{"id":38662,"date":"2023-03-02T13:45:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T18:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=38662"},"modified":"2023-03-03T09:14:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T14:14:06","slug":"tweetbot-and-twitterrific-subscription-cliff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/02\/tweetbot-and-twitterrific-subscription-cliff\/","title":{"rendered":"Tweetbot and Twitterrific Subscription Cliff"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gruber<\/a> (tweet<\/a>, MacRumors<\/a>, Hacker<\/a> News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Twitter’s kneecapping of third-party clients didn’t just mean that their future<\/em> revenue was gone — it meant revenue they’d already collected<\/em> from App Store subscriptions would need to go back to customers in the form of prorated refunds for the remaining months on each and every user’s annual subscriptions. Consider the gut punch of losing your job — you stop earning income. It’s brutal. Now imagine that the way it worked when you get fired or laid off is that you’re also suddenly on the hook to pay back the last, say, 6 months of your income. That’s where Tapbots and The Iconfactory are.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

This week, both Tapbots and The Iconfactory released updates in the iOS App Store to Tweetbot<\/a> and Twitterrific<\/a> — not to restore any functionality, but to deal with the grim meathook reality of these paid-for subscriptions rendered useless by Phony Stark’s imperious shitheadedness. Both apps, upon launch, now simply display a single screen describing what has happened, and offer options to users with existing subscriptions.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Tweetbot offers users three choices. The first is an option to transfer your existing Tweetbot subscription to Ivory<\/a>, Tapbots’s magnificent (and magnificently Tweetbot-like) new Mastodon client. […] Twitterrific offers two choices: the same do-nothing-and-get-a-prorated-refund-from-us option, and a clear “I Don’t Need a Refund” button with this heartfelt description[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps because I haven’t developed a subscription product, I’m really confused about what’s happening here. The idea that some customers would want a prorated refund since the apps no longer work makes sense. And most businesses aren’t prepared to deal with a large number of refunds, on top of no longer being able to sell their product. But I have questions about the details:<\/p>\n\n