"Think of a sports team app you might have." With the team's app, you get notification of a game beginning. Plus, it's important to pull customers back into the app.

At the very least, he said, companies doing business in California or with residents of the Golden State will have to put a link on the home page of their websites that reads "Do Not Sell My Information."

"We didn't have a paid subscription until a few years ago. We had put the product in the store. It was a huge mistake." WeatherBug's Mike Brooks advised app developers to focus on subscription.

Most of the brand's customers are new to the category, buying their first home security system and SimpliSafe was not doing a good job at onboarding those users.

"Remember getting lost? My kids are, like, that's so stupid. I don't miss getting lost. How about searching for something? [Apps are a way] to organize time and energy."

"What I love about this is we can now give attribution toward more of these awareness channels and actually prove the return on ad spend."