How to sell an ad-supported or one-time purchase app: value, AdMob and lifetime users

Can I sell an app that earns from ads or one-time purchases?

Yes. Subscription apps get most of the attention, but utilities and tools that earn from ads, a paid price or a one-time unlock change hands all the time. The steps are the same as any app sale (see how to sell an iOS app); the differences are in the price and in the ad setup, which doesn’t move with the app.

How are ad-supported and one-time purchase apps valued?

Usually at a lower multiple than a subscription app with the same profit. Flippa puts it plainly: apps earning from upfront sales, one-off in-app purchases or advertising “usually attract a lower multiplier” than subscription apps, which are valued on recurring revenue. Microns notes that one-time purchase apps “miss out on ongoing income, which can lower their overall value”.

The reason is simple: a subscription keeps paying after the sale, while ad revenue and one-time sales depend on new downloads and, for ads, on ad prices that move with the market. In my own offers the revenue model is one of five factors:

The revenue-model factor in my app valuation calculator, alongside trend, track record, traffic and owner time. Lower multiple doesn’t mean a bad deal: a steady organic ad app can still land well within my 6–36x range. More in how much is my app worth.

What do buyers check?

There’s no standard list for ad and one-time apps, so here’s what I look at, and what you can prepare:

• Ad revenue by network and month for 12 months, with impressions and eCPM, so a buyer can see whether revenue comes from more users or better prices.
• Ad network mix: one network, or mediation across several. Relying on a single network or a single format is a concentration risk.
• Policy history: any AdMob warnings, limited ad serving or invalid traffic notices. Under AdMob’s rules the publisher is responsible for keeping ad traffic valid, and high invalid traffic can get an account suspended or disabled.
• Downloads and where they come from: organic search, featuring, paid ads. Flippa warns buyers that many “Search Results” downloads with weak keyword rankings can mean App Store ads are running.
• Retention: for ads, how long users stay is the revenue.
• For one-time purchases: units sold per month, refunds, price history, and how many lifetime or paid users the new owner will be supporting.

The general checklist: app due diligence checklist.

What happens to my AdMob account?

It stays yours. AdMob states that “you cannot transfer ownership of an account”, and Google Play’s transfer page says ad integrations “will need to be updated” after a transfer. In practice the handover looks like this:

1. The buyer adds the app to their own AdMob account and creates new ad unit IDs.
2. The buyer ships an app update with their ad unit IDs (and, if they use mediation, their mediation setup).
3. AdMob reviews newly added apps before they can fully serve ads; reviews typically take 2–3 days. Accounts can also see limited ad serving for a while, usually under 30 days.
4. You keep earnings from before the handover in your account; agree in the purchase agreement how the handover month is split.

Plan for a short dip in ad revenue around the switch, and agree who carries it. Don’t hand over your AdMob login; it’s tied to your payments and tax details.

What about AppLovin MAX, Unity and other ad networks?

• AppLovin MAX: the buyer creates their own account and ships the app with their SDK key, and the apps and revenue appear in their account; AppLovin also describes handing over a whole account, with the buyer updating the payment details.
• Unity: a project can be transferred to another organization, after which monetization revenue appears under the new one; unpaid earnings need a request to Unity.
• Other networks: check each network’s help center. The pattern is almost always the same: new account or key on the buyer’s side, an app update, then you remove the app from yours.

Why does app-ads.txt matter in a sale?

app-ads.txt is a small file that tells ad buyers which ad accounts are allowed to sell your app’s inventory. It lives in the root of the developer website listed on the store (on the App Store, the marketing URL). Without a correct file, AdMob warns of “a significant loss in ad revenue”.

After the sale, both halves have to belong to the buyer: the website on the store listing, and the publisher IDs in the file. If the app points to your personal site, either transfer the domain or let the buyer change the marketing URL and publish their own app-ads.txt before their ad units go live.

What happens to paid and lifetime users?

They keep what they bought. On the App Store, a transferred app keeps its bundle ID, ratings and reviews, and users keep receiving updates. A non-consumable purchase (a lifetime unlock, for example) “does not expire or decrease with use”, and apps must offer a way to restore it (App Review Guideline 3.1.1).

That creates an obligation for the new owner: Apple’s guideline 3.1.2 says you “should not take away the primary functionality existing users have already paid for”, even when switching to subscriptions. Buyers price that in, so be ready to say roughly how many paid or lifetime users there are.

A few transfer details worth knowing:

• The buyer receives payment and sales information only for transactions after the transfer.
• The app’s in-app purchase product IDs can’t match product IDs of any app already in the buyer’s account.
• While a transfer is pending, you can’t edit pricing, availability or in-app purchases, so settle price changes first.
• If Family Sharing is on for an in-app purchase, it can’t be turned off; tell the buyer.
• On Google Play, users and their purchases move with the app, orders created before the transfer stay in your account, and the buyer needs an active payments profile. If the buyer’s account uses a different currency, apps with in-app products are unpublished until republished.

How can I get a better price?

• Add mediation if you rely on one ad network, well before the sale, so the numbers show the effect.
• Keep the ad setup clean: no accidental clicks, no aggressive placements, correct app-ads.txt. A policy warning in the last year costs more than a slightly lower eCPM.
• Show stable organic downloads, since both ads and one-time sales depend on them.
• Test a subscription or a paid tier only if you have months to show results; a half-finished switch confuses buyers more than it helps.

I buy iOS apps with ads or one-time purchases, as well as subscriptions, live 6+ months with steady revenue, in deals from $10K to $1M+. The deal usually closes in about 14 days, with no fees for you. Send me the app with your monthly revenue by source (average of the last 3 months); I usually reply within a few hours.