Apple Announces Oceanic+ App Now Available for Apple Watch Ultra

[wilberforce]

I am pleased with, and actually prefer, subscription apps, where the app benefits from continuing improvements and updates. Reason is, the people doing the improvements and updates kinda like to get paid, else they quit (or are laid off) and the app languishes.
Couple of examples:
Adobe Creative Cloud apps are being continually improved - this is paid for by subscriptions. Happy to be a subscriber and receive these improvements.
GaiaGPS switched to a subscription app several years ago, and it is now far better, continually being updated with new maps and functionality. I'm pleased to be a subscriber.

That being said, apps that do not have meaningful updates or improvements, yet are subscription only, are providing poor return for the subscriptions. They are ripe for competition. Someone else will come in with a competing app and eat their lunch.

 

[v3rlon]

I am pleased with, and actually prefer, subscription apps, where the app benefits from continuing improvements and updates. Reason is, the people doing the improvements and updates kinda like to get paid, else they quit (or are laid off) and the app languishes.
Couple of examples:
Adobe Creative Cloud apps are being continually improved - this is paid for by subscriptions. Very happy to be a subscriber and receive these improvements.
GaiaGPS switched to a subscription app several years ago, and it is now far better, continually being updated with new maps and functionality. I'm very pleased to be a subscriber.

That being said, apps that do not have meaningful updates or improvements, yet are subscription only, are providing poor return for the subscriptions. They are ripe for competition. Someone else will come in with a competing app and eat their lunch.

But Apps like Affinity Photo, FCPX, and Logic Pro all manage to improve MORE rapidly and without the subscription. The current dive computer apps don't seem to have changed much in 20 years while charging rather hefty upgrade fees (including hardware, granted). The subscription apps you mention (and I pretty much hate) at least had a history of improvements. Adobe's login server issues was one of the things that seriously drove home my antipathy for subscription services.

Oceanic is no Adobe giant either. What if something happens to them? There used to be some image hosting site that big players like ESPN used. They upped and told everyone they were shutting down in something like 24 hours, so get your images. You could literally be on an airplane and arrive to find out your subscription has ended- forever. No thank you.

 

[thatsmeonlyme]

I don't like subscriptions. I want my dive computer to work even after the zombie apocalypse. Subscriptions are bad, especially when unnecessary.

The AW Ultra does more. I get it. I costs more. Now I can decide to pay for that or not. Apple One provides services that require overhead and maintenance. That 2TB of storage and all the TV content have to be paid for. as does the power and the tech support. Once again, I can decide to pay for that or not. Just because I have money in my bank account doesn't mean I automatically owe it to whoever can turn their product into a subscription. I do not care it is the Dive computer, the Toyota key fob, the BMW heated seats or the Mercedes sport mode on their EVs. You are trying to 'rent' we a product you want me to buy first. No thanks.

What does dive computer require a subscription for? The dive tables aren't changing. What do I get, other than access to hardware that I already bought from someone else? And I used to LOVE Oceanic gear. At one point, my rig looked like I was sponsored by them. Ah well.

I also don´t like subscriptions. But in this special case I would take the monthly fee being long enough for a dive trip. I began diving in the late nineties with a citizen hyper aqualand. It worked. Then I had a mass of expensive equipment computers and so on. I sold them. The Ultra was a "must have" at the first glance. And it is very much better than the hyper aqualand. But what surprises me is that nobody speaks about the missing export feature of the logbook. I can share via i message and social networks but there isn´t any possibility to get the dives into macdive or subsurface.
For these thinking diving with the ULTRA is a risk: remember the times of analogue depth measuring, of PADI cards

 

[v3rlon]

I also don´t like subscriptions. But in this special case I would take the monthly fee being long enough for a dive trip. I began diving in the late nineties with a citizen hyper aqualand. It worked. Then I had a mass of expensive equipment computers and so on. I sold them. The Ultra was a "must have" at the first glance. And it is very much better than the hyper aqualand. But what surprises me is that nobody speaks about the missing export feature of the logbook. I can share via i message and social networks but there isn´t any possibility to get the dives into macdive or subsurface.
For these thinking diving with the ULTRA is a risk: remember the times of analogue depth measuring, of PADI cards

I still have my Hyper Aqualand in a drawer. If I get a new battery, it still works (without a subscription!!).

I have no trouble with the idea of diving with the AW Ultra. My regular AW has been diving and been fine (they 'downgraded' the water resistance after I started diving with it). The basic dive computer features in no way justify a subscription, and the dive LOG features will be hard pressed to compete with MacDive (seriously, if you are a Mac user and a diver not using this, you are missing out. It was like Santa Claus grabbed all your diving log stuff on your wish list and said, "no problem: Synchs across devices? Gear logs? Weather? Location data? Notes? Photos? iOS app? by the time I go to the end, I was expecting it to handle the freshwater rinse).

 

[mallbritton]

The MacDive app for iOS almost makes me want to upgrade my Suunto D6i to a newer model with Bluetooth.