DEV Community: Dzianis Halka

Sequoia 1.5.9: Live Voiceover, Animations, and Improved Mechanics

Dzianis Halka — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:57:23 +0000

Today we’re excited to introduce the new version of Sequoia - 1.5.9. If releases had awards, this one would definitely win “most lively and colorful.” And here’s why.

Live Voiceover

From the very first version of exercise voice guidance, users asked us to use real human voices. And we totally understood why. The native iOS VoiceOver sounded unnatural, sometimes mispronounced words, and didn’t support all languages well.

For people who learn better by listening, this could be frustrating. And as a result, we were losing users. Around 25–30% of people are auditory learners.

So when we got the chance, we fixed it. Now, instead of a robotic voice, you can hear warm, natural female voices. You can even pause here now and go try it - it’s worth it.

Animations

There’s a saying: “Kids don’t change, the toys do.” We think it applies to Sequoia too.

Our goal has always been to help men improve their health in a simple, engaging way. So we added a bit of gamification through animations.

Now app icons feel more alive. You’ll notice subtle movements - smooth and gentle, but noticeable. And they change depending on the user's progress: not started, completed, or skipped. I won’t spoil too much - it’s better to see it yourself in the app.

At the same time, Sequoia is still a health app. So it was important for us to keep the balance and not turn it into a game. We hope we got it right.

Improved Mechanics

We made solid improvements across the whole experience - from signup to onboarding and progress reports.

Progress bar during signup

For the past few versions, we’ve been hard working on improving signup completion, and we’ve already reached 40%. That’s good - but not the limit. In this release, we added a progress bar.

From a psychological point of view, it helps because:

it reduces uncertainty
people move faster when they see the finish line
Progress motivates completion

Updated onboarding

After signup, it’s important to guide users and help them start.

Before, onboarding was mostly informational. Now it feels more guided - with updated text, doctor photos, and clear actions. It feels like a specialist is helping you.

The goal is not just to explain the app, but to start building a habit. We kept it short, clear, and still skippable.

Updated hero section

The hero section is the main block on the Today screen. It shows your progress in the 21-day program: current day, step, and how many exercises are left, and the time needed.

The key update is the “Start training” button. One tap - and you’re in.

You might ask: why not just tap the exercises?

Because the home screen has a lot of elements - settings, calendar, tracker, tabs, and others. It’s easy to get lost.

There’s a simple rule in mobile design: one screen - one action. For us, that action is completing your daily plan. The button helps you focus on that.

Updated course completion screen

When you finish the program, you will now see a completely redesigned screen. It’s the key moment - you see your results, feel the achievement, and get motivated to continue.

Now it shows:

how many of the 21 days were completed fully
total exercises completed
your longest streak
total time invested in your health

This is where you get your reward. You can also retake the test - right away or later.

Updated test results screen

Before, this screen only showed your score. Now you also see how it changed compared to previous results, plus a history and a simple graph.

Updated “Welcome back” screen

We’re all human. We all forget things sometimes. That’s okay.

The new “Welcome back” screen reflects that. Sequoia doesn’t judge - it supports and helps you return, even after a long break.

Final thoughts

I once heard a great line: “It’s not what you say - it’s how you say it.” And it’s true.

The same message can feel completely different depending on the tone.

We want Sequoia to feel not like a medical app, but like a place where you get support, care, and answers - without judgment.

And we’ll get there.

With respect and dedication to men's health,

Dzianis Halka
CEO Sequoia

Improving New User Conversion to the Home Screen (Iteration 2)

Dzianis Halka — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:47:34 +0000

Hi everyone!

Today (as I’m writing this), it’s Friday, I’ve got a couple of hours, and I want to share how we at Sequoia continue working on improving new user conversion to the home screen.

If you’ve been following our blog or social media, you already know where we started. If not, here’s some context.

Background

Last summer, we discovered that our registration completion rate was very low - just 14.2%. That was a wake-up call.

We immediately started working on it. By changing the tone of communication, we more than doubled the conversion up to 32.7%. See the table below.

At the time, this felt like a big win for us. Not just for the product, but also from a medical perspective. We even turned this into a research case and submitted it to the World Meeting on Sexual Medicine (WMSM). It was accepted and presented this February in Porto, Portugal.

What’s next

But 32.7% is not our limit.

We kept digging into the data and quickly found three weak points: the name input screen, privacy screen, and “upcoming test” screen.

Name input screen

We were losing 31.6% of users on the name screen - the very first screen.

Why?

From a psychological point of view, when a man is dealing with a sexual health issue, asking for personal data right away creates anxiety and distrust. Many users simply closed the app.

So we changed the flow.

Now the app first:

greets the user
explains how it can help
shows it’s built with doctors
highlights privacy

And only then asks for a name.

We also redesigned the screen:

made the name optional (Skip button)
allowed nicknames
allowed numbers and symbols
removed auto-open keyboard

This reduced pressure and increased trust.

Privacy screen

We were losing up to 7.4% of users here.

Before, users had to:

check a box
tap "Continue securely"

We simplified it:

removed the checkbox
changed text to “By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms”
made the button active by default

Now it’s one action instead of two.

Upcoming test screen

On the screen where we tell users they’ll answer a few questions, we were losing 11.4%.

At first glance, it looked fine. We redesigned it:

added an illustration
reduced text

At first, it felt like just a visual update. But we wanted to understand what really mattered - so we used A/B tests.

A/B testing

Firebase provides a Remote Config feature that's quite useful. So we can:

run multiple screen versions
split audience (e.g. 50/50)
see results in real time
stop anytime

After testing, we can keep the better-performing version and hide the lower-performing one.

We ran all changes through A/B tests - even when results seemed obvious. In our opinion, the best practice is to rely on data, not intuition.

Expanding analytics

At the same time, we expanded analytics.

We started tracking all the way up to the home screen, including:

paywall
“your journey in 5 steps” screen
notification permission
“what’s new” screen

And we found something important:

If we consider the home screen as the final point (instead of Progress Potential, as before), conversion drops to 21%.
That’s expected - we added 4 more steps. But it’s a more honest metric.

Results

All changes were included in release 1.5.8 (January). But early data was noisy (due to A/B tests), so we analyzed February results.

Here’s what we got:

Name screen drop-off decreased 10x (from 31.6% to 3.1%)
→ Hypothesis confirmed: don’t ask personal data upfront, build trust first.
Privacy screen drop-off increased (+2.4%)
→ Unexpected result. A/B test initially showed improvement, but the final data says otherwise.
→ Still investigating.
Test screen improved slightly (−0.5%)
→ Not significant yet, will review March data.

Overall results

Conversion to Progress Potential increased from 32.7% to 57.5% (+24.8%)
38.9% of users now reach the home screen

Conclusion

This case clearly shows how important it is to know your numbers. Analytics helps you: see real problems, find bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions.

My advice to founders: Track everything. Every screen matters. The earlier you start, the better for your business.

As for us, we’re not stopping here. More iterations coming soon.

Stay tuned