DEV Community: Gautier 💙

How to Monetize a Mobile App — 6 Proven Strategies That Actually Work

Gautier 💙 — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:38:03 +0000

Most apps don't fail because of bad code.

They fail because the developer never figured out how to make money from them.

After building and shipping apps for years at our agency, I can tell you this.

The monetization strategy matters more than the tech stack. More than most things developers spend their time on.

Yet most developers treat monetization as an afterthought.
They build for months, then slap a paywall at the end and wonder why nobody pays.

So if you're wondering how to monetize a mobile app, this is what actually works in 2026.

Before monetization: the 3 pillars of a successful app

Check if people actually use your app

Put analytics in from day one. Track user behavior. Which screens do they visit? Where do they drop off? How long do they stay?
Your first app version is not about making money. It's about proving that people actually use your app and find value in it.
If you don't have users, you don't have a business. So focus on retention and engagement before worrying about monetization.

Build a great onboarding flow

Onboarding is the first experience users have with your app. It's your chance to show them the value.

"Don't tell them, show them."

That's what ex Apple designer Mike Stern says. Don't just explain what your app does. Let users experience it right away. Show them the core value in the first session.
A good onboarding flow can increase retention and conversion dramatically. It sets the stage for monetization later on.
You don't have to show and explain all your features. Just find the one or two core benefits and make sure users experience them during onboarding.

How to monetize apps: 6 models that work

Before diving in, here's a quick overview of the 6 main ways to make money by making apps.

Subscriptions — recurring revenue, highest lifetime value. The king.
Freemium — free core experience, paid premium features
In-app purchases — consumable credits or one-time unlocks
Ads — display, interstitial, or rewarded video
One-time purchase — pay upfront to download
Sponsorships / affiliate — partner revenue

I'll break down the top 3 in detail, then cover the rest.

Subscriptions — the king of app revenue

If your app has any kind of recurring usage, subscriptions are the way to go.

Predictable revenue. Higher lifetime value. And both Apple and Google actively push subscription apps in their stores.

Weekly, monthly, or yearly?

This depends on your app.

Weekly works for apps with daily usage and high engagement (fitness, AI assistants). Downside is higher churn.
Monthly not the best in 2026. All report show a drop in conversion compared to weekly. Users prefer shorter commitments.
Yearly works when users trust the value — offer a discount to push them here

💡 Test your prices. Don't guess.

$4.99/week vs $9.99/month can make a 3x difference in revenue. Start with a hypothesis, measure, and iterate.

Using revenuecat, superwall, adapty... you can A/B test different price points and billing intervals to find what converts best for your audience.

After testing a lot of apps and paywalls

copy is less important than your offer
the price and billing interval are the main levers to increase conversion and revenue.
the design of your paywall matters less than showing it at the right time and demonstrating value before asking for money. But you can't sell high prices if your paywall looks cheap.

Show value before the paywall

This is critical.

If your users hit a paywall before understanding what the app does, they will just uninstall.

The flow should always be: Onboarding → Value → Paywall.

Show them what your app can do first. Let them feel the benefit. Then ask for money.

Hard paywall or soft paywall?

Hard paywall — users can't access any content or features until they subscribe.
Soft paywall — users can access some content or features for free, but need to subscribe for full access.

Hard paywalls convert better but can lead to higher churn if users don't understand the value.
Also I advise you to always test. Hard paywall doesn't work for every app. Data is always king.
I personnaly prefer freemium but if you have a strong onboarding that shows the value, a hard paywall can work well too.

Show your paywall during onboarding

This is a controversial one. Many developers think they need to wait until users have "discovered" the app.

Here's the thing most developers get wrong.

They wait for day 3 or day 7 to show the paywall. Thinking the user needs time to "discover" the app.

Most of your paid users will come from the first session.

Users who never see your paywall never convert. So show it during onboarding, right after you demonstrated value.

Don't wait. Don't hope they'll come back. Show the paywall on first use.

When you go at a restaurant and the waiter comes to your table, do you say "I need to discover the menu first, come back later"? No. You look at the menu, see the value, and decide if you want to order. It's the same with your app.

I wrote a full article on how to create a good paywall if you want to go deeper on this.

Freemium — let users try before they pay

Freemium is simple.

And hard.

Give enough value for free to hook users. Gate enough to make them want to pay.

The hard part is finding the balance.

What to gate

Features — free users get basic features, paid users get advanced ones
Usage limits — free users get 5 exports per month, paid get unlimited
Content — free users see previews, paid users get full access
Remove ads — if you use ads, let users pay to remove them

Ex :

Spotify does it well. Free with ads. Paid without. Simple and effective.

Conversion benchmarks

Typical freemium conversion is 2-5%.

Good is 5-10%. If you're above 10% you're doing great.

The key to conversion? A strong onboarding that shows the value of your app before users decide to stay or leave.

In-app purchases, ads, and other models

In-app purchases

Two types:

Consumables — credits, tokens, coins. Users buy them, use them, buy more. This works great for AI apps (token-based), games, and content apps.
Non-consumables — unlock a feature or content forever. One-time purchase inside the app.

If you're building an AI-powered app, token-based IAP is a very natural fit.

Users pay for what they use. No commitment. Low friction.

Check out the in-app purchase template if you want to see how this works in practice.

Let's be honest.

Ads are the default for lazy monetization.

If your app solves a real problem, subscriptions or freemium will always earn more per user.

Ads make sense when you have high volume and low engagement — utility apps, games, content aggregators.

Rewarded ads are the exception. Users watch a video in exchange for a bonus or feature unlock. This works well as a complement to IAP or freemium.

But don't build your entire business on ad revenue. It's volatile and you need massive scale.

One-time purchase

The paid upfront model is dying for most categories.

Users expect to try before they pay. And a $4.99 upfront purchase has a much lower lifetime value than a $4.99/month subscription.

It still works for specific utilities and tools where users need the app once or occasionally. But for most apps, skip this model.

App ideas to make money in 2026

The best app ideas solve a specific problem for a specific group of people.

The more niche and specific, the better.

Ex:
Running app -> Running app for women -> Running app for pregnant women...

Don't try to build the next Instagram. Build something useful for 1,000 people who are willing to pay.

Here are some ideas that work well with a subscription or freemium model:

AI-powered meal planner — generate weekly meal plans and grocery lists based on preferences and budget. Health niche is huge and people pay for convenience. Subscription model.
Niche tracker — not a generic one. One for new parents tracking baby sleep. Or for musicians tracking practice sessions. The more specific, the more people pay. Freemium.
B2B inspection or checklist app — this is a goldmine. Businesses pay without thinking twice. Construction inspections, restaurant health checks, fleet maintenance logs. Subscription.
AI writing assistant for a specific niche — not a general ChatGPT wrapper. One for real estate agents writing listings. Or for teachers creating lesson plans. Token-based IAP or subscription.
Budget tracker for freelancers — free basic tracking, paid for tax reports and invoice generation. Freemium.
Digital wellness coach — screen time tracking with actionable suggestions. Guided digital detox challenges. Subscription. (careful this is a saturated niche, but if you find an original concept there is always some space. People love to try new ideas in this category)

The common thread?

All of these can be built and launched in weeks if you don't waste time building auth, payments, and infrastructure from scratch.

How to make money from mobile apps — checklist

After seeing many apps succeed and fail, here's what actually matters.

Pick a niche with willingness to pay. B2B pays more than B2C. Health pays more than entertainment. Niche pays more than generic.
Choose your monetization model before writing code. If you don't know how you'll make money, don't start building.
Build your paywall into the MVP. Not after launch. Not in v2. In the first version. Monetization is not a feature — it's the foundation.
Track events from day one. Which screens do users visit? Where do they drop off? What triggers a purchase? You need this data from the start. Read more about managing events in your app.
Forget ASO in 2026. You can't rely on App Store search to get discovered anymore. The stores are saturated. Everyone is optimizing for the same keywords. ASO alone won't save you.
Test your market with ads. Before building for months, spend $50-100 on Meta or TikTok ads pointing to your App Store page. If you can get your first 100 installs cheaply, your idea has legs. If not, pivot before wasting more time.
Launch fast, iterate based on data. Your first version will not be perfect. That's fine. Get it out, see what converts, and improve weekly.

How to create an app and make money — without building everything from scratch

Here's the uncomfortable truth.

Building auth, subscriptions, paywalls, push notifications, onboarding, and analytics from scratch takes 2-3 months minimum.

And that's just the boring stuff. The stuff that has nothing to do with your actual idea.

This is exactly why we built ApparenceKit.

It's a Flutter template that ships with everything you need to monetize your app from day one:

Paywall and subscription management (Apple and Google validated)
In-app purchases
Authentication (email, social, anonymous)
Push notifications
Onboarding flow
Analytics and event tracking

You buy it once, you own the code, and you focus on what makes your app unique.

The developers making money from apps aren't the ones writing the best code.

They're the ones who ship first and iterate fast.

Flutter theme made easy

Gautier 💙 — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 14:24:34 +0000

Flutter provides you with a way to customize your app theme.

It is extremely focused on material design but you can still customize it to fit your needs.

The problem

Flutter provides you with a great theme to let you customize your app.

The problem is when you want to start getting out of material and customize your app theme.

Most designers will want to customize the theme to fit their needs and tastes.

You create your theme directly without any factory.
This means you will have many developers copy-pasting colors throughout the app and the themeData file.

You can't switch the theme without restarting the app (dark/light?).

You don't have a way to set different themes for different platforms.

The good news is that we can fix all of this.

Handling Dark and Light theme

Switching from light to dark mode should be easy.

The best way to do this is to not duplicate your theme but to create a factory that will create the theme from a color palette.

Flutter and Material provide you with a nice logical way to handle an app theme.
Every color is an 'on' color.

Meaning that if you have a white background you should have a black text color.

Switching from light to dark should only rely on switching some colors.

You should not have to handle if case in your code.

Limit the number of colors

The more colors you have the more difficult it will be to maintain your app.

Simplicity is oftenly the best way to go.

Instead of having primary, secondary, accent, secondaryAccent, ...

Try making your app with one or two colors.

The more colors you incorporate, the more challenging it becomes to maintain your app.
Simplicity is often the best approach. Instead of using primary, secondary, accent, secondaryAccent, and so forth, consider designing your app with just one or two colors.

(Please note that black, white, and greys are exceptions and are not considered as colors.)

For example, you can check some of the most popular apps.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, ...

They don't use a lot of colors.

Creating a theme factory

As we want to create our theme for maybe different platforms or different color palettes we will create a factory.

abstract class ApparenceKitThemeDataFactory {
  const ApparenceKitThemeDataFactory();

  ApparenceKitThemeData build({
    required ApparenceKitColors colors,
    required ApparenceKitTextTheme defaultTextStyle,
  });
}

This factory will take a color palette and a default text theme and will create a theme.

The default text theme contains the default text style and fonts for all our text.
As the colors I also recommend to limit the number of fonts you use.

Our designer at Apparence tend to limit his usage to 2 fonts.

(There is some website that give you inspirations for 2 fonts that go well together...)

Using our factory

Now that we have our factory we can use it to create our theme.

class UniversalThemeFactory extends ApparenceKitThemeDataFactory {
  const UniversalThemeFactory();

  @override
  ApparenceKitThemeData build({
    required ApparenceKitColors colors,
    required ApparenceKitTextTheme defaultTextStyle,
  }) {
    return ApparenceKitThemeData(
      colors: colors,
      defaultTextTheme: defaultTextStyle,
      materialTheme: ThemeData(
        colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: colors.primary).copyWith(
          surface: colors.surface,
          onSurface: colors.onSurface,
          background: colors.background,
          onBackground: colors.onBackground,
          primary: colors.primary,
          error: colors.error,
        ),
        elevatedButtonTheme: elevatedButtonTheme(
          colors: colors,
          textTheme: defaultTextStyle,
        ),
        inputDecorationTheme: inputDecorationTheme(
          colors: colors,
          textTheme: defaultTextStyle,
        ),
        textTheme: textTheme(
          colors: colors,
          defaultTextStyle: defaultTextStyle,
        ),
      ),
      ...
    );
  }

As you can see we are using the color palette and the default text theme to create our theme.

Now changing colors or text style won't be done here.

We have defined our own color palette and default text files separetly.

Providing our theme through the app

As we want to access our theme from anywhere in our app we will use an InheritedNotifier.

This will allow us to access our theme from the BuildContext.

But also to switch the mode of our theme without restarting the app.

/// We use this to access the theme from the BuildContext in all our widgets
/// We don't use riverpod here so we can get the theme from the context and regular widgets
class ThemeProvider extends InheritedNotifier<AppTheme> {
  const ThemeProvider({
    super.key,
    super.notifier,
    required super.child,
  });

  @override
  bool updateShouldNotify(covariant InheritedNotifier<AppTheme> oldWidget) {
    ...
  }

  static AppTheme of(BuildContext context) =>
      context.dependOnInheritedWidgetOfExactType<ThemeProvider>()!.notifier!;
}

Using our theme ThemeProvider

Now that we have our ThemeProvider we can use it in our app.

It will be above our MaterialApp.

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({
    super.key,
  });

  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context, WidgetRef ref) {
    return ThemeProvider(
      notifier: AppTheme.uniform(
        themeFactory: const UniversalThemeFactory(),
        lightColors: ApparenceKitColors.light(),
        darkColors: ApparenceKitColors.dark(),
        textTheme: ApparenceKitTextTheme.build(),
        defaultMode: ThemeMode.light,
      ),
      child: Builder(builder: (context) {
        return MaterialApp(
          title: 'Flutter Pro Starter Kit',
          initialRoute: 'home',
          theme: ThemeProvider.of(context).light,
          darkTheme: ThemeProvider.of(context).dark,
          themeMode: ThemeProvider.of(context).mode,

If you don't want to use dark mode you can just remove it.

This way we can access our theme from anywhere in our app.

Using for example

ThemeProvider.of(context).current

or still using the regular Theme.of(context)

Theme.of(context).textTheme.headline1

Creating theme shortcuts

As we want to access our theme from anywhere in our app we will create some shortcuts.

This will allow us to access our theme from the BuildContext.

But also to switch the mode of our theme without restarting the app.

extension ThemeExtension on BuildContext {
  // access the theme from anywhere in the app using context.theme  
  ApparenceKitThemeData get theme => ThemeProvider.of(this).current;
  // access the color palette from anywhere in the app using context.colors  
  ApparenceKitColors get colors => ThemeProvider.of(this).current.colors;
  // access the text theme from anywhere in the app using context.textTheme
  ApparenceKitTextTheme get textTheme => ThemeProvider.of(this).current.textTheme;
  // access the theme mode from anywhere in the app using context.themeMode
  ThemeMode get themeMode => ThemeProvider.of(this).mode;
  // toggle the theme mode from anywhere in the app using context.toggleTheme
  void toggleTheme() => ThemeProvider.of(this).toggle();
}

Conclusion

There is tons of things to say about handling theme from design to code.

multiplatform theme, gradients, shadows, ...

I hope this article will help you to get started with creating a great multiplatform theme.

This way of handling theme is the one we use at Apparence and we included it in our starter kit.

Our Flutter Template is Here!

Gautier 💙 — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 12:28:23 +0000

In the dynamic realm of mobile app development, speed, efficiency, and feature-rich applications are the benchmarks of success.
If you're part of the ever-growing Flutter community, brace yourself for a game-changing announcement!
I am thrilled to introduce our "Flutter Template," a comprehensive solution designed to catapult your app development journey to new heights.
Whether you're an experienced developer or just beginning your Flutter adventure, this template is your passport to creating Flutter apps faster and with unprecedented ease.

Why use a Flutter Template?

Instead of reinventing the wheel with every project, a Flutter Template allows you to jumpstart your development.
Whether you're a seasoned developer looking to accelerate your workflow or a newcomer seeking a structured approach to Flutter.

What's included in the Flutter Template?

The ApparenceKit Flutter Template is a comprehensive solution that includes everything you need to build a Flutter app.

1. Notifications Integration

What's a mobile app without notifications?

The ApparenceKit Flutter Template includes a fully integrated notifications system that allows you to receive push notifications.
It's easy to set up and works with both Android and iOS.
We handle device registration, message handling, and more, so you can focus on building your app.

2. Authentication

Authentication is a critical component of any app, and the ApparenceKit Flutter Template makes it easy to add authentication to your app.
You can choose between email/password authentication or social login with Facebook, Google, or Twitter.
We handle all the heavy lifting so you can focus on building your app.

Bonus: we also provide a CLI to switch between firebase and custom backend.

3. Environments Made Simple

Enjoy a seamless development journey with predefined environments for dev, staging, and production, streamlining your workflow.

4. In-App Rating and Reviews

Gather valuable user feedback and enhance your app's ratings with our integrated in-app rating and review features.
Asking for feedback is a great way to improve your app and increase user engagement.
But you have to do it right.

For example you don't want to ask for feedback too often or at the wrong time.
Apple and Google have strict guidelines on how often you can ask for feedback.
So you should ask for feedback at the right time and in the right way.

We handle all of this for you.
We provide a customizable in-app rating and review system that is easy to integrate into your app.

5. Monetization Made Easy

Handling subscriptions on iOS and Android can be a pain.
You have to deal with different APIs, different payment methods, and different rules.
We made a customizable subscription system with ready-to-use screens.
You can easily integrate it into your app and start monetizing it.

As this is a template you can customize it to your needs.
A complete documentation is available to help you with that.

6. CI/CD

Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) is a software development practice that enables developers to build, test, and deploy code changes more frequently and reliably.
We provides a complete CI/CD guide and Gitlab templates for your Flutter app.
We used a custom Gitlab runner for 4 years to build and deploy all our apps. This template is the result of this experience.

Github templates are also available but not as complete as the Gitlab ones.
(Basically we don't build and deploy on stores with Github).
But a dependabot configuration is available to keep your dependencies up to date.

7. Complete documentation

We provide complete documentation to help you with the template.
It includes a getting started guide, notifications setup guide, social auth setup guide, how to write great tests, release on stores guide...
And tons of others.

Conclusion

In the competitive world of app development, our Flutter Template is your secret weapon, allowing you to create exceptional apps quickly and efficiently.
Whether you're working on a personal project or developing for clients, our feature-rich template equips you with the tools and support you need to thrive.
Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your Flutter app development.

Start using our template today and unleash the full potential of your Flutter creations!

Note: if you aren't satisfied with the kit, reach out and you'll get a full refund. No questions asked.

Flutter - In-app education plugin

Gautier 💙 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 09:43:57 +0000

Close the gap between content and adoption. Provide your users a way to know what they don't know.

Some months ago we created Pal.
The vision was to create a complete solution to help developers and market team create better app experience.
We went a bit too far so today we goes back to a simpler solution. This is the first step of this rework.

Introducing Pal widgets

Pal widgets is an open source plugin that lets you just create helper without any server. This is a complete open source plugin just aiming giving you designed widgets.
When Pal required you to use a no code solution to create helpers. Pal-widgets let you make helpers with code anywhere you want in your app.

Hole Anchored Helper

This is the first widget from Pal that is now available in Pal widgets plugin. This lets you create a designed tuto (inspired by google tutorials) which creates a fullscreen overlay with just a hole above the widget you wants to explain.
Nearly everything is optional so you can create the experience you want.
Here is an example of anchored helper that will pop out when user tap on the hole.

Here is the widget code

Pal widget hole anchored helper without buttons. You can freely choose to show or not buttons or customize the onTapAnchor action.

Here is a demo of a tuto with 2 buttons.

Wants to change the design ?

You can create your own anchored helper factory
But we wants to go further and let you the ability to way more customize your tuto.

What's next

First we are all open for your suggestions on this project. The goal of pal-plugins is to provide you a complete set of widgets to create your experience.
Next we are looking to create more design, more customization, more widgets with the same vision.
Hope you enjoy and creates amazing onboarding experience within your app.
Share with us what you create.
We loves to see what you do using Pal.

Package links

Pub dev package link
Github repository

Pal - our flutter no code editor for in app messages is out

Gautier 💙 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 09:19:12 +0000

Ever wanted to show an onboarding without code ? Show a marketing message on a click of button ? Now you got pal.

Who has never been frustrated with having to code, repost on the stores just to display help or a personalized message on their application?

50% of our uninstall come from the frustration of the first application opening

That’s a fact, we love to get introduced to the new things. Even more if this introduction seems personalized.
Guiding user through your app makes the user feel you are helping him and you are concerned about him.
That’s exactly why there is people in stores to help you choose and get advices. So why not apply this to your mobile application ?

Guide users through their first experience

Some of us call this onboarding. But a good onboarding is not just at the beginning. You can makes some anywhere on your app (after user made an action, the first time he goes to a page, after new update…).
Hubspot breaks down retention into three phases: short-term retention, mid-term retention, and long-term retention. According to their research, the biggest drop-off in usage happens during the short-term retention period between Week 0 and Week 1. Retention drops nearly 75 percentage points down to just above 25% in a single week.
Imagine if you could keep them ?

Here is a perfect way to introduce our new users, let’s show him what he can do and what we wants him to do with our app.  Of course we won’t show him this again, this won’t bother him again.

Pal is helping you doing this without having to code anything.

Guide user after important updates

How many of your users knows why their app changes or that you worked for 1 month to give them new amazing features ?
If you knew, this could certainly depress you…

What about just show them the big lines of your update when they re-open their app?

And of course doing this without code

Keep your user all along

You guided your users through his first experience. He is completely happy with your app. What about keeping his feeling that you are concerned about him ?
Yes that’s what we are aiming with personalized messages. You can keep showing some messages less frequently to your best users using Pal.

Personalized messages

Your worked for month to create a really sexy app so we know you want this to stay perfect. You got your fonts, colors, sizes…
Also for all messages you wants a special experience so we made different types of messages experiences.