Dark Noise Now Free With $3/Month Subscription Upgrade Option for New Users

[CarAnalogy]

Wow, $49 for static a noise app, we are all DOOOOOOOMED!

Hard pass! This app is the poster child for apps that should never see a subscription model. One time buy and IF you provide an update that I find value in I will upgrade, if not then I will stick with the version that I bought. There is zero day to day maintenence on an app like this.

Imagine being dumb enough to rent white noise.

Read the first paragraph. If you paid yearly you would have paid $40, and if you bought the new one time price you would pay $50. There will also likely be sales.

If you went monthly and then decided you wanted to stop you would have paid $3.

I don't like subscriptions either but this one isn't all bad. A few other apps from great developers have gone this way. The lifetime purchase seems expensive for phone software but some apps are worth it.

I do agree with what I think is your premise, that having to manage a bunch of subscriptions and remember to cancel ones you aren't using isn't great, and it is entirely possible someone would subscribe monthly and then just let it go without realizing how expensive it gets.

 

[Kabeyun]

App now free if you pay forever. Beautiful.

 

[DotCom2]

I use Apple Music at night and just repeat the noise. No further subscription needed.

That is what I do as well. I don't even get this app. Who doesn't have a regular music app?

 

[Edsel]

I'm starting a Bio-Life subscription model. Every month I'll come around your place with my crew, "Junior", "Skids", and "Scarface" to collect your monthly subscription to extend your Bio-Life "benefits". Remember, late payments might cancel your bio lifetime subscription.
/S I think La Cosa Nostra pioneered the first subscription model. Right?

 

[adamlbiscuit]

I always use MyNoise. It has more sounds than Dark Noise as well as the ability to deeply customise various aspects of each (e.g. if you have a 'rainforest' sound scape, you can turn up/down birds chirping, wind sounds, rain sounds etc. independently)

AFAIK it's not a subscription model, I only made a one-time purchase at least. & it's available on Apple Silicon Macs as well so there's a winner.

 

[jamezr]

I use Apple Music at night and just repeat the noise. No further subscription needed.

I was just going to write that as well. Just play one of the numerous white noise songs...playlists on a loop...
No need to pay for this servcie.....

 

[Kar98]

SXM Radio Classics, listen to some old times radio stories and set the sleep timer for 15 minutes. Boom, fast asleep. Technically I’ll only need the 5 minutes timer but the wife is tossing and turning for an hour like a demented mackerel.

 

[DonWhiteside]

You may hate the subscription model, but would you be okay with perpetual license and no support or cloud integration at all?

For an app that makes noises? Yes of course I would. This isn’t some client app for a service that might change its api. If it has server-side components that’s entirely an avoidable decision developers made. There’s little reason a white noise app needs ongoing updates and it absolutely would continue to work indefinitely on a device where the OS isn’t updated.

There are situations where an app needs a developer who is nimble and responding to ongoing point release updates in iOS or changes in the services it’s consuming. None of that applies here.

 

[icanhazmac]

Read the first paragraph. If you paid yearly you would have paid $40, and if you bought the new one time price you would pay $50. There will also likely be sales.

If you went monthly and then decided you wanted to stop you would have paid $3.

I don't like subscriptions either but this one isn't all bad. A few other apps from great developers have gone this way. The lifetime purchase seems expensive for phone software but some apps are worth it.

I do agree with what I think is your premise, that having to manage a bunch of subscriptions and remember to cancel ones you aren't using isn't great, and it is entirely possible someone would subscribe monthly and then just let it go without realizing how expensive it gets.

I did read the first paragraph and the entire article. What is your point? I was commenting on the ridiculous one time price of $49.99 for an app that generates static noises. Really ridiculous when you compare it to the former one time buy of $9.99, 5 times the cost for no reason other than to attempt to justify the increased sub cost.

This sub is bad all the way around. I don't see any way to justify renting noises. If I needed something like this for sleep then maybe I could justify the $10 old one time price but $50? LOL, YMMV.

 

[koelsh]

While I understand developers going with subscriptions to make it a long term sustainable business what I don’t get is why, even with inflation, the new yearly subscription is double the previous lifetime purchase…

 

[NightFox]

With many countries undergoing a cost of living crisis, the first thing people start to review and reduce are subscriptions. I just don't see the subscription model continuing to be the cash cow it has been in recent years, and I really hope some of the companies that switched from an up-front payment model come to regret their decisions as subscribers cancel.

 

[MuppetGate]

“Free with $3/month subscription” = “$3/month subscription”

 

[ignatius345]

I highly recommend MyNoise, which has a TON of great, highly customizable sounds and is not a software rental model. It does offer some in-app purchases, but what you pay for you get to keep even if you stop paying.

Background Noises • Ambient Sounds • Relaxing Music | myNoise ®

myNoise sets the standard for online background noise machines and interactive soundscapes.

mynoise.net

 

[3xBoom]

I just had Chat GTP create a white noise app in 20 seconds.

Such function is built-in in iOS. I never use it since I like it quiet at home and the maddening AC drone does a "great" job at work.

 

[bobcomer]

You may hate the subscription model, but would you be okay with perpetual license and no support or cloud integration at all?

I would be. That's definitely my preferred way of buying software.

 

[rorschach]

You may hate the subscription model, but would you be okay with perpetual license and no support or cloud integration at all?

Lack of "cloud integration" in a white noise app would be a positive, not a negative, for me.

 

[foobarbaz]

I really hate the subscription model...The fact that Apple is pushing developers to use it seems user hostile. I get paying developers and am completely for it, but come on.

There's nothing wrong with a subscription model. What you should hate is the >5x price increase.

An $10 app should have a $3-$5 yearly subscription. That's in-line with an expectation of 2-3 years of free updates. (And yes, iOS is constantly creating work for developers to update their apps.)

There's so many abandoned apps and games that I would love to give a continuous revenue stream to in exchange for constant maintenance. But seemingly without exception, subscriptions come with a huge price hike that simply prices me out of the market. That's a real bummer.

 

[Populus]

I did read the first paragraph and the entire article. What is your point? I was commenting on the ridiculous one time price of $49.99 for an app that generates static noises. Really ridiculous when you compare it to the former one time buy of $9.99, 5 times the cost for no reason other than to attempt to justify the increased sub cost.

Exactly, this.

I couldn’t agree more on most of the comments. I don’t like the subscription model but not just because of the nature of subscription itself (renting software), that’s one reason, but the main reason is that it’s an excuse to boost prices all over the place, either if you subscribe to an app for a couple of years, or if you buy the atrocious one-time-purchase.

A common denominator when an app goes into the subscription model, is that if there is a one-time-purchase, this one becomes so ridiculously expensive that discourages you from getting it and jumping into the subscription itself.

I’m sorry but as long as more and more apps adopt the renting model, I’ll refrain from spending money on them and rely on first party iOS features (like the ambient sound available since iOS 15), or get my apps on the macOS platform.

For me, subscription is only acceptable for services and a certain type of apps, not a calculator, an RSS feed, or a white noise app.

 

[tubomac]

When I'm checking an app and I see "subscription" I don't even bother to download the demo.
I believe in the concept of "property" .... I know, I know, you never "buy" an app, but at least I have this illusion with "one time purchase model".

 

[tarkeybear]

I use "myNoise" I bought it and haven't heard if they switched to subscription. MyNoise has an extensive library of sounds (oceans, laundromats, planes, thunderstorms, purring cats) There is a small number that comes with the app and you can buy individuals or go to a premium tier and "get 'em all". The app has a bunch of sliders (like an equalizer) that lets the app emphasize and deemphasize some sounds as well as modify their frequency. By doing so, the white noise becomes less predictable and repetitive. Really nice app...

 

[tarkeybear]

I use "myNoise" I bought it and haven't heard if they switched to subscription. MyNoise has an extensive library of sounds (oceans, laundromats, planes, thunderstorms, purring cats) There is a small number that comes with the app and you can buy individuals or go to a premium tier and "get 'em all". The app has a bunch of sliders (like an equalizer) that lets the app emphasize and deemphasize some sounds as well as modify their frequency. By doing so, the white noise becomes less predictable and repetitive. Really nice app...

With MyNoise plus AirPodsMax; I can send my office mates into the "cornfield" and focus at the task in front of me.

 

[ConfusedChris]

I have had a noise app playing continuously on an old iPod for years now.
It’s plugged into an alarm clock radio, so I just switch that on and off at bedtime.

I think it cost me 99p, or £1.99.

 

[woodyard]

How did this end up as an article?

 

[antiprotest]

You may hate the subscription model, but would you be okay with perpetual license and no support or cloud integration at all? I feel like a lot of people expect ongoing support, continuous improvements, and advanced features but still want to pay for one perpetual license.

If the dev has ongoing costs to support users, the old model of sell once makes little sense.

If a developer cannot find a business model that customers will accept, or a product so attractive that the customers will accept an unattractive business model, then it is time for the app to leave the market. There is no place for it anymore.

 

[antiprotest]

How did this end up as an article?

Outrageous price and continuous payment for noise is newsworthy, I think.