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I don't believe the subscription model was "Apple's answer", it was probably coming along anyway. It made it somewhat easier with th app store, and perhaps gave

I don't believe the subscription model was "Apple's answer", it was probably coming along anyway. It made it somewhat easier with th app store, and perhaps gave it a push, but running a business with a subscription model, particularly in consumer software, has huge benefits to the business. It lets you charge a smaller amount up front, to get more people trying, and paying for your software, but keeps an ongoing revenue stream to keep the business going as well.

kalleboo 6y ago
As an iOS developer, Apple developer relations has been HEAVILY courting us to adopt subscriptions for our app. With long Keynote presentations extolling all the virtues and showing sample case studies and everything. We would prefer the traditional model of "pay for major feature updates every years" but the app store does not support that.
cageface 6y ago
Subscriptions are great if you can get your users to sign up for one. But most people are very reluctant to add another subscription to the list of monthly bills they have to pay. For example I might pay $10 every year or two to upgrade a nice photo editing app on my phone and I might even buy several of these but I'm extremely reluctant to sign up for a monthly charge for an app like this and if I do it will only be one.
- iscrewyou 6y ago
  I’ve abandoned many apps because of subscription push. Subscriptions are somewhat like credit cards. I wonder if people realize the monthly increase in prices to their bills is like signing up for cable back in the day. Sometimes the simplest app having a subscription seems like pure greed from the developer. The excuses are generally that of increase in development costs. But maybe that is equivalent to increasing the cost of development like increasing the cost of living when there is extra money coming in.
  - chihuahua 6y ago
    Yeah I decided a long time ago that I'm not playing that game, adding subscriptions for all kinds of things. The only recurring charge I pay for is Amazon Prime, because I don't want to think about shipping costs and I like Prime Video (replaces Netflix) and Fresh (free grocery delivery, no need for Instacart) Other than that, anything that requires a subscription, I can do without. I've bought one mobile app in my life: Backcountry Navigator. It lets me download detailed maps for hiking and then use them where there's no cellphone towers. The free version was good enough, but it was so useful that it felt better to pay the developer his $7 for lifetime usage (no recurring charge)
    - pedalpete 6y ago
      I hadn't heard of Backcountry Navigator before. Just looked at their website which states "some maps require an additional subscription." you maybe you got in on the app before they moved to subscription?
      - chihuahua 6y ago
        It's true that I bought it about 5 years ago and things may have changed since then. But I think the sentence you're quoting is referring to the following: BC Navigator allows you to download maps for offline use from a variety of sources. Most of these sources are free (e.g. Open Cycle Map [related to OpenStreetMap], US Forest Service, etc) and some require a paid account with the map provider (e.g. CalTopo). So if you want to use the CalTopo maps, you need to pay CalTopo. But it's perfectly fine with the free maps. The UI used to be pretty difficult to figure out. After a year I got used to it and it's fine. But they released a new version for iPhone which is supposedly quite different from the early Android version, and they claim they put more effort into making it easier to use. Another thing that's very useful about BC Navigator is that you can easily import GPX tracks (e.g. planned routes) and overlay them on the map in different colors. So you can have your main route for the day, and maybe some alternate routes for a section where you're not sure if the original route is going to work out. You can keep an entire library of routes in the app, and select which ones you want to show that day. It's just a perfect app for what I love to do - mountain biking in places where few people go.

kalleboo 6y ago

As an iOS developer, Apple developer relations has been HEAVILY courting us to adopt subscriptions for our app. With long Keynote presentations extolling all the virtues and showing sample case studies and everything. We would prefer the traditional model of "pay for major feature updates every years" but the app store does not support that.

cageface 6y ago

Subscriptions are great if you can get your users to sign up for one. But most people are very reluctant to add another subscription to the list of monthly bills they have to pay. For example I might pay $10 every year or two to upgrade a nice photo editing app on my phone and I might even buy several of these but I'm extremely reluctant to sign up for a monthly charge for an app like this and if I do it will only be one.

iscrewyou 6y ago
I’ve abandoned many apps because of subscription push. Subscriptions are somewhat like credit cards. I wonder if people realize the monthly increase in prices to their bills is like signing up for cable back in the day. Sometimes the simplest app having a subscription seems like pure greed from the developer. The excuses are generally that of increase in development costs. But maybe that is equivalent to increasing the cost of development like increasing the cost of living when there is extra money coming in.
- chihuahua 6y ago
  Yeah I decided a long time ago that I'm not playing that game, adding subscriptions for all kinds of things. The only recurring charge I pay for is Amazon Prime, because I don't want to think about shipping costs and I like Prime Video (replaces Netflix) and Fresh (free grocery delivery, no need for Instacart) Other than that, anything that requires a subscription, I can do without. I've bought one mobile app in my life: Backcountry Navigator. It lets me download detailed maps for hiking and then use them where there's no cellphone towers. The free version was good enough, but it was so useful that it felt better to pay the developer his $7 for lifetime usage (no recurring charge)
  - pedalpete 6y ago
    I hadn't heard of Backcountry Navigator before. Just looked at their website which states "some maps require an additional subscription." you maybe you got in on the app before they moved to subscription?
    - chihuahua 6y ago
      It's true that I bought it about 5 years ago and things may have changed since then. But I think the sentence you're quoting is referring to the following: BC Navigator allows you to download maps for offline use from a variety of sources. Most of these sources are free (e.g. Open Cycle Map [related to OpenStreetMap], US Forest Service, etc) and some require a paid account with the map provider (e.g. CalTopo). So if you want to use the CalTopo maps, you need to pay CalTopo. But it's perfectly fine with the free maps. The UI used to be pretty difficult to figure out. After a year I got used to it and it's fine. But they released a new version for iPhone which is supposedly quite different from the early Android version, and they claim they put more effort into making it easier to use. Another thing that's very useful about BC Navigator is that you can easily import GPX tracks (e.g. planned routes) and overlay them on the map in different colors. So you can have your main route for the day, and maybe some alternate routes for a section where you're not sure if the original route is going to work out. You can keep an entire library of routes in the app, and select which ones you want to show that day. It's just a perfect app for what I love to do - mountain biking in places where few people go.