Mobile & consumer apps

Consumer apps are the dominant business model in the channel’s recent episodes: solo builders and small teams selling subscription apps on the App Store, with revenue from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands a month (all self-reported, often matching video titles). The cluster covers onboarding and paywalls, the subscription tool stack, ASO, health and habit apps, niche utilities, portfolios, localisation, Android and, folded into consumer apps, Roblox games.

Three ideas have the broadest support. Serious money comes from subscriptions behind a paywall (Blake Anderson · Blake Anderson (Dec 2024) ▶ 12:36) (Mau Baron · Mau Baron (Jan 2026) ▶ 01:32). The onboarding is the real sales page: a long, personalised questionnaire leading into a hard paywall, with uplifts reported as single-app anecdotes (Mau Baron · Mau Baron (Jan 2026) ▶ 09:50) (Will Baker · Will Baker (Aug 2026) ▶ 07:02) (Steven Cravotta · Steven Cravotta (Sep 2024) ▶ 10:07). And RevenueCat plus Superwall form the default stack for testing prices and paywalls; both are sponsors or partners in some episodes (Will Baker · Will Baker (Aug 2026) ▶ 08:22) (Steven Cravotta · Steven Cravotta (Sep 2024) ▶ 10:40).

The main debate is idea versus distribution. Steven Cravotta and Cedric Roberge put marketing first (Steven Cravotta · Steven Cravotta (Sep 2024) ▶ 07:15) (Cedric Roberge · Cedric Roberge (May 2026) ▶ 11:35), as do Pat and Gus (the presenters’ view) (presenter · Blake Anderson (Dec 2024) ▶ 19:22); George Lampropolis counters that without an idea that is viral by nature, distribution does not convert (George Lampropolis · George Lampropolis (Dec 2025) ▶ 06:11).

Start with Consumer subscription app, then Onboarding and paywalls for consumer apps and Marketing-first app design. For a cheaper market see Consumer iOS apps (a single-guest page); for many small bets see App portfolios.

Pages in this area

Covered as sections of other pages: Games → Consumer iOS apps, Android apps → Consumer iOS apps.

Live debates

• iOS first or Android first? — see Consumer iOS apps
• Many apps or focus on one? — see App portfolios
• Sell successful apps for runway or keep them for recurring revenue? — see App portfolios
• What matters more: an inherently viral idea or distribution effort? — see Marketing-first app design
• Free trial or straight payment behind the hard paywall? — see Onboarding and paywalls for consumer apps
• How long should onboarding be? — see Onboarding and paywalls for consumer apps

Blueprints

• Consumer subscription app — clone, onboard, paywall, content, scale
• Portfolio, app flipping & selling