You can’t change the rules after the purchase, period. If notability wants to go with the monthly payment option it’s their right, but you can’t take back what you’ve already sold. Not even adobe went that far.
I hope they reconsider.
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Notability Users Frustrated By Switch to Subscription Model Claim Violation of App Store Guidelines
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I hope they reconsider.
Nobody expects free upgrades for life. Charge for upgrades. When I buy something, I don’t expect it to ever do more than it already does— and free feature updates are a happy surprise. If Apple changes compatibility between OS versions, I consider App updates to support this to be an upgrade. I don’t consider bug or security fixes to be upgrades— I buy something expecting it to work and don’t expect to pay you to fix your mistakes.
The problem with subscriptions like this is that the more data you create with the product, the more you are dependent on it. When your subscription lapses you lose access to your own data. The company can essentially hold your data for ransom. The longer you use the app, the more the company can extort-- not because they are adding value to the app, but because you have more to lose.
For all intents and purposes, this is a form of ransomware attack.
Where is the incentive to improve the app in this scenario? You can continue extorting ever more revenue from your existing customers without writing a single line of code. It would be a much more efficient use of your development time to form another independent company and develop another honeypot to trap new users.
I won’t use most subscription apps for this reason, but at least if an app is subscription from the start users can go into it knowing the risks. If an app is allowed to transition to subscription after users have accumulated content then anyone with auto-update turned on is ****ed.
Which is why I keep auto-update turned off.
There are very few apps I'm willing to install anymore because of the dynamics of subscription models. If this update is allowed to stand then I'll start shunning paid-for apps as well unless they store data in an open format to iCloud drive.
Oh right. Multi trillion dollar Apple has launched 1000 subscription services (Music, Fitness, TV, Games, News, iCloud…) just because of pressure from external developers. Seems legit.
Well but the problem here isn’t about the move to subscription. It’s removing features already paid for from them ! Bought the app, but now I’m asked to subscribe to keep having « unlimited edits » on my notes, or iCloud sync. They should have made a new version that is subscription only, but not lock us out of our purchase, basically.
1. All notes exported to PDF
2. Notability deleted from Mac
3. Notability deleted from iPad
4. Notability deleted from iPhone
5. Waiting for Apple to address Notability's abuse before I spend another dollar on App Store
2. Notability deleted from Mac
3. Notability deleted from iPad
4. Notability deleted from iPhone
5. Waiting for Apple to address Notability's abuse before I spend another dollar on App Store
No that’s very different : the old app will slowly stop working as apple updates it’s system and it becomes not compatible. But here, Notability is immediately locking us out of the app although we already paid for the main features !
those are Mac apps. but you are right, the App Stores are cancer to development and innovation..
"The concept of software as buy once use forever is flawed. Nothing else in society works like that, precisely because it is unsustainable."
The hundreds of books on our family's bookshelves refute that. Our silverware refutes that. The paintings on our walls refute that. My grandmother's end tables now in our house refute that. Our Christmas tree ornaments refute it. I could go on and on.
Besides, this doesn't even apply to software. My purchased copies of Word Juggler, Apple Works, and Word Perfect still work on my Apple IIcs and IIes. My copies of WriteNow and MacWrite still work on my old Macs. Mojave still runs just fine on my old MacBook Air. iOS 6 still works wonderfully on my iPhone 4 as do scores of apps, including Stanza and eReader.
SkySafari 4, 5, and 6 all continue to function perfectly well on my iPads and more recent iPhones running iOS 14.
Buying something and being able to use as long you want is NOT flawed; it's a principle of a working civil society and decent economic system. The one exception is when there are overriding social and ecological reasons... but even then, it's not at the discretion of the company, but our consciences and our legislative system.
There is no justification for deactivation of purchased features. It make as much sense as if we were to allow Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Honda to introduce new models and suddenly TURN OFF the cars you purchased years before, forcing you to buy a new one! Or, permitted you to keep driving them, so long as you now paid a monthly subscription fee!
As someone said above, this is ransomware.
The hundreds of books on our family's bookshelves refute that. Our silverware refutes that. The paintings on our walls refute that. My grandmother's end tables now in our house refute that. Our Christmas tree ornaments refute it. I could go on and on.
Besides, this doesn't even apply to software. My purchased copies of Word Juggler, Apple Works, and Word Perfect still work on my Apple IIcs and IIes. My copies of WriteNow and MacWrite still work on my old Macs. Mojave still runs just fine on my old MacBook Air. iOS 6 still works wonderfully on my iPhone 4 as do scores of apps, including Stanza and eReader.
SkySafari 4, 5, and 6 all continue to function perfectly well on my iPads and more recent iPhones running iOS 14.
Buying something and being able to use as long you want is NOT flawed; it's a principle of a working civil society and decent economic system. The one exception is when there are overriding social and ecological reasons... but even then, it's not at the discretion of the company, but our consciences and our legislative system.
There is no justification for deactivation of purchased features. It make as much sense as if we were to allow Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Honda to introduce new models and suddenly TURN OFF the cars you purchased years before, forcing you to buy a new one! Or, permitted you to keep driving them, so long as you now paid a monthly subscription fee!
As someone said above, this is ransomware.
And ransomware explicitly endorsed by Apple, unless they state otherwise and sanction Notability.
Developers need to make a living, but they have really messed up here. By all means target new users with subs, but not for people who have already paid.
I have a few apps that have become subscription-based but they allowed existing paying customers to be grandfathered in at no further cost. In fact a few apps have given me "premium features" for life based on my previous purchases. That's how you do it.
I have a few apps that have become subscription-based but they allowed existing paying customers to be grandfathered in at no further cost. In fact a few apps have given me "premium features" for life based on my previous purchases. That's how you do it.
Thos is why I have no adobe programs. I don't think Apple will stand up and do something. Thankfully FCP is still one time buy but I don't think it will last.
I just bought GoodNotes. With the same purchase I got ipad, iPhone and Mac. I tried to export notes (in pdf format) from Notability on iPad, but it didn’t work. I had to do it on Mac. Done it and bye-bye to Notability after so many years. I would have bought a new version because I liked the app, but paying a subscription to have something I already paid for, it’s a fraud.
When I will know that everything is migrated, I will happily delete Notability. Shame on its developers.
When I will know that everything is migrated, I will happily delete Notability. Shame on its developers.
Apple has abandoned the walled garden to subscription terrorists similar to how NATO has abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Apple will do nothing so long as they get their percentage.
I have no problem at all with the Adobe subscription.
I pay £119 per year for access to Photoshop & Lightroom (Photography Plan) which is all I need. That also gives me Photoshop on iPad and a few other creative apps.
Photoshop used to cost £550 just on its own and you never really got any feature updates. You were expected to shell out another £550 for those a year or so later.
No, there is another way—a happy middle ground, where you pay for a perpetual license and can use that version of the app without limit, for as long as your hardware and OS supports it. Usually this model includes updates for 12 months, after which you need to pay (a reduced amount) for another 12 month's support if you want to continue receiving updates. (I didn't read all 14 pages, so someone may have already mentioned this model.)
This is the best of both worlds IMO. You're not held to ransom and locked out of your files if you don't keep paying every month, but you can still choose to pay for support and compelling new features. The developer has a financial incentive to keep improving their app, and an ongoing revenue stream.
I think it's long overdue that Apple give developers this option in the App Store.
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Price is irrelevant to this argument.
The developer abused their power to unilaterally change the terms of conditions and force feature-stripping updates on their customers. And Apple said that’s fine so long as we get our 30%.
Imagine if a week after paying Adobe £550 they billed your card for another £20. Would you say “oh that’s just a small amount no problem” or would you report it as fraud?
Seems that whenever an app becomes sufficiently mature enough that it does all that most people need, it switches to subscription.
Funny that.
Funny that.
I’m guessing not enough people were buying anymore now that most people who need it already has it. They probably thought they could earn more money on a subscription even if they loose a lot of users. All that I‘m not against since it’s a pretty good app, but removing paid features is just scummy.
I can understand why Day One did it, since they started offering their own cloud with encryption and kept adding new features. They also kept the old version around.
My Adobe related post is in response to the Adobe related comment.
I've already commented on the actual discussion here:
Developers need to make a living, but they have really messed up here. By all means target new users with subs, but not for people who have already paid.
I have a few apps that have become subscription-based but they allowed existing paying customers to be grandfathered in at no further cost. In fact a few apps have given me "premium features" for life based on my previous purchases. That's how you do it.
I absolutely agree, and there's no excuse for what the Notability developer has done here. But then no one expects free maintenance for the life of their car, and yet, on Apple's App Store, we've become accustomed to never-ending free updates for apps that we purchased, and this isn't sustainable. Apple itself sets this expectation with its own apps. They (a multi-billion dollar company) can afford to do this, because most of their money comes from the initial hardware sale. Small developers can't.
The solution I think, is the model I mentioned a few comments back.
Stop subscribing
Pick few that you need/use the most and burn the rest. Great savings too.