I would say the least useful comment on the internet is that you hate subscriptions. It’s like hating rules. It’s too abstract. Some are good and some are bad. I believe subscriptions for mobile apps are the best thing that has ever happened for both indie developers and iPhone users. If you like an app, you should buy a subscription. If you like it but really can’t pay for it, that’s okay, you don’t have to use it. But let’s be honest, if you’re reading this you can probably pay for it, and if you’re bothering to complain about the subscription then you probably want to use it. Before firing off an email or a tweet complaining about subscriptions, you should really, sincerely, consider not complaining and just paying the money instead.

I like subscriptions because, in the worst kind of corporate management speak, subscriptions align our interests. You pay for the app for the duration that you see fit. You pay for it because it gives you value. I have that money to pay for infrastructure and improving the app. I’m incentivized to do a good job so you’ll pay me again next year. If you stop using the app or I stop holding up my end of the bargain, you stop paying. It’s a fair deal on both sides. I genuinely can’t understand why this notion is abrasive to so much of the internet. I mean I understand why you might not want to pay for a subscription to your Honda garage door opener, I wouldn’t want to either. But for software on your phone that is constantly being maintained and updated, with a cloud component, how else do you want things to work exactly?

Of course, if you like living in a world where Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Google run every single thing on your phone and ultimately your life, that’s great for you. I hope you enjoy your scrolling and your ads. I don’t love that world. I like the one where talented individuals work hard on making great software like craftsmen, and they just get paid for it. But how should they be paid? Well, in a way that will allow them to make a living building the thing I like. Something recurring probably. At regular intervals and at amounts large enough to be meaningful if a few thousand people appreciate their work. Don’t we want nice things to exist?

I understand some people are against subscriptions because they want to feel a sense of ownership. Wait, no I don’t. I’m honestly not sure what that means. You can’t take Cal.ai and Flighty out of your phone and put them on your shelf. These things are only going to work as long as they’re maintained and updated. It’s not 1995 anymore.

Okay, maybe ownership isn’t possible, but I just want a one-time purchase, you might say. Maybe for budgeting purposes you don’t want to lock in future obligations. And I guess I can understand that, but I can’t help feeling like you have in mind that this one-time purchase is going to be $5 total. And I’m here to tell you that’s not happening. For anything that takes effort it’s going to be more like $200. And if you’re throwing a fit over $5/month you’re probably not going to shell out $200. Even if you’re willing to pay that, it seems like a bad deal for you. You paid $200 up front and I can disappear next month, with no incentive to keep you happy with the app. Why would you want that? Upgrade pricing also doesn’t solve this. The App Store doesn’t support it properly, but even if it did, versioned upgrades incentivize developers to chase shiny features that people might pay for rather than improving their app and building for the long haul. It makes the product worse. If you’re arguing for upgrade pricing, it’s likely because you don’t see yourself buying future versions and just hope you’ll get the bug fixes for free.

“Okay, okay, but this app doesn’t have a backend, and it’s actually already perfect and never needs to change at all. So why can’t I just pay this one time and use it forever?” Hmm, you really love this iPhone app so much, but you want it to look like iOS 15 forever? You don’t want it to support Liquid Glass? I think you do, but even if you don’t, APIs get deprecated. Crashes come up on new OS versions. Anything remotely complex is going to need some maintenance. Sure, you say, but it’s just a little maintenance. It shouldn’t take much, and it would only be once a year. So how should we handle that? Maybe paying yearly would make sense? Like a subscription? You can decide what price point is worth it to you, but you’re not going to convince me subscription is the wrong model even for an offline app.

Oh I have too many subscriptions, you say, and I get that. But do you really need Hulu, Disney Plus, Netflix, and Spotify? And are they all more important to you than your favorite apps on your phone? If the app is not important to you then by all means don’t pay for it. This is not about charity. But if you do love an app and are just objecting to the business model, stop doing that. You’re wrong. The business model is correct.

I really don’t know where people got this idea that mobile apps aren’t serious software and this software shouldn’t cost money, but it’s pervasive. Every single day, a surprising number of people sit down and type out a message either to developer support or just on their favorite social media app to remind app developers that charging a subscription is barbaric and we should be ashamed. I truly can’t believe these people are real, but I’m not ashamed. If you are someone who does this, I beg you, next time at least say it to their faces instead! Take your favorite indie developer out to coffee, look them in the eye, and tell them the $5.99 you just spent on them should be good to cover their work until they die.