Most consumer apps don't fail at launch. They fail in the weeks after, when the people who installed quietly stop opening the app. Everything else about the company, from ad budgets to fundraising, depends on how many of them come back.
So the first job of any tool you add is to keep that curve in front of the team, and the second is to stop the work around it from eating the week. Here's how that splits between your product stack and an operating system like Nautis.
The retention curve is your real business plan
Andrew Chen published data from Quettra covering Android apps with over 10,000 installs in early 2015. The average app kept 23.42% of its daily users by day 3, 9.55% by day 30 and 3.97% by day 90. Top apps started higher, but lost users from day 1 to day 30 at about the same rate as everyone else. Chen's conclusion: the first visit and the first few days matter most, and long-term numbers are hard to move later.
The data is old and from one platform, so don't use it as a target. Use the shape. A curve that keeps falling means no amount of marketing will save you. A curve that flattens means you have something, and spending to acquire users starts to make sense.
- Get day 1, day 7 and day 30 retention from your product analytics tool. Nautis doesn't calculate them, and it doesn't read your app's events.
- Add them as custom metrics on the Metrics tab of a GTM Planner workspace, with a target for each, and log a snapshot every week for each new cohort.
- Put the single most important one on a Task board as a KPI task, for example "Day 7 retention to 25%", linked to a goal in Outcome Workflows so the work behind it shows in one place.
- Write the curve and what you changed into the Growth section of your monthly Startup Health snapshot, so investors see the trend and the reasoning together.
What the app stores take, and when
If you sell digital features or content inside an iPhone app, Apple's App Review Guidelines say you must use in-app purchase. Physical goods or services used outside the app must use other payment methods, such as Apple Pay or card entry. Both stores then take a share of what you sell through them.
| Store | Rate | When it applies | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple App Store, Small Business Program | 15% | Paid apps and in-app purchases, for developers with up to $1 million in proceeds in the prior calendar year, or new to the store | You must enrol. Pass $1 million in the current year and the standard rate applies to future sales |
| Apple, Small Business Program, EU alternative terms and subscriptions after year one | 10% | As described on Apple's program page | Read the EU terms before choosing them |
| Google Play | 15% | First $1 million of revenue each year, and auto-renewing subscriptions | Rates differ in markets with updated fees |
| Google Play | 30% | Earnings above $1 million in a year | Same caveat on market-specific fees |
Sources: Apple's Small Business Program page and Google's Play Console help on service fees. In the Financial Planner, start from the Mobile App template and put the store's share into cost of goods per unit on each subscription or purchase item, so gross margin on the Dashboard reflects what reaches you. Clone the project for a version where you cross $1 million, because the jump in fees changes the margin just as you're growing.
Growth loops you can plan, and the ones you have to build
A growth loop is when using the app brings in the next user: an invite, a shared result, a creator posting their work. The loop itself is product. You build it in the app and measure it in analytics. What you can plan outside the product is the experiments around it and the campaigns that feed it.
Experiments with a written hypothesis
On the GTM Planner's Experiments tab, write each test as "If we do X, we expect Y because Z", pick the channel and metric, and add a budget. When it ends, mark it Won, Lost or Learnings and record what happened. The header counts wins and fails, which keeps a team honest about how many ideas actually worked.
Creator and launch campaigns
Give each creator their own link from the URL shortener with UTM tags, so clicks by country, device and referrer show who sends real traffic. Human Clicks filters out bots. Use the QR code on event flyers. Plan the content in the Social calendar, with Reel and Story post types and a manager's approval before anything goes out.
Beta lists and feedback
A Custom forms page can collect a beta waitlist or run an NPS survey with the 0 to 10 rating field. Keep store screenshots, icons and colours in the Brand kit so the store listing, the website and the ads match.
Store dependence is a business risk
A consumer app lives inside two companies' rules. A rejected update can delay a launch you've already promoted, and a policy change can move your margin. Treat that like any other risk and write it down.
In the GTM Planner's Strategy tab, the Risks section takes a title, impact, type and mitigation plan. "Update rejected during launch week", impact High, type Technical, mitigation "submit five days early and keep the campaign start date flexible" is the kind of entry that saves a week of panic. Pricing moves, such as adding a web checkout for users outside the app or changing a trial length, go into the Decision Loop with a review date and an expected number, so you find out later whether it worked.
The week after a launch
Here's a plausible week for a four-person team that just launched a habit-tracking app with a paid subscription.
- Monday. The 7:00 am briefing from the Chief of Staff lists two overdue tasks and an agent's draft reply to a press contact waiting in the Approval Center. The founder checks the details and approves it.
- Tuesday. The growth lead logs day 1 retention for launch-week installs as a metric snapshot. It's below target, so she opens an experiment: shorter onboarding, measured on day 7.
- Wednesday. URL shortener analytics show one creator's link brought most of the human clicks. The team moves budget to that creator and logs the call in the Decision Loop.
- Thursday. The designer updates store screenshots, and the Brand kit share link goes to an outside agency doing paid ads.
- Friday. The founder enters last month's cash and burn in Startup Health and drafts the snapshot for angel investors, with launch numbers in the Execution section.
The product stack an app still needs
- Product analytics for retention cohorts, funnels and the events behind them.
- Mobile attribution to tie installs to campaigns, especially for paid ads.
- Crash reporting and performance monitoring.
- Subscription management that reads store receipts and handles trials, renewals and refunds.
- Push and in-app messaging for the first days that Chen's data says matter most.
- A support desk and the store consoles, which are where reviews and ratings live.
None of these sync into Nautis. Under Integrations, agents can call connected tools on demand, with writes waiting for approval by default. Check the catalogue for your specific tools.
When an app team should skip Nautis
- You're two engineers before launch. Your week is building, and a task tracker plus analytics may be all you need. Launch is $49 a month at the time of writing after a 14-day trial. See pricing.
- You want retention and revenue dashboards that update themselves. That's a product analytics and subscription tool, not a company OS.
- Your app is for children. The FTC's COPPA rule generally requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. Get legal advice, and keep that data in your own systems, never in Nautis.
- You need a support team on the same workspace. Seats are 5, 10 or 25 by plan, and everyone chatting draws from the same monthly AI credits.
- You want a long vendor track record. Nautis launched publicly in July 2026.
FAQ
What software for consumer app startups is essential at launch?
Product analytics, crash reporting and the store consoles come first, followed by attribution if you'll pay for installs. Add subscription management before you charge. A company layer like Nautis helps once several people are running experiments, campaigns, budgets and investor updates around the app.
Does Nautis track my app's retention or downloads?
No. It doesn't read app events or store data, and connected tools don't sync into it. Bring the numbers from your analytics tool into GTM Planner metrics or your Startup Health snapshot, where the team can set targets and track the trend.
How much do Apple and Google take from a small app?
As published on 2026-11-03, Apple's Small Business Program charges 15% on paid apps and in-app purchases for developers with up to $1 million in proceeds in the prior year. Google Play charges 15% on the first $1 million each year and 30% above that, with 15% on auto-renewing subscriptions, though some markets have different fees. Check both pages before you set prices.
Can the Social calendar publish to TikTok or Instagram?
No. It plans, versions and approves posts, and you publish from your own social tools or by hand. Use it so launch content gets reviewed before it goes out.