App Showcase: HairApp

What it does

HairApp is an AI-powered style and beauty application designed to help users visualize new hairstyles and colors. Users can upload a photo of themselves, and the app's AI analyzes their face shape to recommend and apply a wide variety of virtual hairstyles and hair colors. The app also includes an AI assistant to provide personalized advice on what styles would suit the user best.

Where it shines

HairApp excels at quickly demonstrating its core value. The onboarding flow (starting at 00:05) uses interactive before-and-after sliders, allowing potential users to see the dramatic transformations in real-time without any setup. The AI Hair Report (01:57) provides a clear, actionable summary of the user's facial analysis, giving a sense of personalized insight. The app's monetization is aggressive yet clever, particularly the exit-intent special offer at 01:12, which presents a timed discount to recapture users who initially dismissed the subscription.

UX highlights

• Interactive Demos: The onboarding carousels use draggable sliders (00:07) to show before-and-after effects, which is far more engaging than static images.
• Clear Feature Sections: The main screen (01:27) is well-organized, with distinct entry points for generating a report, trying hair colors, and upgrading.
• Gated AI Assistant: The app offers a taste of its AI assistant with one free query (02:51) before gating further use, effectively demonstrating value before asking for payment.
• Report History: A dedicated 'Report' tab (03:35) saves past analyses, creating a sense of progress and making the user's data feel valuable and persistent.
• Direct Photo Workflow: The flow from selecting a photo (01:34) to getting a report is linear and easy to follow, with clear visual feedback during the analysis phase.

Monetization & growth

The app employs a multi-layered, aggressive monetization strategy. There is no free trial. A hard paywall is presented during onboarding (00:46) and again when trying to access locked report features (02:03). A key growth tactic is the special offer paywall (01:12), which appears with a 50% discount and a countdown timer immediately after a user closes the first paywall. Furthermore, the AI assistant is paywalled after one free use (02:59), turning a utility feature into another conversion point. The app offers both weekly and yearly subscription plans.

Who it’s for

HairApp is for anyone curious about changing their hairstyle or color but hesitant to commit without seeing a preview first. It targets a broad audience, from individuals planning a salon visit to those just looking for fun, creative expression. The emphasis on face shape analysis suggests it also appeals to users seeking data-driven beauty advice rather than just random filters.

Notes & opportunities

The user experience is heavily focused on conversion, which might alienate some users. For example, the notification permission prompt (01:25) and photo access prompt (01:30) appear right after dismissing two paywalls, which could feel overwhelming. The AI report's core recommendations are locked (02:03), which could cause frustration, as the user has already invested time in the analysis. Providing one unlocked recommendation might improve the user's perception of value before hitting the paywall.