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Show the subscription offer near the start of onboarding, or the first time someone taps something locked, so the people who would leave during onboarding still see it.
2× install-to-trialFitnessAI moved the paywall before onboarding and added a product video in the same change; 50% more people saw it. A founder's before-and-after account, no control group.
Product screens: FitnessAI via Adapty ↗. Screens illustrate the product; the number is sourced in the evidence below.
Built from published experiments and company reports across several products. Nobody has checked the screens on a dated day, so read each number with the caveat printed beside it.
Show the subscription offer near the start of onboarding, or the first time someone taps something locked, so the people who would leave during onboarding still see it.
New users who never finish onboarding, or never find a paywall kept out of the way, never see the offer at all; Jake Mor calls the share of users who see the paywall the metric almost every app company overlooks (as reported by RevenueCat).
This play is not tied to a full playbook. Use it for this decision alone.
Moving FitnessAI's paywall before onboarding doubled install-to-trial.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Bundle; the placement cannot be separated from the video. Before-and-after account with no control, window, sample size or baseline. Reported through RevenueCat and a newsletter summary of a webinar; the founder co-founded Superwall.
8 paywall test ideas to grow app revenue Barnard and Meinertzhagen · 2023
Rootd's revenue rose fivefold after its paywall moved near the start of onboarding.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Before-and-after account with no stated window, control or sample size. The founder does not say which onboarding screen the paywall moved to, noting there is debate about which screen it should be.
8 paywall test ideas to grow app revenue Barnard and Meinertzhagen · 2023
Greg's trial sign-ups rose about 400% with a paywall in onboarding.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Bundle; the founder says two things changed at once. Before-and-after account with no window, control or sample size; revenue and trial-to-paid were not reported.
Use the play for this decision alone, or combine it with an existing product strategy after checking for conflicts.
A dismiss control made hard to find reads as obstruction.
A placement that can fire repeatedly — app open, each locked tap — needs a frequency rule, or it becomes nagging.
An early paywall reaches users who would have left anyway; if you only count trials, you will not see whether they refund or complain.
Plus everything above, as plain text for your coding agent, with a short instruction on top: check the fit, say what the evidence doesn’t support, and adapt it rather than copy it. Paste it and you get an answer, no prompt to write.
Founder accounts from FitnessAI, Rootd, Greg and Opal, retold mostly by RevenueCat and Superwall · evidence reviewed 25 September 2026.
Explore company-inspired strategies that connect your product, experience, and growth.
Browse the playbooks ↗Optimizing paywall placement: The key to unlocking more app subscribers Peter Meinertzhagen · 2023
Opal found a paywall on the very first screen did worse.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show A founder's statement on a vendor's podcast; no figures, sample sizes or windows are given for this comparison. The episode frames these as A/B-test results, but this comparison's design is not described. Read from auto-generated captions.
Sub Club Podcast: Lessons from 121 A/B Tests - Kenneth Schlenker, Opal Sub Club by RevenueCat (YouTube) · 2024