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Is it just me, but iPad apps aren't a bargain anymore..
I know everything is getting more and more expensive in the world .. I don't even see the point because it means then people need to get paid more and so it's like a vicious Clyde. However, here is iOS music territory it seems apps that were once a bargain are now crossing into the more expensive territory. Some apps are still a good deal, but some are making me think for a long time if I really need it or not. I just noticed an app I just bought last year is now being reissued as an auv3 and is on preorder for over 25 usd. I feel kind of ripped off as it should be an update. Oh well my Friday rant of the day 
Comments
Hmm, I guess you're talking about Patterning 3? I think a decent amount of work has gone into turning that AUv3, and it is a pretty sophisticated app, so not being a free update and being priced a bit high both seem reasonable to me.
Overall, iOS apps are getting more expensive. And wages for most people aren't really going up to match. That's just how things are at the moment. But iOS is a niche market and the app prices do need to rise, as they've basically been priced similar to mass appeal apps, which doesn't make much sense for this scene, which really seems to have very few hardcore users.
People here on the ABF are used to paying very little for apps. With rising prices, many won't be able to buy as many as before. There will be more competition between devs, and there will be pros and cons to that.
However, I also think that for some users, being a bit more deliberate with purchases could be beneficial. New apps are fun but can easily become a distraction from actually making music. Some are definitely into just noodling with the latest thing, and that's fine. But I'd wager a good number of people get stuck in that cycle of chasing the hype and novelty without fully exploring what they already have. Myself included at times, if I'm being honest, though I feel I'm a bit more immune to the appeal of hype and novelty than I was. It becomes an itch to scratch that diverts time from more intentionally expanding creative and technical skills.
So while higher prices will be limiting for many, maybe it will also help curb that compulsive purchasing behavior for those susceptible to it.
My take: Whether you need an app shouldn't depend on its price.
https://www.pluginboutique.com/
I paid one (1) dollar for Moogs AniMoog back in 2011 - 13 years later I still haven’t paid for any updates, and AniMoog working flawless still.
That business model isn’t healthy…
I'm in favor of developers being paid fairly for their work. That rarely happens in this ecosystem. Sure, I'll have to think harder about whether I can justify buying higher priced apps, but that's only fair.
i'm glad developers are setting their prices to a more sustainable level, still much lower than you would find on desktop.
there are still many bargains, Audio Damage's Axon 3 was a recent one.
plus, iOS sales are common and you usually don't have to wait too long until a significant reduction comes along.
i feel the value I have received for something like Drambo or AUM is unfair for the price I've paid, hours of stable use everyday for years for only 20 or 30 euro each
I buy all those dev's other apps and would also tip further if possible. I own an AUM t-shirt and have written to suggest Beepstreet brings out a Drambo shirt 
I’ve spent thousands on apps, without the hardware. Many of those initial apps I no longer use. I am still a good £10000 off the cost of my first hardware bedroom studio though!
For myself it’s an evolving hobby. I could no longer afford or have space for multiple large hardware synths, fx, sampler, mixer etc. iOS music making gives me the opportunity to try lots of different sound making tools at payday prices. Yes, I still wait for the sales often, but I do feel guilty that I have not paid my due for some apps.
Have a look at your own app use. I have about 500 music making apps on my iPad. I use a few host apps every day. I use a few synth and fx apps most days. I use the rest now and again. Any apps not used after a year get taken off as new ones get bought - I am limited by the 256gb on my iPad.
That word ‘limited’ is relative though. Hardware limits of drive sizes, sampling space, recording tracks and actual physical room space makes me laugh at the wonderful possibilities we have today in a device that with a modest app collection does more than I could ever achieve in a hardware studio and at the cost of less than my Andromeda synth cost me! With my collection of apps, I could keep myself busy learning and using them for much longer than I have years left!
The cost is also relative to my other hobbies - I have about £5000 worth of TTRPG books on my shelves. I have about the same in fishing tackle in my dining room (very understanding wife). I have easily spent more on consoles and games over the years. To be fair, iOS music making could have easily have been my cheapest hobby, if only I didn’t have an app buying problem lol
I also feel that many iOS apps are getting better quality. Some early iOS apps were fantastic, especially the touch centric ones. Many of the older cheap apps were pretty shoddy though. I literally have hundreds of very basic cheap as chips apps that I no longer use and probably didn’t use much at all. Many of my most used apps today, have given me much more value, as I use them so much!
This reminds me that I should not buy any new apps next pay day and give some tip jar money to the EG Nodes dev! I have over 40 projects saved on that app and is my most used app since its release.
How did it become an AUv3? By the developer doing a lot of work. So, he should get paid for his work.
If it was a small, new feature then maybe a free update would be reasonable, but when a major overhaul like coverting to AUv3 is done then it is fair to charge as a new app.
You are correct - apps are becoming more expensive but they are also a lot more sophisticated and feature-packed than the early iOS music apps that were $2 or $5.
What wrote @Gavinski is what I think exactly.
I've also spent (way too) _many euros on apps I barely or don't even use… and one day, I decided to jump on the FF bundle for 100 euros (or so) which was, at that time, an absolute fortune but I really don't regret this choose
Since then, I've _(more than) drasticaly reduced my purchases and when I decide to buy an app, I'm also happy to pay a more faire price.
Also, what @tja said is true, Michael has found a very fair system 👍🏻
I still haven't decide to go the Logic for iPad way, I've only used my free period, but I'm "afraid" that the 50€/year Apple are asking for, which seems a real bargain for what it has to offer_ (great FX, great synth, great lot of features)_, may one day "kill" everything… 🥴
No, pretty sure that the subscription price on Logic Pro for iPad will getting pretty low for a long time.
Why? Apples business rely on hardware, not software - they want us to buy iPhones iPads and Macs to run their software on…
Hold in mind that Garageband has been for free to all users last ten years, pretty good move.
What a relief that prices are going up. Soon maybe developers will be able to earn enough from their work to justify staying, or moving to iOS.
Your choice if you'd like to stay buying under $8 apps, there's still plenty being made. Personally, i love the more expensive apps with larger feature sets, clear development paths, and developers with proven track records. Even if i don't choose to buy its great to watch them grow.
this
Apps are still at cheaper price points than their desktop computer siblings. And I need developers to make reasonable income from them so that the devs remain active and keep updating their apps etc.
My bargain is simply not buying every 5€ app (anymore) and reserving my money for apps that have consistently grown and cared for users, instead of fun one-time projects that you know will not be maintained or further improved because there’s no monetary incentive for devs.
IMHO loopy does it the right way, sustainable for developers, fair for customers.
Full unlock for current version €35 (here). I get much more from that (way more) than if I bought 7 x 5€ apps I’ll probably never use after novelty wears off
Sorry, english isn't my first language (as you should have noticed 😅)... but it's exactly what I meant : Logic for iPad is, and will surely remain, really cheap for all it offers (imho)... so selling new synth, FX, sequencers, etc... will be more and more challenging.
Indeed.
Devs have to eat, and you can always choose to not buy.
If you’ve been around here any length of time (I’m a comparative noob), it’s obvious that transitioning to AUv3 is not a trivial task for many older apps that were developed without the constraints AUv3s have.
So yes, it may be annoying that you’ve only recently bought a previous version (I sympathise greatly with the annoyance), but it hasn’t suddenly imploded. You can still use that as you have been, while you decide if the new version is worth the outlay for the amount you’d use it.
With the recent upwards trend in app pricing I’m becoming more cautious about what I buy (plus I’m reserving cash for some new hardware so I’m not totally dependent on Apple not f*ing stuff up, eg MIDI out in 17…), which is no bad thing on the whole. I’ve tons of stuff already of which I’ve barely scratched the surface, so digging deeper into that should yield plenty of interesting musical fruit.
I don’t envy devs trying to figure out the sweet spot between expensive with fewer sales and cheap with more impulse buys. Difficult tightrope to walk.
Just off the top of my head and these are just the things I like... I'm sure most of us could come up with lists filled with completely different apps that are all ridiculously cheap.
Bargains:
All the IceGear Synths. Buy them all. Buy one a month at $2 off if you're cheap (I did ;-)
They're universal. And fukcing good. Lorentz is one of my all time favourite synths.
Everything by FAC.
The newer plugins are now universal too, making them even more of a bargain. They're crazy good quality, up with the best on desktop at crazy low prices. I bought them all on iOS and Mac. And use them all the time. Alteza is the best shimmer reverb I've used.
Everything by BramBos.
I'd happily buy them all again for the Mac. Ruismakers are my favourites, they still get used frequently.
I'd use them 100x more if they were universal.
Other notable bargains:
Dagger Synth. The closest synth on iOS to U-He in terms of analogue sounding monosynths.
RelicWaves/Relic Flow/Fractal Bits. Cheaper than a coke, universal, and perfect sample fodder
Samplr/Borderlands Granular/Other touch screen wonders -- Unique. Cheap. Brilliant.
Axon3 : £3.99 for iPad £72 for Mac! :-/
Phase Monkey/Blip Box, Universal. Cheaper than a sandwich.
VADrum2 : modelled TR808/909 for about 5% of the price you'd pay for D16s 808 + 909. And pretty damn good if a little polite.
And last but not least. The best deal of all. Logic Pro. £49 a year for Logic Pro is a bargain, despite the naysayers complaining incessantly in every bloody thread ;-)
Mind you, on desktop Logic Pro on the Mac just happens to be the biggest bargain in the music industry. In. My. Humble. Opinion. It's also the only app I'd willingly subscribe to. It's the centre of everything I do. Nothing else is required for me to make music tbh. I just have an app problem and can't get enough analogue modelled mono synths.
Yes, it's the small little one off apps that do something just a little bit different from others in the same niche (but are ultimately still just another take on something that's already been done a million times) which are probably the ones you want to cut out if you're trying to save time and money. All those small purchases add up. Often it's the expensive and much more powerful tools that end up giving far more bang for their buck. The problem (if there is one) is that people are often buying stuff not because they need it, or even genuinely want it, but simply because they need or want a dopamine hit.
Some valid points here. Thanks for your input . A big problem for me and maybe others is, there aren't many demos or ways to try an app, other than trusting your favorite iPad YouTuber . I have bought a few new apps that weren't cheap and wish I didn't .
Yes - this is really a pity, even a disgrace imo. Apps should have demos, vids are not always the best way to fund out whether you want an app, you often need to try it to see if it clicks, there is no other way. People should not be being forced into purchasing something just to see if they like it. It would be fine if you could always rely on getting a refund request accepted, but that is not the reality of the appstore experience in most locations around the world, few of which favour the consumer in the same way as places like the EU do.
You can see it as a positive: higher cost apps can be better in the way that it's much easier to decide not to buy if you don't need it. I bought too many apps on sale I didn't need, but we should get more demos.
iPad is designed as a device being a sinkhole of addiction to apps which never stops. Less so is a computer which you have more control over and the choice of tools which fit your needs is way higher (and you can build your own tools on them much easier).
Best to mix up your toolset so the iPad is less important and is more of a counterpart in your setup. There are loads of free tools on desktop which are as good as if not better than many iPad apps and they also pretty much live forever in terms of lifetime compared to the iOS appstore model. That way you end up spending less overall.
But I understand the addiction is hard to break, we've all been there
I don't use my iPad as much anymore, but use it like an instrument to accompany my DAW setup. There are some great apps. Still the best is Drambo! I can work on my phone , iPad and then DAW. ! Yes, iPad apps are very addictive. I have chilled a lot and use what I have and like.
When you need something, you need it. But with DAWS almost nothing is “needed”, just nice to have.
Whether people buy things does have to do with price.
Many indie apps - even from well known authors - have so much jank and UX crap, that a lower price point is what can make people try it out, just for fun. Or apps can be entirely novel, where testing is necessary before figuring out if it fits into a workflow.
I just bought Bitwig Studio. Did I NEED it? Nope. Want it? Yes. Will I use it? Also yes. Why did I buy it now, instead of continuing with FLS? 100% because of price. 50% off is too compelling.
Very few bands or hobbyists have the luxury or even desire of limitless spending on tools.
Devs gotta eat too. If $30 isn’t worth it to you then don’t buy it. However if the app will be used everyday, $30 is a fair price. With that said, gambling $30 on an app IS too much without a demo. (For an app like patterning you should have pre ordered it if you know your going to use it or wait for a sale; I couldn’t get the pre order so I’m going to get it on sale whenever that is, why because I don’t need it and I probably won’t use it much, but I do want it nonetheless )
So I agree if you need an app, want an app and know that app is what will do it for you, then asking for a sub $10 price isn’t fair to the dev. I think they should be duly compensated for the value you derive from their work. After all, especially with our beloved iOS indie devs, they need support to continue their good work. If you don’t want to pay full price despite that, wait for a sale I guess.
But prices are unfortunately rising with food and essentials more than anything so not buying an app on impulse and thinking seriously and long before a purchase is not a bad thing actually
Hope that spins it positively
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. People have been saying something similar since Apple bought emagic and made Logic $200 including all that massive amount of content that comes with it. There were fears companies like Steinberg or Ableton wouldn’t be able to compete with that crazy low price, and none of those has ever happened.
If you wait for sales most plugins are $20 or less. The price has gone up but much of that is inflation and quality improving IMO.
You feel ripped off? The app you bought still works.
It is likely that you are talking about an app that was essentially rewritten from the ground up.
If $25 seems like a lot of money for a great app, I think that speaks more to unreasonable price pressures of the App Store model than to developers asking for too much money that resulted in unhealthily low app prices.
In early years when there weren’t a lot of apps, developers could make a reasonable amount from cheap apps. Those times are long gone.
Well said. I agree with every point. Sometimes we tend take the amazing capabilities of IOS/IpadOS music making apps. and the immense hard work and talent of their developers for granted.
I totally agree with your points, but once we're talking dopamine hits I think that warrants another thread (OT) by itself