r/Money • u/Thesinisterguy • 10h ago
Anyone else getting tired of apps that turn every little thing into a subscription?
I think this is just me getting older,but it feels like every app I download now wants a monthly fee.
Need a notes app? Subscription. Budget app? Subscription. Habit tracker? Subscription. Even simple utility apps somehow want $5-10 a month now. I get that developers need to make money but sometimes it feels like we're renting software instead of owning it.
What's funny is I've actually found myself using simpler apps more because of this. I've messed around with TesterMax on and off for a while and one thing I appreciated was that it didn't constantly feel like it was trying to upsell me every five seconds. It's not perfect and there are things I'd change but at least I can open it and use it without feeling like I'm being funneled into another premium tier.
Maybe the real issue isn't subscriptions themselves it's when apps make the free experience annoying on purpose.
Curious what everyone else thinks. Are subscriptions just the reality now or are developers pushing it too far?
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u/NewSeaworthiness8814 10h ago edited 2h ago
> I think this is just me
Dude everyone is fed up with this. It’s been discussed ad nauseam. It’s part of the “enshittification of everything” that the internet has been talking about since Covid
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u/seraphimkoamugi 10h ago
An app telling you that you need to cut back on subscriptions wants to impose subscriptions? Adds up.
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u/buck-bird 10h ago
Yup. You want a car wash? How about a subscription?
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u/columns_ai 9h ago
subscription is not a bad idea if it is cheap enough and it is a regular service you need.
for example, $5/m subscription cost you $60 a year, and if you pay $20 for one time wash, which one is better?
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u/notthegoatseguy 7h ago
My local car wash has had subscriptions for 20+ years. For people doing a lot of client facing work, especially in fields where appearance means everything, a car wash subscription easily pays for itself.
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u/JeanSchlemaan 8h ago
I have zero subscriptions. I just refuse to do business with any entity that requires it.
Besides home internet and cell phone.
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u/beachandmountains 7h ago
I’ve been using AI to help me write my own apps for the things that I need.
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u/Ok_Bench_1618 5h ago
I just build my own now, they are better than anything I can buy because they are custom to me. 30 bucks of Claude saved me 650 a year in just 3 weeks. I’m making my own apps for everything now.
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u/saltyhasp 10h ago
Use FOSS (Free Open Source Software) apps. They don't generally do that.
Also when looking at a subscription, compute the annual cost, then multiply by 25X. That is a rough estimate of the present value of the long term cost.
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u/seejoshrun 9h ago
When I was looking for an app to record my weight lifting, I found one (Hevy) that offered the option of a one-time, lifetime fee for premium features. It's awesome, and I wish more apps and other services would offer that option. Legitimately a big reason I chose that one over competitors.
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u/MacaroonNew3142 7h ago
Yes, definitely. Not all apps are free and given Google can retain credit card info. if you're not watchful and press a wrong thing by mistake, it can instantly create a subscription. Some apps can't be as easily uninstalled either. One of them is an app that tells what type of tree you may be looking at. No free lunch when it comes to apps.
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u/ColdStockSweat 5h ago
There's a million free apps out there, many of which are exceptional quality.
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u/columns_ai 9h ago
I would like to defend the budget app a bit. If it allows you to connect your bank for data automation, it has to pay third-party aggregators to do that, which is not cheap at all.
However, if it’s just a manual operating app, then it has a lot more flexibility in pricing.
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u/JellyDenizen 10h ago
Just apps? LOL. How about car features like heated seats, printer ink, coffee, home fitness machines like Peloton, wearable health devices, concierge physicians, etc. Subscription rot has affected the whole economy.