app subscriptions

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Instagram Subscriptions New Way to Support Your Favorite Users

Andrew Orr ·

Instagram Subscriptions, launching on Wednesday, is a way for people to support their favorite profiles. TechCrunch reports:

Through the Subscriptions product, creators can choose their own price point for access to their exclusive content. There are eight different price points to choose from, starting at $0.99 per to month to as much as $99.99 per month, depending on how much a creator believes their content is worth. Most creators will likely start towards the bottom of that range, at price points like $0.99, $1.99, $2.99, $4.99, or maybe even $9.99 per month, before experimenting with higher pricing like $19.99, $49.99, or $99.99 per month.

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Netflix Price in 2022 Rises For Customers in US, Canada

Andrew Orr ·

Netflix price in 2022 has risen for customers in the U.S and Canada, depending on the plan. This is the first price increase since October 2020.

The standard plan, which allows for two simultaneous streams, now costs $15.49 per month, up from $13.99, in the United States. The U.S. price of Netflix’s premium plan, which enables four streams at a time and streaming in ultra HD, was increased by $2 to $19.99 per month.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

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Report Shows Instagram Getting Ready to Launch Subscription

Andrew Orr ·

App analytics platforms Sensor Tower and Apptopia show that Instagram is preparing to launch a subscription service.

Both Sensor Tower and Apptopia track the mobile app ecosystem, which includes monitoring chart movements, app engagement and gathering app marketing intelligence data, among other things. But they also track the other less noticeable changes that apps tend to make — like rewriting their App Store descriptions, swapping out their screenshots, or — as in this case — adding new in-app purchases to their App Store listings.

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iPhone Game Controller 'Backbone One' Announces Subscription for New Users

Andrew Orr ·

Backbone One is a game controller for iPhone that plugs into the device’s Lightning port. The company announced new features, which includes a subscription service called Backbone+.

Backbone+ gives players access to: Exclusive perks, like free months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, other service free trials, in-game items, and many more perks to come. Access to the revamped Backbone app, including the trove of new features above as well as future ones.

All new users will also automatically receive 1 year free of Backbone+ membership with their purchase of Backbone One. It renews after 1 year at $4.17/mo billed annually (about the cost of a latte).

Silly millennials, it’s only one coffee a month!

‘Notability’ Becomes Freemium App With Optional Subscription in 11.0 Update
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'Notability' Becomes Freemium App With Optional Subscription in 11.0 Update

Andrew Orr ·

Ginger Labs announced on Monday that its note-taking app Notability is now free and a subscription unlocks the full features. The plan will cost US$14.99/year but users can get it for US$11.99 for a limited time. Previous Notability customers can continue using the app without interruption until November 1, 2022. Another feature: “With the release of Notability 11.0, for the first time ever users can publish notes publicly to the Notability Gallery and enjoy the creativity of the community. Gallery opens up unlimited possibilities for learning and sharing on the app—users can search for ideas on any topic and find inspiration from over 15 million Notability note takers across the globe.”

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Twitter Client ‘Tweetbot’ Becomes a Subscription App

Andrew Orr ·

Tweetbot was updated to version six on Tuesday and it brings several notable features, including the move to subscription pricing.

Even though the Tweetbot subscription isn’t expensive, I think Tapbots owes its users more than it has delivered. It’s a shame because Tweetbot remains one of the premier third-party Twitter clients for iOS. Hopefully, the lack of new features in this update will be addressed in subsequent releases.

Another subscription app that I’ll be deleting. For me, the only advantage Tweetbot has over Twitter is the lack of sponsored tweets, aka ads. While that is a notable feature worth paying for, one downside to Tweetbot includes never getting timely notifications.

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Apple’s 85/15 Subscription Split Doesn’t Help Developers Much

Andrew Orr ·

Unlike Apple’s 70/30 split for in-app purchases, it offers an 85/15 split for subscriptions from customers that stay subscribed for at least a year. But Jacob Eiting writes how that doesn’t really help developers because of subscriber churn.

No matter how great an app is, subscribers are going to churn. Sometimes it’s because of a credit card expiring or some other billing issue. And sometimes it’s more of a pause, and the user comes back after a few months. But the majority of churn comes from subscribers who, for whatever reason, decide that the app just isn’t worth paying for anymore. If a subscriber churns before the 1-year mark, the developer never sees that 85% split. And even if the user resubscribes, Apple and Google reset the clock if a subscription has lapsed for more than 60 days.

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Photo App Neural Cam Moves to Subscription

Andrew Orr ·

Neural Cam promises to give you Night Mode photos even if you don’t have the latest iPhones. It costs US$4.99 up front and recently moved to a subscription of US$4.99/month or US$35.99/year.

I’ve never used the app but people are saying the app is taking away features that people had paid for and locking it behind a subscription, a clear violation of App Store Review Guidelines, section 3.1.2(a).

Update: NeuralCam reached out to me to clarify: The Pro Pack is optional and only adds features for Pro users who subscribe. There’s also an additional 12-month introductory price at US$2.99/month. Finally, no features will be taken away from existing users.

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Darkroom Photo Editor Latest to Go Subscription

Andrew Orr ·

Darkroom is the latest app to move to a subscription model. It affects new users only, and current users won’t lose their premium features they paid for.

For new users, Darkroom will cost $3.99 per month or $19.99 per year. And there is still a one-time purchase option at $49.99. Darkroom hopes that a switch to a subscription business model will increase its revenue and thus expand development of the app.

Subscriptions are annoying, but I don’t blame developers so much as Apple. This is exactly what they wanted because it means more money for them. I don’t Apple will ever add upgrade pricing to the App Store. That doesn’t benefit them. Subscriptions are part of Apple’s new Services business, whether the apps are Apple’s own or not.