60.6% of taps become installs before Back-to-School season — free SplitMetrics playbook for Apple Ads

Back to School 2026 · Free Playbook

60.6% of taps become installs. Here’s what top education apps do differently.

Back-to-School brings higher search engagement while keeping acquisition costs consistently low – a perfect chance for predictable scaling during a period of higher intent.
Using SplitMetrics data for Apple Ads, we analyzed the best-performing education apps ahead of Back to School: how the leaders defend their brand names, how hard the category bids on competitor terms, and how few are ready for September.

$850K

peak monthly spend in the season

92%

bidding on competitors’ brands

Free playbook

Education Apps in Apple Ads
Back to School season 2026

One field. Add your work email and the playbook is on its way.

Built from three SplitMetrics sources: Iris AI Agent for live market intelligence insights, SplitMetrics Acquire for the full category and campaign picture, and App Radar for organic search and creative.

What’s inside

Four questions the playbook answers with category data

Every figure below is SplitMetrics data for Apple Ads, covering the best-performing education apps, January to July 2026.

48%

run no ads on their own brand name

Brand defense

Half the category leaves its brand name open to competitors.

Almost half run nothing on their own brand terms, so a competitor’s ad can answer a search for them. Inside: the share-of-voice numbers on brand terms, and the move worth making first.

60.6%

average conversion rate, education

Benchmarks

What does it cost to run Apple Ads in education right now?

Conversion is the healthy part of this category. Earning the tap is where the work sits, and where the costs decide it. The full H1 2026 SplitMetrics benchmark set is inside: tap-through rate, cost per tap, cost per install and cost per 1,000 impressions, with what each number means for your app.

92%

of active advertisers bid on a competitor’s brand name

Competitor bidding

How aggressively does the category bid on competitor brand names?

Some advertisers reach 100% share of voice on a competitor’s brand search. Inside: the share-of-voice picture on competitor terms, and how to keep that targeting tight.

~2,500

custom product pages running in education

Listing and creative

The category doubled its custom product pages in a year. What are the leaders doing with them?

Close to twice as many as a year ago, and the pages that win impressions follow a pattern. Inside: what the top-performing listings and pages do differently, and how to match the page to the search behind each ad.

FREE playbook

Get the full education playbook.

✓How the top-performing education apps run Apple Ads.

✓The full H1 2026 benchmark set: tap-through, conversion, cost per tap, cost per install, cost per 1,000.

✓How the leaders handle brand defense and competitor bidding, with share-of-voice data.

✓Where the Back-to-School opening is biggest, and the moves worth making.

A 10-minute read you can hand to whoever runs your app growth. Every finding comes with the move to make.

One field. Add your work email and the playbook is on its way.

Prefer a personal read on your own app? Get a free expert app review.

Education apps already growing with SplitMetrics

Working with SplitMetrics has always been a pleasure. The team is professional and has helped us achieve our goals. They understand our needs and have always given us countless innovative ideas to solve our problems. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Victoria Chan, Lead Growth Marketing Manager
Yousician, Education

Prefer a conversation?

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A free 20-minute review of your app on Apple Ads. Where your setup sits against the category, and the two or three moves worth making before the school season.

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The intelligence behind this page

What backs up these numbers

1.6M+

Apple Ads campaigns managed through SplitMetrics, with over a decade in the category.

40%

of the biggest advertisers use SplitMetrics to run Apple Ads.

10,000+

apps and brands grown with SplitMetrics across categories.

98%

customer satisfaction, with 9 in 10 staying year over year.