What is a free trial?

On the App Store the free trial is one of the three introductory offer types. The subscription begins at once, and billing starts when the offer period ends. Apple's allowed lengths are 3 days, 1 or 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3 or 6 months, and 1 year. Free trial time is not counted as days of paid service for Apple's 85% rate. On Google Play a free trial is a pricing phase inside an offer, and promo codes for subscriptions can give a free trial of 3 to 90 days.

A trial customer is not a paying customer yet, so count them apart. Trial starts, trials still running, conversions and cancellations are separate numbers, and the trial conversion rate is conversions divided by trial starts. Tell people the trial end date and the price that follows, because surprise charges drive refunds.

In RevenueDot a trial start is an INITIAL_PURCHASE with a price of 0, and the first paid period is a RENEWAL with is_trial_conversion: true. Trials count zero in MRR, and the Active Trials, New Trials, Trial Cancellation Rate and Trial Conversion Rate charts follow them.

Example

100 customers start a 7-day trial on a $10 monthly plan. After day 7, 40 are charged $10. The trial conversion rate is 40 percent, and the 60 who canceled paid nothing.

Sources: App Store Connect Help: Set up introductory offers · Apple: Auto-renewable subscriptions · Play Console Help: Understanding subscriptions · Play Console Help: Create promotions