Think the graph before said you could still add manually but couldn't email stuff to Junecloud to add them.
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Package Tracking App 'Deliveries' Switching to Paid Subscription Model Across iPhone, iPad, and Mac
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I use an app called ParcelTrack and it's simple but effective. Yes, you gotta copy the tracking number into it, but the "pro" version is a simple one time purchase, and that's what I like about apps that basically grab FREE information and place it in an easy to use system. Also, you can use the UPS app to help track UPS packages if you register (and that's free).
Not happy about this but when tracking multiple, sometimes high value, packages sometimes I view this as insurance that my package doesn’t catch me by surprise or isn’t left outside only to be stolen.
Nothing. Always used Shop.app, which is free and hasn't limited me on number of trackings yet. You can add manually or if it sees an order or tracking on a screen, it grabs it. And it will send me notifications even when the app is closed which even beat the actual delivery services' notifications.
I love this app. It’s great for tracking multiple different packages. I order a lot of stuff, and it’s nice just having it all in one app.
$5 a year to keep the development going and the program supported through different iOS updates is well worth it to me for the time this app saves me.
People honestly don’t realize what all goes into developing an app and keeping it going. I’m happy to support this for such a low cost.
$5 a year to keep the development going and the program supported through different iOS updates is well worth it to me for the time this app saves me.
People honestly don’t realize what all goes into developing an app and keeping it going. I’m happy to support this for such a low cost.
They really do. The simple fact is that small software studios that make one app and maintain it for decades aren’t really sustainable any more. Software is plentiful, the web is ubiquitous - you can’t make a living selling copies of utility apps.
I wonder if the alternative might be something like Apple Arcade - as I understand it, developers get a portion of the arcade subscription fee based on usage or downloads or something
That’s what Microsoft do for the Office suite, and what Adobe do for Creative Cloud. Indie developers can’t justify that kind of model on their own, but if enough of them got together and were paid fairly based on the apps people actually used, they would have a more compelling subscription.
This is only for people who never paid for the app in the first place, apparently.
If it is one app subscription its no biggie. Some of the people here have 15+ subscriptions and that can add up quickly. However, there are many more here who (like you said) spend thousands on Apple products but will not spend any money on an app.
personally I’ve been using parcel for years. Does everything I need and even has a desktop version that works with the same account.
is there a particular reason that macrumors decided to focus on this app?
is there a particular reason that macrumors decided to focus on this app?
The insignificant cost of the app and/or subscription aside, there's something about paying for an app that switches models that leaves a bad taste. Not sure if I can put a finger on it ... but in my view, companies that do this are trying to use leverage on their customers. Uninstalling on iOS and macOS.
Yea the only worse one was that company where people had bought hardware, and when they switched to sub, no one could use anything without paying.
I sent them an email just now. As a long time customer, I have been happy with the app but, I don’t think it is right to make us pay a subscription because you want to grow your customer base. If they had said it was due to server cost etc. fine but, not like that. I told them they need to grandfather existing paid app users, or they will see a lot of people leaving.
I track a lot of deliveries with this, I don't think I'll mind paying 99 cents a month. If I were to track only a 1-2 deliveries per month, I don't think I'd use this. But that was probably not their target audience to begin with.
$4.99 one time payments aren't sustainable for a non-consumable item like this. Subscription is the only way to finance it, but subscriptions should be for power users. A free version should still be offered for occasional users. I use Parcel and it's free for tracking three packages or less.
So long Junecloud. It was nice while it lasted. (Deleting the Deliveries app from all devices.)
Yeah I think I was wrong in my initial post because their table was a bit misleading, but yeah if you click on the fine print it expands to show that existing users will get access to what they're used to just not Junecloud sync which is fine (I use iCloud anyway). So I'm still a happy customer then.
Honestly though, It think the best approach might have been to release a new (version 2.0 or whatever) app that existing users had to pay gain to download which would have new features, but allow users to use the existing app without subscribing and just never update it. That means eventually it would become obsolete and users would buy the new one they wanted to. No subscriptions but new revenue for JuneCloud fro users who want to upgrade to the new version. I think Tweetbot and Reeder use this model and I think it's more fair than subscription, though $5 a year isn't so bad as far as subscriptions go.
I used to use Deliveries all the time. Then something happened, and it became less automatic - I think iOS made it so that you had to reopen the periodically in order to keep getting background updates. Which made it annoying, it’d pop up notifications saying, “open the app to continue receiving updates”. Even when there weren’t any updates to receive. Poked around a bit and found out that the UPS and FedEx apps have gotten really good at tracking. DHL, too. And Amazon’s app gives tracking including for their Amazon delivery service that you can’t (?) track any other way. And the USPS has an app and service called Informed Delivery that does similar for mail And packages from them.
So, I installed the apps (UPS, FedEx, DHL, Informed Delivery for USPS - already had Amazon), and haven’t really looked at Deliveries since. Had to set up (free) accounts at UPS, FedEx, and with USPS). 98% of what I get arrives via UPS, FedEx, and Amazon (and some USPS). And these apps have two distinct advantages:
I liked Deliveries a lot, back in the day, but I haven’t had a need for it in quite a while. Their notes app Notefile was quite useful, too, but I’ve long since switched to Drafts, for the “type in a scrap of text and it’s instantly on all your systems” trick.
So, I installed the apps (UPS, FedEx, DHL, Informed Delivery for USPS - already had Amazon), and haven’t really looked at Deliveries since. Had to set up (free) accounts at UPS, FedEx, and with USPS). 98% of what I get arrives via UPS, FedEx, and Amazon (and some USPS). And these apps have two distinct advantages:
- You don’t have to add deliveries to them - they know your address, and when a package goes into their system for your address, they know, and it just shows up in the app.
- They don’t have to have their apps periodically poll each service to find out if each package has an update - their central system knows that an update has been logged, and sends out the push notification to the app, which can be much quicker.
I liked Deliveries a lot, back in the day, but I haven’t had a need for it in quite a while. Their notes app Notefile was quite useful, too, but I’ve long since switched to Drafts, for the “type in a scrap of text and it’s instantly on all your systems” trick.
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I must be honest I feel the opposite. I've been using it for what must be close to a decade... I'm glad I can give them some more money, they've earned it.
Don’t you think a 1 day notice about a new subscription is a bit too quick? They could have issued a statement in the app, as well as making it clear in the app description so that people would have been better informed, in my opinion.
That’s fine if you want to open 5 different apps to see all your incoming deliveries. Deliveries shows them all on one dashboard. I can open just one app and see that I have 3 UPS, 2 Fedex and 2 USPS deliveries coming today. As someone who receives 20+ packages per week, $5/year is pocket change to save that time. Deliveries supports many other carriers besides the big guys and it takes work on their part to keep the app up to date with the APIs and scraping for each of those carriers. I have no problem compensating them less than 1.5 cents per day for that work.
[automerge]1601408077[/automerge]
Deliveries 9 is Preparing to Ship
We’ve been hard at work on a big update to Deliveries, and we’re excited to announce that it’s almost ready. Because there are a lot of big changes, we wanted to give everyone a look at what’s on the way. Flexible pricing with subscriptions We have so many wonderful customers, but most people…
junecloud.com
This was posted nearly a month ago. We knew this was coming.
I get why it costs money on-going - yearly IOS updates, bug fixes, constant updating of data scrappers when a website decides to change the look.
That being said, I don't use it enough. Most retailers and postal services are pretty good about sending constant email updates.
That being said, I don't use it enough. Most retailers and postal services are pretty good about sending constant email updates.