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The way to fix app "subscriptions" is not to charge more (or less) but to fix the customer-hostile structure of app "subscriptions". The big issue with app "su

The way to fix app "subscriptions" is not to charge more (or less) but to fix the customer-hostile structure of app "subscriptions". The big issue with app "subscriptions" is that they don't actually work like subscriptions. Before the digital age, "subscription" used to mean (and for physical products it still means) that you get regular delivery of something as long as you pay. If you stop paying, you no longer get more stuff, but you get to keep whatever you already received. You don't have to return your back issues of the newspaper when you cancel your subscription. Arguably TV subscriptions have always been an exception, but functionally they're not because you can record TV. App "subscriptions" are different. Developers like to emphasize how they fund sustained future development of an app, but the reality is that when you cancel you usually lose access even to current features (you arguably already helped pay for). The way app subscriptions should work is that you can perpetually keep using whatever version of the app was current when you stopped paying (Jetbrains actually does this, and I salute them for it: https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What-is-perpetual-fallback-license-?_ga=2.179586276.1564311569.1599521489-1376937852.1598939461 https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What...). The current model is really "app rental", and it's inherently customer-hostile. Playing with the pricing does not fundamentally change that.

nodamage 6y ago
Just to clarify, with the Jetbrains model you don't get to keep the current version, your fallback license is for the version that was available 12 months prior to the date you decided to stop paying. (Presumably this is so you can't upgrade for a month, then cancel, and end up with a perpetual license for the current version.)
stordoff 6y ago
This is roughly how the collectorz.com desktop apps work. Once your service plan expires, you lose the ability to update and some cloud features, but you can always use the version you currently have (or update to the last version that was available within your service plan). If I open Movie Collector, which I had a paid subscription for but let lapse, and try to update, I get: Your current version: 18.4 build X You can update to version: 19.5 build X (Note: your update plan expired on 2019-XX-XX) If you renew your update plan, you will be able to update to version: 20.6 build X
- GordonS 6y ago
  I do similar with my B2B security software too (which doesn't have a cloud component). We have an optional software maintenance, which gets you software updates and support for the duration of your subscription. If you don't renew your subscription, you get to keep using the last version that was available at that time. Sometimes if a lapsed customer later buys a lot of new licenses relative to the number they already have, I just reinstate their maintenance for free, because it feels like the right thing to do
dvcrn 6y ago
The notes app https://agenda.com https://agenda.com does this too. Very happy with this model
gnicholas 6y ago
> Developers like to emphasize how they fund sustained future development of an app, but the reality is that when you cancel you usually lose access even to current features (you arguably already helped pay for). I make a browser plugin that functions as a productivity/accessibility tool. When I first started charging, I actually did grandfather in all our existing free users and give them perpetual access to the then-existing feature set. But it's not clear what it would mean to freeze people who had a paid subscription and then terminated it. If someone pays for one month, do they forever get access to the version that they briefly paid for? How do I deal with customers who are upset that certain websites have changed and no longer work with old versions of our plugins? I would expect lots of questions from folks who want to know if this bug or that bug had been fixed by later releases (and then they would briefly subscribe to get perpetual access to the newer version). Another commenter mentioned giving folks access to the version that existed a year before they stopped paying, but if I release version 1, then 2, then 3, someone might try out 3, stop paying, and then end up on 2. That seems confusing and suboptimal for everyone.
- maccard 6y ago
  The jetbrains model only kicks in after a year. If you sub for 1 month, and cancel, you get nothing. If you sub for 12 months, you get a perpetual license for the version that was relesed 12 months before you finished.
chrisdirkis 6y ago
Works the other way too, though. When I subscribe to a magazine, I don't get shipped their entire back catalogue. This causes the problems that gnicholas describes. If I did, why subscribe for a year, when I can subscribe for a month at the end of the year?
wunderflix 6y ago
There is another model featuring 4 levels, that I find interesting: 1 month, 6 months, 12 months AND life-time. We saw that some apps are starting to adopt that model and were thinking doing the same. Even though the life-time price is on a different level, this 4th option might cater to a specific group of people that don't like subscriptions.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
There's a lot of apps like that (you pay a recurring license fee), but there's also a lot of apps that sell a subscription for their online / cloud segment, e.g. note taking apps so that your data is synchronised across devices. That seems more fair than the periodical license fee. Usually those apps work just fine without the subscription as well. I also have a "smart" thermostat in the house, it was a one-time purchase, but they offer a subscription for bonus features like detecting when you're outside and turning down the thermostat then. That said, I'm not actually very comfortable using it anymore, all of my home temperature and humidity data is being sent to their servers and sold on (I'm sure) as statistical data. I get remote control (from my phone) and (actually interesting) temperature / historical charts. Only per day though, I would like to see weekly/monthly/annual data.
jaclaz 6y ago
>The current model is really "app rental", and it's inherently customer-hostile. Additionally, it doesn't generally speaking fit the actual usage and that is something that irks the customers. Take car rental as an example their pricing (right or wrong) more or less used to be on a per day basis with a certain (logical ) amount of km included per day and excess km paid extra at a given rate. Now they are mostly on a per day basis with "unlimited" kms included. The amount of the "unlimited" is clearly calculated on historical data/averages, etc. and the result is most of the times an affordable rate, often considered fair by everyone that actually runs it for a near to the average distance. You still have a few that rent the car for several days and drive it for only a fraction of the distance and a few people that take great advantage by driving the car for a much greater distance in a short period, but they are a limited amount of "extremes". With an app, as you say in an "app rental" agreement, you probably have a much larger amount of people that will use it very rarely and (if it is a good tool) a much larger amount of people that will use it every day, all day. The first category won't be happy.

nodamage 6y ago

Just to clarify, with the Jetbrains model you don't get to keep the current version, your fallback license is for the version that was available 12 months prior to the date you decided to stop paying. (Presumably this is so you can't upgrade for a month, then cancel, and end up with a perpetual license for the current version.)

stordoff 6y ago

This is roughly how the collectorz.com desktop apps work. Once your service plan expires, you lose the ability to update and some cloud features, but you can always use the version you currently have (or update to the last version that was available within your service plan). If I open Movie Collector, which I had a paid subscription for but let lapse, and try to update, I get: Your current version: 18.4 build X You can update to version: 19.5 build X (Note: your update plan expired on 2019-XX-XX) If you renew your update plan, you will be able to update to version: 20.6 build X

GordonS 6y ago
I do similar with my B2B security software too (which doesn't have a cloud component). We have an optional software maintenance, which gets you software updates and support for the duration of your subscription. If you don't renew your subscription, you get to keep using the last version that was available at that time. Sometimes if a lapsed customer later buys a lot of new licenses relative to the number they already have, I just reinstate their maintenance for free, because it feels like the right thing to do

dvcrn 6y ago

The notes app https://agenda.com https://agenda.com does this too. Very happy with this model

gnicholas 6y ago

> Developers like to emphasize how they fund sustained future development of an app, but the reality is that when you cancel you usually lose access even to current features (you arguably already helped pay for). I make a browser plugin that functions as a productivity/accessibility tool. When I first started charging, I actually did grandfather in all our existing free users and give them perpetual access to the then-existing feature set. But it's not clear what it would mean to freeze people who had a paid subscription and then terminated it. If someone pays for one month, do they forever get access to the version that they briefly paid for? How do I deal with customers who are upset that certain websites have changed and no longer work with old versions of our plugins? I would expect lots of questions from folks who want to know if this bug or that bug had been fixed by later releases (and then they would briefly subscribe to get perpetual access to the newer version). Another commenter mentioned giving folks access to the version that existed a year before they stopped paying, but if I release version 1, then 2, then 3, someone might try out 3, stop paying, and then end up on 2. That seems confusing and suboptimal for everyone.

maccard 6y ago
The jetbrains model only kicks in after a year. If you sub for 1 month, and cancel, you get nothing. If you sub for 12 months, you get a perpetual license for the version that was relesed 12 months before you finished.

chrisdirkis 6y ago

Works the other way too, though. When I subscribe to a magazine, I don't get shipped their entire back catalogue. This causes the problems that gnicholas describes. If I did, why subscribe for a year, when I can subscribe for a month at the end of the year?

wunderflix 6y ago

There is another model featuring 4 levels, that I find interesting: 1 month, 6 months, 12 months AND life-time. We saw that some apps are starting to adopt that model and were thinking doing the same. Even though the life-time price is on a different level, this 4th option might cater to a specific group of people that don't like subscriptions.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

There's a lot of apps like that (you pay a recurring license fee), but there's also a lot of apps that sell a subscription for their online / cloud segment, e.g. note taking apps so that your data is synchronised across devices. That seems more fair than the periodical license fee. Usually those apps work just fine without the subscription as well. I also have a "smart" thermostat in the house, it was a one-time purchase, but they offer a subscription for bonus features like detecting when you're outside and turning down the thermostat then. That said, I'm not actually very comfortable using it anymore, all of my home temperature and humidity data is being sent to their servers and sold on (I'm sure) as statistical data. I get remote control (from my phone) and (actually interesting) temperature / historical charts. Only per day though, I would like to see weekly/monthly/annual data.

jaclaz 6y ago

>The current model is really "app rental", and it's inherently customer-hostile. Additionally, it doesn't generally speaking fit the actual usage and that is something that irks the customers. Take car rental as an example their pricing (right or wrong) more or less used to be on a per day basis with a certain (logical ) amount of km included per day and excess km paid extra at a given rate. Now they are mostly on a per day basis with "unlimited" kms included. The amount of the "unlimited" is clearly calculated on historical data/averages, etc. and the result is most of the times an affordable rate, often considered fair by everyone that actually runs it for a near to the average distance. You still have a few that rent the car for several days and drive it for only a fraction of the distance and a few people that take great advantage by driving the car for a much greater distance in a short period, but they are a limited amount of "extremes". With an app, as you say in an "app rental" agreement, you probably have a much larger amount of people that will use it very rarely and (if it is a good tool) a much larger amount of people that will use it every day, all day. The first category won't be happy.