How to market an app in 2026

How do you market an app? The short answer

Each phase has one job. Before launch, the job is a list of people waiting for the app. In launch week, it is turning attention into installs and first reviews. In the first 90 days, it is finding one channel that brings installs at a cost you can repeat. Everything below serves one of those three jobs.

How do you market your app before launch?

Start four to eight weeks before release. Put up a one-page site with a waitlist, open pre-orders on the App Store or pre-registration on Google Play, and get a beta into testers' hands. The goal is a list of people who will install on day one and tell you what is confusing before strangers see it.

• Waitlist page: what the app does in one sentence, a 10-second screen recording and an email field. Ask one signup question, such as "What do you use for this today?" The answers become your copy.
• App Store pre-orders: a new app can set a release day 2 to 180 days after the pre-order is published, and it downloads automatically for everyone who pre-ordered.
• Google Play pre-registration: runs for up to 90 days. People who pre-registered get a notification at launch.
• Beta testers: TestFlight takes up to 100 internal and 10,000 external testers; external builds need App Review first.

What should you do in launch week?

Launch week is about turning attention into installs. Get the store listing right first, because every other channel sends people there. Launch on Product Hunt if your users are early adopters who browse it. Post in two or three communities where your users already ask for help, and follow each community's rules on self-promotion.

• Use the words people search. Apple ranks on text relevance from your title, subtitle, keywords and primary category, plus downloads and ratings.
• Don't repeat words. Apple advises leaving duplicate words, plurals and category names out of the keyword field, and Google Play warns that repetitive or irrelevant keywords can get an app suspended.
• Product Hunt: launch at 12:01am PST to get a full 24-hour day, and ask for feedback, not upvotes: asking for upvotes is against its policies.
• Communities: read the rules, answer other people's questions for a week, then post what you built and what you learned.

Which app marketing channels work, and what do they cost in 2026?

There is no single best channel, and most app marketing strategies combine two or three. Each one charges in a different unit: per tap, per install, per 1,000 impressions, per post or per 1,000 views. The costs below are as reported by the linked sources, as of October 2026.

Averages hide big spreads: in Adapty's data, an Apple Ads download cost $0.34 for screen recorder apps and $10.34 for exam prep apps. And an impression is not a view, and a view is not an install. Budgets by stage: how much it costs to market an app.

Should you post on your own account or pay creators?

Do both, in that order. Your own account costs nothing but starts with no audience; it is where you find the hook that makes people care. Creators' accounts come with an audience on day one, and you pay for it. Use your account to find the message, then pay creators to repeat it to more people.

Formats worth testing (examples, not rules): a screen recording of the moment the app saves time, a problem then the fix, a before and after, and text slideshows. More in our guide to marketing an app on TikTok.

Can you pay creators for views instead of posts?

Yes. Instead of a fixed fee per post, you set a rate per 1,000 views and pay only for the views a video actually gets. A video that flops costs little; a video that spreads costs more but reached more people. Our guide to pay-per-view influencer marketing covers the model in depth.

Example: a micro creator charges $600 for one TikTok video, inside the $200-$1,250 range IQFluence reports, versus a rate of $1.00 per 1,000 views.

Per view protects you from flops. A flat fee wins on a breakout video, which is why per-video caps exist.

Markapping is a pay-per-view creator marketing platform for mobile apps: app owners fund a campaign and pay creators for every 1,000 views their videos get on TikTok and Instagram Reels. It is opening soon, and app owners can join the waitlist now.

• Rate and budget: from $1.00 per 1,000 views, with a $500 minimum budget paid up front plus a 10% platform fee. Example: a $1,000 budget costs $1,100. Your first campaign is reviewed by the Markapping team before it goes live.
• Optional settings: a bonus per install, trial or paid subscription; caps per video and per creator; a minimum view count before anything is paid.
• Creator rules: creators post on their own account with the paid partnership label on. Videos without it don't count.
• Checks: every video gets a fake-view check. Suspicious videos are held, and a person makes the final call.
• Leftover budget: refunded or kept as credit, your choice.

Details are on Markapping for apps and the pricing page.

How do you measure installs you can't click-track?

Most people who see an app in a short video don't tap a link. Airbridge reports that TikTok and Instagram viewers usually watch, then search the store, so click-based tracking misses most creator-driven installs. Use several signals together: store campaign links, UTM tags, an MMP, promo codes and the lift over your baseline.

Log your normal daily installs for two weeks before spending anything. On Markapping, app owner analytics show campaign spend, counted views, top videos and an install-lift figure clearly labeled as an estimate.

What does a 90-day app marketing plan look like?

Here is a plan for a new app with a small budget. Free work comes first, paid channels come only after you know which message works, and every step leaves room to cut what fails. Shift the weeks to match your launch date, and spend only on channels you can measure.

1. 01

   Days 1-14: fix the store page

   Rewrite the name, subtitle and keywords, redo the first two screenshots, set up campaign and UTM links, and log baseline installs.

2. 02

   Days 1-30: post from your own account

   Post three to five short videos a week on TikTok and Reels. Note which opening line keeps people watching.

3. 03

   Days 15-30: launch in public

   Launch on Product Hunt if your users browse it, post in two or three communities, and email your waitlist. Answer every comment.

4. 04

   Days 31-60: bring in creators

   Brief five to ten creators with your best hooks, or run a per-view campaign with a per-video cap.

5. 05

   Days 31-60: run one small ad test

   Pick one network, use your best organic video or keywords, and set a budget you can afford to lose.

6. 06

   Days 61-90: keep the winner

   Compare cost per estimated install, cut the worst channel, move its budget to the best one, and write down what you learned.

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