How Ling App Saved Almost $20,000 in the First 30 Days Alone

Introduction

Ling is a gamified language learning app that helps over 10 million learners master 60 languages through bite-sized lessons and native audio. The app enjoys a 4.6-star rating across both stores and drives roughly $2.4M in net annual subscription revenue.

But as Ling's subscriber base scaled, refund requests ballooned - putting more than $24K of revenue at risk each month and limiting how aggressively the team could reinvest in growth.

Challenge

• Refund leakage. In March 2025 alone, users submitted refund requests totaling $24,064, an amount that would have otherwise funded UA and content production.
• No defense mechanism. Ling had no internal workflow for disputing refunds, so each request was automatically approved by Apple - 100% loss.
• Growth squeeze. With a chunk of subscription revenue gone, forecasts for UA spending and head-count expansion were capped.

Solution

Ling activated RefundKeeper in March 2025.

1. Five-minute, no-update integration

   RefundKeeper connects directly to App Store Connect via Apple's APIs - the Ling team simply added credentials, and monitoring went live instantly.

2. Real-time refund protection

   The service listens for refund notifications, validates each transaction against Apple's policies, and automatically defends eligible purchases - before money leaves the account.

3. Clear, daily reporting

   A dashboard shows protected revenue in real time, so the finance and UA teams can track impact without spreadsheets.

Results

Within the first month, RefundKeeper prevented $19,918 from being refunded - turning potential losses into funds for growth.

Growth Impact

• Bigger marketing budget. Retained revenue allowed Ling to immediately reinvest in UA campaigns, capturing additional high-intent traffic.
• Team expansion. Savings covered the cost of two part-time linguists, accelerating course localization.
• Peace of mind. With refunds handled automatically, the team can focus on product quality instead of lost revenue.

Conclusion

If your app relies on subscription revenue and you've accepted refunds as an unavoidable cost of doing business, RefundKeeper turns those losses into growth capital - automatically.