Why are we switching SimpleumSafe to subscription?

Today we are switching SimpleumSafe to a subscription model.

Our customers want a constantly evolving, high-quality product - and subscription allows us to deliver on that expectation.

Why are we changing?

SimpleumSafe has been available at a one-time price since 2016. In 2017 we released version 2 without additional update costs. We have been working on SimpleumSafe 3 since 2019.

We develop for the Apple platform and unfortunately Apple has not introduced a proper update payment model yet. So for the past few years we’ve been considering the subscription model and wondering if it’s a suitable business model for us. The previous model has proved to be unsatisfactory.

Software development, especially security software, is expensive. Staying up to date is important and skilled developers in this area are scarce. The previous model offered neither sufficient cost-effectiveness nor planning security.

Issues with the pre-paid paid model

The paid upfront model has some weaknesses that make us switch to the subscription model:

1. Slower development

With the paid advance model, we have to intentionally deprive our customers of major new features and save them for important updates or paid versions. This slows down development because large updates are harder to develop, test, and release. This disadvantage becomes even clearer when you consider that many other app developers have already switched to the subscription model and are constantly releasing new functions.

2. Outstanding Paid Upgrades

Paid upgrades need to be flashy enough to be exciting and worth mentioning, but not so much that it feels like an entirely new app to learn from scratch. However, if a paid upgrade doesn’t stand out enough, there’s less incentive to upgrade.

3. No upgrade discounts in the App Store

For large paid upgrades, customers expect an upgrade discount - which is perfectly fair. However, as we only sell our apps through the App Store, it is not possible to offer upgrade discounts.

4. Different value for early and late buyers

Suppose someone buys your app shortly after a major paid upgrade has been released and also gets a full cycle of updates. That’s great. What if they buy the app at the end of the cycle? Not so great. Thus, users who buy early receive more value than those who buy later.

5. New users become more important than existing ones

With a paid upfront model, the focus is on attracting new users through major updates to make things better for existing users until eventually a paid upgrade has to be released. Then the cycle begins again. This means that new users are more important than existing ones, and flashy new features become more important than improvements to existing features.

Benefits of the subscription model

The subscription model offers a number of benefits that are attractive to both us as developers and our customers:

1. Trial version for iOS and macOS

SimpleumSafe is now “free” to download, so we can offer a fully functional, time-limited trial on all platforms, sync included and all. This is certainly better than a pure Mac demo.

2. Accessibility for more people

Many people may not be able to afford a full purchase. However, most of these individuals will be able to pay a few euros or dollars each month. This makes the app accessible to a larger number of people.

3. No more holding back new features

Subscriptions relieve us of the pressure to roll out major updates on a regular basis. We no longer need to randomly combine features to create an incentive to buy or create a good reason for a paid update. Of course we will continue to provide updates, but you will get new features sooner and hopefully more often because we can just keep releasing them.

4. Adaptation to the current release cycle of iOS and macOS

Subscriptions also fit better with today’s technology landscape. Apple releases new versions of macOS, iOS, and iPadOS every year. There are always new possibilities that also make sense for SimpleumSafe. In addition, changes to the platforms require adjustments by app developers. With every generation of devices, new features are added, so the app environment is changing rapidly and we need to keep up. Our users always expect good service from us. All of these adjustments, as small as they may seem, take time and energy on an ongoing basis. Subscriptions are the only viable solution to these new cycles.

Conclusion

We are convinced that the switch to the subscription model is the right decision for us and our customers.

We know we will lose some customers who are not willing to switch to this new model. However, our goal is to continue developing SimpleumSafe in the long term and we believe that our new prices are reasonable. After all, with our software you protect your valuable data, and for this continuous updates and improvements are essential.

The subscription model allows us to offer our customers a best-in-class, future-proof product while remaining at the cutting edge of technology and ensuring our economic stability.

We would like to thank all of our loyal customers who have supported SimpleumSafe so far and we hope that you will continue to stay with us and reap the benefits of the subscription model. Our commitment remains unchanged: we will continue to work hard to provide you with the best possible security solution for your data.

Thank you for your understanding and support during this time of change. We look forward to continuing to bring you innovative features and improvements in SimpleumSafe.