Mobile app monetization (paywalls, trials, pricing)
Synthesised mostly from Steve P. Young / App Masters (2026) — agency case studies with small samples; treat numbers as “worked in one test”, and A/B test before shipping. Notes live in monetization.
Core playbook
- Paywall in onboarding, seen by ~100% of new users. Nearly all trials start on day zero; 60–80% of buyers buy during onboarding. → Why the paywall belongs in onboarding
- Nothing mandatory between onboarding and the paywall. Moving sign-up after the paywall: views 40→94%, trials +190%, sales +52%. Also skip health-connect before the paywall. → Paywall before sign-up (account creation after purchase)
- Hard paywall for paid traffic, launch, or “downloads but no sales”. Adding an X halved revenue in one app; cost is 1★ reviews. → Hard vs soft paywalls
- Gate the X by source. “How did you hear about us?” (or Superwall attribution): paid social → hard, App Store search → soft. → Hard paywall only for paid traffic (gating by "How did you hear about us?")
- Explain the trial right before the paywall (“try free” → “we’ll remind you 2 days before” + push prompt → timeline paywall): +56% trials. → The three-screen pre-paywall sequence (explain the free trial)
- Show the paywall more than once — e.g. no-trial paywall early, trial paywall later (start rate 3%→7.7%); returns diminish after ~8 views. → Showing two paywalls in onboarding (and the 8-paywall-views rule)
- Sell outcomes, add scrollable context, plans + CTA above the fold, floating CTA. → Paywall content — sell the outcome and add context (long paywalls)
- Video > photos > graphics; add social proof; test a money-back guarantee. → Paywall visuals — video, photos and social proof
- CTA: “Continue” on iOS, “Start free trial” on Android, never “Subscribe”; add “No payment now”. → Paywall CTA and microcopy that converts
- 2–3 plans with an anchor; break the price down per week/month (+38%). → How many plans to show and how to display prices
- Trial on the highest-LTV plan; monthly is usually weak. 3-day weekly vs 7-day yearly tripled sales once. → Weekly vs monthly vs yearly plans — and which plan gets the trial
- Trial length: 7 days yearly, 3 days weekly; 14 days mainly as an exit offer. → How long should the free trial be?
- Replace monthly with a $1.99 paid intro that renews yearly (60–70% renew vs 30–40% trial-to-paid). → Paid intro offers ($1.99 first month that renews yearly)
- Never drop a dismissed user into nothing: longer trial, discount, free credits + review ask, reverse trial, forced email. → What to show when users close the paywall (exit offers), Reverse trials — converting users who closed the paywall, Pay-what-you-want discount slider
- Know your numbers before buying traffic: 5–10% start rate, 30–40% trial-to-paid, ~2% install-to-paid, ≥$3 LTV/install. → Subscription funnel benchmarks (trial start, trial-to-paid, install-to-paid, LTV per install), RevenueCat charts and features worth using
Note map
| Note | Read when |
|---|---|
| Why the paywall belongs in onboarding | Deciding where the paywall goes; low sales with low downloads |
| Paywall before sign-up (account creation after purchase) | Onboarding has a forced account/sign-up step |
| Hard vs soft paywalls | Choosing whether users can close the paywall |
| Hard paywall only for paid traffic (gating by "How did you hear about us?") | Running Meta/TikTok ads alongside organic; attribution survey screen |
| The three-screen pre-paywall sequence (explain the free trial) | Low trial starts; designing screens before the paywall |
| Showing two paywalls in onboarding (and the 8-paywall-views rule) | Considering a second paywall; paywall-view targets |
| Paywall content — sell the outcome and add context (long paywalls) | Writing paywall content and layout |
| Paywall visuals — video, photos and social proof | Choosing video/photo/graphics, testimonials, guarantees |
| Paywall CTA and microcopy that converts | Writing the button and microcopy (iOS vs Android) |
| How many plans to show and how to display prices | How many plans; per-period price display; plan naming |
| Weekly vs monthly vs yearly plans — and which plan gets the trial | Picking weekly/monthly/yearly and which plan gets the trial |
| How long should the free trial be? | Choosing 3/7/14-day trials; RevenueCat “longer trials” data |
| Paid intro offers ($1.99 first month that renews yearly) | Monthly plan underperforms; trial activation already >10% |
| Discount offer right after a trial starts (trial-to-discount) | Low trial-to-paid; offer right after trial start |
| What to show when users close the paywall (exit offers) | What to show after the user closes the paywall; boosting reviews |
| Reverse trials — converting users who closed the paywall | Freemium app with many non-paying users |
| Pay-what-you-want discount slider | Designing a win-back / discount offer for free users |
| Subscription funnel benchmarks (trial start, trial-to-paid, install-to-paid, LTV per install) | Judging whether funnel numbers are good; readiness for paid UA |
| RevenueCat charts and features worth using | Which RevenueCat charts to check; running paywall A/B tests |
| Better Sleep onboarding and paywall teardown | Want a full real-app example (sleep/health category) |
Gaps
- Almost all evidence is one practitioner (Steve P. Young) and his clients; no controlled public studies, few failed tests reported.
- Not covered: Android/Google Play billing specifics, regional/PPP pricing, price-increase tests on existing subscribers, churn/cancellation flows and billing-retry/grace periods, win-back of lapsed subscribers, lifetime-plan economics, ads/hybrid monetization, games/IAP.
- Platform rules (Apple guidelines on hard paywalls, price prominence, forced email) are not verified here — check current App Review Guidelines.
- Web checkout / web2app paywalls are only touched on (per-day pricing); see the web2app material if it exists in this base.