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Mobile App Growth Blog

This is where the Applica team writes up what happened in the accounts we run: what was tested, what the numbers did, and what we would do differently. Articles cover app store optimization, paid user acquisition across Meta, Apple Ads, Google and TikTok, ad creative testing, paywalls and pricing, retention, and the measurement layer underneath all of it.

It is written for growth leads, UA managers and founders of subscription apps who are judged on cost per paying user and payback period rather than on install volume. Most pieces carry a method you can run yourself rather than a summary of someone else's report.

How to Test Ad Creatives on Meta: A Step-by-Step Methodology cover image Blog

Acquisition

How to Test Ad Creatives on Meta: A Step-by-Step Methodology

After Meta's Andromeda update started reading the creative to decide who sees an ad, the unit of a test stopped being a cosmetic tweak and became a distinct concept — so launching eight near-identical variants no longer produces a read. This piece argues testing ad creatives on Meta is a structure problem, not a volume problem, and lays out a five-step methodology plus the discipline most tests skip: a pre-committed kill threshold and the patience to harvest winners from mature data.

26 August 2026 · 10 min read
Meta Ad Placements in 2026: Where to Run, What to Expect, and How to Win cover image Blog

Acquisition

Meta Ad Placements in 2026: Where to Run, What to Expect, and How to Win

Two of Meta's biggest ad surfaces were reshaped inside a year — global Threads inventory and the March 2026 Stories/Reels safe-zone unification — and both hit the same question: where should your spend run? This guide maps the full 2026 placement inventory, then makes the case most placement guides miss: placements are a revenue-quality decision, not a cost one, because the cheapest surfaces routinely win the install and lose the LTV.

14 August 2026 · 12 min read
3 Paid User Acquisition Mistakes Burning Your Budget, and How to Fix Them cover image Blog

Acquisition

3 Paid User Acquisition Mistakes Burning Your Budget, and How to Fix Them

Paid UA is getting structurally more expensive, and a messy setup no longer hides. This piece argues efficiency is largely decided before the auction ever runs — by the signal you feed the platform, how your campaigns and optimization events are structured, and whether your creative tests are fair. It walks the three mistakes quietly burning budget, and the operational fix for each, in the order you should tackle them.

28 July 2026 · 12 min read
App Store Conversion Optimization: Half of ASO Most Growth Teams Underfund cover image Blog

Acquisition

App Store Conversion Optimization: The Half of ASO Most Teams Underfund

Most growth teams spend months earning an impression — then hand it to a store listing nobody has tested in a year. This piece makes the case for app store conversion optimization: the store-listing CRO layer that decides whether your paid and organic traffic actually converts. It explains why the conversion half of ASO is chronically underfunded (a filing-cabinet problem, not a skills gap), what sits inside it, and how to test it properly.

27 July 2026 · 12 min read