This will be a poorly worded post since I’m typing on mobile.
I’m so tired of subscriptions. There’s already so many bills to pay, I don’t want to think about my phone having a dozen micro-bills.
All of the top apps in the iOS app store, mostly excluding Google and Microsoft, have subscription pricing. (And now Outlook requires a subscription to remove ads.)
Note taking app? Subscription. Reminders app? Subscription. An app with exactly one function and hasn’t been updated in months? Subscription.
It seems that the idea of one-time purchasing has all but died on iOS. The last one-time purchase I’ve ever made for an app on that platform is Apollo (RIP). After that, I just stuck with Apple’s default offerings (Mail, Calendar, Notes etc). However decent those apps may be, they’re stuck to the Apple ecosystem.
On a whim I wanted to try out the Pixel 7.
I discovered: Cinexplore, Feeder, Moshidon, Oto Music, and many more, of course.
So many quality apps that are either free or offer a one-time purchase. I used them for a bit and either paid the one-time purchase or donated if it was free.
And side-loading is the cherry on top. Having an open platform and more competition gives me a choice. It’s refreshing and helps reduce the mental burden of subscriptions.
The allowance of an alternative store is a big sell. There was a moment were I felt the quality on F-Droid was dying, but in the last few months it has felt like an amazing explosion of really useful and clever apps. It also helps to expand the repository with the Guardian project and Izzy on Android.
Alas, I am on the degoogling train, so I feel like I am missing out tremendously on quality apps that only exist on the playstore. Android phones and tablets honestly used to suck compared to the iPhone, but now there are brilliant capable devices that can be had for at least half the price of an iPhone.
I think I should create an google account to use my Android better. It won’t have my real info, and it doesn’t need to have a name that points to me. I have been using Aurora, but the recent rate limiting can be a pain in the ass. And as much as I hate giving google my money, YouTube is a large part of my education and entertainment, and while the platform is a cesspool the people I truly admire sure as hell won’t be moving to fucking PeerTube, or LBRY.
Also, I am only a pirate for things that I no longer can legitimately buy or the money will not reach the original creators.
Check out the Aurora Appstore, it’s an anonymous mirror of the okay store and even manages updates for you. You can install anything free from the play store without a Google account or play services
I do use Aurora and I think it wonderful, when it works it does what I want. When it doesn’t work I got to worry about my banking app going out of date.
I hope I can hold off, but I don’t like being limited either, even though we have an embarrassment of alternatives for almost everything.