Mobile Apps and Games: Teardown Pack

Load this pack for consumer mobile apps and mobile games. Most of the funnel lives inside the app stores and inside the app, where web analytics can't see it, so the evidence comes from store pages over time, ad libraries, and the first-run experience.

PC and console games should load games-pc-console.md instead.

Contents

• How to recognize it
• What drives growth here
• Signals to collect
• Going inside
• Rules that limit copying
• Plays that usually transfer
• Metrics to ask about

How to Recognize It

• App Store and Google Play badges as the main call to action, often with a QR code on desktop.
• A Smart App Banner (apple-itunes-app meta tag) in the page source, which also names the App Store app ID.
• Deep link subdomains (link., go., open.) from teardown.mjs dns <domain> and teardown.mjs subdomains <domain>.
• Attribution link domains in buttons and ads: onelink.me (AppsFlyer), adj.st (Adjust), app.link (Branch).
• /.well-known/apple-app-site-association and /.well-known/assetlinks.json on the domain, which list the app IDs and the paths that open in the app.
• A thin website with a press kit, support pages, and terms, and little else.
• teardown.mjs detect <domain> flags these together as a mobile app.

What Drives Growth Here

• The store page is the landing page. Icon, screenshots, title, subtitle, and rating decide conversion from every source. Store page changes often line up with install growth more than new campaigns do.
• Paid user acquisition and its payback. Apps and games scale on paid installs once revenue per user covers cost per install. Creative volume and refresh rate are the levers.
• Featuring and charts compound. An editorial feature or a chart position brings a wave of organic installs.
• Monetization shapes the funnel. Subscription apps put a paywall early; games monetize later through in-app purchases and ads. The onboarding tells you which model they run.
• Games soft launch first. Many games test in a few countries for months before a global launch, tuning retention before scaling spend.

Signals to Collect

Going Inside

• Install and record the first session on a real device the user controls, with approval. Screenshot every onboarding screen, permission prompt, personalization question, and the paywall.
• Paywall: note the trial length, plan order, default selection, and price. Don't start a paid trial without approval, and set a reminder to cancel if one is approved.
• Rating prompt: note when the app asks for a rating and what happens just before (many ask right after a success moment). On iOS the system prompt shows at most three times a year, so its timing is a deliberate choice.
• Notifications: with approval, allow notifications and log every push for two weeks by day and type, the same way go-inside.md logs emails.
• Games: play through the tutorial and the first session, and note the first purchase offer and when ads appear.
• Guardrails: no fake reviews, no review swaps, and no rating manipulation. Never decompile the app or inspect its network traffic beyond what any user sees; that breaks the store terms and often the law.

Rules That Limit Copying

• Apple App Store Review Guidelines and Google Play policies: rules on subscription disclosure, misleading screenshots, and incentivized reviews. Apple requires its own rating API (no custom "rate us" prompts that ask for a review); Google Play offers an In-App Review API with its own quotas.
• External payment links: rules differ by store and region. In the US, a 2025 court order in Epic v. Apple opened the door to linking out to web checkout; in the EU, the Digital Markets Act sets its own terms. Check the current store policy before copying a web-to-app flow.
• Privacy and attribution: Apple's App Tracking Transparency requires consent before tracking across apps, so iOS attribution relies on SKAdNetwork and AdAttributionKit. GDPR and US state privacy laws add more limits.
• Games: Apple and Google require apps with loot boxes to disclose the odds, and some countries (Belgium, for example) treat paid loot boxes as gambling. Age ratings limit who you can target.
• Subscription law: the FTC's federal click-to-cancel rule was vacated by a federal appeals court in 2025, but state auto-renewal laws (California's, for example) and EU rules still set disclosure and cancel-flow requirements. Check with counsel.

Plays That Usually Transfer

Metrics to Ask About

• Store conversion rate: page views to installs.
• Day 1, 7, and 30 retention: share of installers still active.
• Trial start and trial-to-paid rate: for subscription apps.
• ARPU or LTV: revenue per user over time.
• CPI and payback period: cost per install and how long until it's earned back.
• Organic share of installs: installs not attributed to paid campaigns.
• Rating and review velocity: average rating and new reviews per week.