Subscriptions are uncontroversial when there's a perceived cost to the user of the ongoing usage. In fact I believe it tracks very closely with the "Cost of Goods Sold" (COGS).<p>No one questions whether Dropbox should be a one-off price or a subscription, there's obviously ongoing cost to storing the data. However for apps that don't have this there's always going to be push back.<p>Developers typically point to customer support and maintenance as reasons, but customer support is not typically part of COGS as it's not part of the product, most users won't use it, so counting the cost per user doesn't really work. Any user can justify why they won't use support. As for maintenance, this wasn't a problem when software got new versions every year or so with upgrade pricing.<p>Devs looking for ways to build sustainable business is great, but it's also reasonable for users to reject subscriptions where there's no explicit cost to providing that software.
When apps like Ulysses and 1Password went down the subscription route, I had no issue with it because Ulysses has continued to get better and better over time (by adding great new features), and I use 1Password's cloud sync service (and I think there's an argument to be made that password management apps need to continue evolving with the web to maintain usability).<p>I realize Spark is doing a bit more than your run-of-the-mill email client, but I see that as an implementation detail / architectural decision more than I see that as a feature as an end user.<p>The email client space is mostly commoditizated, and the feature set is mostly standardized. I think that's why putting some of these features behind a subscription tier feels so gross to me.<p>Syncing my contacts to some cloud service and doing something special with them? Sure, charge me for that. Running my emails through some special spam service? (not that this is necessary if you use a decent provider), sure, charge for that.<p>Mute Thread and Group by Sender cost $4.99/month? No thank you.<p>I've been a Spark user for a long time, but I have no intention of paying for "Group by Sender", thank you very much.
Well, that was an easy decision: I just deleted both Spark and Calendars. These are just not products that fit a subscription model. Back to default apps I go, apps that provide 99.5% of the functionality I need, even if they are missing some of the conveniences of the third-party offerings.
I love the fact they have a Windows client now.<p>However, I cannot seem to get back my side-by-side email view. I prefer to see my list of email headers vertically, and then when clicking one, I see the email to the right. Now they have some full screen nonsense as if my Windows computer is a mobile phone.<p>If they're going to change the design and try to start charging, of which I fully support, at least don't change the design in a way that hinders they're existing user base.
Warning for folks using or considering using the Spark client. I downloaded and set up the Spark email client back in 2019, thinking I'd enter my IMAP credentials for local email usage.<p>My fault for not reading how it works, including storing my email credentials (username and password) on their servers, and storing my emails on their servers to send push notifications.<p>What's worse is that I've got almost 1000 email aliases (company@mydomain.com) set up over the years to filter email and block companies that send spam or get hacked. And I started to receive marketing email from Readdle (company behind Spark) to my main email address (which I would never give out to any company).<p>Tl;dr: they store your email credentials and send marketing emails to your main address.
Compared to eM Client for which you pay once per version and it had ~20 months between last versions. The cost for Spark is more than twice that of eM Client.<p>A subscription model should enable them to set a lower price as their revenue will be more reliable.<p>Make it $9.99/year instead and I'm in.
It's the dream of any software vendor to go subscription only. You need recurring revenue. Once off 'lifetime licenses' are not sustainable in the long run, and are subject to piracy and 'cracked' versions of your software distributed on underground warez sites.<p>Look at 1Password. I own a lifetime license of their (old) password manager software, but have since switched to their subscription based offering, since it's a service that does the job well and I want to support them, and I trust them to be a good steward of my data.
I wish Apple Mail would fix how it handles attachments. They just get scattered at the bottom of the email haphazardly or hidden behind a dropdown which itself is hidden until you mouseover it.
last time i researched mac email clients a few years ago, i found that spark was one of the worst in terms of privacy and tracking. i settled on canary mail (<a href="https://canarymail.io/" rel="nofollow">https://canarymail.io/</a>) as it was better in that regard, while still supporting gmail (which i no longer use).
If an app doesn't have recurring costs involved in serving their product (server costs, etc), it's hard to justify a subscription model vs charging a one time cost to purchase the app.<p>To fund/incentivize continuing development of new features, they can have reasonable in-app purchases to unlock those new features.
I went through my credit card statement this month and am cancelling a bunch of things I barely use. The mess of subscriptions most of us are forced into is getting absolutely insane and the "software makers need to do this to be able to eat!" excuses I see here are just silly.<p>I don't want my card dinged every month. I don't want to "manage" dozens of different subscriptions across different companies that all have different systems and methods for managing your "relationship" with them.
The only reason I use Spark over Apple Mail is that I get push notifications as I receive emails on my Gmail account.<p>Unless you’re a paying Gmail customer, you can’t get push, only pull email.<p>With Spark you now don’t get priority email, whatever that is, so why would I stay? Back to Apple mail it is
I don't mind paying monthly fees for tools that I get regular value out of. But I hate that feeling of paying for ongoing subscriptions that I rarely use. Plus deciding whether or not to cancel adds to my overall decision fatigue.