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mobile apps are so cool, 9-5 sucks you build, invest time and money, take risks you make $100k in monthly revenue apple takes $20k (fees + taxes) users charge back another $5k infra costs $5k you spent $40k on ads set aside another $5–10k to pay off debts split what’s left between you and other 2 co-founders pay personal taxes you made slightly more than pool cleaner in your building and your friend makes $300k a year at google without breaking a sweat yes 9-5 sucks

Unpopular opinion: an app making $10k/month with 99% margin is worse than one making $30k/month with 33% margin. Because in the second case, you’ve learned how to run paid ads and built a repeatable system. That’s much closer to a real business – one that doesn’t depend on how many TikTok videos you’ve posted in the last month.

if you see a mobile app studio or gamedev company making $30–100M ARR, i can assure you: they are profitable. yes, most of the money goes into ads yes, after 10 years it gets harder to stay profitable yes, margins go down. that's normal at scale but they are profitable, and their founders are incredibly rich i could name countless companies and apps thriving on paid ads the difference from indie and mobile apps X community is that they evolved from indie into real companies with solid processes for them, running Meta ads isn't just launching and hoping - it's structured processes, huge creative teams, analysts, data engineers, and media buyers and their payback isn't 2 years

So, it's the most complete Apple Ads guide. In the past year, I’ve spent $262,071 on Apple Ads. And here is everything I know. >>> Basic or Advanced? <<< I have no idea why Apple even launched the Basic mode. Sometimes it feels like it’s only there to steal your money. Always. Work. In. Advanced. Mode. No discussion. There are 2 stages when working with Apple Ads: - research stage - scaling stage You can skip the research stage, but only if you have a LOT of money and want to scale fast. Otherwise, don’t skip this step. >>> Research stage <<< The goal here is to identify the best-performing geos and keyword groups. At this stage, I’m actually ignoring the common “best practices” for structuring Apple Ads campaigns. I’ll explain what those are later. You should launch 2 campaigns: Tier 1: UK, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, etc. Tier 2: Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Poland, etc. Optionally, you can make a separate campaign for Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal or include these countries in the Tier 2 campaign. The key idea during the research stage is to concentrate your limited budget on as few campaigns as possible. If I had to choose, I’d start with Tier 2 only. What about Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East? I’d avoid them at first. High population, low GDP per capita, and unstable economies. In many countries, you simply won’t get the right metrics. And the few that do work will require more time and money to find solid keywords. It’s better to come back to these markets only after you’ve fully worked through the Tier 2 countries. For example, in my project I’m focusing on 5 countries with a total population of 80m. The top performers are 3 countries with a combined population of 25m. And only 35% of them have an iPhone. That’s enough for me to spend $20-25k per month. >>> Broad Match vs Exact Match <<< I start with Broad Match and split keywords by thematic groups: one thematic group = one ad group. Example for fitness: - fitness (general) - abs (subcategory) - pilates (subcategory) - nutrition (general) - calorie tracker (subcategory) You get the idea. >>> Should I use a CPA cap? <<< Cool guys use CPA goal. I’ve tried both – still don’t have a strong opinion. Both work. >>> What’s next? <<< 1/ turn off low performers (geos and keywords) 2/ move top-performing geos into separate campaigns By the end of this phase, you should have: 1 campaign = 1 geo, with only the best keyword groups. Your goal is to find countries and keywords angles with the lowest competition and highest ROAS for your app. Time to move on to scaling. >>> Scaling stage <<< Goal: scale top-performing geos. Spend more while maintaining performance. However, we need to completely restructure our campaigns from the research phase. Why? - multiple keywords per ad group = mixed traffic (good + bad) - apple doesn’t distribute impressions evenly across all keywords - you can’t control spend per keyword except by raising bids I’m doing it in two stages as well. >>> Structure for scaling <<< >>> Phase A <<< you’re starting to restructure the campaigns to the following format: 1 campaign – multiple ad groups 1 ad group = 1 exact match keyword Exact Match reduces volume, but it increases relevance and traffic quality. Your goal is to identify the best-performing keywords for your app and eliminate the non-performing ones. I measure keyword performance in two steps: 1. If I spend the first $50 and get no trials and no annual subscriptions – I stop it. 2. If I spend $100 and my CPA (cost / (trials + 1y subs)) is above $20 – I stop it. My personal goal is to keep CPA under $15. But everyone should set their own KPI based on payback targets. If a keyword passes these first KPIs, I then start tracking trial-to-paid conversion and cost of payer metrics. This stage takes more time and budget to evaluate properly. >>> What is scaling? <<< How do you know if you can get more traffic from a specific keyword? Scaling Apple Ads can be done in several ways: 1/ by increasing bids 2/ by launching new countries 3/ by finding new keywords that can bring you positive ROAS 4/ by improving ad relevance I’ve already mentioned launching new countries and keyword research. With keywords, the process is basically endless – it takes a lot of time to fully test all possible keywords in Exact Match. We'll talk about increasing relevance later. Now let’s move on to bids. >>> Bids and SoV <<< So, when should you increase bids? And how do you know when further increases won’t help? a) If there’s no delivery, raise bids b) If you’re already getting spend on a keyword, look at Impression Share This metric shows how much of the available impressions you’re actually capturing for a specific keyword. Your job now is to hit a Share of Voice (SoV) of 70–90% on your top keywords (100% is impossible). Where to check SoV? In Custom Reports. Your Plan is: 1) Identify top-performing keywords 2) Adjust bids to hit 70-90% SoV At some point, you’ll see that only a few ad groups are driving most of the spend. Others stay idle. Which brings us to… >>> Phase B <<< This phase helps with scaling and finding new high-performing keywords. We move from: 1 geo 1 campaign many ad groups 1 keyword per ad group to: 1 geo many campaigns several ad groups per campaign 1 keyword per ad group Why split into multiple campaigns? To bypass the limits Apple imposes on ad group delivery. Ways to group ad groups into separate campaigns: 1) by keyword theme (as explained earlier) 2) by keyword difficulty (based on keyword tool data) 3) by keyword popularity (from tools or Apple Ads itself) You can even go deeper: |___Geo #1 |___Theme #1 |___Difficulty 5–30 |___Difficulty 50–60 |___ Difficulty 60–100 |___Theme #2 |___Difficulty 5–30 |___Difficulty 50–60 |___Difficulty 60–100 >>> Phase C <<< Thought Phase B was complex? hold my beer. Apple doesn’t give delivery to all ad groups within a campaign. Same problem as with keywords in an ad group. So we go deeper. We take all the non-spending ad groups and move them to separate campaigns. Each campaign enters its own auction and finally gets traffic. The process: Main campaign → pull out ad groups with 0 spend → place in a new campaign → wait for traffic → repeat until every keyword gets impressions Yes, it’s exhausting. Yes, it creates campaign chaos. And yes, it’s the only way to ensure all keywords get a shot. At least, I haven’t found a better way. You should aim for the following structure: |___Geo #1 |___Campaign #1 |___adgroup |___[keyword] |___Campaign #2 |___adgroup |___[keyword] etc. >>> What is ad relevance, and how can it help you scale campaigns? <<< Ad relevance in Apple Ads is how well your ad matches the user’s search intent. The closer the match, the more Apple favors your ad in auctions – and the cheaper your traffic becomes. In Apple Ads, you can link specific keywords to custom App Store pages. You can customize screenshots and text. Example: If your fitness app includes a calorie tracker, then for keywords like “calorie counter” show a custom page where the first screenshot highlights the calorie tracker. Yes, it’s time-consuming. But for proven keywords, this can boost IPM (Installs Per Mille) and let you spend more on them. Totally worth it. >>> How to measure Apple Ads Performance? <<< There are many metrics, but only one that really matters: ROAS. Not CPC. Not CPI. Only ROAS. To track it, use an MMP: RevenueCat (yes, not an MMP, but it works), Appsflyer, Adjust, Singular, anything that lets you attribute revenue down to campaign/ad group/keyword. This is mandatory. Not optional. Other important metrics: SOV – aim for 70–90% IPM (installs per 1000 impressions) – target 100+ CR (Tap) – 60–90%+ >>> Tools for Apple Ads automation <<< They exist. That’s all I’ll say for now. What annoys me in most of them? Their pricing model. % of ad spend. Seriously? Back when I was a marketing director, I would’ve loved to get paid % of budget. I’d never have left the job. Anyway – no solid recs yet. Open to suggestions. >>> P. S. <<< That’s everything I know for now. Again – just my personal approach. Might change later. Will keep you posted. And hey, repay me with a repost, like, and follow, deal?

How to launch a mobile app in 2025 and scale it to $20k MRR in 21 steps Everything I’ve learned about launching and scaling mobile apps. If you’re building an app in 2025 – save this. You’ll come back to it. 1. Start with a financial model. Not what you expected from a marketing plan? Still, it's the foundation. You need to know the key metrics (CPI, ARPU, retention) that will help you break even and scale profitably. 2. Research your competitors. You'll need this at every step – from ASO to creatives for Meta Ads. Don't skip this. 3. Do ASO. It's almost free (just the tools). Done correctly, it will generate long-term, organic traffic. Even if you're betting on paid, ASO remains a solid foundation. 4. Set up tracking. You must track installs and attribute revenue. If you're running multiple paid channels, use an MMP like Appsflyer, Adjust, or Singular. No tracking = no understanding of what sources perform well. Additionally, set up Firebase, Facebook Pixel, and TikTok SDK. 5. Collect Apple Search Ads keywords. Reuse the ones from ASO. It's the same research. 6. Prepare ad creatives. Use Meta Ads Library and TikTok Ads Library. Study what your top competitors are running. Which ads are live the longest? Which ones grab your attention? Download them, swap out logos and screenshots with your own. 7. Launch Google Ads. It can be your top-performing source. You control very little: just GEOs and creative sets. Launch worldwide campaigns – group countries by tiers. Exclude Africa and low-income Asian markets. Don't overfocus on the US. 8. Launch Meta Ads. Easy to scale. Creatives matter most here. Optimize for conversions like trial and annual subscriptions, not just installs. CPI campaigns are mostly for warming up accounts and testing creatives. Use the same principles as Google Ads: launch worldwide campaigns, group countries into tiers, avoid focusing on the US, and exclude the largest and poorest countries. 9. Launch TikTok Ads. Start with the creatives that worked on Meta. Often, they'll perform here too. The same rules apply. 10. Launch Apple Search Ads. Highly targeted traffic. Don't start with the US. Combine geos to save money during early testing. 11. Set up Custom Product Pages. Boosts relevance and conversions in Search Ads and helps with organic keyword ranking. 12. Make original creatives. Once your paid ads are live, stop relying on copied creatives. Hire a video editor and start making your own. 13. Run influencer campaigns. This source is expensive and complex to scale. Only worth it if your app is viral by design. Hire someone or work with a small agency. 14. Build your TikTok organically. Hire creators to run your TikTok accounts. Or do it yourself: record videos or create slideshows. But it's better to outsource this. 15. Add a referral program. Often, a very effective way to acquire users if you can deliver real value. 16. Use Web to App flows. Better tracking. Often cheaper auctions. You also avoid store commissions. It's a must in fitness apps, but it also works in other niches. 17. Invest in blogs, reviews, and long-form content. LLMs (like ChatGPT) now influence app discovery. Having content out there helps your app get recommended. 18. Measure everything by ROAS. If a channel brings profit, scale it. Net profit matters, not just margin %. 19. Reallocate the budget to higher-ROAS sources. Continually optimize for the best return. That's how you scale efficiently. 20. Organic growth is great but slow. Paid traffic is what brings revenue fast. Use it to iterate quickly and learn what works. 21. No budget for paid traffic? Start with ASO and organic growth. Reinvest early revenue into ad tests. If your unit economics are positive, double down. Use debt to grow faster, not just profits.

Solo builders ngmi. The biggest mistake every solo builder makes is trying to build products alone. And I’m not just talking about co-founders. No – hire agencies, freelancers, even full-time employees. One person can cover everything, but only mediocrely. So don’t be surprised when the results turn out mediocre too. You have to delegate the areas you don’t fully understand. But you also have to delegate your core areas. Because there will always be someone who outperforms you

day 51 of growing a startup from $650k to $1m arr “it would’ve been better if you sold your app” and a year later I have a business that grew 50% y/y and is almost back to its all-time high but ofc it would’ve been better if I had sold it... for the person who would’ve bought it lol only with age you start to understand the phrase: “you overestimate what you can do in a week and underestimate what you can achieve in a few years”

Serious question I will be launching a consumer app I don't want to name either the niche or the project for now Should I journal the process of marketing and results here? Will it be interesting to follow?

Unpopular opinion: If you haven’t tried Sora, you haven’t missed anything. There’s this FOMO that it’s a game changer. Let me tell you - nothing that lasts two days or a week is ever a game changer. Consistency is a game changer. Focusing on one niche for 10 years is a game changer. Becoming obsessed with one marketing channel is a game changer. Not quitting your product after 3 months, a year, or 3 years - that’s a game changer. A few early adopters of new technology trends make the most money… for a very short time. And most people aren’t fast or smart enough - that’s probably you. Big money comes to those who add new tech to what they’re already doing, not to those chasing every new trend.

If you’re launching a mobile app, remember these numbers. First, bookmark this post. CR from install to trial: 7–12% CR from trial to paid: 25–40% CR from install to annual sub from the paywall: 0.5–1% 70–90% of all subscriptions happen on the first paywall right after onboarding Week 1 retention (for weekly subs): 65-75% Year 1 retention (for annual subs): 35-45% Chargeback rate: 1–3% 1 year ARPPU: $50–70 Meta Ads has higher metrics than organic or ASA. Ok, now you can predict your performance marketing. Good luck.

Hot take: you don’t need to hire UGC creators to launch Meta ads. You need to track your competitors on TikTok, take their best viral videos, and launch your Meta ads. One of the main players in GPT wrappers field - Nova - uses this strategy. They take viral hooks from organic TikTok and adapt them for Meta ads. They’re doing great, making $1M a month purely from paid ads

And that’s not the case. As much as you might want to believe in those wonderful organic stories, the majority of mmr is generated through Meta Ads. The secret lies in 1,500 tested creatives and 150 active ones, not in a handful of TikTok accounts.

How I scale Apple Ads, part 1 Ask anyone who is working with Apple Ads – it's really hard to get impressions for all your keywords. Here's the classic campaign structure Apple managers usually recommend: - generic (broad thematic keywords, exact match) - brand (brand keywords, exact match) - competitors (competitor brand keywords, exact match) - discovery (broad thematic keywords, broad match) I have no issues with this structure, except that the generic campaign often fills up with tons of keywords that never get any impressions. Then there are Apple Ads' own recommended keywords and the keywords i found through discovery. Where do those go? Yes, i create two additional campaigns for each GEO: - proxy, where I place keywords found through discovery - reco, where I place keywords recommended by apple ads and on top of that, for every geo i add one more campaign: - top campaign, where I move the keywords with the best ROAS Why? - to easily track the top-performing keywords - to let other keywords in the original campaigns get a chance to spend - to exclude these campaigns from automated rules: giving me more flexibility to manage their performance manually As a result, for each country, I end up with 7 campaigns: generic, brand, competitors, reco, proxy, top, and discovery. This initial structure helps me increase my spend

i'm still experimenting with tiktok organic one of the videos got 1.3 mln views the servers barely handled the massive influx of 50 people, and I’m still in shock from the mind-blowing 0 sales i'm still experimenting with tiktok organic

While some refuse to support the Android version (myself included), Monopoly Go makes $55M per month just on Android. That’s 42% of their revenue. Imagine if they had decided not to support the platform just because «iOS makes more money»…

You can definitely scale Apple Ads to tens or even hundreds of thousands in monthly spend. It all depends on your target ROAS, niche capacity, product page conversion rate, number of discovered keywords, how well your onboarding and paywall convert, your LTV, and so on. Another important aspect of Apple Ads is that your organic traffic begins to grow After my last scale-up, I saw an increase in install volumes from countries where I don’t even run ads. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but it’s not the first time it’s happened. And even if some campaigns don’t perform that well, overall I’m still seeing solid profitability

Unpopular opinion: an app making $10k/month with 99% margin is worse than one making $30k/month with 33% margin. Because in the second case, you’ve learned how to run paid ads and built a repeatable system. That’s much closer to a real business – one that doesn’t depend on how many TikTok videos you’ve posted in the last month.

mobile apps are so cool, 9-5 sucks you build, invest time and money, take risks you make $100k in monthly revenue apple takes $20k (fees + taxes) users charge back another $5k infra costs $5k you spent $40k on ads set aside another $5–10k to pay off debts split what’s left between you and other 2 co-founders pay personal taxes you made slightly more than pool cleaner in your building and your friend makes $300k a year at google without breaking a sweat yes 9-5 sucks

So, it's the most complete Apple Ads guide. In the past year, I’ve spent $262,071 on Apple Ads. And here is everything I know. >>> Basic or Advanced? <<< I have no idea why Apple even launched the Basic mode. Sometimes it feels like it’s only there to steal your money. Always. Work. In. Advanced. Mode. No discussion. There are 2 stages when working with Apple Ads: - research stage - scaling stage You can skip the research stage, but only if you have a LOT of money and want to scale fast. Otherwise, don’t skip this step. >>> Research stage <<< The goal here is to identify the best-performing geos and keyword groups. At this stage, I’m actually ignoring the common “best practices” for structuring Apple Ads campaigns. I’ll explain what those are later. You should launch 2 campaigns: Tier 1: UK, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, etc. Tier 2: Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Poland, etc. Optionally, you can make a separate campaign for Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal or include these countries in the Tier 2 campaign. The key idea during the research stage is to concentrate your limited budget on as few campaigns as possible. If I had to choose, I’d start with Tier 2 only. What about Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East? I’d avoid them at first. High population, low GDP per capita, and unstable economies. In many countries, you simply won’t get the right metrics. And the few that do work will require more time and money to find solid keywords. It’s better to come back to these markets only after you’ve fully worked through the Tier 2 countries. For example, in my project I’m focusing on 5 countries with a total population of 80m. The top performers are 3 countries with a combined population of 25m. And only 35% of them have an iPhone. That’s enough for me to spend $20-25k per month. >>> Broad Match vs Exact Match <<< I start with Broad Match and split keywords by thematic groups: one thematic group = one ad group. Example for fitness: - fitness (general) - abs (subcategory) - pilates (subcategory) - nutrition (general) - calorie tracker (subcategory) You get the idea. >>> Should I use a CPA cap? <<< Cool guys use CPA goal. I’ve tried both – still don’t have a strong opinion. Both work. >>> What’s next? <<< 1/ turn off low performers (geos and keywords) 2/ move top-performing geos into separate campaigns By the end of this phase, you should have: 1 campaign = 1 geo, with only the best keyword groups. Your goal is to find countries and keywords angles with the lowest competition and highest ROAS for your app. Time to move on to scaling. >>> Scaling stage <<< Goal: scale top-performing geos. Spend more while maintaining performance. However, we need to completely restructure our campaigns from the research phase. Why? - multiple keywords per ad group = mixed traffic (good + bad) - apple doesn’t distribute impressions evenly across all keywords - you can’t control spend per keyword except by raising bids I’m doing it in two stages as well. >>> Structure for scaling <<< >>> Phase A <<< you’re starting to restructure the campaigns to the following format: 1 campaign – multiple ad groups 1 ad group = 1 exact match keyword Exact Match reduces volume, but it increases relevance and traffic quality. Your goal is to identify the best-performing keywords for your app and eliminate the non-performing ones. I measure keyword performance in two steps: 1. If I spend the first $50 and get no trials and no annual subscriptions – I stop it. 2. If I spend $100 and my CPA (cost / (trials + 1y subs)) is above $20 – I stop it. My personal goal is to keep CPA under $15. But everyone should set their own KPI based on payback targets. If a keyword passes these first KPIs, I then start tracking trial-to-paid conversion and cost of payer metrics. This stage takes more time and budget to evaluate properly. >>> What is scaling? <<< How do you know if you can get more traffic from a specific keyword? Scaling Apple Ads can be done in several ways: 1/ by increasing bids 2/ by launching new countries 3/ by finding new keywords that can bring you positive ROAS 4/ by improving ad relevance I’ve already mentioned launching new countries and keyword research. With keywords, the process is basically endless – it takes a lot of time to fully test all possible keywords in Exact Match. We'll talk about increasing relevance later. Now let’s move on to bids. >>> Bids and SoV <<< So, when should you increase bids? And how do you know when further increases won’t help? a) If there’s no delivery, raise bids b) If you’re already getting spend on a keyword, look at Impression Share This metric shows how much of the available impressions you’re actually capturing for a specific keyword. Your job now is to hit a Share of Voice (SoV) of 70–90% on your top keywords (100% is impossible). Where to check SoV? In Custom Reports. Your Plan is: 1) Identify top-performing keywords 2) Adjust bids to hit 70-90% SoV At some point, you’ll see that only a few ad groups are driving most of the spend. Others stay idle. Which brings us to… >>> Phase B <<< This phase helps with scaling and finding new high-performing keywords. We move from: 1 geo 1 campaign many ad groups 1 keyword per ad group to: 1 geo many campaigns several ad groups per campaign 1 keyword per ad group Why split into multiple campaigns? To bypass the limits Apple imposes on ad group delivery. Ways to group ad groups into separate campaigns: 1) by keyword theme (as explained earlier) 2) by keyword difficulty (based on keyword tool data) 3) by keyword popularity (from tools or Apple Ads itself) You can even go deeper: |___Geo #1 |___Theme #1 |___Difficulty 5–30 |___Difficulty 50–60 |___ Difficulty 60–100 |___Theme #2 |___Difficulty 5–30 |___Difficulty 50–60 |___Difficulty 60–100 >>> Phase C <<< Thought Phase B was complex? hold my beer. Apple doesn’t give delivery to all ad groups within a campaign. Same problem as with keywords in an ad group. So we go deeper. We take all the non-spending ad groups and move them to separate campaigns. Each campaign enters its own auction and finally gets traffic. The process: Main campaign → pull out ad groups with 0 spend → place in a new campaign → wait for traffic → repeat until every keyword gets impressions Yes, it’s exhausting. Yes, it creates campaign chaos. And yes, it’s the only way to ensure all keywords get a shot. At least, I haven’t found a better way. You should aim for the following structure: |___Geo #1 |___Campaign #1 |___adgroup |___[keyword] |___Campaign #2 |___adgroup |___[keyword] etc. >>> What is ad relevance, and how can it help you scale campaigns? <<< Ad relevance in Apple Ads is how well your ad matches the user’s search intent. The closer the match, the more Apple favors your ad in auctions – and the cheaper your traffic becomes. In Apple Ads, you can link specific keywords to custom App Store pages. You can customize screenshots and text. Example: If your fitness app includes a calorie tracker, then for keywords like “calorie counter” show a custom page where the first screenshot highlights the calorie tracker. Yes, it’s time-consuming. But for proven keywords, this can boost IPM (Installs Per Mille) and let you spend more on them. Totally worth it. >>> How to measure Apple Ads Performance? <<< There are many metrics, but only one that really matters: ROAS. Not CPC. Not CPI. Only ROAS. To track it, use an MMP: RevenueCat (yes, not an MMP, but it works), Appsflyer, Adjust, Singular, anything that lets you attribute revenue down to campaign/ad group/keyword. This is mandatory. Not optional. Other important metrics: SOV – aim for 70–90% IPM (installs per 1000 impressions) – target 100+ CR (Tap) – 60–90%+ >>> Tools for Apple Ads automation <<< They exist. That’s all I’ll say for now. What annoys me in most of them? Their pricing model. % of ad spend. Seriously? Back when I was a marketing director, I would’ve loved to get paid % of budget. I’d never have left the job. Anyway – no solid recs yet. Open to suggestions. >>> P. S. <<< That’s everything I know for now. Again – just my personal approach. Might change later. Will keep you posted. And hey, repay me with a repost, like, and follow, deal?

i’ve almost finished a guide on apple ads based on my experience – it’s over 1000 words what’s better: 1/ one long post 2/ a thread 2/ several separate posts what's easier to read?

Serious question I will be launching a consumer app I don't want to name either the niche or the project for now Should I journal the process of marketing and results here? Will it be interesting to follow?

i'm still experimenting with tiktok organic one of the videos got 1.3 mln views the servers barely handled the massive influx of 50 people, and I’m still in shock from the mind-blowing 0 sales i'm still experimenting with tiktok organic

When I see that someone on X is constantly trying to remind people that their consumer app earns 10-20-30-50+ thousand a month, I have doubts. Why work so hard to tell everyone about it?

Our hard paywall showed worse results than soft paywall. We once ran an experiment: delayed the ability to close the paywall by 15 seconds - basically a hard paywall. Revenue went down. Hard paywalls work well if your product is low quality. But if a big share of subscriptions comes not only from the first paywall, but also from the “freemium” version, then a hard paywall can be harmful. Another downside of a hard paywall is likely lower organic traffic. Right now a large share of my installs come from ASO organic. There’s an opinion that a soft paywall helps with that.

I have to confess. Broad keyword campaigns in Apple Ads are the most profitable for me. On the screenshot - two campaigns, the same geo: - broad match keywords - exact match keywords And I've had quite a lot of profitable broad match campaigns like this

hey everyone, i've been busy

How to launch a mobile app in 2025 and scale it to $20k MRR in 21 steps Everything I’ve learned about launching and scaling mobile apps. If you’re building an app in 2025 – save this. You’ll come back to it. 1. Start with a financial model. Not what you expected from a marketing plan? Still, it's the foundation. You need to know the key metrics (CPI, ARPU, retention) that will help you break even and scale profitably. 2. Research your competitors. You'll need this at every step – from ASO to creatives for Meta Ads. Don't skip this. 3. Do ASO. It's almost free (just the tools). Done correctly, it will generate long-term, organic traffic. Even if you're betting on paid, ASO remains a solid foundation. 4. Set up tracking. You must track installs and attribute revenue. If you're running multiple paid channels, use an MMP like Appsflyer, Adjust, or Singular. No tracking = no understanding of what sources perform well. Additionally, set up Firebase, Facebook Pixel, and TikTok SDK. 5. Collect Apple Search Ads keywords. Reuse the ones from ASO. It's the same research. 6. Prepare ad creatives. Use Meta Ads Library and TikTok Ads Library. Study what your top competitors are running. Which ads are live the longest? Which ones grab your attention? Download them, swap out logos and screenshots with your own. 7. Launch Google Ads. It can be your top-performing source. You control very little: just GEOs and creative sets. Launch worldwide campaigns – group countries by tiers. Exclude Africa and low-income Asian markets. Don't overfocus on the US. 8. Launch Meta Ads. Easy to scale. Creatives matter most here. Optimize for conversions like trial and annual subscriptions, not just installs. CPI campaigns are mostly for warming up accounts and testing creatives. Use the same principles as Google Ads: launch worldwide campaigns, group countries into tiers, avoid focusing on the US, and exclude the largest and poorest countries. 9. Launch TikTok Ads. Start with the creatives that worked on Meta. Often, they'll perform here too. The same rules apply. 10. Launch Apple Search Ads. Highly targeted traffic. Don't start with the US. Combine geos to save money during early testing. 11. Set up Custom Product Pages. Boosts relevance and conversions in Search Ads and helps with organic keyword ranking. 12. Make original creatives. Once your paid ads are live, stop relying on copied creatives. Hire a video editor and start making your own. 13. Run influencer campaigns. This source is expensive and complex to scale. Only worth it if your app is viral by design. Hire someone or work with a small agency. 14. Build your TikTok organically. Hire creators to run your TikTok accounts. Or do it yourself: record videos or create slideshows. But it's better to outsource this. 15. Add a referral program. Often, a very effective way to acquire users if you can deliver real value. 16. Use Web to App flows. Better tracking. Often cheaper auctions. You also avoid store commissions. It's a must in fitness apps, but it also works in other niches. 17. Invest in blogs, reviews, and long-form content. LLMs (like ChatGPT) now influence app discovery. Having content out there helps your app get recommended. 18. Measure everything by ROAS. If a channel brings profit, scale it. Net profit matters, not just margin %. 19. Reallocate the budget to higher-ROAS sources. Continually optimize for the best return. That's how you scale efficiently. 20. Organic growth is great but slow. Paid traffic is what brings revenue fast. Use it to iterate quickly and learn what works. 21. No budget for paid traffic? Start with ASO and organic growth. Reinvest early revenue into ad tests. If your unit economics are positive, double down. Use debt to grow faster, not just profits.

any ASO pros here? can someone tell me: do keywords from one GEO affect rankings for the same keyword in another GEO? I’ve noticed more than once that when I add a keyword in, say, Germany, my app suddenly starts ranking for that same keyword somewhere like Brazil. bug or feature?

Can Meta ban your ad account if you use ad creatives of your competitors? No. 1) First, the competitor whose creative you copied has to notice it. Only this step may take weeks and months 2) Then they file a complaint 3) Then Meta gives you a warning and stops the creative from running 4) After that I usually either switch to another competitor’s creative or start producing my own Once I spent $300k on a competitor's creative, it was that good. I only turned it off when it stopped performing.

Broad match keywords are a key part of my Apple Ads strategy For a long time, I ran just a few broad match campaigns. I didn't worry about performance much (because it was great), I only optimized the geos I worked with But there are some problems with these campaigns: - they're not very stable (in quality and spend) - hard to scale, even though they were very profitable - spends dropped over time because of competition - worked only in specific geos - i doubt this strategy works in every niche In an ideal world, I'd simply launch a broad match campaign, set a budget, and let it run - as in google ads. But it doesn't work that way (btw in google ads - too) Still, broad match (or discovery) campaigns are important for me because: - they're often profitable on their own - they let me get traffic from low-volume keywords - they help me find new keywords, which I then move into exact match campaigns. My pipeline looks like this: 1) create a GEO_discovery campaign 2) add popular keywords 3) add these exact keywords as negatives when you get statistics: 4) add unprofitable search terms as negatives keywords 5) move profitable search terms as exact match keywords to a main campaign, and also add them as negatives in the discovery campaign This way, I get traffic from many low-volume keywords and keep finding new profitable ones

right or left? getting ready for Black Friday, what else should I add to the paywall?

How We Achieved Our First $100,000 Per Month in Revenue. Part 2 At first, I just used creatives from competitors. Sometimes I swapped out packshots. Sometimes… I didn’t even bother. I tested different GEOs and tiers. When I found a performing GEO, I moved it to a separate campaign and excluded countries that showed below-average results from the ad set. That went on for about a month. The creatives were working, but they were just okay: average ROAS, average spend volume. It is difficult to scale and maintain profitability when your performance is only average. It’s hard to describe what a great creative feels like. But when it hits – you know. I know a gaming company that scaled its performance marketing from $1 million per month to $30 million per month, simply by finding a new creative angle. You can read all the Meta Ads playbooks you want, but nothing matters more than the creative. Eventually, we found the one, also from a competitor. At first, we barely noticed – just slightly better numbers. Then we made our version. The next day, the cost per event dropped three times. I scaled from $500/day to $ 3,500/day in just a few days. If you ever find a breakthrough, creative – trust me, you will know.