App Subscriptions: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
summary
Crunch numbers and concrete pitfalls: estimates show about $60,000 over 10 years to build and update a small app, ad revenue needs huge volume, and paid-upfront sales leave future updates unfunded. Subscriptions create recurring revenue and Apple cuts to 15% after one year, but receipts, testing, offers, and refunds are painful to implement. Real-world failure rate is stark — one rollout had 5,000 tried 5 succeeded — and schools and family sharing often block subscription purchases.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (11)
- 0:00Start
- 1:20Know if Subscriptions Are Right for Your App
- 1:45Sustainability
- 2:19Costs of Development
- 4:28Free
- 8:20Subscriptions
- 10:11The Bad
- 13:21Dislike Change
- 14:35Family Sharing
- 14:51The Ugly
- 16:03How Can Customers Manage Subscriptions
related talks
45mChallenging our Assumptions to Succeed in the App Store
37mBuild a Business, Not an App
34mSide Project to $1k in Monthly Revenue and Beyond
36mMonetizing Your Side Project to $1k in Monthly Revenue
48mPricing it right: exploring tendencies in monetization
29mHow I made a $1M on the App Store before I knew how to use GitHub
51mEffective Strategies for Selling Out
49mAn Indie’s Guide to Building Profitable Apps