How Mobile Apps Make Money in 2025

In the present globe, Android’s Play store and iOS’s app store possess nearly three million apps and two million apps respectively. A recent report exclaims that nearly ninety-three percent of iOS apps are readily available free of cost and ninety seven percent of Android apps are completely free. To access the rest of the apps, we have to pay money accordingly. Most people are curious to know about How Mobile Apps Make Money. This article provides a complete guide to different ways of earning money through mobile apps. 

Different mobile app monetization methods

Different mobile app monetization methods

To decide the best app monetization model, first, you have to build app ideas, examine competitive areas and know your end users. 

In-app advertising

Generally, mobile app advertising is one of the usual ways through which free mobile apps earn money. On the other side of the flip, most organizations use this medium in an annoying way.

If you have an idea to use this in-app advertisement, you should be aware of advertisement intrusiveness and platform capability. The app platform should focus on the target users in an efficient manner. It is better to ignore the advertisements and timing that disrupt user experience for your potential users. 

As mentioned earlier, in-app advertising is one of the routine approaches to earning money through free apps. In today’s era, most users prefer free apps along with advertisements. When compared to downloading apps.

The video ads are mostly of short duration and also one can skip them easily. It is mandatory to place the video ads correctly without causing any disruption to the user experience. Typically, in-app advertising helps to earn more profit from the free app. 

Once completing the app development and when you are ready to launch your app, you can select the option of allowing advertisements or not. The app owner will get paid for each click. As video advertisements provide top-notch value to the app owner. It is 100% better than those static advertisements.

The app owners have to check whether. The audience is interested in watching video advertisements or not. While providing video apps, you have to focus on the duration of the video and the type of advertisement. Most of the free mobile apps earn money by acquiring different types of advertisements like Native, Banner Incentivized, etc. 

Lists of advertisements

In this section, we can discuss different types of advertisements through which mobile apps earn money. First, we can see about the native advertisements. These ads can be easily integrated into the app efficiently.

The native ads promote any standard brand or product through videos or content. Next, we can discuss interstitial advertisements.

These are the pop-ups that are displayed. On the concerned moment interior of the app. The user can either close the advertisement or examine the promoted content. The banner advertisements are placed on the smartphone device screens.

With the aid of incentivized advertisements, it is feasible to enhance the audience’s interaction and loyalty. The in-stream video ads have a duration of just thirty seconds. 

Advantages & disadvantages of In-app advertising

Advantages & disadvantages of In-app advertising

The substantial benefits of-in app advertising is it places the ads where they have a better reach, builds sharable content, and requires minimal content which tends to be 100% effective. The disadvantages of in-app advertising are the initiation of disruptive ads. People getting irritated as it acts like a telemarketing call and it is also navigational trouble. 

In-app purchases

The app owners can earn money through in-app purchases & Freemium models. It is one of the best ways to earn revenue that provides additional benefits to users. In this model, one can add premium features for routine users. These features can be premium data, moving on to an additional level.

If you have an idea to move with the in-app purchases, first you have to start with the design process to build a logical payment medium. While providing the in-app purchase, you have to give details like title, description, option to eradicate advertisements, and Color palette to attract the audiences. 

There are four types of in-app purchases. Which are described as Consumables, Non-consumable, Renewed subscriptions, and Non-renew subscriptions. Once buying the consumable in-app purchase, you can use it only for one time. But to use it next time, you have to repurchase it.

The Non-consumable type can be bought once and can be used multiple times and on different devices. But the protocol is that the account should be the same. The renewal subscription enables regular charges in the swapping of data.

The Non-renewing subscription lets the people operate unique content for a particular amount of time. Once the cycle process ends, this type of subscription can be repurchased. 

Pros & Cons of in-app purchase 

By using the in-app purchase method, the users can unlock the content easily and there is no need for accessibility. On the other side of the flip, the in-app purchase possesses disadvantages. Exploring the apt balance between the best free app and the worst app can be tedious.

If an app possesses top-notch value. Then people would not go for the other options like premium. At the same time, if an app is worse. Then people will not be interested in spending money on it. The in-app purchase needs reworking of pricing methodologies and enhances the margin. So that consumers fluctuate before purchasing services or products. 

Sponsorship

Once an app attains popularity, it needs some sponsorship. It is completely different from the other advertisements as they are specific, static and 100% genuine. It helps to promote their business seamlessly.

The sponsorship can be easily integrated. When compared to other advertisements. If you have an idea to use sponsorship first you have to reach fame in your mobile app.

Before addressing sponsorship, you have to consider a few factors like engagement, interaction, targetable and measurable. Arrays of advantages of the sponsorship method are enhanced credibility. Top-rated popularity, and charging for an additional premium. The disadvantages are causing the disturbance in UI and not apt options for the new players. 

Referral marketing

The Referral marketing is popularly known to be affiliate marketing. To optimize the profit, this type of marketing promotes the products or services. For the promotion process, it is better to go ahead with the option of pop-up advertisements. To effectively leverage referral marketing, analyzing successful referral marketing examples can illuminate strategies that enhance engagement and streamline the referral process.

There are different types of referral marketing models such as

  1. CPA – Cost per Action
  2. CPV – Cost per View
  3. CPC – Cost per Click
  4. CPI – Cost per Install

By using CPA, it is easier to promote products, services, and third-party apps.

The CPV targets third-party business which relies on video views and advertisement interaction. The CPC targets the total number of clicks on a concerned advertisement. The CPI model is more or less similar to that of the CPA.

The benefits of referral marketing are a trusted monetization model and 100% profitability. The cons are referral acquisition and its models can be challenging. 

Data Sharing

Through different aspects, the apps collect user data. By possessing a mobile app, it is feasible to share behaviour data and one can earn money easily from it. The monetization can be processed on different platforms. Such as like the user’s email address, social media account, and personal preferences.

The substantial pros are one can easily acquire information about the target audience and earn more revenue. The cons are data security and revealing consumer data may not be comfortable. 

Push notifications 

Push notifications are the most important for promotion of mobile apps. It is user-friendly and helps to attain 100% results. An added benefit is that it can be easily. The personalized, has top-notch visibility, efficient subscription, etc. The cons are minimal creativity, being misunderstood as advertisements, and invasiveness feels. 

Selling merchandise

It is feasible to build a merchandise store and one can easily earn revenue from it. Most businesses sell products like garments, toys, and utensils. One can sell these items through app marketing or email marketing.

The advantages are reaching a broad range of audiences, 100% convenience, and ordering inventory products. The disadvantages are a disconnected shopping experience, a bad smartphone commerce experience, and software integration problems. In case you connect with your app users via email as well and share crucial information, you should also use the DKIM generator that will help you to keep your account safe from spamming and phishing.

Free/Premium versions 

Instead of going ahead with an in-app purchase. It is better to use the free & premium versions. When you possess a free app, first you have to install it and test the service impeccably. Once using the free app, the users know the significance of the app.

If the users wish, they can pay a concerned amount for the premium version of the mobile app. The most striking advantages are a seamless mobile experience and testing before paying the amount. Lists of limitations are poor maintenance, and management, and exploring the balance of features can be a little bit trickier. 

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Conclusion:

In this blog, we have discussed how mobile apps make money. Though there are different methods available. We have to think twice before selecting method. First, you should be clear about the purpose and the needs. Next, acquire information about disposable income, and purchasing habits & finally, select the app monetization method. 

Author

A well-versed experience in the field of IT with more than 14+ years of expertise in DevOps Consulting, Quality Assurance, Project Management & Outsourcing and predominantly focusing on customer relationships, negotiations, estimations, contact partners, market research and helping small business owners and young entrepreneurs to reach their next level.