Lorelei Whitman. Research author at RevenueCat whose 2026 State of Subscription Apps report analyzed 115,000+ apps, $16 billion in revenue, and over 1 billion transactions to surface benchmarks on trial conversion, paywall strategy, AI app retention, and involuntary churn. The report is one of the largest primary-source datasets on mobile subscription economics published to date.
Operating themes
- Paywall architecture as conversion lever Empirical comparison of hard paywall vs. freemium conversion rates, revealing a persistent 5x median gap at Day 35 and 8x gap in revenue per install at Day 60.
- AI app churn anatomy Identification of the novelty-retention paradox: AI apps generate materially higher Year 1 LTV but churn faster on monthly plans, pointing to a gap between acquisition triggers and long-term utility.
- Day-zero cancellation Quantification of the trial abandonment pattern: 55% of 3-day trial cancellations happen within the first 24 hours, making first-session onboarding the decisive moment in subscription conversion.