Something is happening with subscription apps… They don’t work well. A study titled “The State of Subscription Apps” conducted by the firm RevenueCat collected data through 2023 showing: Subscription apps don’t make enough money. Something is wrong.

It’s no surprise to anyone that being a developer is no guarantee of a steady stream of income. The vast majority of apps on the App Store are forgotten projects or apps that don’t make much money.

The research collected data from up to 30,000 subscription apps with more than 290 million subscribers. Let’s look at what the data is.

Subscription apps don’t generate enough

Only 17.2% of apps generate $1,000 through monthly subscriptions. However, those who achieve this grow more easily. According to RevenueCat.

On the other hand, approximately 59% of applications that generate $1,000 monthly revenue manage to reach this figure: $2,500. And 60% of them manage to produce $5,000 one month.

Only 3.5% of subscription applications generate monthly income $10,000.

Another of the most interesting data about this study shows that the user retention rate is not very high either. User retention decreased 14% year over year (2022) for subscriptions longer than 12 months.

RevenueCat CEO Jacob Eiting talked about subscription apps.

We’ve definitely seen a little regulation, which makes sense because a lot of apps are increasing their prices and that’s causing people to switch. Overall the ecosystem seems to have grown very well but there has been some realignment.

This year will be a very important year for the App Store, with the arrival of alternatives to the App Store in iOS 17.4. Will we see an increase in subscriptions?