i think this hard paywall meta is great for some mobile apps with high costs OR solving a painful problem.
but many mobile apps are quite bad and do not deserve to have a hard paywall, ive realized this with my own app
it can be made into an AMAZING product if i just leave it as a free app and then get a ton of users helping me improve the product, so thats what im doing, im making it freemium for now
ALSO when pat says "great onboarding" here what it actually means is "greatly exhausting onboarding" because all the up and coming apps with this hard paywall mindset are exhausting the user on purpose to be ready to purchase (sunk cost + fatigue)
you have experienced this and it really is not fun, and its often (not always) more worked on than the actual app itself!!!
i have tried it all so i'm no saint, but going forward im taking a new path against the recommended approach.... short quick 3 steps onboarding, no hard paywall, make app INSANELY GOOD over time with user feedback, freemium model.
maybe hard paywall later, but i would like to have my family members be like "oh cool app let me try" and fall in love and then be like wow this is amazing, and eventually if i want i can make it hard paywall... but at first i want to make something REALLY good for now, this is fun! and there are quite a few indie made apps that have 100k MRR which DO NOT follow this hard paywall long ass shit ass gay ass onboarding 100 step 300 question onboarding.
its possible i fail miserably but ide like to give it a go. i feel like im up for the challenge of tackling the b2c freemium mobile app beast.
btw i still love you if you do hard paywall, i want you to make money, i have nothing against you as a person if you do 50 step onboarding - i only am saying i want to try something else myself, i am trying to take a different path. i think it will be more fun for me.