Short paywall with trial toggle and reviews: +17% ARPU
Test run byVahe BaghdasaryanTangent (now part of Superwall)
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsReplacing a long onboarding paywall with a short one that had a trial toggle, App Store reviews up top and a weekly plan on the main screen raised ARPU by 17.02%.
Vahe Baghdasaryan's agency, Paywalls.Design, ran this test for a driver's license test prep app, and it was published on the RevenueCat blog. Several changes shipped together.
- ARPU: up 17.02%.
- Upfront payments: the agency says more users chose to pay right away instead of starting a trial.
- This is a bundled result. Length, toggle, reviews and plan layout changed together, so no single element gets the credit.
- Not shared: sample size, test length, trial-to-paid or retention.
The change
Long paywall with a forced trial vs short paywall with reviews first, two plans and a trial toggle.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A long-form onboarding paywall with features, a forced free trial, social proof, success stories and FAQs. Users who declined were then shown a weekly plan offer.
Variant
A short paywall with a toggle to opt into the free trial, a 5-star App Store review and testimonial at the top, and the weekly plan shown on the main screen next to a monthly plan marked with 40% savings.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- With a toggle, users who were ready to buy could pay at once, which brought revenue forward and cut trial abuse.
- The app's onboarding already explained the value, so a shorter paywall cut repetition and made the offer quicker to grasp.
- Showing the weekly price next to a cheaper-per-week monthly plan made the monthly plan look like the better deal.
- A review at the top built trust before users reached the price.
Caveats: Several changes shipped at once, and sample size and duration were not shared; the result was reported by the agency that designed the paywall. Since February 2026, Apple has been rejecting iOS apps with trial-toggle paywalls, so this design may only be usable on Android.
Who ran it
Vahe Baghdasaryan ran this test. Source: RevenueCat blog. The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
How to run this test on your app
- Hypothesis
- If we replace our long onboarding paywall with a short one that has reviews up top and shows all plans on the main screen, then ARPU will rise because users decide faster and more pick a higher-value plan.
- Primary metric
- ARPU
- Guardrails
- Paywall conversion rate
- Refund rate
- Day-30 retention
- Who should test it
- Apps whose onboarding already explains the value well, leaving the paywall to repeat it. On iOS, skip the trial toggle given Apple's current review stance; test the shorter layout and plan display instead.
Questions
Can I still use a free trial toggle on iOS?
As of February 2026, Apple has been rejecting iOS apps that use a trial toggle on the paywall. On Android it is still an option.
Why would a shorter paywall earn more?
When onboarding has already sold the app, a long paywall mostly repeats it.
A short one puts the price and the call to action in front of users sooner.
Which change drove the 17% lift?
The source doesn't separate them. Test the toggle, review placement and plan layout one at a time if you need to know.
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