Ling
Hey Ling team, here are five ideas for your paywall, each backed by data from 78,000+ paywalls.
of Paywalls 2026
as a working screen
to your art direction
Millions of dollars in subscription revenue pass through Flow Builder every month.
Nearly 500 apps actively build their paywalls and onboarding in it — plenty of them past $100K MRR.
We opened Ling the way a new learner does, then checked your paywall against the market.
Adapty powers subscriptions for 30,000+ apps, so we see what moves conversion across the market, not inside one app. We installed Ling, went through onboarding for Arabic, added a second course, reached your paywall, read your App Store listing, and compared every element with State of Paywalls 2026.
What follows is five ideas, not fifteen. Each one is a test you can run, and each one is built into a clickable prototype in your own design. Benchmarks are for Education apps in the US, your largest App Store market.
We did not redesign your paywall
Every element in the prototype is yours: the monkey and globe art, your orange button, the blue trial badge, your plan cards, your timeline and your own prices. Only what sits on the screen, and when, has changed.
You may have tested some of this
We are working from the outside, so we cannot see your experiment history. If you have already run one of these, tell us and we will go deeper on the rest.
Your paywall against the report.
| Element | Your paywall | Top paywalls (report) | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Two cards, Annual and 1 month. Annual pre-selected, with the 7-day trial on it. | 62% show two plans; 73% use cards. 78% of trial paywalls pre-select annual. | Market default |
| Annual price | EUR 79.99, next to a crossed-out EUR 129.99, and EUR 6.67/mo. | 62% show the full annual price, 24% per month, only 4% per week. 16% cross out a price. | Market default |
| Trial | 7 days on annual, none on monthly. | 66% offer a trial. In Adapty data, 7-day trials convert better than 3-day trials on annual plans. | Market default |
| Headline | “Speak Amharic with the ones you love”: the course and the reason from onboarding. | Only 2% use what the user told the app. 79% keep it to six words or fewer. | Market defaultAhead of most |
| Social proof | Four rotating user reviews. No star average, no rating count, no award. One review is about Khmer. | 27% show social proof; 20% of trial paywalls show awards or press. | Test opportunity→ Idea 3 |
| Reassurance near the button | The trial timeline is one screen earlier. On the plan screen, “Cancel anytime” is fine print below Restore. | 74% of trial paywalls put reassurance next to the button. | Mismatch→ Idea 4 |
| Close button | Visible from the first second on both screens. | 22% of apps delay it. Among those, 3–5 seconds is the most common delay. | Test opportunity→ Idea 5 |
| After close | Not visible in our walk. | Only 4% of apps show a second paywall after the first is closed. | Test opportunity→ Idea 1 |
| When it appears | Not after onboarding in our walk. The first price appeared when we added a second course. | Education: onboarding paywalls convert 0.88% of views, later ones 0.27%. | Mismatch→ Idea 2 |
Top paywalls = 100 top iOS paywalls reviewed in State of Paywalls 2026. These describe common practice, not what converts. Trial-length and placement rows use Adapty performance data.
Ranked by what we would test first.
Offer changes first, cosmetics last. Each one links straight to the screen in the prototype.
Catch the close with a second chance
In our walk the X was on screen from the first second, and we could not see anything after it. Most apps let that person walk away. Bring the 7-day trial back once, on your own EUR 79.99 annual price, shown as EUR 1.54 a week.
📊 State of Paywalls 2026 · Only 4% of apps show a second paywall on close. It beats the main paywall in 45% of apps.See the screen ARPU +10–15%Based on Adapty data
Show the paywall when onboarding ends
Onboarding built us a 7-week Arabic plan, asked for an account and went straight to lessons. The first price appeared only when we added a second course. Put the paywall right after the plan, while the plan is still on screen, with the learner's name in the headline.
📊 State of Paywalls 2026 · Education: onboarding paywalls earn $229 per 1,000 views, later paywalls $73.See the screen 0.88% vs 0.27%View → paid, Education
onboarding vs later
Put your 4.6 stars and Apple award on the paywall
The paywall rotates four user reviews but shows no star average and no rating count, and one review is about Khmer on a paywall selling Amharic. Your 4.6 from 16K US ratings and Apple's Great Apps for Education 2023 are not there.
📊 State of Paywalls 2026 · Only 27% of top paywalls show social proof; 20% of trial paywalls show awards.See the screen CR +10–30%Observed in winning
A/B tests
Say “no payment now” next to the button
Your Today / Day 5 / Day 7 timeline is good, but it sits one screen before the prices. On the plan screen, “Cancel anytime” is grey fine print under Restore, below the fold. Bring the timeline down to the button.
📊 State of Paywalls 2026 · 74% of top trial paywalls put a reassurance line next to the button.See the screen 74%of top trial paywalls
do this
Hold the X for three seconds
The X is the first thing on both trial screens, before the timeline and before the plans. A short delay lets the headline, your rating and the trial land first.
📊 State of Paywalls 2026 · Among apps that delay the close button, 3–5 seconds is the most common delay.See the screen CR +8–15%Observed in winning
A/B tests
All five work on the same few seconds: when someone decides whether Ling is worth paying for, and what happens if they say no.
State of Paywalls 2026
78,000+ paywalls, 30,000+ apps, benchmarks by region and category.
Or open it on your phoneScan to try the paywall in your hand.
