Calz—Calorie Counter AI

Calz scales subscriber growth globally and increases return on
investment by 147%.

Calz customers manage their well-being by tracking calories, nutrition, and activity, while also receiving AI-powered personalized guidance to achieve their weight and fitness goals. With Apple Ads, the health and fitness app increased brand reach and scaled customer growth around the globe.

The Results

15% growth in installs from Apple Ads month over month.

#2 overall App Store ranking in Europe within 5 months of launch.

147% higher return on investment from Apple Ads compared to similar platforms.

400% increase in brand search volume with ads on the Today tab and product page.

The Challenge

Focused on global expansion, the team at Wachanga LTD, the Calz app’s developer, wanted to scale subscriber acquisition efficiently across both developed and emerging markets, with a strong focus on Europe, MENA, and Asia. They needed to boost brand visibility and app discovery with a wide range of health-conscious customers. To better capture both seasonal and regional intent on the App Store, it was key to engage different audiences with relevant messages around their specific health goals.

Apple Ads has become a top-performing and indispensable growth channel for us, with installs growing by around 15 percent per month. It drives sustainable, profitable acquisition of highly motivated customers.

Vadim Lysenko,

ASO Team Lead at Wachanga LTD

The Solution

Scale growth and gain market insights with search results campaigns.

To drive brand awareness and capture interest on the App Store, the Wachanga LTD team set up Apple Ads search results campaigns separated by keyword theme. In each new market they entered, discovery campaigns with Search Match helped automatically find new, relevant search terms specific to a country or region. With broad match, they were able to drive wider coverage of relevant health and fitness keywords, as well as tap into the latest search trends, peaks, and lower-volume terms.

To optimize for efficiency, the Wachanga LTD team closely monitored Apple Ads campaigns down to the keyword level. They actively leveraged Impression Share reports to guide real-time bid adjustments while setting cost-per-acquisition targets with the highest allowable cost-per-tap to maximize scale. “Apple Ads has been a catalyst for global scale,” says Wachanga LTD CEO Maxim Kolpakov. “With search results campaigns, we were able to expand cost-effective reach quickly, adapt to the unique dynamics of each market, and drive profits across Europe, MENA, and Asia.”

Increase ad relevancy to drive seasonal and regional performance.

The Calz app launched on December 31 to align with the annual New Year’s resolution spike in the Health & Fitness category. To better capture this seasonal demand from diverse audiences with distinct health objectives, the team invested in ad variations based on custom product pages set up in App Store Connect. These custom ads aligned to different keyword themes and customer goals (lose weight, gain weight, water tracking, fasting tracking, activity).

They highlighted visuals and messaging on relevant app features and capabilities, allowing the Wachanga LTD team to tailor their value proposition to match the specific needs of customers showing intent on the App Store. “Apple Ads allowed us to capture this seasonal surge from day one, making it the most successful product launch in our company’s history,” says Wachanga LTD COO Ilya Gudkov.

As the team entered new markets, they also leveraged custom product pages to develop country-specific ad variations. Visuals of local dishes and trendy seasonal cuisines were highlighted to align with popular keyword themes in corresponding markets. With these customized ads, the team was able to engage customers with creative that reflected relevant cultural nuances and user motivations. They saw a 30 percent increase in install volume with custom product pages globally. “With Apple Ads, we can create ad experiences that better address user intent and highlight the right features for each market,” says Wachanga LTD ASO Team Lead Vadim Lysenko.

Expand reach to new customers with multiple placements across the App Store.

To extend reach to more customers, the team complemented their search results campaigns with additional ad placements. Today tab ads offered a prominent placement on the front page of the App Store, reaching millions of potential customers at the beginning of their app discovery journey. The team connected with customers actively browsing similar apps with ads on product pages.

“Ads on the Today tab and product page boosted brand awareness, leading to a measurable uplift in organic downloads,” says Kolpakov. “We’ve seen a 400 percent increase in brand search volume across 15 countries, directly tied to ads on the Today tab and product pages.” Today tab ads drove 2 million impressions per week.

“Apple Ads is now central to our marketing mix. It informs creative testing, helps us validate product positioning in new countries, and provides the scale and precision needed for global expansion. It complements our influencer marketing and organic growth strategies by ensuring that we capture intent-driven users at scale,” says Lysenko.

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