# 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

# Permission Prompts

Request system permissions like notifications, location, and camera at the right moment in your flows.

Requesting permissions is a natural part of many flows, especially onboarding. Rather than prompting for notifications or location access at a random moment, you can ask at the right point in a flow after the user understands the value.

Permission prompts are not a standalone element. They are a [tap behavior](/docs/dashboard/dashboard-creating-paywalls/paywall-editor-styling-elements#tap-behaviors) called **Request Permission** that you attach to a button or other tappable component. When the user taps it, the system permission dialog appears.

![A permission prompt configured as a tap behavior](https://json-ld-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/flows_perm_prompt_example.jpg)

## Available permissions

* **Notification:** Ask for permission to send system notifications.
* **Background Location:** Request location access when the app isn't in use.
* **Location:** Request location access while the app is in use.
* **Read Images:** Access the user's photo library/camera roll.
* **Contacts:** Access the user's contacts.
* **Camera:** Access the device camera.
* **App Tracking Transparency:** Ask to track the user across apps and websites.
* **Microphone:** Access the device microphone.

> **Note:** Permission prompts require iOS SDK 4.12.5+.

## If Granted / If Denied

You can add follow-up actions that run depending on the user's response. Use the **If Granted** section to add actions that run when the user allows the permission, and **If Denied** for when they decline. For example, you could navigate to the next page on grant, or show a different page explaining why the permission matters on deny.

## Testing permissions in the editor

You can test permission prompts directly in the editor preview without deploying to a device. When a permission request fires, the editor shows a simulation toast with **Grant** and **Deny** buttons. Clicking either one triggers the corresponding **If Granted** or **If Denied** follow-up actions, so you can verify your entire permission flow works before shipping.

![](https://json-ld-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/flows_tips_mock_perms.jpg)

## Testing callbacks in the editor

Custom Callback actions can also be tested in the editor. When a callback fires, the editor shows a simulation toast with **Success** and **Failure** buttons. If the callback is configured as **Blocking**, the action chain pauses until you click one. If it's **Non-blocking**, the chain continues immediately and you can click whenever you're ready. This lets you test both paths of your callback logic without writing any SDK code.

![](https://json-ld-superwall-docs-staging.staffbar.workers.dev/docs/images/flows_mock_callback.jpg)

## Best practices

* Request permissions **after** providing value. Users are more likely to accept.
* Explain the benefit clearly (e.g., "Get notified about exclusive deals").
* Consider placing permission prompts after a purchase or key engagement moment.

For more guidance on iOS, view Apple's Human Interface Guidelines [here](https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/privacy#Requesting-permission).