Subscription model? Nope.
Let’s set this straight. The app is good, it has been good ages ago. Now the bad: For new users, they said they need your change money on a monthly basis so they can keep adding tons of features and patching bugs. :) Imagine going to a supply store to buy a notebook to write notes. You go into the store and the store won’t sell you the notebooks... They are free, you can just take one and leave the store. The notebook would work for 7 days and then it wouldn’t let you write or draw on it unless you pay a monthly subscription. The justification is that the supply store realized it wasn’t profitable to sell the notebooks, so they opted to charge a monthly fee to keep their store running. You know, because they need to pay people to supply, organize and put the notebooks into the store shelves and fix problems with the machine that makes the notebooks. This is how this app works. Look at their version history, see how many updates they’ve pushed in the past couple of years and read their changelogs. Now ask yourself if any of what they put in that “Why do I have to pay for a membership “ article makes any sense. You are not paying them monthly for a cloud service (the app uses your iCloud account), you are not paying for a strong set of customization and formatting options, you are not paying for a robust set of exporting options. You are not paying for an ever-expanding live service. You are paying for their company to function, so they can follow their dream of developing great apps. The fees might be low but the sole existence of a subscription model for an app like this feels like an insult. I get it, I’m also a developer, you need to make money. Why not just add yearly patches and charge for them as IAPs? The app SHOULD cost money as it is actually a neat app, but a subscription that tons of users won’t even remember they are paying just seems unethical. You guys (or guy) are trying to generate passive income off an app that barely needs any maintenance or updates at all. If you use apps like these for several hours a day, every day of the week, and feel like helping this company the subscription makes sense. If you don’t, simply look elsewhere. The cancer of subscription based products has invaded this one.
