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Show HN: I built a tool to solve App Discovery

17 points by makeshifthoop 14y ago

pedalpete 14y ago
Interesting, in the past I worked on a music discovery tool with a similar interface. I'm not sure this actually works in the app space though. I think what you're showing is apps similar to a starting point. But do I want more apps that are similar to the apps I already like? Or do I want a new app to do something that I don't already have a solution for? I suspect the latter is more important, possibly with the exception of games. Nice work on the interface though. I think you could find another use for it. Maybe by showing a people who have app x also have app y may be a better model to go with rather than app similarity.
- makeshifthoop 14y ago
  What we try to do is show some similar apps that are close to the app you already like and enjoy, and show some apps that are a bit different. So, for example, starting from an XKCD comic app you can get to a Cyanide and Happiness or SMBC Comics app -- but you also can in a few clicks navigate to a 9gag or Reddit app. You're navigating along the web in a direction -- you can start looking at photo apps Pic Collage or at games, etc.
- cseelus 14y ago
  For me the first point you made was the reason I used this tool in the first place. * Wanted to find a suitable alternative to Galaxy on Fire 2, which I finished and since space adventures are quite rare …
nodemaker 14y ago
Wow this is really cool!
irollboozers 14y ago
These guys are good, very cool.
mnicole 14y ago
The Pandora default doesn't show Rdio, LastFM or SoundCloud, so I was expecting them to show up similar to Spotify, but it went even further away from online radio into "free MP3" apps. It also isn't obvious that you can continue to click on the app icon to get more "similars". Likewise, inputting Instagram didn't bring up any of their direct competitors. It looks like it's filtering more by popularity based on price than similarity, which is why all of these freebie crapapps I've never heard of are showing up instead of solid alternatives.
calciphus 14y ago
Is this really how people do app discovery though? It seems like this is solving a pretty niche case, of "I know what I want, but I want a knock-off version of it" One of my biggest challenges in the App Store (vs. the Play Market) is the ability to find an app based on what I need, compatible with the version of software I have on my device. For example: I defy you to try and find a stereo recorder app that is compatible with first-gen iPodTouch (abandoned to iOS v3.1.3). For that, there's no better option than a well-formed Google search. Popping out the similar apps feels like it would be useful in a few categories (games, maybe one or two others), but isn't really going to help you find that new app you need, just help you in situations where you'd have multiple apps to fulfill the same need.

17 points by makeshifthoop 14y ago

Interesting, in the past I worked on a music discovery tool with a similar interface. I'm not sure this actually works in the app space though. I think what you're showing is apps similar to a starting point. But do I want more apps that are similar to the apps I already like? Or do I want a new app to do something that I don't already have a solution for? I suspect the latter is more important, possibly with the exception of games. Nice work on the interface though. I think you could find another use for it. Maybe by showing a people who have app x also have app y may be a better model to go with rather than app similarity.

makeshifthoop 14y ago
What we try to do is show some similar apps that are close to the app you already like and enjoy, and show some apps that are a bit different. So, for example, starting from an XKCD comic app you can get to a Cyanide and Happiness or SMBC Comics app -- but you also can in a few clicks navigate to a 9gag or Reddit app. You're navigating along the web in a direction -- you can start looking at photo apps Pic Collage or at games, etc.
cseelus 14y ago
For me the first point you made was the reason I used this tool in the first place. * Wanted to find a suitable alternative to Galaxy on Fire 2, which I finished and since space adventures are quite rare …

nodemaker 14y ago

Wow this is really cool!

irollboozers 14y ago

These guys are good, very cool.

mnicole 14y ago

The Pandora default doesn't show Rdio, LastFM or SoundCloud, so I was expecting them to show up similar to Spotify, but it went even further away from online radio into "free MP3" apps. It also isn't obvious that you can continue to click on the app icon to get more "similars". Likewise, inputting Instagram didn't bring up any of their direct competitors. It looks like it's filtering more by popularity based on price than similarity, which is why all of these freebie crapapps I've never heard of are showing up instead of solid alternatives.

calciphus 14y ago

Is this really how people do app discovery though? It seems like this is solving a pretty niche case, of "I know what I want, but I want a knock-off version of it" One of my biggest challenges in the App Store (vs. the Play Market) is the ability to find an app based on what I need, compatible with the version of software I have on my device. For example: I defy you to try and find a stereo recorder app that is compatible with first-gen iPodTouch (abandoned to iOS v3.1.3). For that, there's no better option than a well-formed Google search. Popping out the similar apps feels like it would be useful in a few categories (games, maybe one or two others), but isn't really going to help you find that new app you need, just help you in situations where you'd have multiple apps to fulfill the same need.