As a developer, I get mad when I see reviews on the App Store complaining about price; people don’t value software as much as they value drinking coffee or going to get a burger from Five Guys. I get it. I do. But what I do not appreciate is when some random person says, well, no one promised you’d make a living selling software. Sorry!
No one promised that you should be able to be making a living doing what you’re doing either bud so simmer down1.
Anyway…
I know developers need to eat and I get just as angry when some entitled user feels that they can’t spend $5 on an app that either:
- Saves them time
- Offers entertainment value
- Helps them do dope shit
The net positive in relation to the $5 cost is enormous though it definitely depends on usability and design. But for the most well designed apps with thoroughly thought out UX and feature set, $5 is nothing if it does any of the three things mentioned above.
Where it gets a bit hairy, and this is the crux of software pricing now, is when everything is a subscription.
Subscriptions for…logging my caffeine intake?
Don’t get me wrong; I will always pay for a subscription that does one of the three things above. But when you have similar apps and services doing similar things, or if the app seems like it just doesn’t need a subscription, it is wise to clamp down and push back.
My subscription list
This is a Notion database of all my subscriptions:
Take a look at my yearly costs:
This is outrageous. This is insane.
I really, really need to think about where to cut the fat; I can technically afford this. But I don’t want the excess.
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Entitlement really fucking bothers me. Sorry not sorry. ↩
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