The best apps are taking a page from mobile gaming

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Retaining mobile app subscribers is harder than it was last year, but paywall optimization and gamified UX can help. Also, cyber insurance providers are pushing companies to up their security game, and that’s mostly a good thing. — Anna

Time to experiment

Average mobile subscription prices have been growing month over month across all subscription tiers since the beginning of 2022, according to a recent report on the state of in-app subscriptions in the U.S. from Adapty, a company that helps developers drive more revenue from their apps.

“We believe there are several reasons for this trend, including escalating inflation and higher cost per acquisition (CPA) prices for paid ads,” Adapty notes in its report, which is based on data from apps whose audiences add up to 6.5 million users.

While pricing trends are a helpful benchmark, the most actionable part of the report has to do with paywalls, one of the key elements that Adapty helps its clients optimize. The takeaway here is that these should be the focus of much A/B testing: According to the report, app revenue is growing exponentially with the number of paywall experiments.