Eight months had passed with the characters "(β)" still attached to the app name. Right after release, I think that was an honest display. The features were less than half complete, and there were suspicious behaviors in places, so I added it with the meaning of "this is still in progress." But that character never disappeared as the app gradually grew, and it continued to occupy the end of the name. This is the story of the day I removed that "(β)." And it's also an article where I honestly reflected on why I couldn't remove it for 8 months. I think if you're someone who creates things individually, you'll surely find a sense somewhere that you remember, so I decided to write about it.
It really wasn't ready at first
I first released the app in January last year. Thinking "if I wait a little longer it will be complete," my feelings got ahead of me and I just put it out anyway.
Users could register. But the notification feature wasn't working yet. Uploading profile images would sometimes error out. That's the state it was in.
So at that point, "(β)" was an honest display. A kind of preamble with the meaning "it's not complete, it might work but there's no guarantee." I still think that display was necessary.
The problem was not removing it even after completion
The problem came after that.
By April, the notification feature was working. I'd squashed a lot of bugs, and when I had acquaintances use it, they said "it works fine." But I didn't remove the "(β)."
"Let me polish it a bit more," "in the next update," "once everything is in place." I kept repeating those reasons to myself.
Another developer's story hit home
The turning point came when I heard a story from K (pseudonym), another individual developer I'd met in the same community.
K had been running their service for 3 years, and throughout that time had written "currently offering beta version" on their landing page. One day, a user who had been using it for a long time sent a message saying "Is this service still in testing? I don't know if it's safe to use."
K told me: "That's when I realized. I thought I was protecting myself, but I was pushing 'incomplete things' onto users."
When I heard that story, I wasn't hearing it as someone else's story. It felt like it was being said about me, and my back hurt a little. From that day on, I started seriously thinking about removing the "(β)."
The moment I realized I was "hiding behind β"
After hearing K's story, I looked at my app's page again.
The characters "(β)" at the end of the name. When my eyes stopped on it, I finally felt like I could be honest.
I had thought that character was a sign of humility. But it wasn't. It was a guard in my heart—"since it's still in progress, it's okay to be criticized," "since it's not complete, it's not a failure." I was offering excuses to users in advance.
It took 8 months to realize that was "running away."
I was afraid to declare completion
Removing "(β)" meant, I think I unconsciously believed, declaring "this is complete."
If I declared completion, I'd lose the shield to receive criticism. If someone said "it's hard to use," I couldn't make excuses. That fear was the reason that character wouldn't come off.
But thinking about it calmly, the "beta version" label never once prevented criticism. If the user experience was bad, people would leave, and it didn't matter if it said beta. For users, "whether it works or not" was everything, separate from the developer's mental preparation.
There was no definition of "completion"
I noticed something else. I had no definition of "complete."
"Once the next feature is in," "once the design is polished," "once it runs a bit smoother." There were always those conditions, and even when I achieved them, the next condition would appear. So the day I could say "it's complete" would never come.
This isn't "dedication"—it's just procrastination. I was stopping my own feet.
Quietly, on a quiet night
Two weeks after hearing K's story, on a quiet night, without making any grand decision, I simply edited the app name. I selected "(β)" and pressed the delete key.
That's all.
There was no grand sense of accomplishment. No feeling of "alright, I did it." Just a slight sense of something catching being released, and that was actually the honest sensation.
What happened after removing it
Nothing particularly dramatic happened. Users didn't suddenly increase, reviews didn't come in.
But one thing changed. The feeling I had when introducing my app to people changed. I stopped saying "I released it, but it's still in beta." I could just say "I made this kind of app."
Just by deleting a few characters, something inside me changed.
The boundary between "humility" and "escape"
When doing individual development, you naturally start saying things like "it's still in progress." I don't think that's bad in itself. When it really is in progress, you should be honest about it.
But when the expression "in progress" starts functioning as a defense to preemptively avoid criticism, it's no longer humility.
Putting your work out there is scary. You might be criticized. You might be ignored. People might think "who would use this?" I think every individual developer fights with that fear while creating. That's why I understand the desire to have a "guard" to ease that fear.
But if that guard is stopping you from moving forward, it might be worth removing it once.
Defining completion for yourself
What I did after that was a small task: "write a definition of completion."
I wrote in a notebook "if all of these are done, this app is complete" with just 5 conditions. I limited it to 5 because otherwise it would grow infinitely again.
By making that list, the feeling of "still in progress" changed a bit. "What's still left and what's done" became clear. Just that made my relationship with the app more settled.
Two months have passed since I removed "(β)." User numbers haven't changed dramatically, and the app didn't suddenly become perfect.
But I have no regrets.
Removing that character was both honesty toward the app and honesty toward myself. I became able to properly say "this is what I made." I think that was the most important thing.
If any of you reading this have been keeping characters like "(β)" "(tentative)" or "trial version" attached to your app or service name for a long time, I'd like to ask you something just once.
Is that character still necessary?
If the reason is "because features are still missing," I think that's fine. But if there's even a little bit of "because I'm afraid of criticism" or "because I want an excuse if something goes wrong," that character might have already served its purpose.
Like it had for me.
Removing it takes less than 5 minutes. But those 5 minutes can change something. At least for me, they did.
Lily (@bokuwalily) — Individual developer. Creating iOS apps and web services in tandem with AI.
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Lily (@bokuwalily) — After leading a marketing organization of 50 people as CMO, I now create iOS apps and web services individually. I consult on customer acquisition, user flow design, and AI implementation and business automation.
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