---
date: 2019-10-29
modified_at: 2019-11-15
tags: [entrepreneurship]
description: Weighing the pros and cons of making your mobile app invite-only, from collecting emails and creating scarcity to potential user churn and missing App Store traffic.
---
# The (dis)advantages of making your mobile app invite only

It's a common pattern: making your app invite only. But is it desirable? It all
depends on your app. 

You could ask new users on the website to request an invite by giving their
email. Then, you can email users that are invited a code, which can be filled in
on the app to get access. Let's call this invite-only

On the other hand, you could opt for the more simple choice of just showing the 
download button  that leads to the app store, and not requiring new users to
enter a code after downloading the app. 

When I was in doubt on whether or not to keep the invite only option for my app
https://friendtime.co, I found four advantages, but more disadvantages. 

Firstly, if you make it invite-only, you collect emails of users. These emails
can later be used (unless they opt-out) to send any valuable information to
them, for example tips/tricks or big updates. 

Secondly, people can start talking about your app in real life or on social
media, because they want an invite. The app SuperHuman https://superhuman.com 
lets you post a tweet to ask for an invite if you just filled in your email,
because users that already have the app can send instant invites.

Thirdly, making your app invite only makes it more measurable where users come
from. For example, you could add a stream of traffic through ads with a specific
code. All users that enter that code, come from the ad. There are of course
other ways to follow your users and know where they come from; for example:
Facebook Pixel works for Facebook ads. But for viral apps that are spread
through word of mouth, there is no good way to measure different sources, except
if you use an invite-only code and make different codes for every segment. 

Fourthly, having an invite-only app makes your app look scarce. Scarce things
are far more desirable. Because of this, people will talk about it faster and,
maybe, will use it more.

These are all great benefits of making your app invite only and requiring new
users to fill in their email on the website. However, there are als some costs,
so choose wisely:

Firstly, requiring people to fill in an email on the website to get a link to
the app, and requiring people to fill in a code inside the app are two steps
where people can say 'nah' and stop. Two extra steps for users to churn! That's
a big drawback.

Secondly, it may look spammy, and potential users don't always want to give you
their contact information. It's a lot to ask. 

Thirdly, and this is in my opinion the largest drawback: There may be potential
users that don't find your app through an ad or web search, but through app
store search. Also your app may get featured in the App Store. Not letting this
stream of users into your app is a big problem. Especially if your app gets
reviewed well a lot, you will get more and more traffic from within the app
store directly. 

In conclusion, it's something to think about, whether or not to make your app
invite only. It depends greatly in how much people trust your site, and how
prominent the app is in the app store itself.