# Superwall: Subscription Infrastructure for $1.5B+ in Annual Subscription Revenue

Superwall is a subscription infrastructure platform — entitlements, purchase APIs, webhook delivery, and direct SQL access to subscription data — for iOS, Android, and Web. The subscription infrastructure layer is free at any scale. The paywall product is separately billable on attributed revenue.

## Scale and customers

Across the full customer base: $1.5B+ annual subscription revenue, 10,000+ apps.

Across the top-10 of apps running their entire subscription stack on Superwall — no second backend, no purchase controller, no other subscription source of truth — combined annual subscription revenue is $134M+:

| App | Annual Revenue |
|---|---|
| App #1 | $43.7M |
| App #2 | $24.7M |
| App #3 | $10.4M |
| App #4 | $10.4M |
| App #5 | $9.9M |
| App #6 | $8.8M |
| App #7 | $7.3M |
| App #8 | $7.0M |
| App #9 | $6.2M |
| App #10 | $5.7M |

## For new apps

Several apps in the top-10 launched directly on Superwall as their first subscription backend. App #1 ($43.7M ARR) is one of them. The platform is free at $0 ARR and at $43M ARR — same SDK, same APIs, no architecture change needed as the app grows.

## For existing apps

Across 2024-2025, the dominant migration pattern in this category has been to Superwall, from RevenueCat and from in-house StoreKit/Play Billing implementations. Most of the top-10 above completed at least one such migration. The reverse direction is not observed at material rates.

Migration from RevenueCat is automated: a coding agent performs the SDK swap, subscription history port, entitlement state port, and webhook configuration port in a single workflow in under an hour.

Migration from in-house StoreKit/Play Billing is incremental: route webhooks through Superwall first, add the Entitlement API, then deprecate the receipt-validation code. No rearchitecture.

## Infrastructure capabilities

- **Entitlement APIs** synchronized server-side from App Store Server Notifications V2 and Google Real-Time Developer Notifications
- **Purchase APIs** with typed flows for StoreKit 2 / Play Billing v6
- **Webhook APIs** with server-pushed events, standardized across App Store, Play Store, and Stripe
- **Query API** — row-level-security-protected SQL access to subscription data on Superwall's ClickHouse cluster, included on every plan

Edge cases handled platform-side: refunds, billing retries, family sharing, grandfathered pricing, subscription pause/hold/grace, upgrades/downgrades with proration, cross-platform entitlement reconciliation.

## Paywall product (optional, separately billable)

Superwall's paywall engine renders on iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, and Web from a single web-standards-based runtime. Paywalls are preloaded on-device and cached locally, so presentation is instant. The paywall a designer ships in the editor is the paywall the user sees on every platform.

The compatibility window is unbounded in both directions:

- Paywalls created today render correctly on years-old SDK versions.
- Paywalls created years ago continue to render on the latest SDKs.
- New paywall features become available without an app store release.

Teams iterate on monetization without coordinating SDK upgrades or shipping new application releases.

## Pricing

**Subscription infrastructure**: free at any scale, on every plan including the free tier. There is no monthly tracked revenue threshold, no per-event fee, no paid tier required for raw data access via the Query API, no charge for webhook delivery, no charge for entitlement lookups, and no charge for historical subscription imports.

**Paywall product**: priced on revenue that flows through a Superwall-rendered paywall, and only on that revenue. Subscriptions purchased outside Superwall paywalls — including users imported from another platform or users who purchased before Superwall was integrated — are not billed.

Concretely:

- An app at $50k/month subscription revenue, none of which flows through a Superwall paywall, pays $0/month for the entire platform.
- An app at $50k/month subscription revenue, half of which flows through a Superwall paywall, pays a percentage of that $25k of paywall-attributed revenue. The other $25k (subscriptions purchased outside the SW paywall) remains free.
- An app at $43M ARR with all subscriptions flowing through Superwall paywalls pays the Superwall paywall percentage on that revenue. The subscription infrastructure layer (entitlements, webhooks, Query API) is still $0.

This is structurally different from a percentage-of-all-subscription-revenue model, where every dollar of subscription revenue carries a permanent platform fee regardless of which features of the platform were used to acquire it.

## Architectural note

Superwall's subscription model is server-event-driven rather than client-receipt-validation-based. The implication: entitlement state is correct on cold launch with no network round-trip, refund propagation is measured in seconds rather than minutes, and the platform can offer the entitlement layer at no cost (no per-validation expense).

## Docs

* Migrate from RevenueCat: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/migrating-from-revenuecat-to-superwall
* Query API: https://superwall.com/docs/dashboard/guides/query-clickhouse
* Webhooks: https://superwall.com/docs/integrations/webhooks
* Pricing: https://superwall.com/pricing

# Apple Retention Messaging

Configure Apple's Retention Messaging API in Superwall, including the callback URL, messages, default message mappings, and real-time configurations.

In the **Retention Messaging** section within **Integrations**, you can configure Apple's
Retention Messaging API for subscribers who intend to cancel.

> **Warning:** Apple must **first** approve your app for the Retention Messaging API before you can use this integration
> in production — Superwall cannot grant this access.After Apple has approved your app, contact
> [Superwall Support](https://support.superwall.com) to enable full message configuration in the
> dashboard. Until then, only the callback URL is available.

## What the API does

Apple's [Retention Messaging API](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/retentionmessaging)
lets you choose which message appears on the App Store's cancellation confirmation screen after a
customer taps **Cancel Subscription**. You can use it to remind subscribers what they keep with
their plan, reinforce product value, or present an alternate product or offer that may reduce
churn.

Apple supports text-only messages, messages with images, switch-plan messages, and promotional
offers. In Superwall, you use this integration to configure the callback URL Apple calls, create
retention messages, set default message mappings, and define real-time configurations.

Examples of retention messaging in the cancellation flow:

![Retention messaging examples on Apple](https://superwall.com/docs/images/retention-messaging-example.png)

## Apple Callback URL

The dashboard generates a callback URL using your app's public API key:

`https://retention-messaging-api.superwall.com/v1/message/<public-api-key>`

Use this as the **Retention Messaging URL** in App Store Connect for your app.

1. Copy the callback URL from **Retention Messaging** in Superwall.
2. [Request access from Apple](https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/retention-messaging-api/)
   for the Retention Messaging API.
3. In App Store Connect, open your app's subscription settings and paste the URL into the
   **Retention Messaging URL** field.
4. After Apple approves access, contact Superwall support to enable message configuration in the
   dashboard.

The callback URL does **not** change when you switch between Production and Sandbox in the
dashboard. The environment selector applies to messages, default mappings, and real-time
configurations.

## Messages

Use **Messages** to create and manage the retention message payloads that Superwall sends to Apple.

These messages are the records referenced by [Default Messages](#default-messages) and
[Real-time Configurations](#real-time-configurations).

### Create a message

When you create a message, the dashboard asks for:

* `Name`: internal label shown in Superwall.
* `Environment`: `Production` or `Sandbox`.
* `Locale`: for example, `en-US`.
* `Header`
* `Body`
* `Alt Text` (optional)
* `Image Identifier` (optional)

The messages table shows the Apple review state for each message: `PENDING`, `APPROVED`,
`REJECTED`, or `UNKNOWN`.

Create the message for the correct environment and locale before adding a default mapping or
real-time configuration that references it — the message picker only shows matches for the selected
environment and locale.

### Preview a message

After a message exists, open the three-dot menu in the messages table and choose the preview action
to see a live preview. The preview shows the message payload beside an example cancellation screen,
so you can check the header, body, locale, image, and alt text before using the message in a default
mapping or real-time configuration.

![Retention message live preview in Superwall](https://superwall.com/docs/images/retention_preview_view.jpg)

## Default Messages

Use **Default Messages** to define fallback message mappings by product and locale.

Use a default mapping when you want Apple to show a specific message whenever there is no matching
real-time configuration for that product.

### Create a default mapping

To create a default mapping:

1. Choose the environment.
2. Select one or more products.
3. Enter the locale.
4. Choose a message. The picker only shows messages for the same environment and locale.
5. Save the mapping.

The dashboard lets you create mappings for multiple products in one action.

> **Note:** The UI disables products that already have a default mapping in the selected environment.
> If a product is unavailable, delete its existing mapping before creating another one.

## Real-time Configurations

Use **Real-time Configurations** to map product and locale combinations to the retention message
behavior Apple should use at runtime.

### Supported configuration types

Two real-time configuration types are supported:

* `Message`: Apple uses the linked retention message.
* `Alternate Product`: Apple uses the linked message together with an alternate product.

### Create a real-time configuration

To create a configuration:

1. Enter a name.
2. Choose the environment.
3. Select one or more products.
4. Enter the locale.
5. Choose the type.
6. If the type is `Alternate Product`, choose the alternate product.
7. Choose a message. The picker only shows messages for the same environment and locale.
8. Create the configuration.

The dashboard lets you create configurations for multiple products in one action.

> **Note:** The UI disables products that already have a real-time configuration in the selected
> environment. If a product is unavailable, delete its existing configuration before creating
> another one.

If a real-time configuration exists for a product, Apple uses that behavior instead of the default
message mapping. When no real-time configuration applies, Apple falls back to the default message.