RevenueCat Shipaton 2026: Dates, Prizes & How to Enter

RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 is a two-month global app hackathon running from August 1st to September 30th, 2026. During this hackathon event, participants can win you can win cash prizes across multiple award categories for shipping their app to different app stores and integrating RevenueCat into their app.

But it’s not just about the prizes. RevenueCat Shipaton gives you a fixed deadline to build and launch your app, a like-minded Discord community, and the tools you need to finally turn that app idea you’ve been sitting on into a real product.

If you’re planning to participate in RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 or are simply curious about what the event is all about, we’ve covered everything you need to know about RevenueCat Shipaton 2026, including all the prize categories, eligibility to enter the competition, how to find winning Shipaton app ideas, and how AppLaunchpad and other tools make the two-month sprint easier.

Key Insights

• RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 has a $740,000+ cash prize pool, with the Grand Prize offering $100,000 plus additional prizes and recognition.
• Shipaton is different from a typical hackathon because participants are expected to launch a working app to real users, rather than stop at a prototype.
• Standard submissions need a live app on the App Store, Google Play, or Samsung Galaxy Store, along with a 1024×1024 icon and at least one 1179×2556 screenshot.
• The Shipaton submission window runs until September 30, 2026, at 11:45 PM PDT, with judging scheduled for October 1–13 and winners announced on October 21.
• The competition includes awards focused on different aspects of app building, including design, monetization, games, social impact, growth, and building in public.
• The two-minute demo video matters heavily because judges use it to understand the app before downloading and testing it themselves.
• Judges look beyond the initial launch for the Grand Prize, including downloads, revenue, conversion, active users, retention, social reach, and community growth.
• AI-built apps are allowed in Shipaton 2026, and participants can use AI agents such as Replit to create an initial build and ship faster.
• AppLaunchpad offers Shipaton participants 50% off monthly and annual Pro memberships for creating app store screenshots, icons, and device mockups. The promo code is APPLSHIPATON26.

What is RevenueCat Shipaton 2026?

RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 is the world’s biggest global mobile hackathon, bringing together developers, founders, students, and teams from around the world to build, launch, monetize, and grow new apps.

Unlike a traditional hackathon focused on building a prototype, Shipaton is designed around shipping a usable product to real users.

The official challenge requires participants to create a working application, integrate RevenueCat, and release the app through an eligible app store during the submission period.

Participants in the RevenueCat Shipaton can compete for cash prizes across multiple categories. The current cash pool stands at $740,000 and the Grand Prize winner can win a $100,000 in cash and other prizes like a Shippy award and be features on the Times Square Billboard.

RevenueCat Shipaton Eligibility: Who Can Participate?

To be able to participate in the RevenueCat Shipaton 2026, you need to:

• Create an app that runs on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, or Android.
• Use the RevenueCat SDK for at least one in-app or web purchase, or serve ads through RevenueCat Ads.
• Have your app’s first public version released during the submission period.
• TestFlight and testing-track builds do not count for the standard competition. Your app must be live on a supported app store.
• Be fully published and available to download in the United States.
• Publish your app on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Samsung Galaxy Store by the deadline.

However, there is an exception for the Next Gen Award. Eligible students can submit a demonstration video and a public open-source repository instead of publishing their app to an app store, and they do not need a paid Apple or Google developer account.

Next, for your app to be valid for submission, it must meet the following criteria of the Shipaton hackathon.

• Your submission must include a text description explaining the features and functionality of your app.
• You must create a video under 2 minutes to showcase your app’s core functionality, and it must be made visible on YouTube or Vimeo.
• Except for projects submitted for the Next Gen Award, include a URL to a fully published app in Apple’s App Store, the Google Play Store, or the Samsung Galaxy Store.
• Include a 1024×1024 app icon and at least one screenshot of the app at 1179px width and 2556px height, without device frames.
• Your app should also include a free trial promo code so that the judges can access the in-app purchases and use premium features.
• To be eligible for the grand prize, briefly describe what you have done since launch to grow your app, and any relevant data like downloads or revenue that show growth since launch.

RevenueCat Shipaton 2026: Timelines and Dates To Keep in Mind

Let’s have a look at the timelines and dates you need to keep in mind if you are thinking of participating in the RevenueCat Shipaton hackathon.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you can only submit apps between August 1, 2026, and September 30, 2026. Only new apps are accepted as valid submissions to the Shipaton, any updates to already existing apps will not be accepted for the competition.

So, the best strategy is to add your first build within the submission window, then take feedback from peers and make updates and improvements to your app.

Once the submission period ends. The judges will have to review all the apps and rank them based on criteria such as growth story, feasibility, impact, and future trajectory.

All Prizes and Awards in RevenueCat Shipaton 2026

Now, let’s have a detailed look at all the award categories and what you must include in your Shipaton app submission to be eligible for the rewards.

Grand Prize

The Grand Prize is the most important prize an app can win at the RevenueCat Shipaton 2026, and will be given to the Shipaton app that shows the most growth and traction during the submission period. The winner of this award will get a cash prize of $100,000, travel for free to RevenueCat’s App Growth Annual conference in New York City, a Times Square billboard feature, and the Shippy trophy.

To win this prize, in addition to showing the numbers, you should clearly showcase what you did to scale your app. What product improvements did you make? What was your user acquisition and revenue strategy? And a clear story of how your app went from zero to where it is today.

What you must include?

• A clear summary of what you did post-launch to grow the app.
• Key metrics such as downloads, revenue, conversion, active users, retention, social reach, and community growth.
• Screenshots or submission copy showing what changed during the event.
• A brief explanation of what you learned and what you’d do next.

#BuildinPublic Award

The best part of the #BuildinPublic RevenueCat Shipaton award is that you can win it simply by showcasing your app’s journey during the submission period. You don’t need a large audience, your journey should be impactful and out in the public for the judges to judge your story.

The winner gets $30,000 in cash, a Times Square billboard feature, a Shippy trophy, and a blog feature. The runner-up gets $20,000 in cash and a blog feature, and the third-place winner gets $10,000 in cash and a blog feature.

The judges look at how creatively you shared your app launch journey, how users responded to your app, what you learned, and how feedback improved your app.

What you must include?

• Links to relevant social accounts or specific posts you want judges to review.
• A short explanation of how building in public helped the app.
• Examples of feedback, motivation, or ideas that came from sharing publicly.
• Post content using the tags #Shipaton and #BuildInPublic where appropriate.

Core Awards

RevenueCat Shipaton hackathon offers a total of 7 core awards apart from the grand prize and # BuildInPublic prize. These awards include:

• Best Game Award: For the best mobile game launched with strong gameplay, art direction, and genre-appropriate monetization.
• RevenueCat Design Award: Rewards exceptional product craft, design, innovation, and animation.
• RevenueCat Peace Prize: Recognizes apps that create meaningful positive social impact.
• Catvertising Award: Rewards creative and effective use of RevenueCat Ads as a monetization method.
• Next Gen Award: A student-focused category with a lower-friction submission process.
• HAMM Award: Short for ‘Help Apps Make Money,’ this category focuses on creative and effective monetization strategies.
• Conflict of Interest Award: For eligible employees of RevenueCat and Shipaton sponsors. No cash prize, only recognition.

Influencer Awards

The next major category in the RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 awards is Influencer Awards, where various influencers award apps that improve the lifestyle of their ideal audience. These awards include.

• Abbey’s Kitchen – Nutrition & Healthy Eating: This award rewards apps that make healthy eating fun without counting calories or rigid diet plans. The winner gets a whopping $20,000 in cash.
• Christopher Lawley – Productivity: The next category rewards apps with a whopping $20,000 in cash that make it easy to save, organize, find, and reuse text snippets, images, files, and documents across Apple devices.
• Leadership Heather – Career Coaching: This category rewards apps that help new managers practice difficult workplace conversations before they happen.
• Lewis Blogs Gaming – Gaming: This award rewards apps that make it easy for gamers to save, organize, and discover new games online, especially from social media like Instagram and TikTok.
• Simone Sharice – Yoga and Fitness: This category rewards apps that make yoga and recovery movements and routines a little less complicated and easier for users to follow.

Sponsored Categories

These are the prizes awarded by the sponsors of RevenueCat Shipaton 2026. They include:

• Ship Kotlin Everywhere: This award offers a cash prize of up to $15,000 to the team that successfully promotes their product across multiple platforms using Kotlin.
• Most Viral App: This award is given by Noise to those who use the platform to successfully market their app.
• Best App for Galaxy: Since the Galaxy Store is also a sponsor, it will reward the app that optimizes its performance for the Galaxy App Store.
• Replit’s Idea to Income: Just as the name suggests, this award is given to apps that have used the Replit agent to create an app and monetize it using RevenueCat.
• Keep Them Coming Back Award: OneSignal rewards users up to $25,000 in cash for creating and deploying OneSignal campaigns using the API, MCP, or dashboard.
• The Growth Loop Award: This award is given to apps that consistently update, take feedback, improve, and iterate.
• Funnel Vision Award: This award is given to apps that have a high-converting web funnel built with RevenueCat Funnels and Stripe.

Introduction to Shipkit: Build Using Shipaton Sale

The RevenueCat Shipaton has always been about the community, and Shipkit is a small resource that provides you with a collection of tools that make the Shipaton journey more fun and easy by offering you exclusive deals on their subscriptions.

Here are a few exclusive deals you can’t miss out on.

Step-by-Step Guide to Enter RevenueCat Shipaton 2026

Here’s a step-by-step guide to RevenueCat Shipaton app submission.

1. Register on Devpost

Start by visiting the official Shipaton Devpost page and clicking Join Hackathon. You will need a free Devpost account to register and create your submission.

2. Choose Your App Idea

Pick a problem you can solve. If you already have an idea, validate it by real user feedback before spending time on it.

You should also review the award categories before deciding what to build. A strong idea can qualify for multiple categories, provided it satisfies each category’s requirements.

3. Build the App

Build a working iOS, iPadOS, macOS, or Android application. Your app should have a clear core use case rather than trying to pack every possible feature into the first release. You can take the help of AI agents like Replit to create your first build.

4. Integrate RevenueCat

Use RevenueCat to power at least one in-app or web purchase, or use RevenueCat Ads if you are targeting the Catvertising category.

5. Launch Early

Do not wait until the final week to submit your app to the App Store or Google Play Store, as the app review process can take multiple days, and Shipaton recommends submitting early.

6. Get Real Users

Once your app is live, start measuring what users actually do. Improve onboarding, fix bugs, experiment with acquisition channels, and optimize monetization.

This is especially important if you want to compete for the Grand Prize, as post-launch growth is one of the judging criteria.

7. Prepare Your Devpost Submission

Add your app description, video, store URL, icon, app screenshot, and include a promo code so judges can access the premium features. Make sure everything is complete before the deadline because you cannot make normal changes after the submission period ends.

Everything You Need for a Successful Shipaton App Submission

Let’s have a detailed look at everything you need for a successful RevenueCat Shipaton app submission.

App Store or Google Play Listing

To be eligible for the RevenueCat Shipaton rewards, your submission must include a URL to a fully functional app from any of the app stores, including Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Samsung Galaxy Store.

If you have an app that was published before the submission window, then later updated and submitted to Shipaton, it won’t be approved or considered for rewards.

App Icon and Screenshots

Your submission needs a 1024 × 1024 app icon and at least one app screenshot at 1179 × 2556 pixels, without a device frame.

These assets are crucial as they help you make a first impression on the judges before they even test your app for its functionality.

A well-designed app icon and app screenshots reduce the guesswork for the judge and improve the chances that your app will be considered for a relevant reward category.

Demo Video

The demo video must be publicly available on YouTube or Vimeo and should be under two minutes. It should show the app functioning on the device it was built for. Judges are not required to watch beyond the two-minute mark.

A good Shipaton demo should quickly communicate:

• What problem the app solves?
• Who it is for?
• How the core experience works?
• What makes the app different?
• How the product is monetized?

RevenueCat Project ID

Your project needs to be connected to RevenueCat as part of the competition requirements. If your app is not connected to RevenueCat, it won’t be eligible for any rewards. So, set up your RevenueCat project and make sure your purchases, products, entitlements, and integrations work correctly before submission.

Premium Feature Access or Promo Code

For standard categories, your app must offer either a free trial or provide judges with a promo code that lets them unlock the in-app purchase and test the premium features.

Don’t make judges work harder and hunt for access. If your app uses a promo code, clearly explain how to redeem it in the testing instructions.

How to Find and Validate Winning App Ideas?

To participate and maximize your chances of winning the RevenueCat Shipaton hackathon, you need strong app ideas that qualify for not only the Grand Prize but also multiple other categories. Here are a few ways to find and validate winning app ideas, coming from Rik Haandrikman, the VP of Marketing at RevenueCat.

• Founder Fit: Use AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to run interviews about your background. The goal is to identify your unique domain expertise, hobbies, and access to specific data or communities. Instead of manually hunting for app ideas, the AI synthesizes this data to suggest app ideas you are uniquely qualified to build.
• Pain Mining: The next step is to identify pain points in existing apps on the app stores. You can go through reviews of apps and find issues with data reliability or confusing UI and use that to improve your app.
• Create Localized Versions: Another great opportunity is to create localized versions of already existing apps. You can take the core features and add features that meet the local and cultural expectations.
• Build an MVP: Once you lock in an idea, create and publish a simplified version of the app without adding all the features you want. The goal is to ship fast, seek feedback, and iterate.
• Seek Real User Feedback: There is no better way to validate an app idea than to reach out to potential users and gather critical feedback before fully committing. You can find real users ready to test your app on the official RevenueCat Shipaton Discord server.

What Judges Are Actually Looking for in Shipaton 2026?

After the submission timeline ends. The judges have only 2 weeks to review all app submissions and decide the winner for multiple categories. So, they follow a multi-step review process in which they filter out all apps with valid store URLs and functional app links. If you don’t have a valid URL, you are automatically out of the competition.

Then they go through the first 2 minutes of your app demo video and app descriptions to learn more about your app. Finally, they select the top apps, download and use them to verify that they match the core functionality shown in the demo videos.

So, as a participant, you need to focus on the following things

• Tell a story: Judges want to know more about the app’s story than about its features. So, clearly explain the problem you are solving, who the app is for, and why your approach is special.
• Focus on a relevant category: One major mistake is that participants try to target all award categories with the goal of winning at least one prize, which leads them to create a generalized app that doesn’t make a strong impression.
• Prioritize the demo video: The 2-minute demo is crucial to deciding whether your app will move forward to the next stage. So, instead of creativity, focus on clarity and storytelling to tell your app’s story.
• Be authentic: While the use of AI-generated clips, audio, and text is allowed. Judges prefer submissions with human-written content and human voiceovers, as this helps them connect better with the app.
• Verify your app’s functionality: In the final stages, judges will download your app to test its functionality. Make sure your app is bug-free, functions as shown in the demo video, and matches the expectations set by the story you tell about your app.

How AppLaunchpad Makes Shipaton 2026 Easier?

Building the app is only one part of shipping. You also need polished app store visuals that effectively communicate your app’s features and functionality, and that’s where AppLaunchpad comes in.

AppLaunchpad is an app store screenshot generator that lets you create App Store and Google Play screenshots, icons, and device mockups with an easy drag-and-drop editor.

It also includes an inspiration gallery with 4,000+ app screenshots, which you can copy and customize directly in the editor. Templates support iPhone, Android, and iPad, while the Figma plugin lets you create App Store visuals directly in Figma.

Moreover, RevenueCat Shipaton participants can get 50% off monthly and yearly Pro memberships of AppLaunchpad with code APPLSHIPATON26 at checkout.

RevenueCat Shipaton 2025 vs 2026: What Has Changed?

From RevenueCat Sitapton to RevenueCat Shipaton, a lot has changed. The major change is the prize pool, which has nearly doubled thanks to this year’s sponsors. Here is a list of some of the major changes in RevenueCat Shipaton 2026 from last year.

Criteria Your App Would Be Judged Upon

RevenueCat Shipaton follows different criteria for all their award categories. Here are a few criteria for some of the most important awards.

Criteria for the Grand Prize

• Early and effective release: The judges want to know why you launched your app when you did and how that first version helped you gain traction. So, share the story in your app submission.
• Growth by numbers: Judges also care a lot about the numbers you achieved during the submission period. So, include your app downloads, revenue, paying customers, conversion rate, and any other relevant metrics that tell the story of your growth.
• Your next move: Judges are also curious to learn more about your next move. So, include what you learned during the RevenueCat Shipaton journey and how you plan to move forward with your app.

Criteria for Best Game Award

• User engagement: The most important metric for this award criterion is whether the game is fun and keeps the player engaged throughout gameplay.
• Unique gameplay experience: The judges are always on the lookout for new gameplay experiences, progression levels, and replayability.
• New monetization opportunities: The judges are also on the lookout for unique ways users can monetize their gameplay experience without relying on the usual ads or subscription models.

Criteria for RevenueCat Peace Prize

• Impact: For this award category, the judges assess the app on how it will benefit certain individuals, specific communities, or society as a whole.
• Feasibility: The judges also check if the solution is accessible and realistic. They stay on the lookout for apps that have the potential to reach a wider audience or will only be useful for a small category of people.

Criteria for RevenueCat Design Award

• Innovative ideas: The judges look for whether you have integrated any innovative and unique design experience or animations into your app.
• Aesthetics: The majority of the focus for this award would be on the app’s visual design. If the app has fun animations, smooth gesture-based interactions, or simply beautiful art, it has a much higher chance of winning this award.

Criteria for Catvertising Award

• Unique ad integration: For this award category, the judges assess how well the ads are integrated into the user experience and whether they disrupt or enhance it.
• Broader revenue model: The judges also look out for whether ads are the only monetization method used by you or if you use it alongside other monetization methods like subscriptions.

Criteria for New Gen Award

• Clear and compelling idea: The judges look at whether the app idea is clear, useful, interesting, or original, and whether it solves a real problem or creates a compelling experience for its intended users.
• Meaningful progress: The judges also look for progress toward a working app, with core functionality clearly demonstrated in the video and code repository.
• Thoughtful RevenueCat integration: The judges assess how thoughtfully RevenueCat is used to support subscriptions, in-app purchases, web purchases, ads, or other monetization flows.
• Strong technical and product execution: The judges consider the technical choices, product thinking, and overall care shown in how the app was built and presented.

Can You Submit AI-Created Apps to Shipaton 2026?

The short answer is yes. Replit is one of the many sponsors of RevenueCat Shipaton 2026. If you don’t know, Replit is an AI agent that helps you build an app with just a single prompt.

Of course, it won’t be perfect, but it helps you push your first build. And that is what the judges at RevenueCat Shipaton recommend. The goal of Shipaton is to ship fast, and then improve, and AI agents like Replit make it much easier to achieve that.

To incentivize app builders to use Replit, they also have a special category of awards called Replit Idea to Income. To be eligible for this award, you need to build your app using Replit and monetize it using RevenueCat.

The 1st prize winner gets $15,000 in cash, an invite to the RevenueCat Annual Conference in New York, a Times Square billboard feature, and a Shippy trophy. The 2nd prize winner gets $10,000 in cash and a blog feature, and the third prize winner gets $5000 in cash and a blog feature.

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