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Drafts 5 for iOS goes subscription
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Posted by Graham Rhind
Apr 21, 2018 at 07:40 AM
For or against subscriptions, I think it’s important to compare like with like and to recognise that there are variations on this particular theme. A subscription for a continuous service, such as for an internet connection or for cloud synchronisation; or one where you get a new product every n time periods, such as a magazine subscription, aren’t really comparable to subscriptions to working products that may, or may not, be updated during the subscription period. I’ll pay for the first two types. The latter type I now avoid.
It is oft quoted that subscriptions provide the financial foundation for developers to produce better software and more updates. There’s a flip side: when the money is already there the developers don’t have the motivation or requirement any longer to produce new versions.
Obviously it depends on the developer, so it’s always a risk, but, like Paul, my experience has universally been that development stops when software (without extra services such as cloud synchronisation) moves to a subscription basis. In all cases they have been mature applications. One, which used to produce updates every few months, didn’t produce a single update during the year I subscribed to it, or since. Another promised a new version 2 months into the subscription. 18 months later we’re all still waiting.
I stick to the old adage - buy software for what it does now, not for what is claims it will do in the future.
Posted by Luhmann
Apr 21, 2018 at 12:13 PM
Subscriptions are popular because they are good for Apple. Don’t blame developers for fighting to survive in the Apple created ecosystem.
I’ve paid for the Drafts 5 subscription and am really liking it. I wish automation wasn’t so JavaScript dependent, as I’m a lousy programmer, but people are helpful on the forums.
Posted by satis
Apr 22, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Paul Korm wrote:
> Some developers charging the subscriptions for Bear, Day One, etc.,
>haven’t done anything more than bug fixing since they introduced
>subscriptions.
That’s not fair. I don’t know about Bear (don’t use it) but since Day One went free/subscription last June, in addition to considerable bug and stability fixes, for the iOS app alone they: added Facebook to the Activity Feed, added shake-to-undo in edit mode, added 1st frame of videos in Activity Feed, redesigned the app widgets, eliminated the 10-photo share extension limit, added new widgets (Nearby, Activity Feed, On This Day), implemented drag and drop for adding and arranging photos, added Face ID support, added ability to sign in with keychain credentials, optimized storage (thumbnails saved, full-size images download when entry is opened), updated Watch app and complication, revamped search and journal-switching via picker drawer, added journal colors.