Pile goes Freemium
Pile has been around for over a year, and I’m really happy how things have been so far. Thousands of users use Pile, Pile+ or Pile Pro every week to keep their stuff organised. That, to me, is incredible!
This means two important things: On one side, the product works. People wants Pile. People likes Pile. Users want to pay for it. On the other it means that I am highly motivated and willing to keep improving and making Pile better.
As you probably know, a service like Pile has a lot of work. There are so many features hidden in the apparently simple Pile apps. A lot of those features have been asked by the users, which is great! But this means I have to put a lot of hours, effort and resources into it. Pile has hidden costs that I need to pay and I don’t need to say I’m aiming to do a living out of Pile as an Indie developer. Coffees everyday also add up! 😆
I want to keep making Pile better and better. I have a (rather long) list of things to add, and people everyday send me emails asking for interesting features or changes.
In order to keep up with it, I’ve had to rethink the business side of Pile and try to find better ways to monetise it. In short, new users make more money which allow me to do more & better features.
So here’s why I am making Pile a freemium app. I hope you can understand, agree and even support the decision, yet as always I’m open to hear any feedback you may have!
What does “Freemium” mean?
Before you had to purchase any of the Pile apps before download or before trying out the app. They were what’s called a Paid App.
Now the apps are free to download, and users can try them out with a limited set of functionalities. Then, if users decide that they like the app, they can purchase it within the app choosing between two different options.
Two different ways to unlock Pile apps:
One time purchase: Same as before, you purchase full price & unlock each app separately. The best option if you hate subscriptions or only use one of the apps.
Subscription: You can pay a small monthly fee and enables you to use all Pile apps completely unlocked. The best option if you use all three apps.
I already paid for Pile. Will I need to pay again?
Nothing changes for you. If you purchased any apps you’ll have access to the same, fully unlocked forever.
Say, for example, you had only purchased Pile for iPhone: You would still be able to purchase the other apps with a One time purchase but you could also choose the Subscription.
New users that download the app for free will have to purchase the app anyway, the only difference is that they will get to try it first for a limited set of time or with limited functionalities.
What does this mean for all the users?
Making Pile free will mean a lot more users get to try it out. A lot more users will find the app. A lot more users will enjoy the app enough that they will pay for it.
With more money I can hire developers to help me out, I can hire designers to polish things, I can pay for services that work better. I can make Pile better, faster and more reliable. And I can do all that in a shorter period of time.
No matter if you are an existing user or a new one, having more users enjoying Pile is good news to everyone.
To wrap up…
I really hope I am making the right decision and this is a step forward in the right direction. I really believe so. But I have no crystal ball. So I will be listening to feedback, to annoyed people, to complaints. And of course to positive messages, requests and ideas as well!
And as always, thank you for your trust and patience. Being an Indie developer is definitely hard, but it’s always really rewarding when you get beautiful emails or reviews on the App Store ❤️.