, which is sort of the wikipedia of maps, where millions of volunteers have created an open data map of the world. Generally all the major POIs are present, such as hospitals, stations, airports etc, but not every town has had every shop and restaurant mapped (although a lot do).

If you have looked at lots of other apps and haven't seen the POIs that you want, then you are unlikely to see them in Poison Maps either because many apps use OpenStreetMap data. I like to think that Poison Maps has the greatest selection of POI categories, and presents them in a uniquely useful way, but at the end of the day it is the same data.

However I think that OpenStreetMap is the best source of POI data out there, being at least as comprehensive as Google Maps, and considerably better than Apple (IMHO). And it is improving all the time, at an accelerating pace.

There will always be errors and omissions, as with any source of POI data, but there are lots of ways to fix them. I tend to use the editors on the website (www.openstreetmap.org) but there are several apps as well, such as this one: Go Map!! They make it very easy to add or correct POIs, and it's nice to know that any changes that you make will be reflected in hundreds of websites and apps.
 
A new version of the app has been released with the latest OpenStreetMap data and a few bug fixes. Please give it a try!
 
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I'm trying this out because I saw this thread. I'm staring with free but if it's even marginally useful, I'll go for the full blown version. I'm all about supporting the devs, and $2 is totally doable. (It's downloading now...)

I agree with some of the other comments here. I think your brand is clever, but the logo might be off putting.

My thought is you could keep your name but just title it like "POIson Maps." It emphasizes the POIs aspect. Also, a new icon is something to think about. If I had the skill, I'd mock one up for you.

Also, agree with the SEO comments. Google webmaster tools a insightful and helpful in improving SEO rank.
 
This app is great and the watch experience is one of the best. You need some marketing help because this is the kind of thing Apple should be promoting as an example of a watch app.

I ended up buying the North America version because of size vs the Global version, but I WOULD NOT hesitate to buy it when I travel globally.
 
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I just tried Eastern Europe. Great app. So, I would like to buy global version, but size of this app worries me because Apple Watch has only 8gb capacity.
 
bradnd9901 said:
This app is great and the watch experience is one of the best. You need some marketing help because this is the kind of thing Apple should be promoting as an example of a watch app.

I ended up buying the North America version because of size vs the Global version, but I WOULD NOT hesitate to buy it when I travel globally.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the kind words and marketing ideas. Changing the case of POI in POIson Maps is something that I considered early on and foolishly dismissed because it looked a bit untidy. Now it seems a great way of making the name less off-putting and the pun more obvious, so I may well go for it.

I did send an email to Apple asking if they would promote it on the AppStore and got a reply just before Xmas saying they would forward the details to the appropriate person, so I am hopeful they may go for it.
[doublepost=1453062508][/doublepost]
gr3gfx said:
I just tried Eastern Europe. Great app. So, I would like to buy global version, but size of this app worries me because Apple Watch has only 8gb capacity.
Click to expand...

The data is all stored on the iPhone so the watch app for the global version is exactly the same size as that for any of the free regional versions. For all versions I store some images on the watch to speed things up, but no more than 6Mb, which is less than 0.1% of 8Gb.

So it uses very little of the memory on your Apple Watch.

Thanks for trying the app out. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
 
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cfc said:
Many thanks for the kind words and marketing ideas. Changing the case of POI in POIson Maps is something that I considered early on and foolishly dismissed because it looked a bit untidy. Now it seems a great way of making the name less off-putting and the pun more obvious, so I may well go for it.

I did send an email to Apple asking if they would promote it on the AppStore and got a reply just before Xmas saying they would forward the details to the appropriate person, so I am hopeful they may go for it.
[doublepost=1453062508][/doublepost]

The data is all stored on the iPhone so the watch app for the global version is exactly the same size as that for any of the free regional versions. For all versions I store some images on the watch to speed things up, but no more than 6Mb, which is less than 0.1% of 8Gb.

So it uses very little of the memory on your Apple Watch.

Thanks for trying the app out. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Click to expand...

I thought that size of WatchOS.app = iOS.app. Ok, I will purchase global version :) Good work!
 
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Thanks!

The watch app is included in the download of the app, but it is a separate piece of code from the iPhone app (called an extension). In most cases this extension is much smaller than the iPhone app, and this is especially true for Poison Maps where the majority of the iPhone app is taken up by the data.
 
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