Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Why Opal Stopped Chasing Revenue – Kenneth Schlenker, Opal

Opal co-founder/CEO Kenneth Schlenker on moving the screen-time app from a hard paywall to true freemium after reaching $10M ARR with ~11 people. Pay penetration fell from ~20% to 9% of MAU, but organic growth, DAUs (1M+) and revenue rose; students became two-thirds of DAUs and pulled Opal into schools (Opal for Schools, per-student fee). Also: tuning free limits (3 free blocks), a licensed organic video as a long-running ad, a hired user-creator account (0 to 700K followers), gemstone/streak rewards, and a 'Scrolling Kills' billboard with no measurable download impact.

Play the episode

9 tactics

Opal · screen time and focus app

Drop the hard paywall and give the core app away for free

Paying share of users fell 20% to 9%, but organic growth, 1M+ DAUs and revenue rose

“You mentioned that our pay penetration, so that's how many people are paying subscribers within the monthly active users went from about 20% to 9%. That's scary when you see this chart, but it was the right decision.”

Workedpaywallword-of-mouth

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Test how many app blocks free users get; settle where free users still love it

3 free blocks gave free users a great experience while power users still pay

“I think the core is to experiment and measure two things. The LTV of installs, how people are converting and paying, and also to measure the retention overall, free plus paid.”

Workedpaywallexperimentation

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Sell the app to schools as a phone policy after students asked for it

Grew from one school to many US high schools; front-page LA Times coverage

“Students got back to them, and said, "Many of us are using this app called Opal. We're using it on our own. No one's telling us to do that, but maybe you should reach out to them."”

Workedmarket-selectionword-of-mouth

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

License a stranger's viral video about phone overuse and run it as your ad

Seen by dozens of millions; still running 1-2 years later

“Actually, it was someone in my team, Marjorie, who DM'd this person, and said, "We'd love to maybe license this video."”

Workedpaid-socialugc-creators

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Hire a user who posted about you to run her own educational channel for you

0 to ~700K followers and millions of views in a few months

“One of the ways we do that is we found this person who was mentioning Opal in a video on TikTok, and thought she was great. Basically, we hired her.”

Workedorganic-short-videougc-creators

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Add focus streaks with an animated flame and gemstone rewards at milestones

Biggest win of the year for retention and growth; no numbers

“The biggest win is streaks. Believe it or not, we have our own way of counting streaks.”

Workedretention

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Let users tap to crack open a gemstone when they hit a focus milestone

The app's most loved moment; users remember it and talk about it

“You get to tap to crack the gemstone. That's the most loved interaction. People really remember this, talk about it, and really helps build the brand”

Workedretentionproduct-virality

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Buy a New York billboard saying "Scrolling Kills" with no app link

No effect on downloads or revenue; helped close one school deal

“It's a fail in the sense that no impact on downloads, no impact on revenue, but that wasn't the point.”

Mixedoffline-ads

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Opal · screen time and focus app

Hand out thousands of "Scrolling Kills" stickers that don't mention the app

“We have these stickers. I have one on my phone here. It says, "Scrolling Kills." It's like a PSA, public service announcement. Actually, it does not mention Opal, which is also a controversial take.”

Unknownword-of-mouthcommunity

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-04-29

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
Opal	arr ARR at the time of the previous podcast appearance	USD 5M approximate	“Last time we spoke, you were at 5 million in ARR.”
Opal	arr Reached with a hard paywall before switching to freemium	USD 10M approximate	“I think we reached $10 million in annual care revenue, like 11 people back then.”
Opal	team size Headcount when Opal reached $10M ARR	11 people approximate	“I think we reached $10 million in annual care revenue, like 11 people back then.”
Opal	users Daily active users, 'over a million'	1M users/day approximate	“Because we're getting to a point where we passed a million DAUs, as you said.”
Opal	conversion rate Pay penetration (paying subscribers / monthly active users) under the hard paywall, before freemium	20% approximate	“You mentioned that our pay penetration, so that's how many people are paying subscribers within the monthly active users went from about 20% to 9%.”
Opal	conversion rate Pay penetration (paying subscribers / monthly active users) after switching to freemium	9% approximate	“You mentioned that our pay penetration, so that's how many people are paying subscribers within the monthly active users went from about 20% to 9%.”
Opal	revenue Long-term revenue payoff of going freemium; no figure given	pays back tenfold in the long term illustrative	“It's a short-term, scary drop, but what happens in the long-term is that it pays back tenfold.”
Opal	share Share of DAUs who are high school or college students (segment unlocked by freemium)	66.7% approximate	“High school students and college students who are now two third of our DAUs are our students.”
Opal	count Number of blocks (scheduled app blocks / open limits) given to free users after testing 1 to several	3 blocks	“We've experimented with how many should we give it for free. You can have one, you can have two, three or four. I think today, it's actually three.”
Opal	downloads More than 10 million downloads	10M downloads approximate	“Millions of people literally, more than 10 million people downloaded Opal.”
Opal	retention Early retention, day 1 to day 7	on par with or better than Duolingo, Spotify, Strava estimate	“Day one to day seven on par with or better than companies like apps like Duolingo, Spotify, or Strava.”
Opal	views Reach of the licensed organic video run as an ad	dozens of millions of people approximate	“It turned out to be pretty successful because I think it's seen today by dozens of millions of people.”
Opal	followers Olivia Unplugged, Opal-powered creator account run by a hired user, across platforms; grown from 0 in a few months	700K followers approximate	“It works really well because we went from 0 to I think now 700,000 followers across different platforms, and millions of views in a few months.”
Opal	views Views on the Olivia Unplugged account in its first few months	millions approximate	“It works really well because we went from 0 to I think now 700,000 followers across different platforms, and millions of views in a few months.”
Opal	count Unbranded 'Scrolling Kills' stickers distributed to users	thousands approximate	“But we've distributed thousands of them to our customers, to users.”
marketPeople worldwide with a smartphone (addressable market for screen-time apps)	market size	5,000M people approximate	“There's five billion people in the world that have a smartphone.”
marketPeople who have used or use a screen-time app	users	a few dozen million estimate	“Maybe today, probably, give or take, a few dozen million that have used the screen time app or using a screen time app.”