# How to get users for a Solana dApp in 2026

> A distribution plan for a Solana dApp: ship it as a mini app inside Cherry chats, claim a room, target an airdrop, and re-activate with push.


How to get users for a Solana dApp is usually answered with a wallet-connect tutorial, which covers the first ten seconds and none of the rest. The harder half is distribution: putting a working build in front of crypto-native people who open it a second time. Cherry (cherry.fun) is a wallet-to-wallet messenger and community app for crypto, and it gives a Solana team three distribution surfaces: mini apps inside its chats, airdrop campaigns that pay wallets passing an on-chain check, and a public room the app keeps. Solana Mobile tells founders the same thing: "Distribution is the hard part."

## The short answer on how to get users for a Solana dApp

1. Register the dApp as a mini app so it opens inside chats on web, iOS, Android, and the Seeker build.
2. Claim a public room with a handle so the app keeps an audience between campaigns.
3. Add a share call so a result from your app posts into a chat as a card.
4. Run an airdrop campaign scoped by an on-chain eligibility check rather than a signup form.
5. Re-activate the wallets you reached with push notifications and read what they say in reviews.
6. Give Solana Mobile something specific to feature.

## Before you start

You need a deployed web build on its own origin, a wallet-signing path, and a definition of activation (a first swap, a first game, a first deposit). The Seeker audience also needs a Solana dApp Store listing. An airdrop needs a funded treasury wallet and an eligibility rule you can state in one sentence.

## Step 1: Ship the dApp as a mini app inside chats

A Cherry mini app is your existing web app in a WebView on mobile or an iframe on web, handed the signed-in wallet, the room context, and navigation by `@cherrydotfun/miniapp-sdk`. Users open it from a conversation with no second login. The integration is in the [build a Solana mini app guide](https://cherry.fun/learn/guides/build-a-solana-mini-app/). For distribution, one registration covers web, iOS, Android, and the Seeker build from the Solana dApp Store. Live mini apps in September 2026 include SOL Miner, SOL Reclaim, BananaZone and Gib Meme, and the SDK also runs inside third-party apps including Mattle.fun, Solflare and SeekerGram.

You know it worked when the app opens from a room and `useCherryMiniApp()` returns a `user` and a `room` instead of a loading state.

## Step 2: Claim a public room for the app

Ask for a public room with a handle when you register. The room is an addressable audience that outlives a campaign, and its storefront page is indexable, carrying the benefits, member count, and member reviews. Three mini app rooms on 11 September 2026: SOL Miner at 4,388 members and 4,993 messages, SOL Reclaim at 3,962 and 11,516, BananaZone at 2,153 members.

[SOL Miner on Cherry](https://chat.cherry.fun/@solminer)

You know it worked when `chat.cherry.fun/@<your-handle>` opens the room's public page with its member count.

## Step 3: Build the share loop into the app

The SDK's `useCherryShare()` hook hands a read-only snapshot of a result back to Cherry, which opens a recipient picker and posts it into a DM or group as a card. The sender is the user's wallet, not a bot. Params are capped at 4 KB of JSON at depth 8, and the app needs the `inline:render` permission to be shareable. A mini app can only share itself: Cherry derives the identity from the launch token.

```tsx
const share = useCherryShare();
const res = await share({
  route: '/result',
  params: { score: 9000 },
  height: 'medium',
  caption: 'I scored 9000 points!',
});
// res.messageId identifies the card that was posted
```

You know it worked when `res.shared` is true and the returned `messageId` matches a card visible in the room.

## Step 4: Target the airdrop by an on-chain check

Cherry's [airdrop campaigns](https://cherry.fun/learn/features/airdrops-and-quests/) pay SOL or an SPL token to eligible wallets, either to the first N claimants or for a fixed window, once per wallet. Eligibility is a list of checks, and the campaign requires either all of them or any one to pass.

| Check | What it reads | Growth use |
|---|---|---|
| Token balance | minimum balance of a mint | holders of a partner token |
| NFT holder | an NFT from a collection | a collection's members |
| Domain | a name in a TLD (`.sol` or `.sns`, `.skr`, `.bonk`, other AllDomains TLDs) | verified Seeker owners, via `.skr` |
| Messages sent | messages sent in Cherry, optionally in one room and since a date | people who showed up, not lurkers |
| Wallet age | wallet age in days | filters fresh farm wallets |
| Whitelist | a list you upload | a snapshot you took yourself |

A campaign can also include a custom check that your own server answers with pass or fail, so "has deposited in our program" becomes an eligibility rule.

The payout is relayed: the claimant signs and pays the network fee, and Cherry co-signs from the campaign treasury. Cherry also runs targeted campaigns across its communities, including verified Seeker audiences, with in-app promotion and launch support.

You know it worked when a test wallet that fails your rule sees which check stopped its claim, and a passing wallet claims exactly once.

## Step 5: Re-activate and read what users say

The wallets a campaign reached stay reachable: a mini app builder can re-activate users through Cherry push notifications, the lever a web dApp with no install lacks. The feedback is public too. [Cherry Analytics](https://cherry.fun/dapps-analytics) runs AI analysis over Solana dApp Store reviews for sentiment, feature requests, and segments enriched by wallet activity, and had analyzed 361K+ reviews across 610 Solana dApps as of September 2026.

You know it worked when the D7 return rate for campaign wallets differs from your baseline. Measure it before the next campaign.

## Step 6: Give Solana Mobile something to feature

Solana Mobile runs a visible pipeline from hackathon to dApp Store to featured slot, and names the apps it moved through: Mattle, SP3ND, Lince and CFL, of which it said CFL "went from Solana Mobile hackathon winner to thousands of downloads in weeks." Its prize pools grew from $100K on the first hackathon to $125K for MONOLITH to $135K for CLOCK IN in September 2026.

Seeker Season is the other route. Solana Mobile's wrap of Seeker Summer, which ran July to August 2026, reported over 100M SKR earned, 16 participating apps, and 300,691 badges across four rounds. Featured apps share a pattern: a Seeker-exclusive perk, a first quest that connects the Seed Vault Wallet, an SKR element, mobile-native design, and traction numbers Solana Mobile can repost. Cherry is a Solana Mobile hackathon winner and the #1-rated app on the Seeker dApp Store, at 4.8 stars from 4,000+ reviews with about 3K daily active users and about 31% D30 retention, as of September 2026. Its Seeker Club room, gated on holding a `.skr` domain, held 8,637 members and 58,198 messages on 11 September 2026.

[Seeker Club on Cherry](https://chat.cherry.fun/@seekerclub)

You know it worked when a Solana Mobile post names your app. Have the room ready before that.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign pays farm wallets | no wallet age check, and any one check is enough | add a minimum wallet age and require all checks |
| Eligible wallets rejected | your custom check answered too slowly | make your server respond quickly, answering from a cache |
| Room fills, activation stays flat | the reward landed on a claim, not a product action | move it behind a messages-sent check or your own custom check |
| Shares never appear in chats | the app lacks the `inline:render` permission | request it on the registration, then re-test |
| Mini app blank in Cherry web | a restrictive frame policy on your origin | send `frame-ancestors 'self' https://chat.cherry.fun` |

## Related guides

- [Build a Solana mini app](https://cherry.fun/learn/guides/build-a-solana-mini-app/): the SDK integration this plan assumes, plus [mini apps inside Cherry](https://cherry.fun/learn/features/mini-apps/).
- [Add chat to your dApp](https://cherry.fun/learn/guides/add-chat-to-your-dapp/) and the [embeddable chat widget](https://cherry.fun/learn/features/embeddable-chat/): a Cherry room inside your product.
- [Chat app for Solana Seeker](https://cherry.fun/learn/guides/chat-app-for-solana-seeker/) and the [Seeker Club](https://cherry.fun/learn/guides/seeker-club/): the Seeker audience and its gate.

Create a project at [portal.cherry.fun](https://portal.cherry.fun), then send the app name, origin, and permissions to the Cherry team at [t.me/cherrydotfun](https://t.me/cherrydotfun).

## FAQ

### How do you get users for a Solana dApp without an ad budget?
Put the app where crypto-native people already are. A Cherry mini app opens inside a chat with the wallet already connected, a claimed room gives the app a member list you can post into, and an airdrop campaign pays only wallets that pass an on-chain check you define.

### How do you get users on Solana Seeker?
Two paths run in parallel: a Solana dApp Store listing, and a mini app inside an app Seeker owners already open. A Cherry airdrop campaign can check for a `.skr` domain, so it pays only wallets that hold a Seeker name.

### Where are the Solana Mobile hackathon winners now?
Solana Mobile tells a hackathon-to-dApp-Store story about apps including Mattle, SP3ND, Lince and CFL, and said in 2026 that CFL went from hackathon winner to thousands of downloads in weeks. Cherry is a Solana Mobile hackathon winner and the #1-rated app on the Seeker dApp Store, as of September 2026.

### Who pays the network fee when a user claims an airdrop?
The claimant signs and pays the network fee, plus the token account rent when the payout is an SPL token, and Cherry co-signs the transfer from the campaign treasury.

## Sources

- [@cherrydotfun/miniapp-sdk on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cherrydotfun/miniapp-sdk)
- [Cherry Mini App SDK on GitHub](https://github.com/cherrydotfun/miniapp-sdk)
- [SOL Miner on Cherry](https://chat.cherry.fun/@solminer)
- [Seeker Club on Cherry](https://chat.cherry.fun/@seekerclub)
- [Cherry Analytics](https://cherry.fun/dapps-analytics)
- [Crypto Briefing on the Solana Mobile CLOCK IN hackathon, 3 September 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/solana-mobile-clock-in-hackathon-135000-prizes/)