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Just killing your app is an emotional, not a rational, decision. You have a human responding to your emails, so here's a business way to handle this situation:

Just killing your app is an emotional, not a rational, decision. You have a human responding to your emails, so here's a business way to handle this situation: Dear Yelp, Your decision to discontinue the free API was unexpected, and it’s difficult for me to switch to the new one within the given very short 4-day timeframe. Not only is this not enough time to estimate how your new API pricing will affect my business model, but it also requires some engineering work to switch my app to the new API. Given my 10-year history of working with Yelp, I would appreciate it if you could send me your new pricing proposal ASAP and also give me some time to consider it. If accepted, I would need additional time to implement it. Thank you.

WoodenChair 2y ago
It's just not worth it. I have a full-time job and many other projects and apps I am supporting. I don't want to work with a company that provides long-term API users 4-days notice about a major change and threatens to cut you off in that time period. As you saw in the blog post I did write back to them and did not get any kind of response indicating flexibility (did you read my whole post?). Also, the money is very very low stakes. This app sells dozens of copies a year. Not hundreds or thousands. It's just not worth it financially. It sold 467 copies over 10 years. People who used it loved it, but it's not a money maker.
- mvdtnz 2y ago
  > I don't want to work with a company that provides long-term API users 4-days notice about a major change and threatens to cut you off in that time period. If you don't want to deal with the slightest inconvenience don't run a business and don't take money from customers. You owe it to your users to care at least a bit.
  - WoodenChair 2y ago
    > If you don't want to deal with the slightest inconvenience don't run a business and don't take money from customers. You owe it to your users to care at least a bit. I did care "at least a bit" which is why I kept updating the app for 10-years despite it not making almost any money. How many indie apps survive that long? But based on the pricing they quoted me it would be a money-losing venture to continue (see slide 3 base monthly fee $229 from the deck they sent me): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cb_8laDpxZdfwJPtYBmibZgvLZ84a17J/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cb_8laDpxZdfwJPtYBmibZgvLZ8... And we have to decide what we work on when we are just one person. If it's money-losing and they don't treat you well it might not make sense to keep doing it. That said, as I expressed in the blog post I do feel really bad for any of the users that bought the app and I want all of them to get a refund from Apple as explained in the post. They can use these directions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118223 https://support.apple.com/en-us/118223
  - Mashimo 2y ago
    > You owe it to your users to care at least a bit. Christ on a bike, he is giving people refund and you act like he does not care at all.
- robertoandred 2y ago
  I had the exact same experience you did, and feel the exact same way.
mvdtnz 2y ago
The yelp guy even preemptively offered a solution, telling him to sign up for a free trial if he needed some extra time.
- ipaddr 2y ago
  Give them your credit card? No he did the right thing.

WoodenChair 2y ago

It's just not worth it. I have a full-time job and many other projects and apps I am supporting. I don't want to work with a company that provides long-term API users 4-days notice about a major change and threatens to cut you off in that time period. As you saw in the blog post I did write back to them and did not get any kind of response indicating flexibility (did you read my whole post?). Also, the money is very very low stakes. This app sells dozens of copies a year. Not hundreds or thousands. It's just not worth it financially. It sold 467 copies over 10 years. People who used it loved it, but it's not a money maker.

mvdtnz 2y ago
> I don't want to work with a company that provides long-term API users 4-days notice about a major change and threatens to cut you off in that time period. If you don't want to deal with the slightest inconvenience don't run a business and don't take money from customers. You owe it to your users to care at least a bit.
- WoodenChair 2y ago
  > If you don't want to deal with the slightest inconvenience don't run a business and don't take money from customers. You owe it to your users to care at least a bit. I did care "at least a bit" which is why I kept updating the app for 10-years despite it not making almost any money. How many indie apps survive that long? But based on the pricing they quoted me it would be a money-losing venture to continue (see slide 3 base monthly fee $229 from the deck they sent me): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cb_8laDpxZdfwJPtYBmibZgvLZ84a17J/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cb_8laDpxZdfwJPtYBmibZgvLZ8... And we have to decide what we work on when we are just one person. If it's money-losing and they don't treat you well it might not make sense to keep doing it. That said, as I expressed in the blog post I do feel really bad for any of the users that bought the app and I want all of them to get a refund from Apple as explained in the post. They can use these directions: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118223 https://support.apple.com/en-us/118223
- Mashimo 2y ago
  > You owe it to your users to care at least a bit. Christ on a bike, he is giving people refund and you act like he does not care at all.
robertoandred 2y ago
I had the exact same experience you did, and feel the exact same way.

mvdtnz 2y ago

The yelp guy even preemptively offered a solution, telling him to sign up for a free trial if he needed some extra time.

ipaddr 2y ago
Give them your credit card? No he did the right thing.