How I Simplified HadisKu by Removing Ads, Subscriptions, and Tracking
I recently shipped HadisKu v3.0.0, and one of the biggest changes in this release wasn’t a new feature.
It was a removal.
I removed:
Ads
In-app purchases (IAP)
Subscriptions
Unnecessary tracking / analytics
For some users, this may look like a small product update.
For me, it was one of the most meaningful product decisions I’ve made on this project.
Because this wasn’t just about removing monetization.
It was about bringing HadisKu back to its original purpose.
What is HadisKu?
HadisKu is an Islamic app I built to help users read, search, and study hadith more comfortably.
It brings together collections from 14 major hadith sources in one place, with a focus on:
simplicity
accessibility
offline reading
clean UI
respectful user experience
From the beginning, I wanted HadisKu to feel calm and useful — more like a focused learning tool than a typical content app.
Why I removed ads
Ads are common in mobile apps, especially for indie developers.
And honestly, I understand why.
They’re often the easiest way to support development, and sometimes the most practical one.
But over time, I started feeling that ads were making HadisKu feel less aligned with what it was supposed to be.
People open this app to:
read hadith
search for references
learn quietly
spend time with religious knowledge
That kind of experience should feel clean and uninterrupted.
Even when ads are “normal,” they still create friction.
And in a product like this, that friction matters more than I expected.
So I kept coming back to a simple question:
If the app is meant to help people learn hadith, why should that experience be interrupted by ads?
That question eventually led to this release.
This was a product clarity decision
With HadisKu 3.0.0, I wanted to make the product simpler, calmer, and more intentional.
Removing ads alone didn’t feel enough.
So I also removed:
monetization layers that no longer felt right
extra friction in the user journey
anything that distracted from the core purpose
This release became less about adding more and more about refining what should stay.
That’s something I keep learning in indie development:
Sometimes the best product decisions are not about adding features.
Sometimes they’re about removing things that no longer belong.
What else shipped in HadisKu 3.0.0
This release also includes several meaningful improvements:
A refreshed app icon
Arabic text search
Hadith detail order settings
Arabic → Indonesian
Indonesian → Arabic
Arabic text alignment settings
Left
Right
Justify
A few of these came directly from user feedback, which made the release feel even more collaborative despite being an indie project.
A small lesson I’m taking from this release
As builders, we often talk about:
growth
engagement
retention
monetization
optimization
All of those matter.
But sometimes there’s a more important question underneath all of them:
Is the product still aligned with the reason you started building it?
For HadisKu, version 3.0.0 was my attempt to answer that more honestly.
Not by adding more complexity.
But by removing what no longer felt true to the product.
Final thought
HadisKu 3.0.0 may not be the biggest release I’ve ever shipped.
But it’s one of the most intentional ones.
Sometimes progress looks like new features.
Sometimes it looks like cleaner UI.
And sometimes, progress looks like having the courage to remove the parts that no longer belong.
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