Subscriptions
41 post(s)
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Google Play Terms update (effective July 29, 2026): background data language + subscription charge window
Google’s updated Play Terms (July 29, 2026 version) tightens the language around background data usage and clarifies a 48-hour subscription charge window. It’s not a growth ‘feature’, but it can drive support tickets and renewal expectation mismatches.
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App Store Marketing Weekly – Week 31 (2026)
This week’s theme: stop treating ‘trust surfaces’ as soft metrics. Ratings, purchase flows, and attribution plumbing decide whether your growth work compounds or leaks.
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App Store Connect (July 15, 2026): submit IAPs and subscriptions directly with Add for Review
Apple updated the submission flow for In-App Purchases and subscriptions. You can now submit IAPs, subscriptions, subscription groups, and non-renewing subscriptions directly from the In-App Purchases and Subscriptions sections using Add for Review.
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App Store Connect (July 2026): ‘Add for Review’ for IAPs and subscriptions got simpler
Apple updated App Store Connect’s submission flow so In-App Purchases and subscription items can be submitted directly from their own sections using ‘Add for Review’. It’s not a marketing headline, but it removes a common launch footgun and makes revenue plumbing more testable.
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Google Play Terms: subscriptions can be charged 48 hours early (and Google finally spells out background data)
Android Authority highlights Google Play’s updated Terms of Service (effective July 29, 2026), including a new ‘System Services’ section, clearer background mobile data language, and a change that allows subscription renewals to be charged up to 48 hours before the next billing period.
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Win-back campaigns, but on the web: a practical way to recover churned subscribers (RevenueCat)
RevenueCat’s new win-back campaigns trigger an email when access actually expires (not at cancellation), then route re-subscription to a web checkout so you can discount aggressively without handing 15%–30% to the stores.
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Braze: WWDC 2026 makes ‘app opens’ a worse engagement metric
If users can complete high-value actions via Siri/App Intents, or get price alerts via Safari, your lifecycle program needs to optimise for outcomes (and instrumentation), not sessions.
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RevenueCat’s Android Codegen plugin turns dashboard strings into compile-time safe entitlements and offerings
RevenueCat ships a Codegen Gradle plugin that fetches your project schema at build time and generates Kotlin accessors for entitlements, offerings, and packages. Fewer runtime nulls, more autocomplete, and less drift between dashboard config and app code.
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Apple expands App Store capabilities (Creative Assets, subscription upgrades, and faster submissions): what app teams should do next
Apple’s June 8 Newsroom update rounds up 2026 App Store changes like Creative Assets in the product page header and search results, new subscription features, and a tighter submission workflow. The practical lesson: creative ops and experimentation are moving into App Store Connect.
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Apple says the App Store is getting new marketing surfaces: Creative Assets, discovery updates, and more subscription levers
Apple’s June 2026 Newsroom post outlines new App Store marketing surfaces (Creative Assets in product page headers and search results), subscription flexibility, and workflow tweaks in App Store Connect. Treat it as a new creative + measurement problem, not just a shiny UI update.
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Apple’s June 2026 App Store updates: Creative Assets, better previews, and more ‘compliance UI’
Apple is pushing App Store pages toward reusable Creative Assets and better previews, while quietly turning age ratings and Time Allowances into real product requirements you need to ship against.
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RevenueCat: 20% of churned users come back, but only if you’re set up to catch them
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s May 28, 2026 post on reactivation: why ‘win-back’ only works when the user’s problem returns, what reactivation rates look like by subscription length, category, and price point, and the foundation checks to run before you build a churned-user pipeline.
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RevenueCat Sub Club: 68% trial conversion came from trust, not paywall tweaks (Natal App)
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s Sub Club write-up (May 27, 2026) on Natal App: how answering every message for years built enough trust that users convert without needing a ‘test drive’, and why HSA/FSA payments are an underused growth lever for health apps.
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RevenueCat AI Toolkit: putting subscriptions setup inside coding agents
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s launch of the AI Toolkit (May 22, 2026), a plugin + skills bundle that brings RevenueCat setup, SDK integration, and paywall troubleshooting into tools like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and VS Code.
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The post-purchase screen: the fastest place to fight Day 0 trial cancellations
RevenueCat argues that many ‘trial churn’ problems are really ‘post-purchase’ problems. A simple confirmation, reassurance, and one clear next step can stop users from cancelling before they even experience value.
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Apple’s monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment: a pricing lever, not a miracle
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s take on Apple’s new 12‑month commitment billing plan: where it helps (localization, annual-value buyers with upfront friction) and what to watch (cannibalization, support, payment failures).
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Apple: Monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment
Apple is adding a new subscription billing option: monthly payments with a 12-month commitment. It’s designed to lower the upfront price while keeping a ‘commitment’ frame, and it changes how you should message cancellation, renewal reminders, and value delivery in the first month.
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App Monetization Seoul recap: the ‘two levers’ mental model for ads, plus what subscription data actually says
A short event recap from RevenueCat. The sharp takeaway: ad monetization is a balancing act between eCPM and impressions, and subscription folklore is best replaced with benchmark reality.
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FunnelFox: in the EU, Apple fees are now a configuration problem (not a single commission rate)
A credited summary of FunnelFox’s April 2026 breakdown of Apple’s post-DMA EU fee stack: why ‘external payments’ don’t equal ‘no Apple tax’, and what changes for forecasting, attribution, and experimentation when monetization becomes region-fragmented.
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RevenueCat: Google Play involuntary churn is a recoverable revenue leak (configure grace periods, holds, and in-app messages)
RevenueCat argues a large share of Google Play cancellations are payment failures, not user intent, and outlines a high-ROI recovery playbook using grace periods, account holds, and the In-App Messaging API.
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App Store Connect Analytics adds subscription + IAP metrics: cohorts, benchmarks, and new exportable reports
A credited summary of Apple’s March 25, 2026 update: App Store Connect Analytics now includes monetization and subscription metrics, cohort analysis, peer benchmarks, and two new subscription reports via the Analytics Reports API.
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Apple: App Store Connect Analytics adds IAP + subscription metrics (cohorts, benchmarks, exports)
Apple refreshed App Store Connect Analytics with 100+ new monetization metrics, cohort analysis, peer benchmarks, and new exportable subscription reports.
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RevenueCat: Android subscription conversion is mostly a ‘trial start’ problem, not a ‘trial to paid’ problem
RevenueCat’s dataset suggests Android and iOS trial-to-paid conversion is basically identical. The gap is that far fewer Android users ever start a trial. Fix the first-session funnel entrance and Play offer configuration before you touch trial length.
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RevenueCat: free trial length is a product decision, not a 7-day default
RevenueCat argues trial length should follow time-to-value and confidence-building, not a one-size-fits-all 7-day habit, and shares data patterns by category and price point.
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RevenueCat’s 2026 subscription benchmarks: Day 0 churn, hard paywalls, and the missing ‘middle class’
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s 2026 subscription trends: growth is polarizing, most trial cancels happen on day 0, longer trials can convert better, and Android ‘billing leak’ is still a major hidden revenue driver.
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Adapty’s monetization data for 2026: why weekly plans (and onboarding paywalls) are eating everything
A credited summary of Adapty’s 2026 monetization write-up: weekly plans now dominate subscription revenue, Day 0 LTV is a trap metric, and most paywall wins come from experimentation plus localization, not ‘one perfect price’.
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RevenueCat: Appstack integration closes the loop from attribution to subscription revenue
If your MMP stops at installs, you end up optimizing spend for clicks, not LTV. RevenueCat’s Appstack integration maps attribution data into paywall targeting, and can forward subscription lifecycle events back to Appstack.
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RevenueCat: Exit Offers in paywalls can lift conversion, but iOS App Review is a real risk
Exit offers (a discounted or alternative plan shown when a user dismisses a paywall) are effective, but Apple may flag them as ‘manipulative’ under Guideline 5.6.
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Adapty’s State of In‑App Subscriptions 2026: the benchmarks worth stealing
A credited summary of Adapty’s subscription benchmarks across pricing, conversion, retention, and paywalls, based on 16,000 apps and $3B in revenue.
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RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps 2026: the middle is shrinking, and paywalls still win conversion
Across 115k+ apps and $16B in revenue, RevenueCat sees a widening gap: leaders are compounding fast while mid-tier subscription apps are stuck in low single-digit growth.
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Google Play’s ‘choice and openness’ update: billing options, Registered App Stores, and new fee structure
A credited summary of Google’s March 4, 2026 announcement: expanded billing choice, a new Registered App Stores program to streamline sideload installs, and a new model that separates billing fees from service fees with phased rollout timelines.
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RevenueCat: an Android Studio AI agent for paywalls, offerings, and revenue debugging (why it matters)
RevenueCat’s IntelliJ/Android Studio plugin now includes an AI agent that can create offerings, generate paywalls, stage code edits, and surface revenue charts without leaving the IDE.
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App Store Connect Analytics got better in 2026, but it still won’t answer your monetization ‘why’
A credited summary of FunnelFox’s breakdown of what App Store analytics is good for (visibility, installs, high-level subs) versus what remains structurally hidden post-ATT: attribution, creative-level revenue, and the steps between install and subscription.
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Cross-platform subscriptions: how to share entitlements between iOS and Android (without lying to users)
RevenueCat breaks down why ‘one user, two billing systems’ is so messy, and what a sane entitlement sync architecture looks like.
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Subscription growth in 2026: why install-level attribution is lying to you
Airbridge argues that subscription + AI apps should optimize channels by retention and LTV, not installs or trials, and explains where platform dashboards mislead post-ATT/SKAN.
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RevenueCat: how to run a custom paywall UI alongside RevenueCat Paywalls (without splitting purchase logic)
RevenueCat explains a hybrid approach: keep entitlements + purchases centralized in the SDK, while swapping between a fully custom paywall and RevenueCat Paywalls using placements and offering metadata.
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Apple is rejecting ‘trial toggle’ paywalls. Here’s what to build instead
RevenueCat documents a quiet App Review shift: paywalls that let users toggle a free trial on/off are getting rejected. Here’s why it happens, what patterns seem safer, and the quick fixes to ship this week.
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RevenueCat: Apple is rejecting ‘toggle paywalls’ (trial on/off switches) under 3.1.2
The trial-toggle pattern is being rejected as ‘confusing’ under App Review Guideline 3.1.2. If you used it, move to explicit plan selection (trial is a plan attribute), not a hidden mechanic.
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Activation metrics that actually predict retention (subscription apps)
A credited summary of RevenueCat’s framework for defining activation around ‘first value’ and ‘core value’, and testing whether an action predicts retention (instead of just looking good in onboarding dashboards).
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Apple’s Retention Messaging API: a new ‘save’ moment for subscription cancellations
Apple’s Retention Messaging API lets you show a message, offer, or lower tier right inside iOS subscription settings when a user tries to cancel. Here’s what it is, how it works, and the practical guardrails.
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Offer codes will replace In-App Purchase promo codes in App Store Connect (cutoff: March 26, 2026)
Apple says you won’t be able to create new In-App Purchase promo codes from March 26, 2026, and should move to offer codes instead. Here’s what’s changing and the practical store-ops checklist.