← work · 2026-09-13
ebb · design, Swift, Watch, store
An honest range, not a prediction
Perimenopause does not keep a schedule; period apps print a date anyway. Ebb shows a range, models HRT with dose and site rotation, and found the cause of zero installs in a screenshot.
Problem
In perimenopause a cycle swings between 21 and 60 days. Period apps still say "next period: 14 October", then quietly push the date forward or hide the prediction when it does not arrive. The user feels broken. Then there is HRT: patches, gels, tablets, creams, injections, a hormonal coil; doses, application-site rotation, cyclical progesterone. In most apps that is a single "took my medication" checkbox.
Decisions
- An honest range. Ebb gives no single date; it shows the real range of your recent cycles and explains why. Irregularity is normal here, not a bug.
- HRT as a first-class citizen. Form, dose, site-rotation reminders, phased schedules. A dose change sits on the same chart as the symptom curve, so "did the higher patch help" has an answer in the data.
- Correlation with triggers. Caffeine, alcohol, stress, poor sleep; the user's own log, not generic advice.
- A doctor report in one tap. PDF with symptoms, HRT history, notes. The appointment is never long enough.
- The wrist. Log a hot flash from the Watch in two taps; see the next dose on a complication.
Diagnosing zero installs
After launch, ads produced 11 taps and zero installs. The creative was at fault, not the keywords: the hero screenshot showed an empty state ("log a few more cycles") because sample data generated 14 days and a single period; the second frame listed "Patch" five times in a row. Sample data grew to 126 days with five period starts and a symptom curve that falls after a dose increase; 18 images were regenerated in three languages. None of the four targets had a PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy; that shipped in the same release.
Ranking in a niche
Measured: in this category, an exact phrase in the app name beats the ratings wall. "menopause tracker" in the US is a wall of 1.9 million ratings; "perimenopause tracker" is 134. The name became "Ebb: Perimenopause Tracker", and "Menopause Symptom Tracker" in the UK. In the US "hrt" means a bus company; in the UK it means hormones; the campaigns were split accordingly.
Ebb is a small app in a small market, but every measurement and correction is on record, and the next app starts from it.