My Takeaways from State of Subscription Apps

🔥 My key takeaways from the State of Subscription Apps 2025

Beyond the new candlestick charts that I really love (I am a HUGE investing freak), this year’s State of Subscription Apps report is packed with insights on how subscription apps have evolved. This is, in my opinion, the best report on the space, and for the first time, I’m sharing the four trends that stood out most to me:

1️⃣ Another year, another drop in trial conversion
With such a saturated market, it’s no surprise that trial conversion rates are down across nearly all categories. Looking at specific categories, Fitness & Health seems to be one of the most affected, with a 4.6% drop—likely influenced by the explosion of AI fitness apps, which have been massively scaling through influencer marketing and web-to-app flows

2️⃣Hard Paywalls can work but only if value is clear upfront
I recently shared a case study with RevenueCat and the positive effects on LTV and campaign optimization that going with a hard paywall can bring to your business. This year’s report further reinforces this: hard paywalls have a much higher conversion rate from download to paid on day 35 (12.1% median for hard paywalls vs 2.2% for freemium models). This clearly illustrates that if the perceived value aligns with users’ needs, it’s worth running a test.

3️⃣ Longer trial durations are on the rise
With low-quality trials from paid UA and high cancellation rates on short trials, more apps are extending trial periods. This directly reduces churn (see page 20) but complicates CAC calculations—especially if you’re using SKAN.

If you’re struggling to optimize your paid campaigns and attract high-quality trial users, extending trial durations could be an effective first step toward improving overall conversion rates. On the other hand, your business will have a slower cashflow but if you have a decent volume ongoing, it shouldn’t be a major issue.

4️⃣Subscription apps lag behind gaming apps in maximizing revenue streams
Having worked with 100+ apps—both gaming and non-gaming—I’ve noticed a major difference:

Gaming has segmented payers for years, yet most subscription apps offer just monthly/weekly or annual plans, leading to higher cancellation rates. The report confirms this: lack of alternative revenue streams correlates with lower LTV. In-app purchases remain underutilized—but I strongly believe they’ll be a game-changer in the upcoming years.

If you want to maximize LTV, optimizing monetization beyond just subscriptions is key. In-app purchases remain underutilized by subscription apps, but I strongly believe they’ll be a game-changer for subscription businesses that adopt them strategically.