How Much Money Can You Earn With an App? Read Here
Originally published April 10, 2018, updated September 14, 2018
Mobile App Development Industry comes along with a huge potential to earn millions of dollars. However, how much money you can make from an app depends on a number of factors which we will discuss later in this article. It takes a certain kind of application that promises to become a million dollar story from the very day of its inception.
And now that you have spent a fortune into bringing the idea of your mobile app in reality, it’s time that, your app bring you back some return on your investment. Read more on – How Much Does It Cost To Develop & Maintain A Mobile App
When you decide to build an app, right from the day you materially start planning, there are a number of things with which you should start the forethought. With over 3 million apps on both Google’s play store and Apple’s App store, it takes careful consideration and groundwork on how to create an app and make money.
But, prior to digging deeper into the details of how much value you should put on your expectations in terms of how to earn money with apps, let us first look into how does the payment cycle work in Play Store and Apple Store.
How are Payments Made in Apple Store?
iOS App Payments are usually made in under 45 days of the last working day of a month when the app purchases were made. To receive the payments, you must provide all the necessary bank and tax details and documents, and you should maintain the minimum payment level. Also, there should be a minimum threshold amount you should have earned before getting the amount credited in your account, otherwise, it carries forward to the next payment date, till the minimum amount is earned.
How are Payments Made in Play Store?
The amount, that your paid Android app earns, gets credited to your account within the cycle of 30 days. There is no minimum threshold when it comes to the amount that your application has to earn. Any amount above 1$ gets credited to your account. Although, Play Store works on a 70:30 payment distribution ratio. On the amount of money that you earn, Play Store keeps 30% and credits the other 70% in your account.
Revenue Growth For Android and iOS
To help your wondering that with payment models such as those stated above, where are both the platforms – iOS and Android, standing at in terms of revenue?
The global app revenue grew by over 35 percent in year 2017 to arrive at around $60 billion, as cited by a new report that was released by Sensor, the app intelligence firm, which measures subscriptions, paid apps, and the in-app purchases that has happened in both Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
However, the report found that Apple is the platform that is seeing maximum revenue growth – a value that is twice as much as what Google Play Store is making. Between 2016 and 2017, Play Store and App store saw a revenue growth of 34.2% and 34.7%, respectively. Even Though, the percentage rise in app downloads was 16.7% in Play Store and only 6.7% in App Store.
How much money do Apps make?
Now that we know how the payment system works in Play Store and App Store and the scope of generating revenue that both the platforms have to offer, let us now understand the answer to the real question– How Much Money Can Your App Make for you?
{Read Also: Mobile Application Development Guide: Everything Worth Knowing}
Following are some questions that can help us in an objective interpretation–
- What Platform Is Your App Based On?
The platform you develop your app for can have a major impact on the money earning capability of your app.
When it comes to how much money do apps make, Apple wins the race. Over 25% of the iOS App Developers earn over $5,000 from their app while only 16% of the Android App Developers are able to make anywhere around $5,000 from their Play Store Applications.
- Does Your App Have an In-App Purchase Option?
Powering the Apps with in-app purchase options is a strategy mostly applied by gaming apps. The strategy has proved to be a money mine for a number of app developers.- App Stats
Candy Crush makes over $800,000 every day through in-app purchases. Supercell, the creators of Clash of Clan game generated over 848 Million Euros all with the help of in-app purchases.
- App Stats
- Have You Tied up With Any Company to Display Their Ads in Your App?
In-App Advertising is another sure shot way to earn money with your app.
For instance, you have tied up with a company on Click Per View Agreement. For every advertisement you charge .01$ from your partnered company. Now, even if you get 10,000 daily users on your app and they see your advertisement to move on to the next level, you will earn 100$ everyday, on the maximum level.
An app developer, Akshay Laghate shared his money earned through app data on Quora. This is what he had to say – “I had 8 apps on Play Store. All were free apps with ads and have approximately 100,000 daily active users in total. I used both banner and interstitial ads in my apps. My daily revenue is in the range of $140-$180.
- Does Your App Follow a Subscription Model?
Tinder has a $9.99 monthly plan for the Tinder Plus subscription, and a $14.99 model for the Tinder Gold subscription. This approach has helped generate over $285.3 million for Match, Tinder’s parent company. Tinder is not the only brand enjoying the perks of subscription model. It is at the back of its subscription model that Netflix app has been able to generate over $11B In Revenue.
When your app offers something of real value to your customers, something that would keep them hooked to your app, they prefer spending money month on month or on yearly basis as seen in Amazon Prime.
- Is Your App Fixated on Mobile?
If out of the two options – native vs hybrid app you chose hybrid, your app and works between multiple devices seamlessly, chances are that you will be earning more money with them as compared to when you restrict yourself to mobile. With Smart Tvs finding a place in the homes of over 34% of global Play Store and App Store users, the amount of visibility and the chances of people paying to install your app, has grown manifold.So now that you know the category of apps, which generate maximum revenue in Apple and Play Store, look where your app stands in the categories list.
An important thing to note here is that you should be in sync with your app development company, from the moment you get the idea of developing an application, in terms of your app monetization model.
There are four ways how apps make money, irrespective of the store:
Let us skim through them –
- In-App Purchase
Mostly seen in case of Gaming apps, in-app purchase model is the one where you attach money to an item that your user would need to move on the next level or for getting special powers.
- In-App Advertising
When you allow another app brand to show their advertisement in your application, you can charge them on the basis of Click Per Impression or Click Per Click. You can make the most of the strategy by making it mandatory for the users to view ad.
- Freemium
Freemium mode of Monetization is when you offer an advanced version of your application to the users in return of a sum of money. The idea is to keep the best features in the locked version to let the users pay to take advantage of them.
- Sponsorship
One of the least seen monetization model is that of sponsorship. This is how it works – you first have to find a brand that is offering an app similar to yours to a similar set of audience and then you approach them with the proposal of redesigning your app according to their app style, so that both your and their customer base increases.
In conclusion, there are endless possibilities for earning big bucks attached to the applications you submit on stores. You only have to rummage through your options and make the best out of it. And for more information, read Well Tried and Tested Ways to Earn Maximum Money from Mobile App Development.
Originally published April 10, 2018, updated September 14, 2018
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Prateek Saxena, the Managing Director of Appinventiv handles people part of the organization. Being the one with an extensive experience in Sales, he knows what it takes to solve problems in a way that is optimized to meet issues in a high value and low cost mix. He keeps himself updated with every old and new technology change to gauge what the world would be needing next, which is the essence of the majority of his writings and conversations.You can one-on-one about his findings on Twitter or LinkedIn.
