How Much Money Can An App Make?

The industry of mobile applications is growing by leaps and bounds. Mobile app developers are constantly increasing, and so is the number of apps. Apps have the potential to generate millions of dollars each year in revenue however largest chunk among these is unable to reach their higher revenue potential. Most of them are a flop when it comes to monetization. So, to provide a number on how much money an app can make is really difficult given the competition in the market, however, the potential is definitely there.

The apps that are in the top 200s on the app store manage to earn around $82,500 on a daily basis. If we look at the revenue for the top 800 apps, then the daily revenue drops down to around $3,500. This difference is also apparent among various categories, such as game apps making a lot better on a daily basis as compared to say, entertainment apps. Basically, there isn’t a uniform spread of numbers among apps.

Having said that, the income generated by the industry of mobile applications beats all records, which eventually pushes business owners to launch their own apps. But how can they really make money on mobile apps?

Let’s have a look at some facts and possibilities

Massive revenue generation through apps is a byproduct of the rise in mobile phone usage. For businesses, this is a gold mine that can result in massive growth. Industry leaders understand this and have started to utilize mobile apps to generate a higher ROI. If you are looking forward to boosting your business in the digital world in today’s age then investing in a mobile app would be a wise choice.

How to determine the price for an app?

Before you even decide to put a price tag on your app, ask yourself this question: is it worth every penny? Would users pay for it? Is there a better, free version available on the internet already? If you think your app has the potential to do better as a paid service, the next step would be to decide on a price. Again, ask yourself: Which features your app will have? How many of those can be free and how may need to be purchased? Which category your app belong to? Will it be used daily by the users? If there is a similar app already present in the market then what’s its price? How many times is it downloaded? Answers to these questions will give you a perspective on price.

Which platforms are performing best in terms of revenue generation?

Choosing a platform is as crucial to your app’s performance as choosing the right features for it. The amount of money your app makes depends a lot on the platform.

Once you have chosen a platform to launch your app on, how you monetize the app is the next step. There are many different ways to do so, we have chosen to discuss four of the most used revenue models by businesses that have proven to work for them.

Top Ways To Make Money With Mobile Apps

Premium Apps (One-Time Payment):

A premium mobile application is one that cannot be downloaded without payment. They charge a one-time download fee from users on the Google Play store or iOS App Store. While there is a general perception that premium apps don’t make much money because users don’t want to pay for them and they’d rather download a similar free app, it’s actually untrue. Paid apps account for more than $250 Billion in revenue. Apps that offer top-notch features and services can easily make money through this model. Educational apps are one category that performs really well as paid apps.

Freemium Apps (In-App Purchases):

Once your users get a taste of what you have to offer, you can put up better features within the app for purchase. This means users can download the app’s basic version for free and can also access some of its features without paying anything. But in order to use better features within the app, they will have to upgrade to a paid version for a small fee. This model is called in-app purchasing and the apps are categorized as Freemium Apps. Adobe Photoshop is one such example, it’s a very popular app among photographers and retouchers, but its expanded version is not available for free.

Recurring Payment Model (Subscription Model):

Mobile applications that are usually used on a daily basis can fit this revenue model really well. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are popular operators in this niche. Users need to pay a small amount of recurring fee in order to access the app’s services. You can offer them different packages like Netflix does in order to capitalize on as many users as possible. Similar applications in this category include Pandora and Spotify, these music streaming applications use a similar subscription model.

Advertising

Advertising within apps is a bit complicated but effective technique to monetize it. Before putting it in action you must analyze your target audience and offer relevant ads. It requires time and effort on your part to study the user base and their interests. Relevance of ads you put up is necessary as one irrelevant ad may backfire and you can lose users.

That’s it

A good mobile app development company can help you identify your app’s niche and revenue model which can save you lots of money and time. If you are interested in creating a dating app, travel app, or sports app, just reach out and we shall do it together.

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Published by Jess

Jess is a Technical Content Writer at App Development Force with a remarkable 15-year journey in mobile applications development and technology consulting. Holding a PhD in Mobile Computing, he has contributions to research, development, and technological leadership.

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