Highlights
- $2M ARR and counting
- $80K from a single paywall test
- Saved $34K on refunds in 3 months
- Tested >60 paywalls
Shmoody is a mental health app that helps people improve their mood, build better habits, and reflect on their progress. The product runs on iOS, Android, and web, and has already reached over 1 million users.
Among all the tools on the market, the team chose Adapty to help launch and manage app monetization.
Since then, Shmoody has launched dozens of experiments, saved thousands in refunds, and scaled to $2M ARR, shifting a major share of their UA budget toward the web.
Here’s how they got there.
Running into monetization roadblocks
Shmoody was born during the pandemic, when mental health tools became more crucial than ever. The app took off quickly. A strong viral loop and clear product-market fit helped it grow fast and build momentum. Naturally, the next step was monetization – and that’s where things got tricky.
Managing in-app purchases in-house turned out to be too demanding:
- engineers would need to build and maintain complex infrastructure;
- the growth team would be stuck waiting on every update;
- staying compliant with Apple and Google would be a full-time job.
The team decided to look for someone who could handle the infrastructure, so they could stay focused on product and growth.
That’s when they found Adapty, and things started moving fast.
Setting up for scale
With Adapty, the team got a system to build monetization on top of:
- plugged into Apple and Google without managing the mess;
- ran experiments without engineering overhead;
- stayed focused on product and growth.
What really sold them was the speed: A/B testing, new features, platform updates – Adapty was consistently ahead of the curve.
“When we started monetizing, we were asking ourselves: should we build the connections to Apple and Google ourselves and measure everything manually?
We looked at Adapty, RevenueCat, Qonversion, and Purchasely. And honestly, Adapty always felt like the most modern solution. It seemed to be at the forefront of innovation in terms of the feature set.
Back then, no one else was offering paywall A/B testing – Adapty was the first to do it. And even now, they keep launching new features faster than the others. So, it helped us choose.”
And here’s what they got.
Running 60+ paywall experiments
The team had dozens of paywall ideas, but turning them into tests was tough. Even a single new variant required significant time and effort from engineering and design.
Solution:
With Adapty’s no-code Paywall Builder, Shmoody built beautiful paywalls, tested different formats, copies, and offers – all without app releases or engineering involvement.
The results:
Shmoody ran over 63 paywalls and now has 7 high-performing variants in production. The feedback loop got shorter, and winning formats made it to users faster.
“We’ve tested dozens and dozens of paywalls. Like many others, we eventually landed on a structure with a free trial upfront. But one unexpected win came from a discounted offer we show after the main paywall – especially for users who are tired of subscriptions. That one surprised us.”
Turning “no” into $80K with a lifetime deal
Some users just don’t want subscriptions, no matter how good your offer is. Instead of losing them entirely, Shmoody tried something different.
The experiment:
They introduced a lifetime offer that appeared only after a user declined two paywalls. It targeted exactly those who were unlikely to convert otherwise.
The results:
The offer added over $80K in revenue from users who had never made a purchase before without changing the product or user journey.
“I’m pretty proud of the lifetime offer test – it shows up after a user declines our first two paywalls. Since launch, it’s brought in over $80K from people who otherwise wouldn’t have paid us at all. Sure, it’s not recurring revenue, but these are users who likely just don’t like subscriptions.”
Scaling with a web-to-app funnel
Another lever for growth was the web. Shmoody wanted to capture more intent-driven traffic outside of app stores. But building a proper funnel with onboarding, paywalls, checkouts, and testing infrastructure required months and probably a whole new team.
The solution:
With Adapty’s growth team Shmoody launched a full web-to-app funnel. They built onboarding in hours, plugged in high-converting paywalls, ran A/B tests, and finally got attribution they could trust.
The results:
The web funnel unlocked a new growth channel:
- plugged into Apple and Google without managing the mess;
- ran experiments without engineering overhead;
- stayed focused on product and growth.
“It was super easy to iterate in FunnelFox. We ran a bunch of experiments using their prebuilt components and A/B tools, and started seeing growth fast. Now our web flow looks totally different from the in-app one – and that’s a good thing.”
Saving $34K from refunds in 3 months and 1 tap
Refunds took too much time and attention. Fighting each one meant scrambling to collect stats and user data under tight time pressure. Letting Apple auto-approve everything = losing money. Shmoody needed a smarter way.
The solution:
The team set up Adapty’s Refund Saver to automatically handle refund requests. Instead of spending time fighting every refund, they accepted some revenue loss in exchange for speed and focus.
“Refund Saver definitely helps us lower our refund rate and support our acquisition efforts overall. This tool helps us keep a little more money in the door which matters when ad costs keep going up. It gives us more room to grow and scale.”
The results:
In just three months, Shmoody recovered over $34,000 in revenue from refunds that would’ve otherwise been lost. It also freed up the team to focus on improving the product and accelerating growth.
Wrapping up the wins
The results:
From the start, Shmoody built their monetization as a system for testing, scaling, and steady growth. With Adapty, they launched faster, unlocked new revenue, and kept the team focused on product.
Here’s what they achieved:
- recovered $34K in refunds in 3 months;
- earned $80K from a lifetime offer;
- tested 63 paywalls;
- reached $2M ARR.
“Speed is the biggest factor in growth. You need to test everything – creatives, onboarding, paywalls, pricing. The fastest way to do that isn’t building everything yourself. It’s using a tool like Adapty that lets you launch tests fast, find wins faster, and grow quicker as a result.”
And here’s what it gave them:
- fewer manual processes, more time for product;
- freedom to test ideas without blocking engineering;
- extra revenue from users who’d otherwise churn;
- confidence to scale across both mobile and web.
Conclusion
Shmoody built a system that let them test often, move fast, and turn small wins into constant growth.
They saved time, unlocked new revenue streams, and built a loop of testing and learning that keeps compounding.
Now they’re at $2M ARR and just getting started.
Maybe, you should try too?
