Launch Center Pro · B2C · iOS shortcut launcher app
Ship a big release that rides the home screen customization trend
~$20K that month, then lost the lead by not iterating
Mixedfeature-developmentpr-launch
What they did
Launch Center Pro shipped a big release to capitalize on the iOS home screen customization trend, but the team did not learn from what worked or keep building features to retain users.
What happened
Made about $20K that month, then missed the market as widget and home screen apps went on to make lots of money.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · App Store Ethics, Dark Patterns, and Rule-Breakers — Steve P. Young, App Masters“I had a big release with my Launch Center Pro app a few years back to capitalize on the home screen customization. Made like $20K that month, but then we didn't iterate to maintain that lead.”
Related topics
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More from Launch Center Pro
All 3 Launch Center Pro tacticsMore from this episode
- Pay for searches-then-installs on one quiet keyword until the app ranks #1#1 for both keyword spellings and stuck there; ~$5K/month mostly organic
- App Masters: Buy App Store reviews that mention your target keywordsOne or two keyword reviews moved rankings; stopped because stores punish it
- App Masters: Have friends mark your best 5-star review as helpful so it shows first
- Show the paywall's close button only after 5 secondsIncreases revenue, per the agency founder; no numbers
- Launch a simple one-feature app with a paywall that has no close buttonGrew $1K to $10K/month; 35% trial-to-paid; fell to $5K when Apple forced a close button
- Test a hard paywall against giving away one free puzzleHard paywall raised revenue; follow-up test vs more locked content, result not given
- Ask for a rating during onboarding or right after the paywall, not after 10 usesSeen to work really well across apps; no numbers
- Rootd: Show the paywall during onboarding, with a close buttonRevenue doubled
- Weather Up: Pull Google AdSense ads and move to a hard paywall with a 7-day trialAds caused bad reviews and complaints; app lost money for ~a year without them
- Ask web users to pay $1-$8.75 toward the trial's cost, then charge the saved cardHost was charged ~$70 by accident and did a chargeback
- Earning under $1K a month? Try a hard paywall to see if people want the appTrial-to-paid under 10% suggests no fit; 10-20% means people find value
- Change one icon on a freemium app's main screen to get more paywall views+57% paywall views
- App Masters: Pick app ideas from overlooked keywords in categories where people pay
- MyFitnessPal: Show a closable paywall each time a returning user opens the appHost resubscribed at times; no numbers