Nothing against subscription apps. But as more and more apps go subscription based, i think ultimately it won't be good for business. I mean I could see people suddenly having like 50 monthly subscriptions or more. It could get out of control.
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Journaling Platform 'Day One' Transitions to a Subscription Service
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Hi Airdrop,
I respectfully disagree - just because an app is apparently better doesn't mean it deserves to be a subscription. While the Mac version is free, the iOS version wasn't cheap to purchase from what I remember.
I loathe subscriptions. I didn't balk at paying more when I bought the app because I absolutely find value in this app. I use it quite often tbh. I understand if the developer creates a particular version and wants to leave it as standalone then fine. But changing to a subscription model isn't impressive to me. I guess for me it's a mindset that if I own the standalone version then I can use it until whenever, but with a subscription, I feel like there's no end user control over what happens to the app in the future.
But I originally paid for what was advertised. It has worked flawlessly for me which is what I expect when I purchase something. I have as shortcut on my keyboard for it. It's 1 of my favourite and most used apps.
I'm under version 2 for both Mac and iOS. I saw the reviews about 2.0 and the related issues deciding against it. Looks like that was a good choice.
I will keep using this version for as long as I can and then find something else which can be purchased standalone.
Cheers,
Brian
Keep going. This is more than $4/month for, basically, Notepad. This is doomed. As others have said, monthly fees for every little thing we run creates an untenable situation. This isn't about getting free stuff, but you already knew that. And guaranteed income creates complacency, not better software.
It's not free, I paid $
Are you for real? It's not free, I paid $10 for the IOS app Nd $40 for the Mac APp as I'm happy to pay for software. Why the **** do I now need to pay for a subscription????
I agree with many of the comments above, but this is really the best point (IMO). Some of Adobe's products qualify (barely) because of feature growth. Honestly, though I really like Day One, I can't envision feature growth that would make the subscription fee reasonable.
I'm kind of on the fence. While I'm happy for the most part with Day One as it stands, I've been hungering for more of the features they're promising in premium. I also fall into the category of users that get the discount of 50%, which puts it to $24.99/year and that's locked in for the life of the account. I'm thinking $2.10/mo for the app is not unreasonable. That's especially given the fact that this is one of very, very few apps I use quite literally on a daily basis and have for years, and I've gotten a heck of a lot out of.
All that said, I *loathe* this subscription crap. And it's particularly bad, as one of the other apps I use daily, YNAB, went this route a while ago and they can definitely pound salt as far that situation is concerned. I simply don't get this "sustainable development" argument that developers trumpet. For *decades* it's worked to buy major updates outright with free incremental updates in between. What's happened in the world that this suddenly stopped being a viable option? Why *must* we use proprietary cloud sync solutions instead of maintaining simple cloud service solutions like Dropbox for people who aren't tech savvy, or WebDAV for those who are and like that level of security? AFAIC, this SaaS crap is user-hostile, and I am very leery about supporting it in any way.
So I dunno what I'll do. Blah. I hate this world we live in for its profit-above-everything thinking. Blah.
I find they just lock any useful features behind a paywall and hope for the best. I have no issue paying for an app or even small fee for upgrades, but subscripts are not a stainable model. How many apps can you pay $50 - $100 a month for...
So they talked about sustainable yet they always have a paid update at a premium price. Since their Mac app is ridiculously and hardly use my iMac anymore, I decided to stick the old version and use the latest on my iPhone. As much as I love this app I cannot justify paying $50 just for journaling. I know this developer is up to something when they decided to use their server and put limitations on iCloud and Dropbox. They just shoot them selves on foot for this. Hopefully a new app will emerge and capable of porting my journal. Another thing about this company they don't take security seriously. They don't even support videos which kinda sucks!
I really do not understand the objection to some developers taking to a subscription method for the whole application or offering premium features. Almost universally you get many additional benefits as a result.
My subscription to Office 365 allows me to use 5 computers (Mac or Windows), iPads, etc. for a reasonable monthly fee. Includes all updates and any new major versions. My subscription to 1Password ensures that development continues and gives me access to a whole bunch of new features I didn't have before - plus, again, different OSes and platforms. Setapp provides me with some damn decent software and my fee goes to help fund the continued development of those apps (some of which go beyond that and offer even more extra value content or service). I use Textexpander and it's been updated pretty frequently - and I know that it'll help continue to fund its development. And I find the £10/month Photoshop bundle to be saving me dosh comparison to the initial upfront cost I've paid in the past (RIP ancient copy of Photoshop gathering dust).
There are alternatives out there if people don't like it. And there's nothing to stop other people from developing their own apps to fill the gap and charging (or not charging) whatever they like. Just don't moan to the original developers and expect them to offer you stuff for free. If it's a subscription, you may find that it costs not much more than the upgrade would have cost over the year. Or maybe even cheaper. It's up to the developer.
It's an individual's choice whether to continue paying for something they find value in. If not, fine - go elsewhere.
My subscription to Office 365 allows me to use 5 computers (Mac or Windows), iPads, etc. for a reasonable monthly fee. Includes all updates and any new major versions. My subscription to 1Password ensures that development continues and gives me access to a whole bunch of new features I didn't have before - plus, again, different OSes and platforms. Setapp provides me with some damn decent software and my fee goes to help fund the continued development of those apps (some of which go beyond that and offer even more extra value content or service). I use Textexpander and it's been updated pretty frequently - and I know that it'll help continue to fund its development. And I find the £10/month Photoshop bundle to be saving me dosh comparison to the initial upfront cost I've paid in the past (RIP ancient copy of Photoshop gathering dust).
There are alternatives out there if people don't like it. And there's nothing to stop other people from developing their own apps to fill the gap and charging (or not charging) whatever they like. Just don't moan to the original developers and expect them to offer you stuff for free. If it's a subscription, you may find that it costs not much more than the upgrade would have cost over the year. Or maybe even cheaper. It's up to the developer.
It's an individual's choice whether to continue paying for something they find value in. If not, fine - go elsewhere.
dont ever buy this, I did and I frequently got entire entries deleted for no reason. and it crashes a lot. get your **** together Day One
I don't think the subscription model is really the problem here. Had they made it $1 a month or $12/year it would probably be fine. $50/year for Day One? No.
If you own 2.0 you continue to get updates forever that fix bugs and keep compatibility. This is only for new features. That’s fine with me because it already has more features than I need.
I really don't like this either, subscription sucks.
However, if I kept a paper journal, I'd have to purchase a new one each time it filled up. Admittedly no where near $50, although someone certainly could spend that depending on bindings and paper quality. The App provides a great deal more utility than a paper journal too, at least for me.
Much of the resentment towards this kind of model stems from the race to the bottom in prices that has occurred since the beginning of the App Store and really since the beginning of the ad supported web. Developers have to eat and invest for future updates. The specific team of Day One do *seem* committed to this. E2E encryption took a while to introduce, this was likely down to it being much harder to do than they anticipated. I've no doubt they want to make money, who doesn't? Is it worth $50 a year? Not to me. Is it worth the discounted price (for existing users) of $25 a year? Possibly, yes. I think we'll see them playing around with the price over the next several months to find the right level. But I do think for Apps that have long development cycles that need to exist over the long term, which does fit a journaling app, a subscription model is almost unavoidable.
However, if I kept a paper journal, I'd have to purchase a new one each time it filled up. Admittedly no where near $50, although someone certainly could spend that depending on bindings and paper quality. The App provides a great deal more utility than a paper journal too, at least for me.
Much of the resentment towards this kind of model stems from the race to the bottom in prices that has occurred since the beginning of the App Store and really since the beginning of the ad supported web. Developers have to eat and invest for future updates. The specific team of Day One do *seem* committed to this. E2E encryption took a while to introduce, this was likely down to it being much harder to do than they anticipated. I've no doubt they want to make money, who doesn't? Is it worth $50 a year? Not to me. Is it worth the discounted price (for existing users) of $25 a year? Possibly, yes. I think we'll see them playing around with the price over the next several months to find the right level. But I do think for Apps that have long development cycles that need to exist over the long term, which does fit a journaling app, a subscription model is almost unavoidable.
That's true for certain apps but not for journaling. DayOne hardly put a feature update and charges premium for every release they had. DayOne is not a free app and it's not cheap app too especially the desktop version. Better experience? They just crippled their features once they switch to their own server, so many limitations for a 2017 journaling too. People voicing their opinion here because their pricing is ridiculous. You just say $2 a month but DayOne wants $50 a year. So they'll become a better product now after $50 a year. How? More like you're the crying baby and not being reasonable on your comment. SMH!
Because Microsoft gave you value for that with multiple computers and substantial OneDrive space which alone is probably with it.
What many developers are doing is taking an existing product that's been paid for and hiding it behind a paywall. What more can Day One offer people to justify $50 a year? I could hardly justify $50 for the Mac app purchase.
1Password does offer added functionality, but it doesn't appeal to me personally so I won't pay it.
The problem is you have office, Spotify, this app, that app, that one app, you try this app and then you have 5-10 subscriptions for servaral hundred dollars a year.
It's not about price, it's about value.
Not surprised by the blow back after I heard this last night. The best. The best Journaling platform is a cloud based service like Squarespace or Wordpress.
I'm not surprised. As soon as they introduced their own syncing service DayOne Cloud (or whatever it's called), the writing was on the wall. We were all just waiting. My frustration is the pricing strategy. Look at the Bear writer app, they only charge like $1.49 monthly or $14.99 annually. To me, that's much more easier to digest. What I think I would have preferred for any app (over subscriptions) is paid upgrades. I actually enjoy the models where developers will charge for every major upgrade (e.g., going from 1.x to 2.x as an example). Granted, I realize that this may not be truly sustainable for all software.
For a journaling app, I enjoy DayOne - but the price of an annual subscription is a bit too high. As much as I enjoy journaling, I don't see the value to me if I pay $50 a year. Either way, I'll have to go back to paper writing again.
For a journaling app, I enjoy DayOne - but the price of an annual subscription is a bit too high. As much as I enjoy journaling, I don't see the value to me if I pay $50 a year. Either way, I'll have to go back to paper writing again.
I've been using Day One for long enough for my version to be called "Classic' now. The other week I thought about upgrading to the new version. But looking at the feature set, didn't think that it justified the price tag for such a simple app. I was actually about to email them to see if they'd offer a discount to upgrades from Day One Classic. With this new development it would appear that the developers and I are at odds on the value of their app then! LOL! It's going to cost £3.49 per month to access features like sync now in the new version. So that pretty much kills it for me.
I can't imagine that they would change their business model without doing some user research first into who's willing to use a subscription based service, so I assume that they've got the data that indicates that this model will work for them. If not that's a dicey move to say the least.
Either way it's going to leave a sizeable number of their current installed base looking for a lightweight non-subscription alternative, that just syncs via Dropbox or such like.
I can't imagine that they would change their business model without doing some user research first into who's willing to use a subscription based service, so I assume that they've got the data that indicates that this model will work for them. If not that's a dicey move to say the least.
Either way it's going to leave a sizeable number of their current installed base looking for a lightweight non-subscription alternative, that just syncs via Dropbox or such like.