# What's the Median vs P90 Onboarding Length Across Tracked Apps?

Source: Lazyweb Research
Published: 2026-07-07
Sample size: n=129
Tags: onboarding, ux-patterns, mobile, saas, design
HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/onboarding-median-vs-p90
Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/onboarding-median-vs-p90.md

**Answer.** Across 129 tracked onboarding flows, the median is 11 screens and the p90 is 27 [1]. That means the longest 10% of onboardings are more than twice the length of the typical one. The average (13.9) sits between them because a small number of 30-70 screen flows drag it upward [1].

> Median onboarding is 11 screens but p90 is 27 — the top decile runs 2.5x the typical flow (n=129, July 2026).

## The finding: a 16-screen gap between median and p90

The median tracked onboarding is 11 screens; the p90 is 27 [1]. The 16-screen spread between them shows how uneven onboarding length is across apps. For context, p25 is 6 and p75 is 17 [2], so the middle 50% of apps live in a fairly tight 6-17 band, and the divergence happens entirely in the top decile.

## Where the long tail lives

| Bucket | Flows |
|---|---|
| 2-5 screens | 27 [3] |
| 6-10 | 36 [3] |
| 11-15 | 29 [3] |
| 16-20 | 13 [3] |
| 21-30 | 13 [3] |
| 31+ | 11 [3] |

Of 129 flows, 11 exceed 30 screens [3]. These are concentrated in Health & Fitness, whose category median is 20.5 [4] — roughly double the overall median.

## How to apply it

Report both numbers when you benchmark. The median (11) tells you what typical looks like; the p90 (27) tells you what a long flow looks like before it's a true outlier. If a stakeholder cites a 30-screen competitor onboarding as the norm, the data says only about 9% of tracked flows reach 30 [3] — it's an outlier, not a standard.

## The numbers

| Stat | Computed from |
| --- | --- |
| median 11; p90 27.2; avg 13.9 | onboarding_headline_distribution |
| p25 = 6; p75 = 17 | onboarding_headline_distribution percentiles |
| buckets: 2-5:27, 6-10:36, 11-15:29, 16-20:13, 21-30:13, 31+:11 (n=129); 12 flows >=30 | onboarding_length_histogram + is_N_too_many_thresholds >=30 |
| Health & Fitness median 20.5 (n=26) | category_health_fitness |

## Methodology

Universe: 129 canonical onboarding flows (125 companies) within 2,468 tracked flows. Percentiles and buckets computed over screens-per-canonical-flow. Caveat: right-skewed distribution, so median is the better central estimate than average.

## Sources & citations

- [1] Lazyweb Research analysis of 129 canonical onboarding flows (subset of 2,468 tracked flows), July 2026. Median and p90 via PERCENTILE_CONT over screens-per-flow.
- [2] Lazyweb Research analysis of 129 canonical onboarding flows (subset of 2,468 tracked flows), July 2026. p25/p75 from the same distribution.
- [3] Lazyweb Research analysis of 129 canonical onboarding flows (subset of 2,468 tracked flows), July 2026. Length buckets and >=30 threshold count.
- [4] Lazyweb Research analysis of 26 Health & Fitness onboarding flows, July 2026. Per-category median; n=26 across 24 companies.

## Related questions

- [How Many Onboarding Screens Does the Average App Have in 2026?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/average-onboarding-screens-2026)
- [What Does the Full Distribution of App Onboarding Lengths Look Like?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/onboarding-length-distribution-buckets)
- [Which Apps Have the Longest Onboarding Flows?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/longest-app-onboarding-flows)