What is a paywall?

A paywall is the screen in an app that prompts a user to subscribe or pay before unlocking premium features or content. It is where free use ends and a purchase begins, and on iOS it presents in-app purchases that are processed through Apple's StoreKit and billing system.

How a paywall works

A paywall has two parts: the screen the user sees and the transaction behind it. The screen lays out the offer, the plan options, the price, the benefits, and a button to subscribe or buy. When the user taps to purchase, the app hands off to StoreKit, Apple's framework for in-app purchases, which presents the confirmation and processes the payment through the App Store. After a successful purchase, the app unlocks the premium content. The products and prices shown are configured in App Store Connect. So the paywall is the marketing and design surface, while StoreKit and the App Store handle the money.

Hard, soft, and trial paywalls

Paywalls differ in how much they gate. A hard paywall blocks the app until the user pays, which suits products where the value is clear up front. A soft paywall lets users experience part of the app first, then asks them to pay to go further, often through a free tier or a limited number of uses. Free trials let users access the full app for a period before billing starts. The choice shapes conversion: gating too early can scare users off, gating too late can leave money on the table, which is why teams test different approaches.

Why paywalls get their own tools

The paywall is one of the highest-leverage screens in a paid app, so a category of tools exists to build and optimize it. RevenueCat focuses on managing subscriptions, purchases, and entitlements across platforms, sitting on top of StoreKit. Superwall focuses on the paywall screen itself, letting teams design and A/B test paywalls and ship changes without a full app update. The two solve different problems and are often used together: one handles the purchase plumbing, the other handles the conversion surface.

Paywalls in AppFlight

AppFlight can wire in both RevenueCat and Superwall through one-click integrations as part of building a native iOS app from a prompt, so an app can have a working paywall backed by real in-app purchases. Public keys ship in the app while backend secrets stay server-side in your own Supabase. Apple's in-app purchase rules still apply, and the app goes through App Store review like any other.