I keep a close watch on the Top Grossing charts in the App Store and Google Play, always looking for risers. The list doesn't move nearly as much as you'd expect, so when an app travels up consistently, I know revenue has grown significantly.
The app driving this insight is Life360, a family tracker and private chat app that's been on the list for a long time. It's now at the highest rank it's ever been.
According to our app intelligence, Life360's mobile net revenue from the App Store grew 35% in May. In more absolute terms, it rose from $10M in April to $13.5M in May, the biggest month in revenue for the app.
Revenue came almost in its entirety from the US, which contributed 92% to the total. The UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan round out the top 5, but it's really all about the US for Life360.
Unlike revenue, downloads have fluctuated a lot. So far in 2023, downloads are down a bit when compared to January. Not enough to be alarming but enough to say they're down.
Downloads going down while revenue goes up is an interesting trend I've shown a few times in the last few months. Subscriptions are to thank for this, but beyond just having a subscription, a good portion of growth will come from optimizing how you offer it, when you offer it, and its price.
If you're monetizing with subscriptions, make sure you're always optimizing those. I'd do it in that order, but you don't have to as long as you're optimizing.
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