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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,481
30,718



Apple today debuted limited-time deals on 20 productivity apps in the iOS App Store in a section of the store called "Amazing Productivity Apps", with popular apps like Clear, Notability and Fantastical 2 getting special prices for a limited time.

productivitysale.png
The apps' new prices range from $0.99 to $6.99, and include the following:

- Clear ($2)
- Notability ($2)
- MindNode ($5)
- Scanner Pro ($3)
- Fantastical 2 for iPhone ($5)
- Fantastical 2 for iPad ($8)
- Launch Center Pro ($2)
- Boxer for Gmail, Outlook ($5)
- Prizmo ($5)
- Tydlig - Typing Reimagined ($1)
- iTranslate Voice ($2)
- Writer Pro ($5)
- Grafio - Diagrams and Ideas ($4)
- PDF Expert 5 ($5)
- PCalc ($5)
- Gneo ($4)
- Due ($2)
- Todo ($2)
- TextGrabber ($7)
- MobileFamilyTree 7 ($7)
- Scanbot ($1)

Some of the discounts are fairly steep, like Writer Pro's discount from $19.99 to $4.99, while others are discounted at least 50%, like Notability going from $4.99 to $1.99. However, it's unknown how long these discounts will be in effect.

Article Link: Apple Puts 20 Productivity Apps on Sale in iOS App Store for Limited Time
 

jwbrobst

macrumors member
Apr 8, 2014
48
26
I highly recommend Scanner Pro for college students; I recommend it to anyone else, also.
 

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
1,200
Montreal, Canada
people still pay for apps?:rolleyes:

Very few developers will work for free.

If you don't pay anything upfront, developers will usually have alternative business models, like showing you ads, mining your data, spamming you with IAP offers...

I, by far, prefer the former business model: Pay a cheap price upfront, then get treated like a respected customer. What's $2 for an app when people gladly pay $60+/month for their smartphone plan? It also wasn't that long ago that people paid $30-40 a pop for simple Game Boy games.
 

Martin29

macrumors 6502
Nov 25, 2010
344
113
Quimper, France
I too would rather pay and know what I'm buying, rather than getting nasty surprises with ads popping up every few seconds..

There's some good looking apps here and I'm going to check a few of them out
 

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,149
Only Launch Center Pro and Prizmo looked interesting and useful. Not sure I would really use Prizmo, and I'm curious if Launch Center Pro would become indispensable or seldom used.
 

Zxxv

macrumors 68040
Nov 13, 2011
3,558
1,104
UK
iTranslate price cut....to the price it was before we doubled it just before apple aired their dreams ad.

So in the tone of bill burr and to trigger the swear filter go **** yourself , you greedy ***** :D

Besides by the reviews it doesn't work offline so you'd incur a charge so huge for data trying to translate something in a foreign land your better off using Duolingo to learn the language at home.

I don't think I've ever felt so turned off an app and I was really looking forward to it after seeing it in the apple ad
 
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Ann P

macrumors 68020
Jun 29, 2009
2,311
9
California
Apple Puts 20 Productivity Apps on Sale in iOS App Store for Limited Time

people still pay for apps?:rolleyes:


Pirating is something to brag about? Majority of apps in the App Store are under $5, don't be a cheapskate. Haha.

On topic, Launch and Clear are must-haves for me. Incredible apps.
 
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ScottNWDW

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2008
1,231
315
Orlando, Florida
fantastical 2, MobileFamily Tree and Todo are all awesome apps and I use Todo and Fantastical daily. Mobile Family Tree is really interesting if you want to track your family tree.
 

bpcookson

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2012
484
90
MA
I too would rather pay and know what I'm buying, rather than getting nasty surprises with ads popping up every few seconds..

There's some good looking apps here and I'm going to check a few of them out

The problem, of course, is that you're paying without knowing what you're buying. And I don't mind steep prices for quality apps, but I'm a huge fan of apps that are free with a single "unlock everything" IAP.

Y'know, just sayin.
 

ricci

macrumors 6502
Aug 21, 2012
259
13
NYC
iTranslate price cut....to the price it was before we doubled it just before apple aired their dreams ad.

So in the tone of bill burr and to trigger the swear filter go **** yourself , you greedy ***** :D

Besides by the reviews it doesn't work offline so you'd incur a charge so huge for data trying to translate something in a foreign land your better off using Duolingo to learn the language at home.

I don't think I've ever felt so turned off an app and I was really looking forward to it after seeing it in the apple ad



We are just talking a few dollars right????? I hope you didn't skip lunch?
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Out of all of those I use:

Notability
Fantastical
Launch Center Pro
Tydlig
Writer Pro
and Grafio

Here's one of my recent Launch Center Pro setups (I recently dumped Camera+ though):

launchcenterpro.png


I like Tydlig, I just find that these days when I'm doing math, it's mostly word problems where Solver shines the most. I can also set certain words to have certain values. All these calculators have certain use cases. A lot of people seen to like PCalc as the replacement for an actual scientific calculator.
 

dilbert99

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2012
2,193
1,829
Nice to see that Australia is getting ripped of with prices again and its not a constant markup:

[expected price 10% + 0.93 conversion]

MindNode 4.99 vs 6.49 (30%) [5.90]
Fantastical 4.99 vs 6.99 (40%) [5.90]

Launch Centre 1.99 vs 2.49 (25%) [2.35]

Tydiig 0.99 vs 1.99 (101%) [1.17]

Grafio 3.99 vs 5.99 (50%) [4.72]

Which ranges from 6% to 70% more expensive when comparing apples to apples
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,558
6,058
I love Fantastical on my Macs - I never bother launching the full calendar app anymore since I can do everything I ever need to from that little menubar calendar app.

But I haven't tried Fantastical on my iPhone. I don't see what the purpose of it is. The built in Calendar app on my iPhone is tied in with Siri, the Today View, and the Notification Center? I realize that it's cheating on Apple's part since they haven't released APIs for any of that as of iOS 7 (looks like some of that is changing in iOS 8) but how could Fantastical possibly top the built in Calendar app on the iPhone?
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
I love Fantastical on my Macs - I never bother launching the full calendar app anymore since I can do everything I ever need to from that little menubar calendar app.

But I haven't tried Fantastical on my iPhone. I don't see what the purpose of it is. The built in Calendar app on my iPhone is tied in with Siri, the Today View, and the Notification Center? I realize that it's cheating on Apple's part since they haven't released APIs for any of that as of iOS 7 (looks like some of that is changing in iOS 8) but how could Fantastical possibly top the built in Calendar app on the iPhone?

Fantastical ties in with the calendar, so anything you do with Siri will show up there too. Kills two birds with one stone since it handles both the calendar and reminders.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,558
6,058
Fantastical ties in with the calendar, so anything you do with Siri will show up there too. Kills two birds with one stone since it handles both the calendar and reminders.

Oh boy - Fantastical replicates the iOS calendar. I'm not seeing any advantage. I swap out a calendar app with one featureset for... another calendar app with a subset of the features that I had to pay extra for.

On OS X, I swapped out a bloated app for a slim menubar item that did everything I ever used Calendar for, plus it had a few extras thrown in. That made sense to pay for.
 

psac

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2009
904
718
I like that PCalc uses 42 for their icon. :) I just don't have the need for a complex calculator.

Could some of the Launch Pro users go into some of the uses for it? Does it just save a few clicks? Thanks!
 

Saturn1217

macrumors 65816
Apr 28, 2008
1,270
846
The problem, of course, is that you're paying without knowing what you're buying. And I don't mind steep prices for quality apps, but I'm a huge fan of apps that are free with a single "unlock everything" IAP.

Y'know, just sayin.

Completely agree. I absolutely want to pay and support good developers but when you are trying to find that ONE app that fits your needs you can end up buying several that you will never use again just to try them out. The app store desperately needs a refund window especially for some of the more expensive apps.
 

Mike Oxard

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2009
804
458
PDF Expert 5 is a fantastic app for organising, reading and annotating pdf's. It also works very well with Dropbox.
 

Panicing

macrumors newbie
Aug 10, 2011
15
7
Oh boy - Fantastical replicates the iOS calendar. I'm not seeing any advantage. I swap out a calendar app with one featureset for... another calendar app with a subset of the features that I had to pay extra for.

On OS X, I swapped out a bloated app for a slim menubar item that did everything I ever used Calendar for, plus it had a few extras thrown in. That made sense to pay for.

Fantastical is nearly as useful on iOS as on the Mac. The major downside is, yes, you now have 2 apps, and Fantastical can't show the date on your home screen.

However, its much easier to enter an appointment. It's not easier than Siri, when Siri works, but sometimes there is more info to enter. It is easier to type "Lunch at The Lodge at 8am with Brandon" than it is to use all the date and time pickers in most apps.

Also, the list view/day ticker in Fantastical is easier to read once you get used to it and if you like a day or two or week view.

I would say, give it a shot. The two apps will work seamlessly together. I never open Apple's calendar anymore, unless it is via a quick link through an email.
 

fredr500

macrumors regular
Apr 12, 2007
227
19
Launch Center Pro misleading?

<grumpy>
Anyone else feel ripped off after buying Launch Center Pro?

The description says iPhone and iPad, but after buying it and running it on the iPad it is in compatibility mode. If you REALLY want iPad support it's another $2.

I understand the need to charge separately, I just wish I had been told up front that this was an iPhone only app.

It's 2 bucks, I know, get over it. Just feeling misled.
</grumpy>
 
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