June 2025 Summaries

In June 2025, Apple implemented significant changes to its EU App Store policies, merging non-IAP options like link-outs, web-views, and alternative payment processing into a "communication & promotion of offers" entitlement, which requires the removal of in-app purchases. A new fee structure was introduced, comprising a 2% initial acquisition fee, a 5-13% Store Services fee, and a 5% Core Technology Commission (CTC), set to replace the Core Technology Fee (CTF) by January 2026. Developers can opt out of tier-2 App Store Services, reducing fees but losing features like automatic updates, app discovery, and analytics. For Small Business Program participants, sticking with in-app purchases is economically preferable due to lower fees, whereas larger apps might benefit from exploring non-IAP options with reduced fees, albeit with potential conversion rate challenges. Additionally, changes in app purchasing UX, such as a less intimidating "scare sheet" and updated rules for installing apps from the web, have been made, although widespread adoption of alternative marketplaces remains unlikely.

Mobile app developers often use ads and subscriptions as monetization strategies, where ads can disrupt user experience, creating a market for premium ad-free subscriptions. This detailed tutorial guides users through implementing an ad-free subscription model in a React Native app using RevenueCat, a third-party service for managing in-app purchases. The process involves integrating react-native-purchases and react-native-google-mobile-ads into the app, setting up a subscription product across iOS and Android platforms with RevenueCat, and configuring the app to either display ads or provide an ad-free experience based on user entitlements. The tutorial includes steps for cloning a sample project using Expo, configuring necessary accounts like Google AdMob for ads, and implementing code to manage subscriptions, including a custom hook to check subscription status and functionality for purchasing subscriptions. It emphasizes testing on real devices for accuracy and concludes by suggesting additional features like restoring purchases for a comprehensive in-app purchase implementation.

Paywalls V2 enables the creation of user-friendly, sophisticated paywalls inspired by Blinkist's timeline-style approach, which focuses on reducing fear and building trust through clear communication. Unlike traditional paywalls that emphasize features, the Blinkist-style paywall provides a timeline outlining what happens post-subscription, including a free trial period, reminders before the trial ends, and a clear trial end date, thus improving opt-in rates and reducing billing confusion. The guide details how to recreate this paywall logic using RevenueCat Webhooks and Zapier, allowing non-developers to automate communications like trial-end reminders without backend coding. The process involves setting up webhooks to capture subscription events, using Zapier for automation, and sending reminder emails or push notifications to enhance transparency and conversion rates. Additionally, it suggests further improvements such as filtering for specific users, A/B testing different communication strategies, and personalizing messages based on user attributes to optimize engagement and conversion.

Ad fatigue in 2025 presents a complex challenge, especially for mobile subscription apps, as traditional indicators like declining click-through rates (CTR) and rising ad frequency only capture part of the issue. Detecting and combating ad fatigue involves analyzing cross-channel performance, utilizing saturation curves, and leveraging advanced techniques like SKAdNetwork (SKAN) capabilities and app onboarding flow insights. By monitoring blended return on ad spend (ROAS), subscription rates, and using proxies such as Custom Product Page (CPP) metrics and App Store referrer data, marketers can better predict when ads lose impact and take preemptive action. The article underscores the importance of early detection and strategic refreshment of ad creatives to prevent revenue loss and maintain effective user acquisition, with a particular focus on integrating multiple data sources and methodologies to enhance ad performance evaluation.

RevenueCat has introduced a revamped dashboard navigation featuring a vertical layout aimed at improving user experience by offering a cleaner, more scalable design that supports team workflows across multiple products and platforms. This update elevates Projects to a top-level view, enhances the consistency and accessibility of tools such as Paywalls and the Customer center, and integrates features like Charts and Customers within individual projects for better contextual relevance. Users can now navigate more efficiently with fewer clicks, thanks to project pills and a sidebar project selector, while the new Platforms section replaces the old "Apps" landing page for managing integrations and API keys. The overhaul is designed to address feedback about the previous navigation's limitations and to accommodate future growth, though users have the option to revert to the old navigation for a limited time while providing ongoing feedback for further improvements.

This summer, a series of pop-up events at legendary venues will provide opportunities for AI-assisted app developers to network, work, and compete for significant prizes. Starting in New York City at Grand Central's Catfe on June 27-28, participants can enjoy free desk slots, blazing WiFi, and expert advice, alongside hourly lightning talks and a pop-up swag shop. The event supports the Bolt "World's Largest Hackathon," which offers over $1 million in prizes, including $75,000 from RevenueCat for top subscription apps using their SDK. The tour continues to Station F in Paris from July 15-18 and concludes in Tokyo's Roppongi from July 28 to August 1, where the Shipaton 2025 hackathon will kick off. These gatherings offer a collaborative environment for developers to refine their projects, connect with industry leaders, and potentially win substantial rewards.

Rosie Hoggmascall's newsletter "Growth Dives" offers valuable insights into the intricacies of SaaS product paywalls and pricing strategies within the broader context of business growth, emphasizing the importance of integrating paywalls into the user journey and tracking metrics like refund, cancellation, and complaint rates. Drawing from her extensive experience with over 20 subscription businesses, Rosie highlights common mistakes startups make, such as undervaluing their brand through low pricing or prioritizing business goals over user experience, often resulting in dark UX practices. Successful paywall strategies, as exemplified by apps like Blinkist and Duolingo, focus on transparency, user personalization, and post-purchase validation to enhance retention and lifetime value. Rosie also addresses the distinct challenges of optimizing web-to-app payment flows compared to in-app paywalls, underscoring the need for different tech stacks and strategies, while emphasizing the importance of monitoring both the frequency of paywall views and conversion rates to identify opportunities for improvement. Through a blend of strategic analysis and user feedback, Rosie advocates for a holistic approach to paywalls, aligning them with broader growth strategies to ensure long-term customer retention and satisfaction.

Server-driven UI (SDUI) is a design strategy where the backend provides both domain data and UI layout information to the client, allowing for dynamic rendering without the need for app updates. RevenueCat's Paywall Editor exemplifies this approach by enabling the design and remote updating of paywall screens through a web dashboard, bypassing the traditional app release cycle. This system allows product managers and designers to update layouts and conduct A/B testing without developer intervention, facilitating rapid experimentation and optimization of subscription strategies. The RevenueCat SDK integrates seamlessly with Android, using a JSON payload from the server to dynamically render native components, thus maintaining high performance while reducing the workload on developers. This method offers significant benefits, including accelerated feature testing, consistent cross-platform experiences, and the ability to quickly adapt to user feedback, ultimately helping businesses to enhance their revenue strategies efficiently.

Building a successful subscription app business involves several key components, including strong business acumen, the right development frameworks, and tools like Expo, which simplifies cross-platform app development using React Native. In a conversation with Expo co-founder and CEO Charlie Cheever on the Sub Club podcast, he highlights how React Native has become the standard for VC-funded apps due to its ability to speed up development cycles and facilitate quick iterations without the long compilation times associated with traditional native app development. This rapid iteration allows app businesses to innovate and deploy more efficiently. Moreover, a unified tech stack using React Native enables consistent product experiences across iOS, Android, and web platforms, simplifying hiring and maintaining one codebase. Additionally, AI tools like Claude and GitHub Copilot are transforming software development by automating code generation and allowing developers to focus on creative and complex problem-solving tasks, thus enhancing productivity and innovation.

RevenueCat has launched Paywalls v2, a platform that allows developers to create, test, and deploy fully native, no-code in-app paywalls with enhanced features like dynamic content and web purchase support, integrated with RevenueCat's Experiments and Targeting for A/B testing. The paywalls are designed to be customizable and seamlessly integrated with app's native UI frameworks, offering code-free editing while maintaining native performance. The platform is available for free to all RevenueCat users, with costs only incurred if monthly revenue exceeds $2,500 USD. To celebrate the launch, RevenueCat is hosting the World Paywall Speed-Building Championship, inviting developers to quickly build paywalls for a chance to win prizes, including a trip to New York City for the finals. The competition aims to demonstrate the platform's speed and flexibility, with the winner receiving a $5,000 cash prize and a custom championship belt.

Annual subscriptions for apps, while seemingly advantageous due to their potential for higher lifetime value, lower churn rates, and improved cash flow, are not universally beneficial and come with certain risks that require careful consideration. These subscriptions can offer added value by providing customers with discounted rates and reducing subscription fatigue, as they commit for a longer period, allowing time for the app to demonstrate its benefits. However, they can also lead to unexpected charges, higher refund rates, and make it difficult to upsell or adjust pricing tiers, which can be problematic for apps with users who have changing needs or for industries where annual plans are less common, like gaming. Furthermore, annual subscriptions can create challenges in understanding and enhancing customer retention, as user engagement is harder to measure over extended periods. Thus, companies should evaluate whether annual subscriptions align with their business model, customer base, and industry standards, rather than adopting them as a one-size-fits-all solution.

A painkiller app is one that addresses a specific, urgent problem for its users, making it indispensable and resulting in higher retention, engagement, and monetization. Unlike vitamin apps, which are seen as nice-to-haves, or medicine apps, which are necessary but often avoided, painkiller apps are essential to their users' lives. The journey to becoming a painkiller involves identifying a niche audience that deeply needs the solution the app provides and designing onboarding, monetization, and product flows around this core need. Successful examples, such as Welltory and Mimo, illustrate how apps can dominate their respective fields by focusing on specific user needs and employing strategies like gamification and behavioral design to enhance engagement. The key is to find and cultivate a niche where the app is seen as an absolute must-have, rather than attempting to appeal broadly, thus ensuring it becomes a vital part of users' lives.

Turning free users into paying subscribers is a challenging yet promising opportunity for subscription apps, primarily hinging on the freemium model's ability to scale while encouraging upgrades through strategic friction. The conversion journey, often taking place during onboarding, is enhanced by demonstrating value in the free tier while withholding key features to motivate upgrades. Effective strategies include early user activation to build trust, segmenting users by behavior to prioritize those ready for conversion, and using onboarding to set clear expectations between free and premium experiences. Apps should focus on habit loops to drive retention and strategically trigger paywalls during high-value user interactions. Additionally, offering flexible pricing plans like Lite tiers or a la carte features can capture value from users unwilling to pay full price. By aligning feedback loops with the app’s natural usage cadence and personalizing user experiences, apps can foster long-term retention, making conversion a step toward building lasting customer relationships.

The guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough on incorporating in-app purchases, specifically monthly and yearly subscriptions, into an Expo React Native app using Bolt, with a focus on deploying a paywall to manage content access and verifying user eligibility. The tutorial outlines the process of creating the app for both iOS and Android platforms, leveraging the RevenueCat SDK for handling subscription logic. It emphasizes the use of native modules, which requires transitioning from Expo Go to EAS Build for full functionality. The guide details setting up accounts with Google Play Console and App Store Connect, configuring products in both stores, and integrating them with RevenueCat to manage subscriptions. It also covers creating an offering in RevenueCat, using the SDK to initialize purchase logic within the app, and implementing the necessary UI components to reflect subscription status and handle purchases. Finally, it ensures users can subscribe via a RevenueCat-configured paywall, thus unlocking app features, and concludes with instructions on building a production-ready app using EAS Build.

The world's largest online hackathon, which began on May 30, has already broken previous participation records, with over 76,246 participants competing for more than $1 million in cash prizes. Submissions remain open until June 30, providing plenty of time for developers to join and potentially win substantial amounts. Notably, an additional $75,000 is being offered for a special "Make More Money Award," challenging developers to use the RevenueCat mobile SDK and paywall builder to acquire subscribers. The top three apps in this category will each receive $25,000, with a mystery prize also in the mix. Co-founder and CTO Miguel Carranza will be on the judging panel, emphasizing product polish, quality, and real traction. Participants are encouraged to build mobile apps using Bolt, with guidance and tutorials provided throughout the event. The hackathon is part of a broader engagement strategy that includes a live session on June 16 and the promise of a larger event, Shipaton, later in the year.