06-reference

paul solt app store packaging rules

Fri Apr 17 2026 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) ·reference ·source: Paul Solt (X Article) ·by Paul Solt
app-storepackagingpaywallonboardingmobile-app-conversionsquarely

“$250 to $5K MRR: 5 App Store Packaging Rules That Actually Work” — @PaulSolt

Why this is in the vault

Founder shared this at 2026-04-21 06:18 EDT framing it as “Good framing for squarely.” Solt’s diagnosis (“if your app is stuck between $10-$300/month, you don’t have a traffic problem — you have a packaging problem”) is directly applicable to Squarely Puzzles. The 5 rules constitute a runnable App Store packaging checklist.

⚠️ Sponsorship

Self-promotional thought-leadership piece. Solt is selling:

  1. His own 12-experiments lead magnet (email signup → super-easy-apps.kit.com/12-app-store-experiments)
  2. Follow-his-X CTA at the end (“Building iOS/macOS apps with AI tools? Follow @PaulSolt”)
  3. His Brew Coffee app (BrewCoffeeApp) namedrop in the Solt bio

The substance is real but ~70/30 substance/sales-funnel. Founder bought into the framing intentionally; not a hidden CTA.

The core argument

Diagnosis: Apps stuck at $10-$300/MRR don’t need traffic. They need packaging. 5 rules, in priority order:

1. Icon

2. Screenshots

3. Onboarding (3-4 screens)

4. Paywall

5. Simple User Flow

Mapping against Ray Data Co

Direct application: Squarely Puzzles. Founder owns squarelypuzzle.com + squarelypuzzles.com (both active in Cloudflare per yesterday’s Cloudflare onboarding work). Squarely is a puzzle game app — exact fit for Solt’s framework.

Likely lever ranking for Squarely (without seeing current MRR or App Store listing):

  1. Paywall placement — biggest revenue lever. If Squarely’s current paywall fires after free-level completion (or only as in-app promo), the math is brutal per Solt’s 1%-see-paywall anecdote. Test: paywall immediately after onboarding’s value-paint screen.

  2. Screenshot story sequence — first 3 screenshots in App Store search probably aren’t optimized. Audit: do they tell a story (hook → solve moment → feature tease) or are they “here’s the menu / here’s a level / here’s settings”?

  3. Icon stand-out — visual pop test against the puzzle category neighbors. If Squarely’s icon blends, this is fast to iterate.

  4. Onboarding outcome-paint — 3-4 screens showing what playing Squarely feels like, not how to tap.

  5. User flow — already likely good for a puzzle game.

Operational next step: pull Squarely’s current App Store listing screenshots + paywall analytics, run Solt’s checklist as a Squarely-specific worksheet. ~30 min audit. Optionally also grab the 12-experiments lead magnet (email signup cost is fine since today’s Solt content has been substantive).

Beyond Squarely: this packaging discipline applies to Sanity Check v3 landing page in spirit. Sanity Check isn’t an iOS app, but the “story sequence in first 3 visible screenshots” maps to “first 3 above-the-fold elements on the landing page” and the “paywall right after value moment” maps to “subscribe CTA placement after the hook lands.” Read the article through the SC v3 lens too when we draft the relaunch landing page.

Sources & bias notes