Oh no! There’s a hook in that worm!

[Painttheworld]

It looks like you took the subscription bait Apple has been trying to hook all their developers with.

I read your update note. :-( 

This model is not liked by many users. In fact, every time a developer falls into the subscription trap, I look for all possible ways to avoid their applications.  I appreciate you allowing your longtime faithful customers to continue with their lifetime license for Artstudio Pro, however, I hope you will reconsider and eliminate the subscription business model.  I also noticed your price will be going up to $39.99 for the new lifetime license.  Maybe that price is fair, however, Affinity now has a full suite, and each of their individual apps cost $11.99 (x3 = $35.97 lifetime.)

I would be extremely supportive of an upgrade business model. (ie. new purchase for major updates/versions.)  similar to what you did going from ArtStudio to Artstudio Pro.

I have been supporting and using ArtStudio and Artstudio Pro for many years on both the iPad and Mac. I hope you will reconsider your choices.


Sincerely,
— Not A Software Tenant.

P.S. I am not trying to be negative in this post. I totally appreciate all of your hard work and I am willing to support you and your product but I cannot support another company or app that moves to the subscription model. (I understand you are offering both subscription and perpetual licenses) but this is a huge scary foot in the door to a terrible business model. This is exactly why I left Adobe and Autodesk behind.

[Pikachu]

Yeah...
I'm aware it will come off as disrespectful to throw in an opinion of how to run an app, and I appreciate the lifetime license to current users so I say this for 0 personal gain but only because of that fact that I like ArtStudio a lot, and am passionate about it being the best painting app on the app store, so oh well.

Subscription models are a good way of nosediving an app into the ground, people generally tend to be incredibly averse to those. There is a reason clip studio paint and callipeg have 3 stars on the app store. I understand that this might be a way of branding ArtStudio as the more professional and premiere software that it is, and maybe this is just the direction most digital painting software is going but getting a negative reception from this seems like a likely outcome to me...

[Cantisani]

It’s a difficult topic for sure. On one hand, I guess everyone understands the need the developer has to secure a continuos cash flow to support them and they can continue to develop the app. On the other, the majority of us, the users, despise the subscription model with every atom of our existence 😂

The current approach, offering subscription AND a lifetime license may look like a good compromise (even with the huge price increase), but evidently it brings a good deal of unease to the user base, making us wonder if this is the first step towards becoming a subscription only app in the future.

I’m sure all of us certainly appreciate the fact that, as existing customers, we get a lifetime license. It’s a wonderful gift for sure and I love it. On the other hand.. if you think about it, “lifetime” means exactly that: the lifetime of the app and no one knows how long it will last in it’s current state. Let me clarify: the developer can release an “all new app” under a different name that’s subscription only, and the current ArtStudio Pro won’t be updated any more. That’s the end of it’s life and we’re done, we either suscribe to the new app, or pack our bags an move on.

It has happened before with other developers and other apps… and that’s the scary part. For me, Forger comes to mind.

So far, I appreciate the gift Lucky Clan has given us, their existing users. But I also feel a bit concerned about the future.

Some communication from the developer would be great.

[Dorothyfan1]

At some point there’s going to come a time when users of these apps will have to sit down and decide which subscription to pay for. And for me, it’s Clipstudio Paint. I was happy to use Artstudio Pro for a while but when I compare the feature sets between these two it’s no comparison. Clipstudio Paint is way ahead in feature set and abilities. It has a superior layout and better color palette support that Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have. For this reason alone my choice has been made for me. So if I’m forced between push and shove…I’m sticking with Clipstudio Paint. I’m deleting Artstudio Pro soon. Now if Procreate does the same thing I’ll have to sit down once again and make the same cold hard decision which app to stick to if I’m forced to pay annual fees for something I purchased. Most important in that decision will be file support…and Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have that much file support that can be converted to. Not to mention brush library support is way behind Procreate.

[Qualzar]

At some point there’s going to come a time when users of these apps will have to sit down and decide which subscription to pay for. And for me, it’s Clipstudio Paint. I was happy to use Artstudio Pro for a while but when I compare the feature sets between these two it’s no comparison. Clipstudio Paint is way ahead in feature set and abilities. It has a superior layout and better color palette support that Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have. For this reason alone my choice has been made for me. So if I’m forced between push and shove…I’m sticking with Clipstudio Paint. I’m deleting Artstudio Pro soon. Now if Procreate does the same thing I’ll have to sit down once again and make the same cold hard decision which app to stick to if I’m forced to pay annual fees for something I purchased. Most important in that decision will be file support…and Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have that much file support that can be converted to. Not to mention brush library support is way behind Procreate.

You already have full access to ArtStudio Pro permanently with no need to pay a subscription since you bought it before. You're grandfathered into a permanent license. If CSP is your preference, just stick with CSP it's that simple.

[LCArt]

At some point there’s going to come a time when users of these apps will have to sit down and decide which subscription to pay for. And for me, it’s Clipstudio Paint. I was happy to use Artstudio Pro for a while but when I compare the feature sets between these two it’s no comparison. Clipstudio Paint is way ahead in feature set and abilities. It has a superior layout and better color palette support that Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have. For this reason alone my choice has been made for me. So if I’m forced between push and shove…I’m sticking with Clipstudio Paint. I’m deleting Artstudio Pro soon. Now if Procreate does the same thing I’ll have to sit down once again and make the same cold hard decision which app to stick to if I’m forced to pay annual fees for something I purchased. Most important in that decision will be file support…and Artstudio Pro simply doesn’t have that much file support that can be converted to. Not to mention brush library support is way behind Procreate.

You already have full access to ArtStudio Pro permanently with no need to pay a subscription since you bought it before. You're grandfathered into a permanent license. If CSP is your preference, just stick with CSP it's that simple.

just ignore her, she is always in the forum comparing and complaining about ASP in very dumb ways.

[Ben]

It's true that most people hate the subscription model, I am worried that now much less people will get Artstudio Pro because of that and that it will hurt the app in the long run

[Artsketch]

Is it save to install the update available? Or will the iPad App turn to a free version with basic features? Have the lifetime license be bought again by installing the update on iPad?

[LCArt]

Is it save to install the update available? Or will the iPad App turn to a free version with basic features? Have the lifetime license be bought again by installing the update on iPad?

I'll reply to you on behalf of the disappeared developer that stopped caring about his community:
If you purchased artstudio pro before the last update, you already have the full version, so it's safe to update, it will show you a "Full version unlocked" in the Artstudio menu inside the app.

[Artsketch]

I'll reply to you on behalf of the disappeared developer that stopped caring about his community:
If you purchased artstudio pro before the last update, you already have the full version, so it's safe to update, it will show you a "Full version unlocked" in the Artstudio menu inside the app.
[/quote]

Thank you very much!

[Lucky Clan]

Let me explain it a bit.
There are many reasons to switch from paid to free + subscription/lifetime. Most of them are nicely explained here by Pixelmator team here:
https://www.pixelmator.com/blog/2022/08/18/why-pixelmator-photo-is-switching-to-subscription-pricing-and-a-sneak-peek-at-pixelmator-photo-for-mac/

Here are 2 other reasons:
1. Search algorithm on the App Store is based mainly on the download count. In many countries it was almost impossible to find Artstudio because it had very low sales so it was shown very low in the search results.

2. Artstudio was not featured by Apple at all while they are featuring many other apps over and over again. Switching to free was almost necessary to increase app popularity.

"On the other hand.. if you think about it, "lifetime” means exactly that: the lifetime of the app and no one knows how long it will last in it’s current state. Let me clarify: the developer can release an "all new app" under a different name that’s subscription only, and the current ArtStudio Pro won’t be updated any more"

We don't have plans to release any new "Artstudio" app anytime soon.
Lifetime License is exactly the same as "One Time Payment" model we used before. The advantage is users can test the app before buying it.

[Cantisani]

"On the other hand.. if you think about it, "lifetime” means exactly that: the lifetime of the app and no one knows how long it will last in it’s current state. Let me clarify: the developer can release an "all new app" under a different name that’s subscription only, and the current ArtStudio Pro won’t be updated any more"

We don't have plans to release any new "Artstudio" app anytime soon.
Lifetime License is exactly the same as "One Time Payment" model we used before. The advantage is users can test the app before buying it.

Hey, welcome back to the forums, we surely missed you, and after the switch it many of us were left wondering, so thanks for addressing this.

If one of the main reason for the switch is the exposure you’re hoping to get on the App Store, then that’s understandable. As long as the plan is not going subscription only sometime in the future, I really don’t care and I hope you get the exposure you’re after. Being the app I like the most for drawing, I really want it to succeed, so my best wishes for the company in the new year.

[Phoenix]

I mentioned it in another forum but please ALWAYS have at least 2 paying options. A lifetime and a subscription. Even if you make a new app, do this. A lot of people will appreciate having the option to choose. Specially when the app is really good like ArtStudio is.

Wishing the best for you guys.

Cheers!

[mgo]

The lifetime license is a bargain for what You get. For me, this is an almost perfect app that is focused, yet very capable and also customisable. I have a big interest in further development and refinement, and the price that is asked seems more than OK.

[Lucky Clan]

Thank you!

The lifetime license is a bargain for what You get. For me, this is an almost perfect app that is focused, yet very capable and also customisable. I have a big interest in further development and refinement, and the price that is asked seems more than OK.