How to increase daily active users: Growth strategies for mobile apps

Most apps can buy downloads, sure. 

But keeping daily active users engaged? That’s where the real challenge begins. Because acquiring new users is expensive, and without loyalty, that investment quickly fades.

This guide shares proven strategies to turn first-time users into daily regulars.

From streamlined onboarding and personalization to optimized paywalls and community features, you’ll see how leading apps grow engagement, boost retention, and build sustainable long-term growth.

Key takeaways

• Daily active users (DAU) show whether your app is creating real habits and long-term value, not just downloads.

• Growing DAU requires more than acquisition: strong onboarding, personalization, community, and smart monetization drive retention.

• Benchmarks vary by category, so success depends on comparing DAU against your vertical and pairing it with retention and revenue metrics.

• Optimizing paywalls with tools like Purchasely can lift both conversion and DAU by turning monetization into an engagement driver.

What are Daily Active Users (DAU)?

A daily active user (or DAU) simply measures the number of unique people who open and use your app in a single day. Think of it as a pulse check on how many users are actually showing up, not just how many downloads you’ve collected.

DAU sits alongside weekly active users (WAU) and monthly active users (MAU). 

MAU gives you the big picture reach, while DAU zooms in on whether people find enough value to make your app part of their daily routine. 

A healthy DAU/MAU ratio usually signals strong stickiness.

Why does this matter? Because consistent user activity is one of the clearest signs of product-market fit. 

When users keep coming back, it not only strengthens retention but also builds the foundation for predictable revenue and long-term growth.

Why growing active users is harder than ever

It seems like apps are in a rebound phase, yet growth is still tough. 

Only about 1.7% of downloads convert to paying subscribers in the first 30 days. Even top-tier apps are seeing average Year-1 retention rates fall by ~14% year-over-year.

Here are the biggest obstacles blocking higher numbers of daily active users:

• Market saturation: There are 4.9 million apps across the App Store and Google Play Store. That’s a lot of apps! So even if they like your app, they’re likely splitting attention across several others.

• Rising acquisition costs: Cost-per-install (CPI) benchmarks keep climbing, especially in verticals like gaming and finance. That makes retention and daily engagement far more cost-effective than pouring budget into ads.

• User fatigue and uninstall trends: Notifications, ads, and endless sign-up flows create friction. If the user experience feels overwhelming, users might leave your app behind after just a few sessions.

• Misaligned monetization: Aggressive paywalls or confusing subscription offers can stop users in their tracks. When app monetization gets in the way of value, DAU drops fast.

What are the best strategies to improve active user growth?

Boosting DAU comes down to removing friction and delivering value at the right moments. The following 8 strategies show how leading apps turn casual downloads into loyal daily active users.

1. Improve activation to build early habits

Activation is the moment new users see your app’s value for the first time. 

If that moment is delayed or unclear, users might never return. 

Strong user activation ensures people clearly understand what your app does and why they should keep using it.

Here’s how to make activation work:

• Cut the sign-up friction: Offer one-tap logins with Apple or Google instead of forcing long forms. Let users explore before committing to account creation.

• Show value immediately: Highlight the core feature on the first screen, like Duolingo showing a simple lesson within seconds of opening the app.

• Guide with progressive onboarding: Introduce features gradually as users take actions, rather than overwhelming them with tutorials up front.

• Use early wins to motivate: Give badges, streaks, or quick progress indicators after the first action so users feel momentum from day one.

2. Personalize the experience to boost stickiness

Personalization makes users feel like your app was built just for them. 

When content, recommendations, or even the interface reflect their preferences, users are more likely to return daily. It’s a proven way to strengthen engagement and keep users coming back.

Here’s how to deliver meaningful personalization:

• Tailor content and recommendations: Use behavior data to surface playlists, workouts, or lessons that match what users already enjoy. Spotify’s personalized mixes are a perfect example of this in action.

• Adapt the interface: Customize dashboards or home screens based on recent activity, showing users the features they use most often.

• Respect user control: Let people adjust preferences or reset recommendations, ensuring personalization feels helpful rather than intrusive.

3. Use push and in-app messaging to drive timely engagement

Push notifications and in-app messages are some of the most powerful tools for lifting DAU and driving app engagement because they reconnect users who might otherwise drift away. 

The key? Timing and relevance. 

A well-placed nudge can remind someone why they downloaded your app in the first place, while poorly targeted messages can feel like spam and drive churn.

Here’s how to strike the right balance:

• Send contextual nudges: Trigger notifications based on real behavior, like reminding a user to finish a workout they started earlier in the day.

• Prioritize quality over volume: A few meaningful notifications perform better than a constant stream that leads to opt-outs.

• A/B test timing and copy: Use analytics tools to experiment with wording, delivery windows, and frequency to find what actually drives clicks and return visits.

4. Optimize paywalls to drive retention

Paywalls can either fuel DAU growth or stop it in its tracks. 

When monetization feels confusing or pushy, users churn before they ever form a habit. 

On the other hand, smartly designed paywalls can increase conversions and keep users engaged long after their first session.

Here’s how to make paywalls work for engagement, not against it:

• Experiment with pricing and trial models: Test free trials, discounts, or tiered subscriptions to find the right balance between value and revenue. For example, Stretch, a health and fitness app, increased conversion to paid by 18% after A/B testing a quarterly subscription plan.

• Keep design on-brand and seamless: A paywall should feel like a natural extension of your app, not a jarring interruption. Clear visuals, transparent messaging, and familiar tone build trust.

• Use behavioral triggers: Show paywalls when users have already experienced value, like completing a milestone, rather than immediately at sign-up.

This is where Purchasely makes a difference. 

With a no-code platform for testing and customizing paywalls, teams can optimize subscription flows without burning engineering resources. 

That flexibility turns paywalls into a lever for both monetization and sustained daily active user growth.

For inspiration, check out our paywall gallery. 

5. Foster community features to unlock network effects

Guess what? We’re human! So it’s no surprise people are more likely to return daily when an app connects them to others. 

Community-driven features create shared motivation and spark competition. This network effect is one of the strongest drivers of sustained DAU.

Here’s how to build community into your app:

• Enable social interactions: Add features like leaderboards, comments, or shared progress updates that let users celebrate wins together. Strava’s clubs and challenges are a textbook example of how community turns workouts into daily habits.

• Create challenges and group goals: Encourage users to join streaks, teams, or events that require consistent check-ins, giving them accountability and motivation to return.

• Highlight user contributions: Showcase achievements, rankings, or shared milestones to keep users coming back for recognition and status.

6. Incentivize return visits to strengthen loyalty

Users are more likely to return daily when they feel rewarded for their consistency. 

Incentives tap into human psychology by turning repeated behavior into a game or habit, making daily engagement feel natural rather than forced.

Here’s how to build effective incentives:

• Use streaks and milestones: Reward consecutive days of use with badges, progress markers, or exclusive content. MyFitnessPal, for example, uses weekly goals and milestones to help keep users on track.

• Offer loyalty rewards and referrals: Provide perks, discounts, or credits for regular activity or for bringing friends into the app. These rewards reinforce consistent usage while growing the user base organically.

• Prioritize meaningful rewards: Focus on incentives that deepen engagement rather than vanity metrics. The goal is to keep users connected to core value, not just chasing points. Runna, for instance, ties rewards to completing structured training plans, ensuring users stay motivated while progressing toward real fitness goals.

7. Continuously A/B test features to refine engagement

A/B testing gives teams a way to experiment with different flows, designs, and messages to see what actually drives higher DAU. 

By making experimentation a constant practice, you refine the experience instead of relying on assumptions.

Here’s how to put testing into action:

• Test onboarding flows and CTAs: Experiment with button placement, copy, or step counts to see which versions push more users to complete activation.

• Run in-app experiments: Try different feature rollouts or subscription prompts and track how they influence user activity.

• Use analytics to guide decisions: Pair testing with a robust analytics tool to understand not just what users click, but how changes affect retention and long-term engagement.

8. Track metrics to connect DAU with long-term value

DAU on its own can be a vanity metric unless it ties back to deeper measures like revenue and retention. 

Tracking the right metrics together ensures you are not just driving daily logins, but building sustainable growth.

You can track every metric from all your in-app sources at a glance with Purchasely, including revenue, MRR and lifetime value for each user.

Here’s how to align DAU with impact:

• Measure DAU alongside WAU and MAU: Compare daily, weekly, and monthly active users to gauge both stickiness and reach. A healthy DAU/MAU ratio signals that users are making your app a habit.

• Map DAU to retention and LTV: Track how consistent engagement connects to user retention and lifetime value. This reveals whether daily activity is translating into lasting revenue.

• Benchmark performance: Use industry benchmarks to set realistic goals for DAU growth. For example, gaming apps often see DAU/MAU ratios above 20%, while lifestyle apps trend lower.

What are the 2 key frameworks for sustained DAU growth?

The strategies above show how to boost daily active users in practical ways, but to make those gains stick, teams need structure. 

Testing, tracking, and optimizing only work if they’re tied to a broader framework that aligns DAU with the bigger picture. 

Without that, you risk chasing short-term wins that don’t translate into lasting growth.

The AARRR pirate metrics funnel

The AARRR funnel is a growth framework that tracks how users move from first discovering an app to becoming loyal, paying advocates. 

It breaks the journey into five stages: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. Each stage influences DAU in a different way.

• Acquisition: Strong top-of-funnel marketing matters, but DAU doesn’t grow if those users don’t stick. Measuring the number of users against downstream activity highlights drop-offs.

• Activation: This is where DAU begins. Faster onboarding and early wins make it more likely new users become active users.

• Retention: Retention strategies like personalized nudges or streaks directly feed DAU by keeping users coming back daily.

• Revenue: Monetization should complement, not block, daily activity. Smart paywalls and flexible pricing encourage users to stay engaged even after converting.

• Referral: Social and community features drive organic DAU growth by bringing in new users and motivating existing ones to remain active.

Framing DAU improvements through this funnel keeps teams focused on both engagement and sustainable revenue.

North star metric alignment

DAU is one of the most visible numbers in any analytics dashboard, but it becomes truly powerful only when tied to a north star metric. 

For many apps, that might be:

• Total time spent

• Workouts completed

• Subscriptions renewed

The key is linking daily activity to a measure that reflects long-term value.

Take a fitness app as an example. A spike in DAU might look great on paper, but if those users aren’t progressing through training plans or upgrading subscriptions, the activity won’t translate into business impact. 

DAU vs ARPU vs LTV

By contrast, aligning DAU with ARPU (average revenue per user) and LTV (lifetime value) ensures you’re measuring both engagement and profitability.

Healthy DAU/MAU ratios also play a role here. They reveal how many monthly active users are showing up every day, a proxy for habit strength. 

When DAU grows in step with retention and monetization, it becomes a true north star that guides the entire growth strategy.

What does a good DAU look like?

Knowing whether your DAU is healthy depends on the type of app you run. 

A hypercasual game will naturally see much higher daily engagement than a fitness or lifestyle app. That’s why industry benchmarks are important.

Pushwoosh’s recent research highlights just how widely DAU can vary by vertical:

Some of the key takeaways from this include:

• Games / Hypercasual see the strongest engagement, with median DAU reaching 12.34% on iOS and 14.33% on Android.

• News apps also perform well, with DAU medians of 9.01% on iOS and an impressive 19.57% on Android.

• Banking apps maintain steady daily usage, averaging 8.67% on iOS and 10.57% on Android.

• Health and fitness apps show much lower DAU, hovering around 1.7–2.1% across platforms.

• Hospitality and real estate apps sit at the bottom, with median DAU below 1% on iOS and just 1.9% on Android.

In summary, DAU should never be judged in isolation. The real measure of success is how your app compares within its category and whether DAU growth aligns with retention and revenue goals. 

Increase daily active users: a checklist

So how do you turn all these ideas into concrete next steps? 

A checklist keeps your team aligned and focused on the actions that will actually move DAU. Use this as a guide to structure your next growth sprint:

1. Map DAU against your retention funnel: Identify where users drop off between Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30.

2. Audit onboarding flows: Remove unnecessary steps and test progressive onboarding to highlight core value quickly.

3. Personalize the experience: Use behavior data to surface relevant content and adapt the interface.

4. Review push and in-app messaging: Ensure nudges are contextual, not overwhelming.

5. Test paywalls with Purchasely: Experiment with pricing models, trials, and designs to reduce churn and lift conversion.

6. Add gamification or community features: Introduce streaks, leaderboards, or group challenges to boost engagement.

7. Run continuous A/B tests: Test small changes to flows, CTAs, and subscription prompts to refine DAU drivers.

8. Track DAU alongside WAU, MAU, and LTV: Keep daily engagement tied to long-term value, not vanity metrics.

This checklist gives product, growth, and monetization teams a framework to prioritize experiments and spot quick wins while keeping long-term DAU growth aligned with business goals.

Final thoughts

Growing daily active users is one of the strongest signals of a healthy app. If people keep finding value in your product every day, they will stay engaged, renew subscriptions, and drive long-term revenue.

• Know who your active users are.

• Track DAU, WAU, and MAU to see the full picture.

• Use those metrics to refine onboarding, retention, and monetization.

Ready to increase DAU the smart way? Book a Purchasely demo and see how optimized paywalls can turn daily activity into lasting growth.

FAQs

How to increase active users on mobile apps?

The best way to increase active users is by improving retention. Focus on faster onboarding, personalized content, and timely nudges that remind people of your app’s value. Features like streaks, leaderboards, and community challenges also encourage users to return daily.

Is a high DAU always good?

Not always. A high DAU looks impressive, but it only matters if users are engaging in ways that tie back to your core value. If people are opening the app without completing meaningful actions or converting into paying users, DAU becomes a vanity metric. The healthiest apps pair DAU growth with strong retention and revenue.

How do you calculate daily active users?

DAU is measured as the number of unique users who engage with your app in a 24-hour period. Engagement usually means opening and performing a meaningful action, though the exact definition depends on your app. For example, in a fitness app, logging a workout may count as active use, while in a news app, it could be reading at least one article.