Build an in-app launch

An in-app launch shows a message inside your own product: a toast, a banner or a modal. This guide walks through the builder from first draft to published launch. To learn what each message type is best for, read "In-App Launches: Toast, Modal & Banner messages explained".

Start a launch

1. Open In-app Launches in the sidebar. The page has three tabs: Launches, Ordering and Themes.

2. Select New launch.

3. In Pick a starting point, browse the templates. You can filter by surface (All surfaces, Modal, Banner, Toast) and by category such as Marketing, Announcements, Onboarding, Maintenance, Feedback, Retention & success and Security & incidents.

4. Choose a template, or select Start blank and pick a surface.

5. Name the launch. A template suggests its own name, and a blank launch starts as "Untitled launch".

You now have a draft. Nothing is shown to customers until you publish. If you have a recent post, the empty launches page can also offer to boost your latest update.

Build the message

The builder has two phases, Build and Targeting & delivery, with a live preview beside the form. You can switch the preview between desktop and mobile, or open it full screen. Sections show a warning icon when they need attention.

Build covers:

• Content: the message text and any buttons. A button can link to a custom URL, a changelog post or a roadmap item.

• Surface: placement, dismissal and timing for the chosen surface (toast, banner or modal).

• Theme: apply a saved theme or customize colors, buttons and surface details so the launch feels native to your product.

Targeting & delivery covers:

• Trigger: what starts the launch. Choose Automatic, App event (your app sends an event) or Manual (your code starts it). Then pick how often each visitor sees it: Always, Once per session, Once per user, Until dismissed or Up to N views per user. Per-user limits need cookie consent; without it they fall back to once per session.

• Where it shows: limit the launch to All domains or Specific domains, and to All pages or pages that match path rules.

• Audience: All users, a Saved audience, or a Custom condition built just for this launch. Audience rules apply on top of your page rules, so a visitor has to match both.

• Schedule: Publish immediately, or Schedule a window with a start time and, if you want, an end date.

If your project uses more than one language, the content area has language tabs so you can translate the launch.

Autosave and history

Drafts save automatically as you work, and the header shows the save status. Once a launch is scheduled or live, use Save to apply changes. If someone else changed the same launch, the builder refreshes it and tells you it was updated elsewhere. History shows earlier versions, and Rename changes the launch name.

Check the publish checklist

The checklist lists blockers that must be fixed and recommendations you can ignore. Examples of blockers: no content, a button without a valid destination, incomplete page targeting, an invalid path rule, or a modal that can't be closed. A modal can't show on every page view, so choose a calmer frequency. Examples of recommendations: a banner with no expiry stays up until you pause it.

When everything required passes, the status reads Ready and Publish becomes available. Publishing needs the launch publishing permission, and some surfaces and features depend on your plan.

Manage published launches

On the Launches tab, filter by status (Drafts, Scheduled, Live, Expired, Archived), surface and time period. Row actions let you preview, edit, duplicate, pause, resume, unpublish or archive. A paused launch disappears from your app within about a minute. Unpublishing returns a launch to Draft. Archiving stops it right away, and you can duplicate it later to run it again.

Control which launch shows first

Open the Ordering tab to rank launches. Banners, modals and toasts each have their own queue. Drag launches into order and select Save order. A banner can appear alongside a modal or toast, an open modal holds toasts back, and Releaseo checks eligible launches from the top of the queue down.

Reuse a look with themes

The Themes tab holds your saved themes. Select New theme to design one with sections for General, Modal, Banner and Toast. Use Set as active to make a theme the default for new launches.

Measure results

Once a launch has been published, the Proof section shows views, unique viewers, click-through rate and dismiss rate, an engagement-over-time chart, and your top domains and pages. Data can take a few minutes to appear after the first impression.