Smoothing the Edges: First-Run Experience Polish
Addressed inconsistencies across the core screens and flows that new users encounter immediately after launch.
Following launch, a walkthrough of the actual new-user flow revealed inconsistencies in transitions and interactions between screens, even where individual features were functionally complete. The most prominent areas were the splash-to-onboarding transition, navigation while the mini player is active, and the sleep routine and alarm configuration flow. Because these areas had been built independently, their handling diverged in ways that affected overall coherence.
This work focused on treating screens as connected user flows rather than isolated functional units. Content presentation rules for moments, insts, recommendations, and discovery were unified so that the same content is displayed consistently regardless of context or screen.
Supporting layers — diary entry flow, data synchronization, permissions, and in-app purchase handling — were also reviewed and updated. Consistency gaps tend to emerge at the seams between screens rather than within any single view. Rather than patching individual symptoms, the approach was to audit and align the entire path a new user travels in their first several days with the product.