BbitbbitBook Dev Log #4 — May 1, 2023, 12:36 AM: First Launch
12:36 AM
May 1, 2023, 12:36 AM.
BbitbbitBook appeared on the App Store for the first time.
Development started February 14, 2023. About two and a half months from first TestFlight build to public release.
What Was in Version 1.0
The feature list for v1.0:
- Book search (Naver, Kakao, Aladin, National Library of Korea)
- Status management: Read / Reading / Want to Read
- Notes per book (text)
- Photo attachment
- Reading Passbook (book registration earns Carrots)
- Bbitbbit Collection (spend Carrots to collect characters)
- Google Login / Apple Login
- "Use without login" mode (local storage)
Everything from the original plan was included.
Review Was Straightforward
A reading journal app doesn't belong to a sensitive category. No reviewer was going to flag it as gambling or a financial service.
Review passed without incident, and within a few days. For a first launch, that smooth passage mattered.
Early Responses
Downloads started arriving after launch.
No marketing, minimal promotion — people found it through App Store searches for "reading record," "reading app," "book tracking." A consistent audience of readers was actively searching.
The initial reviews were mostly positive. Specific comments: "the Reading Passbook concept is fun," "collecting the Bbitbbit characters is cute."
Critical feedback also appeared early. The most common request: the ability to add books to a "Want to Read" list, not just "Read" or "Currently Reading."
What Launch Immediately Revealed
Shipping to real users surfaces problems that testing never does.
Some bugs appeared immediately — edge cases I hadn't encountered in development, UI issues that only showed up on certain device sizes or iOS versions. One developer's testing has hard limits.
The cycle of real users finding issues → fast fixes → updates started immediately after launch.
First release is not completion. It's the beginning of a different kind of work.