alt Hacker NewsMy weightlifting app sold me a pro unlock to get weight calcualors years ago. Then they introduced a subscription model to get that plus some features I didn't want, they promised my purchase would be respected for all time.
Last September they declared that the app was "too valuable to give away for free" and told me I had to subscribe to use it. Even though it hadn't been free, I'd paid for it, and nothing about it had changed in the decade since I paid for it. Everything else was already locked behind a subscription I didn't find value in.
Seems like a lot of companies these days think "lifetime" means "until we really really want more money"
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To add another datapoint: My weightlifting app used to be a one-time purchase a few years ago and have since switched to subscriptions. As a result I have received a lifetime pro license. They’re still selling lifetime licenses for almost a hundred dollars (yearly subscription is ~$30). I still have access to every pro feature. Not bad for a $5 I got ten years ago
That is rough. I assume this is a web application?
I went through a previous thought experiment about what would happen when we moved a paid up front feature behind a subscription. This was the outcome I came to. Unless the user bought and installed a physical app, on the desktop, outside of an app store, they were going to get the rug pulled out from under them.
Simple hack for yourself: Simply disbelieve all "lifetime" claims, presumptively. I do.
Also, the more and more every {expletive deleted} app thinks that the simple features are worth a $14.99/month subscription, the more sense going to open source makes. Yeah, it can be a bit annoying. But "a bit annoying" starts winning out over "a cumulative $200/month set of subscriptions" eventually.