A specialist-focused ranking of UA agencies evaluated on channel depth, creative velocity, attribution expertise, and LTV optimization, not just campaign setup. Plus a buyer’s guide to choosing a specialist partner for games and subscription apps.
User acquisition (UA) is the process of acquiring new users for a mobile app through paid advertising channels. Mobile UA is one of the most technical disciplines in digital marketing. It combines data science, creative production, attribution methodology and platform algorithm knowledge, and it has moved past what most generalist agencies are set up to deliver.
The core channels for mobile UA (Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Apple Ads, formerly Apple Search Ads, and Google UAC) each operate on fundamentally different auction dynamics, bidding strategies, creative best practices, and measurement frameworks. Meta’s Advantage+ campaigns require a different creative strategy than TikTok’s In-Feed Ads. Apple Ads bidding strategy is entirely distinct from Google UAC’s automated bidding systems. An agency that genuinely understands all four channels has built an expertise depth that takes years to develop.
This is why a UA specialist is usually a better fit than a generalist agency for mobile app campaigns. Specialist agencies have vertical-specific benchmarks that tell them when a CPI is good or bad for a casual gaming app in the US market. They have creative playbooks for what works on TikTok for subscription fitness apps. They have institutional knowledge of Apple Ads keyword strategies for specific app categories. This depth does not exist in agencies that treat mobile app UA as one service among dozens.
This guide ranks the 8 best UA agencies specifically for mobile apps in 2025, with particular focus on agencies where UA is a core discipline. After the list you will find a buyer’s guide: why an established app or game needs a specialist partner, why UA strategy and creative production belong in one team, and how to judge an agency for games versus subscription apps. For the wider growth picture beyond paid UA, see our mobile growth agency guide.
Does the agency have proven expertise across all major UA platforms, not just Meta? True UA specialists maintain official partnerships with major platforms such as TikTok, Meta, and Google. Partner status provides access to beta features, dedicated platform support, and advanced auction insights.
Mobile UA is now largely a creative testing discipline. On Meta and TikTok the algorithm does much of the targeting, so creative is the lever you control most directly. Ask how many new concepts the agency ships and tests each month, how it decides that a test has a winner, and how fast a winner gets new variations.
Post-iOS 14 mobile attribution is complex. SKAdNetwork, AdAttributionKit, privacy thresholds, Modeled Conversions, and the interaction between MMP data and platform-reported metrics require deep technical competency. Agencies must have hands-on expertise with AppsFlyer, Adjust, or Singular and understand how to make optimization decisions from imperfect data.
UA without LTV optimization is install-buying. The best UA agencies optimize toward downstream value signals such as D30 ROAS, predicted LTV tiers and subscription conversion rates, not just installs. This requires the ability to feed first-party event data back to platform bidding algorithms and build custom audience models based on high-LTV user profiles.
Hidden fees, non-disclosed media margins, and lack of direct account access are red flags. Top UA agencies offer clear fee structures, client-owned ad accounts, and direct MMP access. Ask any prospective agency: “Will I own my ad accounts and attribution data at the end of the engagement?” The answer should be an unqualified yes.
Admiral Media publishes this guide, so we list our own agency first and say so plainly. Judge us on the same five criteria as everyone else. The agency runs paid user acquisition for mobile apps and games across four major UA platforms: Apple Ads (formerly Apple Search Ads), TikTok Ads, Meta, and Google UAC.
How the team is set up: At Admiral Media the people who buy the media and the people who make the ads sit in the same team of senior media buyers, creative strategists and AI creative production specialists. The agency’s Admiral Performance Loop™ framework turns data analysis, creative iteration, bid changes and channel reallocation into one repeating weekly cycle.
Performance focus: Admiral Media steers paid UA on return on ad spend, lifetime value and payback rather than raw install volume, and reports on spend, attribution and revenue with the reasoning behind each change.
Apple Ads: Admiral Media runs Apple Ads (formerly Apple Search Ads) for apps and games, aiming to win high-intent searches at a cost per install and return on ad spend the client’s model can carry. It is a core channel for iOS-primary apps and gaming titles in competitive categories.
TikTok expertise: Admiral Media is an official TikTok partner and runs TikTok Ads for mobile apps and games, including Spark Ads and creator partnerships.
Scale: Admiral Media has managed more than €500M in ad spend since 2019 and has grown 150+ brands. Published client results are on the case studies page, including Star Chef 2, a game case with +45% ROAS.
HQ: Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Framework: The Admiral Performance Loop™ | Website: admiral.media
Moburst offers full-service mobile UA combined with ASO, making it a strong option for brands that want a single agency to manage both paid acquisition volume and organic store conversion. The agency’s UA capabilities span Meta, Google UAC, Apple Search Ads, and programmatic channels, with a creative studio that produces assets for all platforms.
Moburst’s experience with enterprise brands including Samsung and Google demonstrates its ability to manage complexity and large-scale programs. Its positioning centres on channel breadth and enterprise account management rather than one vertical.
Best for: Consumer apps seeking integrated paid + organic management with enterprise-level account structure.
Phiture approaches UA from a growth consulting perspective, integrating paid acquisition with CRM, push notification strategy, and retention work. For apps where the UA and retention problem are deeply connected (subscription apps with high early churn, for example), Phiture’s holistic approach can be more effective than a pure UA-execution agency.
The agency’s Mobile Growth Stack framework provides a structured model for thinking about all levers of mobile growth simultaneously, and Phiture’s consulting engagements often begin with an audit across the full stack before focusing on UA execution.
Best for: Apps that need growth strategy alongside UA execution, particularly where retention and monetization are limiting factors on UA ROI.
RPLG Digital is a performance-first UA agency with a strong gaming vertical presence. The agency operates with lean team structures that give clients direct access to campaign managers rather than account management intermediaries. This structure is valued by gaming studios that want real-time transparency into optimization decisions.
RPLG Digital’s approach is data-centric: campaigns are evaluated purely on ROAS, CPI, and LTV metrics, and budget allocation is driven by channel performance data rather than predetermined media plans.
Best for: Gaming apps prioritizing direct team access and pure performance measurement.
Upptic combines UA management with in-house creative production specifically for gaming apps. The agency’s core thesis, that creative quality and testing velocity are the primary performance levers in gaming UA, has led it to build a creative studio that produces playable ads, video ads, and static assets alongside managing the paid channels that distribute them.
Upptic publishes the Gaming Growth Benchmark Report, providing data-driven context for gaming UA KPIs across casual, mid-core, and hyper-casual categories. This published data reflects the agency’s operational depth in gaming UA measurement.
Best for: Gaming studios that need both UA management and creative production from a single partner.
Yodel Mobile is one of the longest-established mobile growth agencies in Europe, founded in 2008 and headquartered in London. The agency has navigated multiple major platform changes, including the iOS 14 ATT framework, and this institutional experience in adapting UA programs to platform privacy changes is a significant value for UK and European app companies operating under GDPR constraints.
Yodel’s integrated paid/organic model, combining ASO with paid UA across ASA, Meta, and Google UAC, creates a flywheel effect where improved store conversion rates reduce effective CPI across all paid channels simultaneously.
Best for: UK and European apps seeking an experienced UA partner with strong ASO integration and GDPR-compliant measurement frameworks.
Appsumer occupies a unique position in the UA agency landscape: it began as a UA analytics platform that aggregated cross-channel performance data and evolved into a managed services offering for enterprises that need both the intelligence infrastructure and execution capability under one roof.
Appsumer’s managed services are particularly suited to large apps running UA across five or more channels simultaneously, where the data aggregation and cross-channel attribution challenges are themselves significant operational problems. The platform’s reporting layer provides clarity that individual channel dashboards cannot.
Best for: Enterprise apps with complex multi-channel UA programs needing consolidated analytics and attribution infrastructure.
Redbox Mobile is a London-based agency built on the principle that App Store Optimization is the most important foundation for efficient UA. The agency’s approach integrates ASO work (keyword optimization, screenshot and creative asset testing, ratings and review strategy) with paid UA channels to create a combined program where improvements in organic conversion rate directly reduce CPI across all paid channels.
For apps with underoptimized store presence, Redbox’s ASO-first methodology can deliver significant efficiency gains in the first 90 days before media investment is materially scaled. The agency serves clients across consumer, gaming, and utility app categories.
Best for: Apps with weak App Store conversion rates that want to fix organic fundamentals before scaling paid UA investment.
An established app or game with a real budget does not need someone to set up campaigns. It needs a partner that understands how app stores, ad platforms and measurement fit together. A general digital shop can run ads. A mobile UA specialist can tell you why one cohort pays back and another does not. Four areas separate the two.
Paid UA for apps ends in a store, not on a landing page. Apple’s own Apple Ads campaign structure guidance splits search results campaigns into brand, category, competitor and discovery campaigns, and uses discovery to mine search terms that then move into the other campaigns as exact match keywords. Apple’s ad variations use custom product pages, so one app can show different screenshots to different keyword themes. A specialist treats paid campaigns, the store listing and app store optimization as one funnel.
AdAttributionKit, available from iOS 17.4, is Apple’s framework for registering and processing postbacks for ads in the App Store and alternative app marketplaces, and Apple documents how it works alongside SKAdNetwork. A specialist can explain its conversion value setup, how the mobile measurement partner (AppsFlyer, Adjust or Singular) reconciles platform numbers, and which decisions rest on modeled data. Ask to see a real setup, not a slide, and read our guide to incrementality testing.
On Meta and TikTok, automated bidding does much of the audience work, so the creative decides who the algorithm finds. A specialist tests every week, cuts losers fast and steers on D7 and D30 ROAS, cost per payer or subscriber, payback and cohort LTV. Generalist reports tend to stop at clicks and installs. Ask each agency which single metric it will steer your account on.
Admiral Media is one option built for this. It helps established mobile apps, games and consumer brands grow through user acquisition, creative production, app store optimization, answer engine optimization (AEO) and conversion rate optimization. Founded in 2019 by Andre Kempe and headquartered in Dubai, the team has managed more than €500M in ad spend and scaled 200+ apps. See our mobile game user acquisition page.
When the media buyer and the creative team sit in different companies, every test waits for a brief and a handover. That means fewer tests and slower reactions to creative fatigue. In one team, the person who reads the data writes the next brief the same week. The same team also covers the work around the ads: research into what other titles in your genre are running, and concept and store page tests during soft launch.
At Admiral Media, senior media buyers, creative strategists and AI creative production specialists work in one team through the AI Creative Factory. The Star Chef 2 case study (a 99games cooking and restaurant management game) reports a testing matrix across 60+ creative variations and +45% ROAS, +55% CTR and -18% CAC. That is one client engagement, not a forecast. More results are on our case studies page.
When you shortlist, ask each agency for a written plan for the first 30, 60 and 90 days. AdMapix’s guide to video game marketing frames this as a “30 / 60 / 90-Day Mobile Game UA Plan”. A good plan covers tracking and the first creative backlog, then test budgets and KPIs per channel, then the conditions for scaling spend. If you run two or more live titles, ask how creative capacity is split between them.
Games and subscription apps make money in different ways, so the same questions get different right answers.
| What to check | Mobile games | Subscription apps |
|---|---|---|
| Steering metric | D7 and D30 ROAS against your payback curve | Cost per trial and subscriber, trial-to-paid rate, LTV after renewals |
| Optimization events | Purchase and purchase value, plus ad revenue for hybrid games | Trial start and subscription start, with value where supported |
| Creative | Gameplay-led concepts and playables, refreshed weekly | Problem and solution stories, creator-style video, ads that match the paywall |
| Store and funnel | Store listing and custom product pages per audience | Store listing plus onboarding, paywall and web-to-app tests |
| Proof to ask for | A game case that reports ROAS or payback | A subscription case that reports ROAS or cost per subscriber |
TikTok’s Value-based Optimization for apps targets users likely to generate higher purchase value or ad revenue value, which fits games. For subscription apps, the funnel after the install matters as much as the ad: our web-to-app funnels study covers 23 subscription apps.
Ask every agency, including us, for proof from your category. Our published game case is Star Chef 2. Most of our published cases are subscription and consumer apps, such as NeuroNation: +117% ROAS, +66% installs and -39% CPI over the first 15 months. For TikTok creative and Apple Ads for games with in-app purchases, see our mobile growth agency guide.
Understanding how UA agencies structure their fees is essential for budgeting and for evaluating whether an agency’s incentives align with your growth objectives. Here are the three primary pricing models used by UA agencies.
The most common UA agency fee structure. The agency charges 10 to 20% of the monthly media budget managed. On a $100,000/month media spend, this means $10,000 to $20,000 in management fees. This model is transparent and easy to forecast. The potential misalignment: an agency paid on percentage-of-spend has a financial incentive to increase budgets even when scaling is inefficient. Counter this by negotiating a tiered percentage that decreases as spend increases, and by including ROAS or CPI targets as conditions for budget increases.
A fixed monthly fee regardless of media spend level. Retainers typically range from $5,000/month for smaller programs to $30,000+/month for large multi-channel programs. This model aligns well for stable programs with predictable scope. The risk is that flat-fee structures can reduce urgency on high-effort tasks, so make sure your contract specifies deliverables, minimum campaign checks per week, and creative testing volume commitments. Best suited for programs with consistent monthly spend levels.
A base management fee (retainer or percentage-of-spend) combined with performance bonuses tied to agreed KPI targets, for example a bonus triggered when CPI falls below a defined threshold or when ROAS exceeds a minimum floor for 30 consecutive days. This model creates the strongest incentive alignment between agency and client. The base fee covers operational costs; the performance bonus rewards genuine improvement. Performance bonus structures are negotiable and should be tied to metrics within the agency’s control.
| Program Stage | Monthly Media Spend | Typical Agency Fee | Total Monthly Investment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Stage or Testing | $10,000 to $30,000 | $5,000 to $8,000 | $15,000 to $38,000 |
| Growth Stage | $30,000 to $150,000 | $8,000 to $20,000 | $38,000 to $170,000 |
| Scale Stage | $150,000 to $500,000 | $15,000 to $35,000 | $165,000 to $535,000 |
| Enterprise | $500,000+ | Custom (typically 5 to 10% of spend) | Custom |
Note: Fees shown are illustrative ranges. Actual fees depend on the number of channels managed, creative services included, and agency. These figures represent management fees only; media spend is paid directly to advertising platforms.
A user acquisition (UA) agency is a specialized marketing agency that manages paid campaigns to acquire new users for mobile apps. UA agencies run campaigns on platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Apple Ads (formerly Apple Search Ads), Google UAC, and programmatic networks. Their core function is to drive installs or registrations at a target cost per install (CPI) or cost per action (CPA), while optimizing toward downstream metrics such as ROAS, D7 and D30 retention, and lifetime value (LTV). UA agencies differ from full-service digital marketing agencies in their deep focus on mobile attribution, platform bidding algorithms, creative iteration velocity, and the data science of cohort performance optimization. The best UA agencies operate as strategic growth partners rather than just campaign managers.
User acquisition agencies use three primary fee structures. The most common is a management fee as a percentage of monthly ad spend, typically ranging from 10% to 20%. The second model is a flat monthly retainer ranging from $5,000 to $50,000+ per month. The third, and most aligned, model is a hybrid structure combining a base retainer with performance bonuses tied to KPI targets such as CPI floors or ROAS minimums. Pure performance-based arrangements (pay-per-install) are rare for established agencies because they require the agency to absorb media spend risk. All fee models should be paired with client-owned ad accounts and direct MMP access to ensure data portability regardless of agency relationship status.
A good ROAS for mobile user acquisition depends heavily on the app category and monetization model. For mobile games with in-app purchases, D7 and D30 ROAS are usually only a fraction of the return a cohort earns over its lifetime, so studios set early ROAS targets that predict payback on their own revenue curve. For subscription apps with strong initial conversion, ROAS can pass 1.0x within the first billing period if average revenue per user (ARPU) is high and churn is low. The most actionable ROAS benchmark is your own payback threshold: the point at which cohort revenue covers acquisition cost, which is set by your ARPU, retention curve and CPA ceiling.
The most effective UA channel varies by app category. Apple Ads (formerly Apple Search Ads) reaches people with active intent, while they are searching the App Store. Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) provides the broadest user acquisition volume across almost all app categories with sophisticated machine-learning audience optimization. TikTok Ads performs best for gaming, entertainment, and lifestyle apps that have strong video creative assets. Google UAC is effective for Android-first apps and spans Search, Play Store, YouTube, and Display simultaneously. High-performing UA programs typically run across all four major channels simultaneously and allocate budget dynamically based on real-time CPI and ROAS data per channel and per creative.
Ask for proof from games, not only apps: a case that reports ROAS or payback, not just installs. Check that the agency steers on D7 and D30 ROAS against your payback curve, optimizes toward purchase or purchase value events, and can explain its SKAdNetwork, AdAttributionKit and MMP setup. Check that the people who make the ads work in the same team as the media buyers, so creative tests run every week. Finally, ask for a written 30, 60 and 90 day plan with budgets, tests and the conditions for scaling spend. Our mobile game UA page shows how we work with studios.
Admiral Media charges for user acquisition management with a monthly management fee, either a flat retainer or a percentage of media spend, separate from the media budget paid to the ad platforms, with no long lock-in. The exact fee is scoped to each client based on the channels and markets managed and the volume of creative involved. Admiral Media does not publicly list standard management rates. Prospective clients receive a written proposal with a fee quoted against a scope they have already seen, following an account review and a strategy call. To request a proposal, talk to our team.
Admiral Media manages user acquisition and in-house creative production for games and subscription apps across Apple Ads, TikTok, Meta, and Google UAC. A senior strategist replies within one business day.
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