For years, app growth strategies have prioritized acquisition. Retention, engagement, and lifetime value were often treated as downstream effects. That balance is shifting. As competition intensifies and paid acquisition becomes less efficient, app teams are increasingly focused on keeping users active, connected, and invested.

In an App Talks video interview recorded at Business of Apps Berlin 2025, Peggy Anne Salz spoke with Luigi Manrique, Account Executive at Stream, about how in-app communication and community features are evolving from optional enhancements into core product infrastructure. The discussion explored what it takes to architect communities that feel native, trustworthy, and measurable across various categories such as fintech or fitness.

From features to foundations

According to Manrique, one of the biggest challenges app teams face today is not deciding whether to build community features but how to start. Many teams have ideas inspired by competitors or market trends but struggle to translate them into scalable, performant experiences.

The risk is execution. A well-intentioned social feature that feels slow or disconnected can do more harm than good. Community, Manrique argues, has to be architected into the product and not just layered on top of it.

That requires thinking beyond individual features and toward systems that support user-to-user interaction, two-way communication between the app and its audience, and feedback loops that inform product decisions.

Trust and tone in regulated categories

Community-building looks very different depending on category. Fintech is a clear example.

While social interaction can drive engagement, trust remains the defining constraint. Users expect seriousness, clarity, and control when money is involved. Manrique pointed to Robinhood as an example of how social functionality can be introduced without undermining credibility.

Robinhood lets users to follow others, observe activity, and discover context around trends without forcing interaction. The experience mirrors familiar social mechanics such as feeds, follows, and likes, but within boundaries appropriate to finance.

The result is not entertainment for its own sake, but informed participation. Users learn from one another, discover what is gaining attention, and contribute signals that the platform itself can analyze to understand sentiment and interests.

How in app communities are becoming a growth engine

Source: Business of Apps via YouTube

Community as a data signal

One recurring theme in the conversation was feedback. In-app communities generate more than engagement metrics. They produce qualitative and behavioral data that product teams rarely access through traditional analytics alone.

Likes, follows, comments, and dwell time indicate not just what users do, but what they care about. When analyzed correctly, these signals help teams identify emerging interests and refine their content strategies.

Manrique emphasized that community works best as a loop. User interaction generates insight. Insight informs content and feature decisions. Those decisions then shape future interaction. Over time, this creates a self-reinforcing system that increases relevance and stickiness.

Performance, moderation, and rollout discipline

While community features promise many upsides, they also introduce complexity. Manrique stressed three areas where teams often underestimate the work involved.

First is performance. Social features are highly visible and heavily used. Latency, instability, or security issues quickly erode trust.

Second is moderation. Keeping users safe and conversations aligned with brand values requires clear rules and tooling. Moderation strategy cannot be an afterthought.

Third is rollout. Launching community features too early, without internal alignment or user education, risks low adoption. Manrique noted that sometimes the hardest advice to give partners is to slow down until the product, onboarding, and communication plan are ready.

Retention economics and monetization

From a business perspective, the case for community ties directly to retention economics. Time spent in-app correlates with monetization opportunities, whether through advertising or subscriptions.

Manrique outlined several common models, including freemium tiers, access to exclusive content, and social enrichment that increases overall platform value. The key is alignment. Monetization should emerge naturally from participation, not disrupt it.

Crucially, these strategies are measurable. Engagement depth, session frequency, and content interaction provide concrete signals that CFOs and product leaders can evaluate against investment.

Communities do not migrate easily

One of the strongest retention effects of community is inertia. Users may switch apps easily. Communities do not.

Once social graphs, shared history, and norms are established, switching costs increase significantly. This dynamic helps explain why being early matters, but also why it is rarely too late. Apps without meaningful community risk widening the gap with competitors that already have it.

As Manrique noted, the risk is not entering a crowded space. The risk is opting out entirely.

Looking ahead to 2026

As acquisition slows and differentiation becomes harder, in-app communities are moving from experimental features to strategic assets. They influence retention, monetization, product direction, and brand trust.

For app teams planning ahead to 2026, the takeaway is clear. Communication is no longer just messaging. It is infrastructure. And community, when architected with intent, is one of the most durable growth levers available.

Watch the full video, embedded above, to discover all of Luigi’s insights. You can also watch all episodes of App Talks here.