Airmail Adds Subscription for Push Notifications
Joe Rossignol (tweet, Reddit):
Airmail for iOS is now free to download on the App Store, but push notifications and multi-account support have become premium features priced at $2.99 per month or $9.99 per year in the United States. The app was previously available for a one-time, upfront cost of $4.99 with all features unlocked.
Speaking of changing the price for features already shipped…
At face value, the change appears to violate Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines, which state “if you are changing your existing app to a subscription-based business model, you should not take away the primary functionality existing users have already paid for.”
Customers who purchased the app can still have access to multiple accounts but not push notifications which, is a side service of the app and is not preventing the use of the app’s core functionality.
We do understand users frustration, the decision was made to keep the business sustainable as we face increasing backend service expenses.
Previously:
Update (2019-07-19): ilia kukharev:
What happens when you ask your paid users to pay again, by changing the monetization model.
Via Ryan Jones:
Brutal :( for Airmailer. I feel for them, it’s not easy.