Headway App

What is Headway

Headway is a software tool designed to help businesses communicate product updates to their customers. Its main purpose is to create a simple and effective way to share news about new features, bug fixes, and other improvements. The platform provides two main components: a public changelog page that can be customized and hosted on a company's domain, and an in-product widget that shows recent updates directly within a web application. This helps keep users informed and engaged with the product's development. Headway App, Inc. is the company behind the tool, and it is based in Covina, California, USA. It is built for companies that want to be transparent with their users and improve customer retention by showing continuous product improvement.

Headway Features

Headway offers a focused set of features to manage and publish product updates.

• Public Changelog Page: Create a dedicated, hosted page to display all your product updates in a timeline format. This serves as a single source of truth for your users.
• In-Product Widget: Embed a small widget directly into your application. Users can click it to see the latest changes without leaving your product, which increases visibility.
• Custom Branding: Modify the look of your changelog and widget to match your company's branding. Pro users can also host the changelog on their own custom domain.
• Integrations: Automatically share updates with your team and customers by connecting to services like Slack and Twitter.
• Team Collaboration: Invite multiple team members to post and manage updates. Each update can show the face of the person who published it, adding a personal touch.
• Scheduled Publishing: Write your updates in advance and schedule them to be published at a specific time. This is useful for coordinating releases across different time zones.
• Privacy Controls: You can set your changelog to be public, private (invite-only), or prevent search engines from indexing it, giving you control over who sees your updates.
• Custom Categories: Organize your updates with customizable categories. You can use tags like 'New', 'Fix', 'Improvement', or create your own to fit your product.
• Eyecatcher Badge: A subtle animation on the widget badge can draw user attention to important new updates they have not seen yet.
• Markdown Editor: Use a clean and simple Markdown editor to format your posts. It supports easy image uploads and embedding multimedia content.

Headway Pricing Plans

Headway provides two main pricing plans. There is a Free plan designed for individuals or small projects that are just starting out. This plan offers basic changelog functionality. The second option is a Pro plan, which is aimed at businesses and teams that need more advanced features. The Pro plan typically includes capabilities like custom branding, hosting the changelog on a custom domain, integrations with other tools, and team collaboration features. This structure allows companies to start for free and upgrade as their needs grow.

Headway Free Plan

Yes, Headway offers a Free plan. This plan is a great way to start using the service without any cost. It allows you to create a public changelog and publish updates. The Free plan is suitable for small projects or for testing the platform's core functionality. It may have some limitations, such as displaying Headway branding on the changelog page and widget, and it does not include the advanced features found in the Pro plan, like custom domains or premium integrations.

How to use Headway

Getting started with Headway is a straightforward process.

1. Sign Up: First, create an account on the Headway website.
2. Create Your Changelog: Once logged in, you will be prompted to create your first changelog. Give it a name, which is usually your product's name.
3. Write an Update: Use the Markdown editor to write your first update. You can add a title, a description, and assign it to a category like 'New Feature' or 'Bug Fix'.
4. Publish: You can publish the update immediately or use the scheduling feature to post it later.
5. Install the Widget: To show updates inside your app, go to the widget settings, copy the provided JavaScript snippet, and paste it into your application's HTML code before the closing </body> tag.
6. Customize (Optional): If you are on the Pro plan, you can customize the colors, add your logo, and set up a custom domain for your public changelog page.
7. Connect Integrations: In the settings, you can connect your Slack or Twitter accounts to automatically notify your audience about new posts.

Pros and Cons of Headway

Pros:

• Very easy to use: The interface is clean and intuitive, making it simple to post updates quickly.
• Effective widget: The in-product widget is a great way to reach users directly without them having to visit a separate page.
• Free plan available: The free tier is generous enough for small projects to get started.
• Simple pricing: The pricing model is easy to understand.
• Good for transparency: It helps build trust with users by keeping them informed about product progress.

Cons:

• Limited features: It focuses only on changelogs and lacks broader product management features like roadmapping or user feedback collection tools.
• Fewer integrations: Compared to larger platforms, the number of integrations is limited.
• Basic analytics: It may not provide deep analytics on user engagement with the updates.

Headway integrations

Headway offers a few key integrations to automate the process of sharing your product updates.

• Slack: Connect Headway to a Slack channel to automatically notify your internal team whenever a new update is published. This keeps everyone in the company aware of recent changes.
• Twitter: Link your Twitter account to automatically tweet your public updates. This helps you reach your followers and the wider community with news about your product.

Headway Alternatives

• Beamer: A direct competitor that also offers a changelog and in-app widget. Beamer provides more features for user segmentation, feedback collection, and push notifications.
• LaunchNotes: A more comprehensive platform for product teams. It combines a changelog with public roadmaps and targeted user communication, making it suitable for larger organizations.
• AnnounceKit: Similar to Headway, it provides tools to announce product updates. It offers advanced features like user feedback, reactions, and more detailed analytics.
• ReleaseNotes: A tool focused specifically on creating and managing release notes. It offers more customization and automation for teams that need a dedicated release communication workflow.

Headway API

Yes, Headway provides a REST API for developers. This allows you to programmatically create, update, and manage your changelog entries from your own systems. The API is useful for automating the update process, for example, by posting a new entry every time you deploy a new version of your software. API access is typically available for users on the Pro plan. You can find your API key in your account settings after logging in.

Here is a basic example of how to create a new post using the API with cURL:

curl -X POST https://headwayapp.co/api/changelogs/{changelog_id}/posts \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
          "post": {
            "title": "New Feature Released",
            "body_markdown": "We have just released a new feature that does amazing things.",
            "category_name": "New"
          }
        }'

Headway Affiliate program

Headway does not have a publicly advertised affiliate or reseller program. Companies interested in partnering or promoting the tool should contact the Headway support team directly through their website. They may be open to discussing partnership opportunities for influencers or agencies on a case-by-case basis.