Showing Paywalls

At the heart of Superwall's SDK lies Superwall.shared.register(event:params:handler:feature:).

This allows you to register an event to access a feature that may or may not be paywalled later in time. It also allows you to choose whether the user can access the feature even if they don't make a purchase.

Here's an example.

With Superwall

func pressedWorkoutButton() {
  // remotely decide if a paywall is shown and if 
  // navigation.startWorkout() is a paid-only feature
  Superwall.shared.register(event: "StartWorkout") { 
    navigation.startWorkout()
  }
}

- (void)pressedWorkoutButton {
  // remotely decide if a paywall is shown and if
  // navigation.startWorkout() is a paid-only feature
  [[Superwall sharedInstance] registerWithEvent:@"StartWorkout" params:nil handler:nil feature:^{
    [navigation startWorkout];
  }];
}

Without Superwall

func pressedWorkoutButton() {
  if (user.hasActiveSubscription) {
    navigation.startWorkout()
  } else {
    navigation.presentPaywall() { result in
      if (result) {
        navigation.startWorkout()
      } else {
        // user didn't pay, developer decides what to do
      }
    }
  }
}

- (void)pressedWorkoutButton {
  if (user.hasActiveSubscription) {
    [navigation startWorkout];
  } else {
    [navigation presentPaywallWithCompletion:^(BOOL result) {
      if (result) {
        [navigation startWorkout];
      } else {
        // user didn't pay, developer decides what to do
      }
    }];
  }
}

How it works:

You can configure "StartWorkout" to present a paywall by creating a campaign, adding the event, and adding a rule in the dashboard.

The SDK retrieves your campaign settings from the dashboard on app launch.
When an event is called that belongs to a campaign, rules are evaluated on device and the user enters an experiment — this means there's no delay between registering an event and presenting a paywall.
If it's the first time a user is entering an experiment, a paywall is decided for the user based on the percentages you set in the dashboard
Once a user is assigned a paywall for a rule, they will continue to see that paywall until you remove the paywall from the rule or reset assignments to the paywall.
After the paywall is closed, the Superwall SDK looks at the Feature Gating value associated with your paywall, configurable from the paywall editor under General > Feature Gating (more on this below)
1. If the paywall is set to Non Gated, the feature: closure on register(event: ...) gets called when the paywall is dismissed (whether they paid or not)
2. If the paywall is set to Gated, the feature: closure on register(event: ...) gets called only if the user is already paying or if they begin paying.
If no paywall is configured, the feature gets executed immediately without any additional network calls.

Given the low cost nature of how register works, we strongly recommend registering all core functionality in order to remotely configure which features you want to gate – without an app update.

// on the welcome screen
func pressedSignUp() {
  Superwall.shared.register(event: "SignUp") {
    navigation.beginOnboarding()
  }
}

// in another view controller
func pressedWorkoutButton() {
  Superwall.shared.register(event: "StartWorkout") {
    navigation.startWorkout()
  }
}

// In the Welcome screen view controller
- (void)pressedSignUp {
  [[Superwall sharedInstance] registerWithEvent:@"SignUp" params:nil handler:nil feature:^{
    [navigation beginOnboarding];
  }];
}

// In another view controller
- (void)pressedWorkoutButton {
  [[Superwall sharedInstance] registerWithEvent:@"StartWorkout" params:nil handler:nil feature:^{
    [navigation startWorkout];
  }];
}

Feature Gating from the Paywall Editor

Paywall Editor > General > Settings > Feature Gating

Feature gating allows your team to retroactively decide if this paywall is Gated or Non Gated

Type	Behavior	Example
Non Gated (default)	Show Paywall → Execute Feature	When "Sign Up" button is pressed, show a paywall, then continue onboarding once the paywall is dismissed.
Gated	Show Paywall → Is user paying? If Yes → Execute Feature If No → Do Nothing	When "Start Workout" button is pressed, show a paywall, then continue once the paywall is dismissed only if the user subscribes.

Remember, the feature is always executed if:

No campaign is configured for the event
The user is already paying

Using the Handler

You can provide a PaywallPresentationHandler to register, whose functions provide status updates for a paywall:

onDismiss: Called when the paywall is dismissed. Accepts a PaywallInfo object containing info about the dismissed paywall.
onPresent: Called when the paywall did present. Accepts a PaywallInfo object containing info about the presented paywall.
onError: Called when an error occurred when trying to present a paywall. Accepts an Error indicating why the paywall could not present.
onSkip: Called when a paywall is skipped. Accepts a PaywallSkippedReason enum indicating why the paywall was skipped.

let handler = PaywallPresentationHandler()
handler.onDismiss { paywallInfo in
  print("The paywall dismissed. PaywallInfo:", paywallInfo)
}
handler.onPresent { paywallInfo in
  print("The paywall presented. PaywallInfo:", paywallInfo)
}
handler.onError { error in
  print("The paywall presentation failed with error \(error)")
}
handler.onSkip { reason in
  switch reason {
  case .userIsSubscribed:
    print("Paywall not shown because user is subscribed.")
  case .holdout(let experiment):
    print("Paywall not shown because user is in a holdout group in Experiment: \(experiment.id)")
  case .noRuleMatch:
    print("Paywall not shown because user doesn't match any rules.")
  case .eventNotFound:
    print("Paywall not shown because this event isn't part of a campaign.")
  }
}

Superwall.shared.register(event: "campaign_trigger", handler: handler) {
  // Feature launched
}

SWKPaywallPresentationHandler *handler = [[SWKPaywallPresentationHandler alloc] init];

[handler onDismiss:^(SWKPaywallInfo * _Nonnull paywallInfo) {
  NSLog(@"The paywall dismissed. PaywallInfo: %@", paywallInfo);
}];

[handler onPresent:^(SWKPaywallInfo * _Nonnull paywallInfo) {
  NSLog(@"The paywall presented. PaywallInfo: %@", paywallInfo);
}];

[handler onError:^(NSError * _Nonnull error) {
  NSLog(@"The paywall presentation failed with error %@", error);
}];

[handler onSkip:^(enum SWKPaywallSkippedReason reason) {
  switch (reason) {
    case SWKPaywallSkippedReasonUserIsSubscribed:
      NSLog(@"Paywall not shown because user is subscribed.");
      break;
    case SWKPaywallSkippedReasonHoldout:
      NSLog(@"Paywall not shown because user is in a holdout group.");
      break;
    case SWKPaywallSkippedReasonNoRuleMatch:
      NSLog(@"Paywall not shown because user doesn't match any rules.");
      break;
    case SWKPaywallSkippedReasonEventNotFound:
      NSLog(@"Paywall not shown because this event isn't part of a campaign.");
      break;
    case SWKPaywallSkippedReasonNone:
      // The paywall wasn't skipped.
      break;
  }
}];

[[Superwall sharedInstance] registerWithEvent:@"campaign_trigger" params:nil handler:handler feature:^{
  // Feature launched.
}];

Automatically Registered Events

The SDK automatically registers some internal events which can be used to present paywalls:

app_install
app_launch
deepLink_open
session_start
transaction_abandon
transaction_fail
paywall_close

Register. Everything.

To provide your team with ultimate flexibility, we recommend registering all of your analytics events, even if you don't pass feature blocks through. This way you can retroactively add a paywall almost anywhere – without an app update!

If you're already set up with an analytics provider, you'll typically have an Analytics.swift singleton (or similar) to disperse all your events from. Here's how that file might look:

import SuperwallKit
import Mixpanel
import Firebase

final class Analytics {
  static var shared = Analytics()
  
  func track(
    event: String,
    properties: [String: Any]
  ) {
    // Superwall
    Superwall.shared.register(event: event, params: properties)
    
    // Firebase (just an example)
    Firebase.Analytics.logEvent(event, parameters: properties)
    
    // Mixpanel (just an example)
    Mixpanel.mainInstance().track(event: eventName, properties: properties)
  }
}
  
  
// And thus ...
  
Analytics.shared.track(
  event: "workout_complete",
  properties: ["total_workouts": 17]
)
  
// ... can now be turned into a paywall moment :)

📘
Need to know if a paywall will show beforehand?
In some circumstances, you might like to if a particular event will present a paywall. To do this, you can use Superwall.shared.getPresentationResult(forEvent:params:).

Handling Network Issues

For subscribed users, we prioritise your app's functionality over waiting for network issues such as loss of internet to resolve. If the paywall is non-gated, we will call the feature block. If the paywall is gated, we will call the onError handler.

For non-subscribed users, we will retry network calls until we have retrieved the necessary data.