We were stuck waiting two weeks for every new onboarding variation in the app store. That killed experiment velocity. Moving the entire onboarding and paywall to web let us swap flows with no store release and run proper A/B tests.
I learned that some onboarding elements still belong in the app, but testing the messaging, creative matched pages, and price offers on the web found winning combos in days instead of weeks. The hardest part was ensuring the web variant mapped to the right post‑install experience via deep links and a solid account merge.
How do you decide which onboarding steps belong on web vs inside the native app?
I stopped pushing onboarding UI to the app unless it was core to product function.
We run onboarding copy tests on landing pages. When something wins we commit a small app tweak. I used an AI funnel generator to get a ready JSON and paste it into our web toolchain. Saved releases and dev time.
Speed of learning matters more than perfect parity with the app.
I treat the web flow as the test lab. Copy, price, and offer variations go live fast. Winners are ported to the native paywall once validated. That cut our test cycle from weeks to days and improved conversion significantly.
The JSON export from our web tool let the devs import funnels without full builds.
I keep UI heavy steps in the app. Use web to validate copy and price.
Once the web test proves an idea, replicate the best bits natively.
Treat the web funnel as your rapid iteration environment. You reduce release friction and can test many more hypotheses. Keep product specific interactions in the app, but every part of persuasion — social proof, guarantees, price framing, urgency — can and should be tested on web.
Operational tip: build a small mapping table that links web experiment IDs to in‑app events. That preserves attribution and simplifies moving winners into the app.
If you have a remote config in the app you can test there too. But web tests are faster and cheaper to run.
Web tests are faster but require a plan to sync entitlements after install.
I start with web to validate ideas before asking engineers for an app release.