Apple also under Steve Jobs….stopped charging for iWork, iLife, MobileMe and OS X updates.😉
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Some Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive Every New Feature Without a Subscription
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
DaVinci Resolve basic is free. Studio version is $295 one time, which is a steal really. Final Cut is $299 one time (subscription for AI content and freebies).
The third from Big Three (Premiere Pro) is under Adobe subscription, but it's been case for more than a decade now.
Inevitable but still disappointing.
If you are not interested in subscribing to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle introduced today, you will officially start to miss out on some new features.
Apple said some "exciting new intelligent features and premium content" in Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Freeform will only be accessible with a Creator Studio subscription. In the U.S., a subscription costs $12.99 per month, or $129 per year, while college students can pay a lower $2.99 per month or $29 per year.
This means that if you bought Final Cut Pro or Pixelmator Pro via one-time purchase, which will still be an option going forward, you will no longer have access to all new features. However, Apple promises the apps will continue to receive updates.
From the Final Cut Pro page on Apple's website, for instance:There are some exceptions, as Apple says Logic Pro and MainStage will have all the same features whether they are subscription or one-time-purchase versions.
It looks like most if not all of the new features that will be limited to Creator Studio subscribers will be powered by AI, as Apple repeatedly describes them as "intelligent" features. The apps are continuing to receive other new features that do not require a subscription over time, so one-time purchasers are not completely left out.
As for Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Freeform, those apps will remain free, but some new intelligent features and content will likewise require a Creator Studio subscription. This means these apps are now effectively "freemium."
Here are a few of the first new features coming to Creator Studio subscribers:
In summary, existing users of Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro never had to worry about paying extra to have every new feature, but that is no longer the case going forward. And while the Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Freeform apps never cost money, some new features will now be locked behind a subscription. These changes will undoubtedly disappoint some Apple customers, while helping to boost the company's services revenue.
- Pixelmator Pro: A new Warp tool lets you twist and shape image layers.
- Keynote, Pages, and Numbers: A new Content Hub provides access to high-quality photos and graphics, and there are new premium templates and themes.
Article Link: These Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive All New Features Without a Subscription
Considering their software is just getting worse across the board (especially on the Mac) I have no problem keeping my current versions of Pixelmator, FCP, and Logic Pro.
There was no recurring payment except for MobileMe, but for that one you would lose access if you didn't pay.
But the software isn't being bricked if you don't subscribe to this new service. You just seem to be missing out on some of the AI centric features.
Sure. But it shouldn't be surprising that for profit companies will find ways to make a profit. It's not like they are going to start charging you to use the basic versions Pages, Numbers and Freeform we have now. But if you want some of the cloud AI features or access to paid content then you do have to pay the fee.
I don't understand the hate for AI tools, like text-tool, they are simple and save you time. I understand the hate versus AI-Chatbot but this is another thing.
I saw the writing on the wall for both iLife and Logic and FCP 6 years ago with Logic version 10.5 just making the program an absolute skeleton of its former self usability-wise (infinitely more bugs, crashes, and other issues), then with Logic and Final Cut for iPad being all-subscription, plus the enduring lack of any meaningful updates for Final Cut Pro (see Matthew O'Brien's YouTube channel; I have no personal experience with this, but it's still relevant), and finally today, with the ability to get all the new features requiring a subscription. Unbelievable. Though I can't say I'm surprised in the slightest.
Digging a bit more it seems you now get both Mac and iPad versions with this bundle, whereas before LPX for iPad was a separate subscription while the Mac version was a one-time purchase.
It appears that LPX for Mac standalone is not yet subject to the subscription restriction for new/advanced/ai features.
Dragging Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to trash in 5 4 3 2 ....
I'm so pissed off, Pixelmator Pro via a subscription WTF.
I don't, either.
However, all I see at the moment is a bunch of office apps which can't compete with LibreOffice, let alone MS Office (or 365 whatever it is called) and which haven't seen significant updates for some time.
Before announcing a subscription model for AI features which might take years to materialize, especially after the Siri debacle, maybe show us some concrete progress first?
Well, it had to happen eventually…
I do understand some services cost money, but Keynote, Pages, Numbers?… These were the Apple’s flagship apps coming by default….
Not always, they did sell iLife and iWork independently for years
Actually not. I am paying $9.95/mo for Office, and that includes 1TB of storage!
Glad I never bought FCP, sucks for people that spent $300 on it. Also, I'll use keynote if it's free but if Apple is going to charge for their productivity apps, I'll just use MS office, its nearly ubiquitous and I get 5 licenses for $99/year.
Can I replace fitness plus with this? Like I’m already paying so much for Apple One Premier the fact that these few features aren’t bundled in is crazy.
It’s a 4 trillion $$ company. I assure you they are making a profit. Bought any Apple devices lately?
PDFgear output won’t pass a lot of the document submission portals that check PDFs for compliance.
I understand the free applications but not the $250 Pro app. When is Tim retired? And will the replacement wake up and realize people are dumping streaming service subscriptions, do they really think a flag ship film production app under a nickel and dime subscription is going to grow the base? How about subscriptions for original optional features to get your projects off the ground?
Pixelmator looks like a graduation cap. They're just terrible.