Decoding RARE: Inside the AI Dating Assistant's High-Friction Onboarding & Hard Paywall Strategy

Setting the Stage: Privacy First, Personalization Second

RARE wastes no time establishing its brand aesthetic – bold, energetic, almost electric. The initial interaction isn't with AI features, but with the fundamentals: privacy. Users are immediately prompted to accept the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions. This upfront approach, while standard, sets a formal tone before any value is demonstrated. ✅

Following consent, the app shifts into a concise, 5-step onboarding designed to gather essential personalization data. It asks for Name, Gender Identity (Male, Female, Non-binary), and Age Range (18-24, 25-34, 35-49). This data likely fuels the AI's analysis and feedback mechanisms later on, aiming for tailored suggestions. It’s a quick process, minimizing initial friction after the necessary legal hurdles.

Defining the "Why": User Goals & Value Proposition

Crucially, RARE asks users why they're there. "What is driving you to be Rare?" The options reveal the app's core value propositions:

✨ Fine-tune photo aesthetics 🎯 Evaluate photo effectiveness 🤖 Generate new photos using AI 💬 Generate witty pick up lines

Selecting a goal frames the user's intent and sets expectations for what the AI will deliver. This step attempts to align the user's needs directly with the app's capabilities before they experience the core technology. Interestingly, a rating prompt appears relatively early in the flow, asking for App Store feedback even before the main AI features have been fully utilized. This preemptive request for social proof is an aggressive tactic.

Unveiling the AI: From Anticipation to Analysis

After goal selection and the rating prompt, the app declares "AI is ready," prompting the user to upload a photo. This builds anticipation. 🤩

Once a photo is selected, RARE simulates its analysis process, showing steps like "segmentation in progress," "subject segmentation finished," "generating feedbacks," and "calculating Match Points." Visual overlays appear on the user's photo, highlighting facial features. This sequence serves as a crucial demonstration of the AI's power, aiming to showcase tangible value and justify the next, most critical step.

The Hard Paywall: No Trial, All Commitment 💰

Here's where RARE makes its most daring move. Immediately after the AI analysis demonstration, users hit a hard paywall. There’s no free trial mentioned. Access to the promised benefits requires an immediate subscription.

The "RARE AI PRO" offerings include:

• Faster AI Photo generations
• Unlimited access to RizzGPT (presumably for pickup lines)
• Unlimited profile feedbacks
• Enhanced dating photos
• Dedicated support

Two pricing tiers are presented:

• $7.99 paid weekly
• $49.99 paid yearly ($0.96 / week), highlighted with a "Save 70%" tag.

This hard paywall strategy is high-risk, high-reward. It filters for users with high intent (and willingness to pay) but risks alienating a vast majority who expect to sample the core value before committing. Given the context of 0 monthly downloads and revenue, despite running ads, this friction point appears to be a significant barrier to conversion. Users acquired via paid channels might be hitting this wall and dropping off before generating revenue.

Strategic Reflections: Lessons from RARE's Approach

RARE's flow provides several takeaways for app developers:

1. Value Demonstration is Key: RARE tries to show its AI magic before the paywall, but is it enough to justify immediate payment without a trial? The simulation needs to be incredibly compelling.
2. Onboarding Brevity vs. Depth: The 5-step onboarding is quick but gathers core data. Balancing speed with effective personalization is crucial.
3. Paywall Timing & Type: A hard paywall without a trial is unconventional, especially for a new app with low visibility. It requires immense confidence in the perceived value or a highly targeted, motivated user base. The current data suggests this might be miscalibrated. 🤔
4. Early Rating Prompts: Asking for ratings before delivering substantial, sustained value can feel premature and potentially backfire.

RARE's approach highlights the tension between demonstrating powerful AI capabilities and converting users effectively. While the concept of an AI dating assistant is intriguing, the aggressive, trial-less monetization strategy appears to be hindering its growth potential in a crowded market. Analyzing flows like these reveals the critical balance needed between user experience, value delivery, and monetization.