this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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Avelon App

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(Edited to add context) Paywalling features most other apps have for free isn't a great look (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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#EDITED TO ADD CONTEXT:

The developer has responded quite a bit in the comments here, and has made adjustments to the free tier feature set based on my and others' feedback. See more info in this update thread: https://lemm.ee/post/12353243

If you're reading this post after update 1.0.7 I suggest you skim these comments and that update thread before forming an opinion.

#ORIGINAL POST:

I like this app a lot, I can tell there's been a ton of love and hard work put into it.

The strategy for monetization leaves a bit of a sour taste though.

For one, nobody wants another subscription - and $30 lifetime for a brand new app is a huge asking price compared to, say, Apollo, which was $5 or so (with a subscription tier for things that actually made sense to buy due to recurring cost).

But this app is paywalling basic stuff like a comment jump button (everyone else has this for free), content filtering, video scrubbing, and various other things that have no recurring cost to the developer.

My recommendation, take it or leave it, if you want my money make it a reasonable one time purchase for things that don't cost you money (under $10 imo, $5 would've been an easy sell).

If you want to justify a subscription model you are gonna need to build features that justify it - push notifications, stuff like that.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apollo didn't require a subscription for the jump button. Sure, you had to pay to post, but that was a one-time fee of like $5, which was reasonable.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apollo Ultra Lifetime was $A38.99 when I bought it 4 years ago. When was it $US5?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ultra wasn't necessary to post, filter, or use the jump button.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can post without paying, and if you use Lemmy enough that you need to filter or find the lack of jump button annoying… $3/month isn’t unreasonable. If the best Lemmy client on iOS isn’t worth that to you, there are other options.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the best Lemmy client on iOS

That's debatable.

isn't worth that to you

No, it isn't. Subscriptions suck.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cool. Don’t subscribe and use Avelon without the pro features, or use something else.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I think that’s exactly what people will do.