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Kasspian
Where to find customers
Grounded readSoftware & SaaS

Where to find customers for a mobile app

6 places, read by Kasspian on 18 August 2026. Rooms and their rules change, so check before you post.

Who actually buys

Mobile-first consumers who already search for apps to solve a specific daily frustration, download free ones to try, and upgrade when the free tier runs out of road.

The 6 places

  1. 01

    r/SideProject

    Community

    Explicitly built for founders sharing what they made. One of the few subreddits where a 'I built this to solve my own problem' post is the expected format, not spam.

    What to do there

    Post this week with a beta link. Lead with the problem you personally had, not the features. Ask for testers and honest feedback, not downloads.

    Open r/SideProjectUsually: Community is generally welcoming of genuine founder posts. Read current rules before posting as mods can update them.
  2. 02

    r/AlphaAndBetaUsers

    Community

    The entire purpose of this subreddit is recruiting beta testers for apps. A TestFlight or Play beta invite post is exactly what members come here for.

    What to do there

    Post a beta recruitment thread with your TestFlight and Play links, describe the problem the app solves in one sentence, and ask for testers willing to give written feedback.

    Open r/AlphaAndBetaUsersUsually: Beta recruitment posts are the core content here. Still read pinned rules before posting.
  3. 03

    Indie Hackers community

    Community

    Journey posts with specific numbers and honest failures consistently outperform direct launch posts here, and the audience is full of early adopters who pay for tools they believe in.

    What to do there

    Post a short 'building in public' update this week: what problem you are solving, what you shipped, and what you are stuck on. Ask for beta testers in the post body.

    Open Indie Hackers communityUsually: Direct product announcements get low engagement. Journey posts with specific numbers and honest failures perform far better.
  4. 04

    r/iOSApps

    CommunityComment first

    Covers app showcases, reviews, and news. Self-promotion is conditionally allowed, and commenting on threads where users ask for app recommendations is always welcome.

    What to do there

    Search the sub for threads asking for apps in your category. Reply helpfully with your app as a suggestion, disclosing you built it. Do not post a standalone promo until you have read the current rules.

    Open r/iOSAppsUsually: Self-promotion posts are restricted, commonly requiring a dedicated thread, flair, or mod approval.
  5. 05

    Product Hunt upcoming page

    Marketplace

    Lets you build a pre-launch following before your official launch day. The audience skews tech-early-adopter and pays for apps they find useful.

    What to do there

    Create an upcoming page now and collect followers. Use those followers to seed upvotes on launch day rather than expecting the platform to generate them for you.

  6. 06

    BetaList

    Directory

    A dedicated directory where early adopters actively look for new apps to try before public launch. Listing here puts you in front of people who specifically want to be first users.

    What to do there

    Submit your app this week. Write the description around the problem, not the features. A clear one-line problem statement converts better than a feature list.

If you only do one thing

Post a 'I built this to solve my own problem, want honest feedback' story in r/SideProject this week with a TestFlight or Play beta link. Frame it as a request for testers, not a launch. That framing is one of the few forms of self-promotion Reddit communities tend to welcome without pushback, and it seeds your first real users who feel invested before you ever do a public launch.

This is the read on a mobile app. Yours is narrower than the category. Describe your business and get the same thing for it, with the live threads to answer this week.

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