Apps that shouldn't be Subscriptions

What is the most useless app that you have seen being given as a subscription?

For me, I tried a ‘minimalist’ launcher app for Android that had a 7 day trial or something and they had a yearly subscription based model for it. I was aghast. I would literally expect the app to blow my mind and do everything one can assume to go that way. In a world, where Nova Launcher (Yes, I know it has been acquired by Branch folks but it still is a sturdy one) or Niagara exist plus many alternatives including minimalist ones on F Droid, the dev must be releasing revolutionary stuff to factor in a subscription service.

Second, is a controversial choice, since it’s free tier is quite good and people like it so much. But, Pocketcasts. I checked it’s yearly price the other day, and boy, in my country, I can subscribe to Google Play Pass, YouTube Premium and Spotify and still have money left before I hit the ceiling what Pocketcasts is asking for paid upgrade.

Also, what are your views on one time purchase vs subscriptions? Personally, I find it much easier to purchase, if it’s good enough even if it was piratable, something if it is a one time purchase rather than repetitive.

Hiro8811,

Don’t remember the name but there was a magisk module manager that had ads and didn’t even install the modules. Just downloaded them after an ad. It asked money for removing ads

stardust,

Only subscriptions that make sense to me a cloud based ones that can’t function at all without access to the internet due to not being able to retrieve content needed to function. Examples that come to mind are netflix and spotify, since even though you can download content to watch or hear offline you need internet to retrieve new content. Means there are hosting costs, and I’m basically paying to not host all that content myself.

But, anything else doesn’t make sense to me. If app wants to charge again then they can do another version release, and let people keep using the old version if they want while stopping updates for it. I don’t do subscriptions.

purple,

A subscription to a mobile game that gives more gold when buying gold

blakeus12,
@blakeus12@hexbear.net avatar

a VR app called “Supernatural” that was a fitness based beat saber clone

beto,
@beto@lemmy.studio avatar

There’s was a scanner app that I loved, for Android. Turned into a subscription, even though most people use it less than once a month and even though the app was basically complete and never got updates.

Rosco,

One-time purchase. If I’m buying something, I want to own it. No compromises. Luckily basically every software that I use is free and open-source so I don’t have to worry about that. If I can’t find a particular software for a niche usage, I make it.

Zink, (edited )

Mobile games for kids are the worst. Those and any self-help mental health apps.

It’s $10 a month to access the features of a basic game that runs on the local device, or the subscription renews weekly, or you can get a 7-day free trial after which it charges you for the entire year. And in the latter case, you usually have to sign up for the free trial before you are allowed to see ANY content.

A cheap subscription makes sense for some things, especially those using cloud based resources. But so much of that business model seems to rely on making money by screwing people that forgot they were paying you.

No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston, (edited )

Apps that provide server time either synchronizing data and storing information or providing an api to bring info to the device.
Data intensive apps like windy can charge whatever they need, now MF like Strava pushing an $79/yr for routes is about BS.

LeylaLove,
@LeylaLove@hexbear.net avatar

Adobe CC. They’ve added new features recently to justify a subscription, but it’s still not that good of a pitch. Some editors will have offline PCs so that their software doesn’t get fucked up by anything (SUPER common in music), so having a subscription model works against professional users of their software.

otter,

If the app needs a server component, a small subscription is justified. If it doesn’t, then a subscription isn’t justified.

If the subscription is optional, and it gets more frequent updates & support, that might be ok too as long as you can choose to just keep the product as is (and the product isn’t riddled with bugs)

nhgeek,

I generally hate them in consumer-targeted apps. Theoretically, there’s nothing wrong with the model. Devs have to keep the lights on, especially if there is a cloud service behind the app. It’s all about what pricing model they set. However, pricing is hard. A lot of companies really screw this up right at the start. I also think a lot of businesses cannot resist the temptation to boil the frog and ask for more and more over time, until their pricing is way out of alignment with value delivery.

RobotToaster,

All of them

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