# What do top apps show a brand-new user on an empty home screen?

Source: Lazyweb Research
Author: Ali Abouelatta, Lazyweb Research
Published: 2026-07-07
Updated: July 2026
Sample size: n=809
Category: [Empty states and activation patterns](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/category/empty-states-and-activation-patterns)
Tags: onboarding, ux-patterns, mobile, landing-page, design
HTML: https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-brand-new-users-see-on-empty-home-screen
Markdown: https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-brand-new-users-see-on-empty-home-screen.md

**Answer.** The most common answer is a plain empty state — 373 of 809 apps (46%) label the surface "nothing here yet" rather than pre-filling it [1]. The home surface itself is well-represented: 430 canonical home screens exist in the corpus, the stage where most empty states live [2]. Apps that go further either seed demo content (100 apps), suggest follows (64), or add an illustration (69) [1].

> 373 of 809 apps (46%) greet a new user with a plain empty state; only 100 pre-fill it with sample content — Lazyweb Research, July 2026.

## The empty home is the norm

The first surface a new user lands on is usually a home screen, and there are 430 canonical home screens in the corpus [2]. On that surface, the default treatment is a plain empty state (373 apps) [1]. The more effortful treatments are the minority [1]:

| What the new user sees | Apps |
| --- | --- |
| Plain empty state ("nothing here yet") | 373 |
| Sample / demo content pre-filled | 100 |
| Illustration in the empty view | 69 |
| Suggested follows / find friends | 64 |
| Guided "create your first X" prompt | 15 |

## Named examples by treatment

Concrete apps for each empty-home treatment [3]: plain empty state — ebay, asana, audible, replit, pocket-casts, google-assistant; sample content — canva, capcut, pages, wix, kahoot; social seeding — snapchat, goodreads, strava, signal; illustration-led empty views appear across 69 apps. The guided-first-action prompt is rare (15 apps), so an explicit single "do this first" call is the exception, not the rule.

## How to apply it

If your new-user home is empty, you are in the majority — but the majority is also the least differentiated. The upgrade path is cheap and well-precedented: add an illustration (69 apps do), or better, replace the void with the fill that matches your product (demo content for creation tools, suggested follows for feeds). A guided first action is the road less traveled; its rarity means either untapped upside or a pattern most teams found not worth building.

## Caveats

Counts are tag-match lower bounds deduped by company [1]. The 430 home screens is a canonical-category count, not a per-app rate — a single app can contribute multiple home variants [2]. Guided first action (N=15) is absolute-count only [1]. Named examples are illustrative, not an exhaustive list [3].

## The numbers

| Stat | Computed from |
| --- | --- |
| Empty state 373 apps, sample content 100, illustration 69, social seeding 64, guided first action 15 | pattern_prevalence_by_company: empty_state 373, sample_content 100, illustration 69, social_seeding 64, guided_first_action 15; 373/809=0.46 |
| 430 canonical home screens | home_canonical: 430 canonical screens where category_name LIKE 'home%', denominator 23407 |
| Examples: ebay, asana, audible (empty state); canva, capcut, kahoot (sample); snapchat, strava, signal (social seeding) | qualitative named_examples empty_state, sample_content, social_seeding |

## Methodology

Universe is 809 mobile apps and 23,407 canonical screens (July 2026); empty-home treatments computed by tag match deduped by company, with home-surface volume from the canonical home category. Counts are lower bounds.

## Visual references

Real, in-market app screens tracked by Lazyweb Research:

- Tiktok: https://zlfyzdmohcskkucuunmk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/screenshots/ent1_tiktok/lazyscreenshots/2023_05_06_19-52-45_AD05670C.png
- Alma: https://zlfyzdmohcskkucuunmk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/screenshots/uploaded_alma/paywall/compare/2026-05-31/1780216957657_01_03_Paywall_coach-upsell.png
- Youtube Music: https://zlfyzdmohcskkucuunmk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/screenshots/uploaded_youtube_music/main_tabs/compare/2026-05-27/1779916433659_02_YouTube_Music-20260527-211350-03.png
- Facebook: https://zlfyzdmohcskkucuunmk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/screenshots/uploaded_facebook/main_tabs/compare/2026-05-28/1779941227387_00_Facebook-20260528-040707-01.png

## Sources & citations

- [1] Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026. Empty-home treatment prevalence deduped by company via tag match.
- [2] Lazyweb Research analysis of 23,407 canonical screens (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026. Canonical home-category count: 430 screens.
- [3] Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app screenshot corpus), July 2026. Named examples per empty-home treatment.

## Related questions

- [Which empty-state and activation patterns are most common in mobile apps?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/empty-state-patterns-prevalence-mobile-apps)
- [Sample content vs social seeding: which empty-state fill pattern is more common?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/sample-content-vs-social-seeding-empty-state)
- [How do apps get a new user to their first meaningful action?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/how-apps-drive-first-meaningful-action)
- [What percent of apps use a setup checklist after signup?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/what-percent-of-apps-use-setup-checklist)
- [How common is a dedicated cold-start (first-run) screen, and which apps use one?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/cold-start-first-run-screen-prevalence)
- [Which app categories are most likely to use a setup checklist?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/setup-checklist-by-app-category)
- [Which app categories invest most in a dedicated cold-start screen?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/cold-start-screens-by-app-category)
- [On web/SaaS products, which in-product surfaces host empty states and first-run guidance?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/web-saas-activation-surfaces-empty-states)

## Explore the evidence

- [Cal AI app tree](https://design.lazyweb.com/company/cal-ai/app-tree) — Full 45-frame August 2026 capture
- [Cal AI trial introduction](https://design.lazyweb.com/flow/cal-ai/onboarding-paywall) — Three captured screens · August 2026
- [Cal AI: sign-in, trial, then reminder](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/cal-ai-sign-in-trial-reminder-sequence)
- [Paywall before or after account creation?](https://design.lazyweb.com/blog/do-apps-paywall-before-or-after-account-creation)

## Continue your research

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