MAU 2025: Takeaways from the biggest app publisher event of the year

MAU, which stands for “Mobile Apps Unlocked,” is one of the biggest events of the year for app publishers across the globe. This year, the event claims to have brought together over 2,000 innovators from six continents to live and breathe mobile apps from May 20-22 in Las Vegas. 

MAU 2025 was a milestone event for Mistplay, featuring thought leadership, product launches, and deep discussions on the future of mobile marketing and rewarded engagement. Here’s a recap of what we got up to and a peek into the top trends on everyone’s mind this year.

What Mistplay got up to at MAU 2025

Panels and podcasts

Mistplay leadership – notably our VP of User Acquisition, Noa Gutterman – took to the stage (and mic) at various events during the week to discuss the future of mobile marketing: 

• MAU Vegas Women’s Forum: Noa shared insights on growing her career in MarTech and diving into the industry next-hottest trends, from AI to community. 
• Exploring Today’s Mobile Moment: Noa joined representatives from Nestle-Purina, Snapchat, and Moloco to discuss how mobile behavior is rapidly evolving as brands explore incrementality testing, emphasize the acquisition (and retention) of seek to high-value users, and ad serving transparency. 
• 2.5 Gamers podcast: In a special episode (out June 4th!), Noa and Brett Jones from our UA team broke down creative testing, UA team structure, and data-driven growth tactics. 

Launch day for LoyaltyPlay and Mistplay for iPhone

The biggest announcement of MAU 2025? The official launch of Mistplay for iPhone and LoyaltyPlay, unveiled during an all-women panel featuring Peggy Anne Salz, Josephine Chow of ShopBack, Elizabeth Cattell of Atlas Reality, and our very own CEO, Tricia Han.

During the panel discussion, they explored: 

• The rapid expansion of rewarded play beyond gaming
• The new era of play-and-earn mechanics to boost engagement (and monetization)
• Success stories of leveraging loyalty to drive increased LTV

It was during this panel that Tricia also officially unveiled our new advertising and monetization products to the industry, LoyaltyPlay and Mistplay for iPhone. 

Later that night, we held our Press Start Party to celebrate the product launches at Whiskey Down, where 200+ attendees celebrated with drinks, music, and networking – with our launch video playing in the background!

VIP dinner @ Momofuku 

To cap off an incredible MAU week, we hosted an exclusive VIP dinner at Momofuku for 30 of our top clients and partners. The evening provided a chance for us to show our appreciation, discuss industry trends, and preview what’s next for Mistplay and rewarded advertising and play.

It was the perfect way to close out MAU 2025 – strengthening relationships while looking ahead to the future. 

3 industry trends discussed at MAU 2025

1. Rewards are the foundation of a powerful growth engine

Users want more rewards for their time and attention, full stop. And this year’s MAU made it more clear than ever that app publishers are looking for new ways across the whole funnel to provide more rewards to get more scale and retention in return. 

At the top of the funnel rewarded channels (like Mistplay) are growing in the UA media mix for most companies, with DoF even predicting that loyalty programs will grow from under 5% to 10%+ of the UA mix in 2025.

After install, reward-driven growth is proving to be a game-changer for apps like Wealthsimple, where cash rewards – managed by their product and lifecycle teams – have become the single largest channel and overtaken UA. By leveraging data science and uplift modeling, companies can target users who need a nudge to convert – without cannibalizing organic sign-ups. 

Wealthsimple found that both monetary and physical items can serve as strong incentives, which has proven to be the case for Mistplay as well, where this year we have introduced Sweepstakes for physical items that have seen strong engagement from our community. 

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2. Entering China requires strategic local partnerships and compliance

China’s app market presents immense opportunities but comes with high barriers to entry for Western companies. Regulations mandate local ISBN licensing, real-name authentication, and strict content moderation, ultimately forcing foreign apps to partner with Chinese publishers or adopt co-publishing models. 

In the Chinese market, major apps like WeChat and Douyin dominate, while Android’s fragmented ecosystem adds complexity. Success in China requires navigating data localization laws, anti-addiction systems (for gaming apps), and censorship rules, making local expertise essential for market entry.

Ultimately, adopting a co-publishing model works best for Western companies looking to break into the market, with the original studio operating the game and a local publisher handling distribution and compliance. For example, MyGamez is used by games like Township to publish their titles in China, and exclusive publishing deals are common. 

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3. Web2App strategies are unlocking new intent-based growth opportunities

Web2App – often misunderstood as just quiz funnels – is a versatile strategy for capturing diverse user intent, and mobile app companies from all categories are taking notice. 

By guiding users through tailored web journeys (freemium offers, brand storytelling, or diagnostic quizzes), apps can segment audiences and personalize follow-ups (discounts, webinars, or sales calls). This approach also allows you to capture user data more effectively through the use of web pixels. 

The key to the Web2App UA strategy lies in aligning creatives with funnel stages and optimizing drop-off points to turn hesitant users into high-value conversions.

With web spend by Singular customers ballooning by 54% from Jan to December 2024, it’s definitely a fast-growing strategy that we’ll see more apps leverage and optimize in the months to come. 
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What’s next for Mistplay

With GDC and MAU 2025 officially behind us, 2025 is off to a great start – and we’re looking forward to taking our loyalty insights (and products) on the road to APAC with upcoming events like ChinaJoy and G-Star on the horizon. 

Didn’t get a chance to catch us in Vegas this year? Contact us to learn more about our new products and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date about where we’re heading next!