--- title: "Paywall Newsletter #6" description: "The 6th issue of the paywall newsletter by Adapty in which top experts of the mobile app industry comments on interesting mobile paywalls and share insights" url: "https://adapty.io/blog/mobile-paywall-newsletter-6/" language: "en" slug: "mobile-paywall-newsletter-6" category: "grow-your-app" date: "2022-12-07T00:00:00.000Z" date_modified: "2022-12-07T00:00:00.000Z" author: "Nadya Pominova" --- # Paywall Newsletter #6 This is the 6th issue of the paywall newsletter containing dark patterns, smart design, a personalization example and more. ![artem smirnov, Union Apps](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/artem-smirnov.jpeg) ### Paywalls of the issue are commented by… Artem Smirnov, Head of Marketing at [Union Apps](https://unionapps.com/), a mobile non-gaming app publisher dedicated to converting subscription-based apps into full-scale profitable business. ## Rise: the dark pattern of offering a free option ![a mobile paywall by Rise](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/638dbf70afb6f81cffbe7e98_rise-sleep-1-1.webp) ![A mobile paywall example by Rise, sleep and energy tracker](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/rise-mobile-paywall.webp) **General impression** The paywall has all the essentials. **It seems like you’re choosing between a 7-day free trial and a 1-month paid subscription, when in fact, both of the options are annual.** The difference is that the Free one gives you a 7-day trial first, and the 1-month variant offers a lower price for the first month, but in the end you’ll have to pay annually for any of them. Though, if you linger a little longer on the paywall, you’ll see a special offer with a 14-day trial. These guys are in the top-100 grossing Health & Fitness apps in the US. I wonder how they passed the Apple review with such a paywall. Anyway, **they’re masters of dark patterns, so I’d recommend checking on their future paywalls for sure.** ### Pros: - “Recommended By” as well as “Join 1 million people” are **great social proofs** that elevates the users’ trust. We tested such things ourselves on landing pages and they sure worked. - **“Money Back Guarantee”.** The refund is actually carried out by Apple, not the app. This element is added to lower your hesitation and make the purchase. - **Hiding real prices surely contributes to the higher conversion rates** on the paywall, so I would use something like that. - **It’s a hard paywall** – you can’t go past it. It’s a great solution that definitely improves the conversion to purchases. Apple forbids making paywalls without a closing button, but we understand it a bit differently – you can’t deprive the user of moving from your paywall screen, including backwards. Which means you can make a hard paywall and put the “go back” arrow to let them go to the previous screen, but never let them move forward to the app’s content. ### Cons: - **The trial reminder is on by default.** I think it’s better to leave it off initially, so that the user has to do the job of turning it on. [Rise: Energy and Sleep Tracker](https://adapty.io/mobile-paywall-library/rise-energy-sleep-tracker/) ## Breeze: name personalization on the CTA button ![A mobile paywall by Breeze](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/6388c3b82d56d29bacf540a7_breeze-1.webp) ### General impression The look of this paywall is a 2022 trend. Getting notified about the trial ending on the 5th day seems pretty tempting, but in reality, not all apps keep this promise. **The first glance impression is that I don’t understand right away how much I’ll have to pay, but I’m ready to take the trial.** Placing the price higher above the CTA button is a nice dark pattern. ### Pros: - **Look at the CTA button – it has the name personalization.** Beautiful! - There's an additional intensifier under the button, saying **“No payment now!”**. - **Explanation of how the trial works** is an effective persuasion method for any product. ### Cons: - There's a closing button on the paywall. **I’d turn it into a hard paywall** to increase the conversion rates. [Breeze](https://adapty.io/mobile-paywall-library/breeze-mood-tracker-diary/) ## Heartify: a video paywall with a catchy button ![An example of an animated mobile paywall by Heartify](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/heartify.webp) ### General impression A video paywall with good color contrast, where the video explains how the app works. There’s a red “Continue” button with an emoji, which really makes you want to tap it. **The design is smart: the button grabs your attention first, then you notice the video, the title text, the price, and the grey text above it in the end.** ### Pros: - **The “Continue” button surely increases the conversion.** - **The price is placed within the text,** not near the button, which also contributes to the higher conversion rate. - **The overall design** – the attention is grabbed to the right places. ### Cons: - **No social proof.** It would be great to add something like “X number of users are already enjoying the app”. - **Not a hard paywall.** I’d turn it onto a hard one to increase the conversion to activation Heartify ## Muscle Booster: a tricky special deal ![A mobile paywall by Muscle Booster](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/6389c23a1358f15fc1fb4066_muscle-booster-1-1.webp) ![a mobile paywall example by muscle booster](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/muscle-booster-mobile-paywall.webp) ### General impression It's clearly a hard paywall with **a blinking “Continue” button.** It’s pretty obvious the developer promotes the 3-month and 1-year subscriptions, by highlighting them with the “Popular” and “Best Value” tags. **There’s also an interesting “Special Deal” option, which hides a 6-month promo offer behind a 3-month subscription**. The picture above has been thoroughly chosen: the same assets are used for the user acquisition creatives. **It shows that using the same assets for creatives and paywalls is a great idea.** **Pros** - **It’s a hard paywall.** - The most profitable for developer options are highlighted. - **The “Continue” button** instead of a button with a price. - **3+3 promo offer (first payment for 6 months, then as a 3 month subscription)**. Basically, they sell a 3-month subscription higher than the original 3-month subscription ($39.99 vs $29.99). Users are often inattentive, so when purchasing the 6 month offer, they may neglect or forget that after the 6-month period they’ll have to pay for the chosen offer as a 3 month subscription for $39.99. **Cons** - **Social proof is missing.** It would be good to add the user feedback underneath the title text. - **Switch the images with the photos of real people in the before/after format** – it’s an effective approach. Muscle Booster ## Nomorobo: a 'two months free' trick ![A mobile paywall by Nomorobo, Utilities Category](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/nomorobo-annual-plan-highlighted.webp) ![A mobile paywall dark pattern by Nomorobo](https://adapty.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/nomorobo-payment.webp) ### General impression This paywall looks rather weak: - All the attention is drawn to the logo. - There’s too much empty space. - The slider-switching points are too close to the black block. If we proceed to the next screen, we’ll see a hard paywall with 2 subscription options. **The annual one says “2 months free”, when in fact, there’s no 2-month trial, it’s just their way to show the benefit the user gets from paying for the whole year – a nice dark pattern.** **Pros** - **Hard paywall** – the user can move only to the previous screen. - **Non-existent 2-month discount for the annual subscription.** **Cons** - **Poor design and layout** (different fonts, too much space). - **Description of how the auto-renewed feature works** (you don’t have to mention it anymore).