How should I handle in app payment for new app that does not have anything to show yet

Question

I have created a new app that is not in both stores yet. It is supposed to charge users subscriptions every 1 / 3 / or 6 months. The app helps users find nearby users based on some criteria. Some parts of the app are for paid members and other parts of the app for all users. There are 0 users in the app right now. So there are no users to show to each user. Which makes it difficult to charge people subscription.

I have the following questions that would appreciate if someone can answer:

• Should I show the paywall to the users at this point?
• What is the best way to make all users paid so that they can use the app even though they did not pay anything.
• What would be the best way to show the paywall to the users at this early stage.

Please keep in mind that users are the assets in this app. So if there are no users in the app, there would be nothing to show to other users and charging people subscription would not make sense.

What would be the best strategy here.

I appreciate any help I can get.

Answer 1

Should I show the paywall to the users at this point?

Sure, why not, as earlier you implement the feature, easier will be the changes in the future screens if you have a reusable logic.

What is the best way to make all users paid so that they can use the app even though they did not pay anything.

You need to handle the access control of each feature or screen in the App that you want to be allowed only for premium access, something like:

if(isPremium) {
  return UnauthorizedScreen() or SubscribeNowScreen();
}

return PremiumFeatureScreen();

EDIT: It seems i missunderstood the question, I would focus on acquiring users in the beggining and monetizing the App with premium features instead unless you will be able to market and you company have a big name that can attract users even without have they using the app yet. You can put limitations in the app, or you can offer longer free trial period such as 1 year?

This article is quite interesting on how to monetize Applications.

What would be the best way to show the paywall to the users at this early stage.

I Recommend you to add the option to subscribe in the Options of your App, so the users can go there and subscribe if they want. Apollo is one the Apps i like the Subscription model so you can get some ideas from this App.