Super Unlimited · B2C · free VPN app
Test modern, prettier store screenshots against your plain old ones
Modern designs lost 80% of tests; winners gave no meaningful lift, so old ones stayed
What they did
What happened
- Effort
- Many organized A/B tests across regions over the past year
In their words
How the World's #1 VPN App Reached 1 Billion Downloads – Tanuj Chatterjee, Super Unlimited
David BarnardThe biggest thing I noticed was that you use logos like HBO and Netflix. And so you're kind of telling people, "Get access to these services no matter where you are."But is that intentional? Any lessons for you on screenshots? Have they just not mattered? Have you experimented all with them?
Tanuj ChatterjeeYeah, screenshot has been the biggest mystery for us. So we have tried. So of course, for different regions and all, we try different screenshots, localization and whatnot that everybody does, but our screenshots, and you've been very polite, they're a bit stale. They look a little stale. And we have tried modernizing screenshots. And I have to say, 80% of the time when we do AB tests, they lose.
Tanuj ChatterjeeAnd it's like, "Huh, people just like to see what they were used to seeing." So in many cases, we have gone back to the original ones that we had. In some cases, like I said, 20% of the cases, they do work slightly, but we have not seen any meaningful difference when we experimented with screenshots.
Tanuj ChatterjeeWe also don't, because we are number one on ASO, we also don't do massive changes at the same because it's very risky. So we have done tweaks, we have done new screenshots, we have done AB tests, we've changed the colors, we've changed what the content, we've done all of those things in a very organized, methodical way, but most of them have not produced results that we were expecting.
Tanuj ChatterjeeAlthough, you would think that they're better and more modern and should be more compelling in 2026, but it doesn't work. So again, I think the data is proving us wrong, which is fine. It is what the truth is.
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More from this episode
- Read your reviews and rivals' reviews, then fix what people complain aboutCredited as the main driver to #1 for 'VPN'; no single number tied to it
- Let people use the app right away: no login, one tap to connectVisits last ~30 seconds; guest credits it for organic volume and ratings
- Ask for a rating only after the app has done its job2M+ high ratings on the App Store; no before/after given
- Hire an SEO agency that knows your field to publish programmatic pages~1,600 app downloads a month; poor conversion; some AI-search traffic, not top 5
- Give away an unlimited free version, paid for with an ad or twoLow paid conversion, but 1M+ mostly organic downloads a day and very profitable
- Don't show any ads the first time someone opens the app
- Keep the free service running in poor and censored countries, even at a loss15M downloads in 4 days during a Turkey Instagram ban; each spike leaves a higher baseline
- Charge for no ads, faster servers, more locations and use on every deviceCompany growing and very profitable; no conversion numbers
- Show an ad for your new eSIM app to all existing VPN usersDidn't work: no travel intent; now planning timed promos before summer
- Buy search ads in Apple and Google stores only where the return holds upSpend capped by ROAS; some cannibalization of organic installs accepted
- Have the head of support report to the head of productGuest says product hears about problems right away; no numbers
- Walk into elevators with a debug build to test dropped connections
- Compare your ratings country by country and dig into the low onesGuest says it helped a lot; no numbers
- Launch a new feature in 5 countries behind a switch, then expand
- Start on the cloud, then move heavy traffic to your own rented serversMakes a free tier affordable; cloud still absorbs surges
- Launch a Windows version and promote it to your mobile usersNamed biggest win of the year; people buy on the website directly, no numbers
- Build the product so free users cost almost nothing to supportLets the company keep a generous free tier; no numbers
Tags: app-store, screenshots, store-listing-test, design