Free usability check for your app

Not sure your app makes sense to someone who's never seen it? Send me the link. With your permission, I'll use it the way a new user would for about 30 minutes, on a laptop and a phone, and reply privately with a short list of where I got stuck as a first-time user. It's free, and you don't owe me anything.

I'm Bryce Watson. I spent 11 years as a software engineer at eBay, and I'm currently contracting with Portland State University, building an AI tool from prototype toward production.

It's part of Open Hours, the time I set aside to help builders for free: answering questions people post in public, private heads-ups when I spot a serious problem in an app's public code, and two free checks. This one uses your live app. The other is a free security check that reads your code.

Last updated September 26, 2026

1 What I do, with your OK

• One or two key flows, as a first-time user. Signing up, paying, or the main thing your app is for. You pick them, or I'll start with sign-up and the first task.
• On a laptop and a phone. Many first visits happen on a phone, so I try both.
• The places new users give up. Confusing steps, unclear buttons or wording, empty screens with no next step, error messages that don't say what to do, and dead ends.
• The obvious accessibility problems. Text that's hard to read, controls you can't reach with a keyboard, and buttons too small for a thumb. It's a first look, not a full accessibility audit.
• About 30 minutes. It's a quick first pass, so I keep it short.

I do the check myself. I won't run AI tools on your app unless you say yes first, and if you do, my reply labels those notes as coming from simulated users, never as feedback from real people.

2 What you get back

• A private email with a short list, most important first: where a new user got stuck or confused, what broke, what didn't work on a phone, and any obvious accessibility problems. Each one says where it happened and the first thing I'd try. I may include a few screenshots to show where I got stuck. They go only to you, and I delete my copies once I've replied.
• A plain note of what I didn't try. Thirty minutes on one or two flows finds the obvious problems, not all of them.
• If you want help fixing something, ask, and I'll quote it. If you don't, that's the end of it. I won't follow up with a sales pitch.

3 What I need from you

• A link to your live app. A staging or preview link works too.
• The one or two things a new user should be able to do, and who your users are.
• Nothing else, usually. Beyond the form, you don't need to do anything unless a flow needs a test account.
• How to get in, if sign-up isn't open. Otherwise I'll sign up like any new user, with a test email address I'll tell you about. I won't post anything your users can see (if the main task is posting something public, I'll stop before publishing or use a space you point me to), and you can delete the account anytime. If your app sends a welcome email or text, one will go to my test address. If a flow needs an invite, a paid plan or a test card, say so on the form and we'll sort out a test account by email.
• Your OK: that it's your app, or you have the owner's permission, and I can use it as a new user would.

Please don't send passwords or customer data in the form. I don't need them to start.

4 What I never do

• I don't test your app's security. I use it only the way any visitor can: no probing, no scanning, and no trying to get around sign-in or payments. For security, there's the free security check, which reads your code instead.
• I don't enter real payment details. If paying is part of the flow, I stop at the payment step unless you give me a test mode or a test card.
• I don't contact your users or touch anyone else's data.
• I don't present simulated users as real ones.
• I don't share what I find with anyone, and I don't publish anything from your check, even with names removed, without your OK.

5 Send your app

Why free? It's how people see my work before deciding whether they want to hire me. That's the whole catch.

I do a few of these a week, in the order they arrive. I'll reply within 2 business days from bryce@watsonstandardco.com to confirm, and to say when you'll hear back if there's a queue. The check itself usually follows within 5 business days of that.

Don't paste passwords or customer data into this form. It goes to my inbox through the Web3Forms relay, I use it only to reply, and I don't share it.