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Yes, we hate subscriptions. However, which apps do you choose to subscribe to?
- Thread starter NJRonbo
- Start date
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Meh. Can you name the Apple apps that contain ads? Fremium my @$$
I will be sure to save this post for future reference.
Zero. I think that concept is such a bs scam. I really hate it. I want to own my apps, as well as my music / tv shows / movies. Being locked into a subscription in perpetuity to access content doesn’t sit well with me.
iCloud storage,
Spotify,
Adobe Creative Cloud,
Free trial year of Apple TV+
I know a lot of people think Affinity is better than Creative Cloud, but I use XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and InDesign. Most of them daily. Affinity just doesn’t have replacements for all of these.
Spotify,
Adobe Creative Cloud,
Free trial year of Apple TV+
I know a lot of people think Affinity is better than Creative Cloud, but I use XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and InDesign. Most of them daily. Affinity just doesn’t have replacements for all of these.
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- 1Password (yearly subscription) and a must have for me
- Spotify (even though I prefer having my own music library on itunes, but having an Android phone makes my sync not easy, and also Spotify offers nice Podcast accessibility)
- Spotify (even though I prefer having my own music library on itunes, but having an Android phone makes my sync not easy, and also Spotify offers nice Podcast accessibility)
Termius, Spend Together, iCloud, Apple Music, Yazio, Carrot Weather, Overcast, Parcel, Chronicle, Dropzone 4, Disney+ (the odd month here and there), Netflix, Prime Video, 1Password, ExpressVPN, TorGuard, and have had subscriptions to many others over time. Yes, I'm a sucker.
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I’m on the year free of Apple TV right now. I have Tidal for music right now. I had a trial where they had any plan for $5 for 6 months. That includes the family plan. We’re going to keep it for now unless we switch. Then we have the bare bones Hulu.
Nothing on monthly subscription right now. Would like to keep it that way as long as possible.
I do pay Prime and Microsoft 365 annually though.
I do pay Prime and Microsoft 365 annually though.
I only subscribe to Macworld magazine and Netflix, and Netflix is only for my kids. When they go off to college, I’m cancelling that Netflix monthly drain in my wallet. Macworld is staying because (1) I’ve subscribed to it since the 1980’s and (2) I often find yearly subscription discounts online for only $15. It’s worth that.
I too have used 1Password for many years but to this day I still use 1Password 7 standalone. No recurring fees! I posted in the Agile Forum here how to do it and how to get a Rakuten discount on that purchase too.
I too have used 1Password for many years but to this day I still use 1Password 7 standalone. No recurring fees! I posted in the Agile Forum here how to do it and how to get a Rakuten discount on that purchase too.
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Subscriptions ... oh my. Too many.
iCloud Drive (2TB) (Family)
Apple Music (Family)
Apple News
Tunnel Bear
1Blocker
Carrot Weather
Day One
1Password
BackBlaze
Office 365
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Fastmail
Hmm... I think that about summarizes it up. I'm sure I forgot one or two.
iCloud Drive (2TB) (Family)
Apple Music (Family)
Apple News
Tunnel Bear
1Blocker
Carrot Weather
Day One
1Password
BackBlaze
Office 365
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Fastmail
Hmm... I think that about summarizes it up. I'm sure I forgot one or two.
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Excluding content streaming apps (Spotify, Hulu, Netflix, etc):
- 1Password (family plan). I justify this one on the basis that security threats are ever-evolving, and there's a great sync service involved that makes it so that I always have all my current logins (and lots of other info) on my phone and both Macs. It's well worth it.
- Adobe Creative Cloud I use some of these apps (Illustrator, mainly) to generate billable work. I would consider the Affinity Suite, but I need rock-solid compatibility with Adobe files because that what my main client wants as a deliverable -- and I often need to go back and forth with files and 100% compatibility is necessary.
- Ulysses This one hurts a little. It's only like $40 a year but I don't love the principle of it. It's mostly feature-mature writing app that honestly doesn't need more features. But also it's the best app of its kind I've used by far, and I have a ton of writing already filed inside its system.
- Agenda I think this app is a bit over-ambitious in the new feature department, often at the expense of stability and polish. But it's a great concept and I love their pricing model because it's a true subscription instead of a software rental. You can use the free version, or you can subscribe to new features for a year. Even if you stop, you get to keep forever all the pro features, including any new ones introduced when you're subscribing. (Instead of, like most software rental apps just stop functioning the moment you stop paying.)
- Overcast I kick this guy a few bucks a year just because I like the app a lot and want to support it.
- iCloud 2TB plan. I get a lot of use out of this. A very big photo library, synced everywhere, and I've moved nearly all my files into iCloud Drive so they're always with me. I find the syncing largely very solid. The only thing I miss about Dropbox is the granularity of sync controls and transparency about sync conflicts and progress.
- 1Password (family plan). I justify this one on the basis that security threats are ever-evolving, and there's a great sync service involved that makes it so that I always have all my current logins (and lots of other info) on my phone and both Macs. It's well worth it.
- Adobe Creative Cloud I use some of these apps (Illustrator, mainly) to generate billable work. I would consider the Affinity Suite, but I need rock-solid compatibility with Adobe files because that what my main client wants as a deliverable -- and I often need to go back and forth with files and 100% compatibility is necessary.
- Ulysses This one hurts a little. It's only like $40 a year but I don't love the principle of it. It's mostly feature-mature writing app that honestly doesn't need more features. But also it's the best app of its kind I've used by far, and I have a ton of writing already filed inside its system.
- Agenda I think this app is a bit over-ambitious in the new feature department, often at the expense of stability and polish. But it's a great concept and I love their pricing model because it's a true subscription instead of a software rental. You can use the free version, or you can subscribe to new features for a year. Even if you stop, you get to keep forever all the pro features, including any new ones introduced when you're subscribing. (Instead of, like most software rental apps just stop functioning the moment you stop paying.)
- Overcast I kick this guy a few bucks a year just because I like the app a lot and want to support it.
- iCloud 2TB plan. I get a lot of use out of this. A very big photo library, synced everywhere, and I've moved nearly all my files into iCloud Drive so they're always with me. I find the syncing largely very solid. The only thing I miss about Dropbox is the granularity of sync controls and transparency about sync conflicts and progress.
YouTube premium
Apple Music
Netflix
Amazon prime
iCloud (200 GB)
TV+ (still free trial)
Apple Arcade (though don’t really use it much these days)
Fantastical
Dropbox
Office
Todoist
Lockdown
Macstories
Stratechery
AboveAvalon
That’s quite the list.
Apple Music
Netflix
Amazon prime
iCloud (200 GB)
TV+ (still free trial)
Apple Arcade (though don’t really use it much these days)
Fantastical
Dropbox
Office
Todoist
Lockdown
Macstories
Stratechery
AboveAvalon
That’s quite the list.
I don't pay software/music/video subscriptions on anything, there are always free/cheap alternatives, and most of those are pretty high quality, certainly high enough for my usage.
I do pay subscriptions on my: mortgage + council rates, phone usage, internet usage, electricity usage. Unfortunately there are no free/cheap high quality alternatives to all of those.
I also pay "subscriptions" on consumables such as food, petrol, clothes and so on. Also largely unavoidable, but possible to make it super cheap on most if you choose, but then you are also choosing a cheap life, so it's a balance.
The key to financial success is to always spend less than you earn. That's the simplest rule.
Also avoid all debt that isn't a growth investment such as a house (but not debt to buy or leverage into the stock market, that's a high risk fool's paradise, especially leveraged, as the dreaded margin call will bite you eventually when the crash cycle periodically comes).
Not at all trying to sound like a miser, I understand if you're fully into music you could want a spotify account, and so on, but I try to avoid them all with alternatives.
I do pay subscriptions on my: mortgage + council rates, phone usage, internet usage, electricity usage. Unfortunately there are no free/cheap high quality alternatives to all of those.
I also pay "subscriptions" on consumables such as food, petrol, clothes and so on. Also largely unavoidable, but possible to make it super cheap on most if you choose, but then you are also choosing a cheap life, so it's a balance.
The key to financial success is to always spend less than you earn. That's the simplest rule.
Also avoid all debt that isn't a growth investment such as a house (but not debt to buy or leverage into the stock market, that's a high risk fool's paradise, especially leveraged, as the dreaded margin call will bite you eventually when the crash cycle periodically comes).
Not at all trying to sound like a miser, I understand if you're fully into music you could want a spotify account, and so on, but I try to avoid them all with alternatives.
I'd start by learning what “freemium” means, myself: You can use a set of basic features for free; additional (and perhaps even significant) functionality will cost extra. Ads have nothing to do with it. Also, if Apple does move to a freemium model, you can bet that they won’t let you forget that they offer it — see Music and News for non-Apple Music and News+ subscribers for examples on that.
ETA: Come to think of it, can you name an instance where Apple made a high-profile acquisition of a paid, consumer-facing app/service and chose to give up that stream of revenue entirely instead of rebranding it and continuing to charge for it?
Siri used to be a free app on the App Store, it’s still called Siri, and it’s free to use. Apple Music came from Beats Music, a paid service, and is not free to use. Apple News+ came from Texture, a paid service, and is not free to use. Shazam was/is a free app, it’s still Shazam, and it’s still free. Those are just a few examples off the top of my head.
Honestly, the only exception I can think of is Shortcuts, if you want to call their acquisition of Workflow a high-profile acquisition.
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