Learn the app business
Everything you need to launch an app that takes off
What a mobile app really is, what makes one go viral, how much the top ones earn: we break it all down, with real numbers.
Live from the App Store
01The numbers
Who’s making money today
The App Store’s top grossing apps, with their estimated monthly revenue. Updated every day.
Open the full rankings
02Trends
What’s taking off right now
The apps climbing the charts the fastest. Often the best signal of what people want next.
03Founders
They started from zero
Students, non-coders, solo makers: the real stories of founders who turned one app into a business.
04Learn
Understand how apps work
Guides to go from idea to App Store: what to build, how to make it go viral, how to earn from it.
05Basics
The app business in 60 seconds
A mobile app makes money in four main ways: a subscription (weekly, monthly or yearly), in-app purchases (credits, upgrades, items), ads, or a one-time price to download it. Most of today’s top grossing apps rely on subscriptions.
Apple and Google keep a commission on each sale: 15% for developers who earn under $1 million a year through their small business programs, 30% above that. The rest is yours.
Revenue is very unevenly spread: a small number of apps earn most of the money and most apps earn little. That’s why it pays to study what already works, in the live charts above, before you build.
06Glossary
8 words to know
- MRR
- Monthly recurring revenue: what your subscriptions bring in each month.
- ARPU
- Average revenue per user: total revenue divided by the number of users.
- Paywall
- The screen that asks users to subscribe or pay to unlock the app.
- Top grossing
- The App Store chart that ranks apps by the money they make, not by downloads.
- Retention
- The share of users who still open the app days or weeks after installing it.
- Viral coefficient
- How many new users each user brings in. Above 1, the app grows by itself.
- UGC
- User-generated content: videos made by creators that show the app, often on TikTok.
- ASO
- App Store Optimization: the title, keywords and screenshots that help people find your app.
07FAQ
Questions beginners ask
How do free apps make money?
Mostly with subscriptions or in-app purchases sold inside the app, sometimes with ads. The download is free; the value is unlocked later.
How much does an average app make?
Most apps make little and a few make a lot. Our free charts show the estimated monthly revenue of the top apps in each category. Read more →
Can I make an app without coding?
Yes. Several founders on this page couldn’t code, and AI builders like Bloxks now build and publish the app from a description.
How long until an app makes money?
It depends on the idea and the distribution. Some founders saw their first revenue within weeks, most take several months.
What makes an app go viral?
A simple result people want to share, short videos on TikTok and Reels, and a product good enough to keep users after the first day.
Where do the revenue figures come from?
They are Bloxks estimates built from Apple’s public App Store charts, updated every day. They give an order of magnitude, not exact numbers.
Spotted an idea? Build it with Bloxks
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