Most apps today follow a familiar pattern. You download them for free, start to enjoy them, and then at some point you hit a wall. A screen pops up asking you to subscribe before you can keep using core features, or ads begin to fill every corner of the experience. That model clearly works for many companies, and I completely understand why it’s become the default. But as both a developer and a user, I’ve always wondered if there’s another way.
So, I’m trying something different. This is very much an experiment — not a manifesto or a perfect plan. My goal is to see if it’s possible to build sustainable apps that people genuinely enjoy using without feeling pressured to pay or give up their data. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m curious to find out.
The core idea is simple: make the main experience free and fully functional from the start. No locked gates, no hard stops, no ads interrupting the flow. If you download one of my apps, I want you to be able to use it completely without ever having to spend a cent. To make that realistic, I’m keeping my costs as low as possible. Wherever it makes sense, data is stored locally instead of on expensive servers, and I avoid services that scale up in cost as the user base grows. If my expenses stay lean, even a small amount of support can go a long way.
When it comes to monetization, instead of traditional subscriptions or ads, there’s simply an option for users to contribute if they want to. This could take the form of a tip jar or fun extras like cosmetic upgrades that don’t affect the core experience. The idea is to offer a way for people to support the project because they genuinely find value in it, not because they feel forced to.
Privacy is another big part of this experiment. I’m avoiding unnecessary tracking and data collection as much as possible. Analytics, when used at all, will be minimal and focused only on improving the app itself. I want users to feel confident that their data isn’t being harvested or sold.
Of course, there are plenty of ways this could fail. It’s very possible that most users will simply use the free version and never pay, which might make the project unsustainable. Even with low costs, revenue could end up too small to cover expenses. There’s also a risk that the message behind this model won’t come across clearly, and users might assume there’s a hidden catch somewhere. And then there are the platform rules and policies, which can be tricky to navigate when doing something outside the norm.
Success here isn’t just about money. It’s about whether users enjoy the app enough to keep coming back, whether they feel respected rather than pressured, and whether a handful of them decide on their own to contribute to its future. If I can build something people genuinely love, while keeping costs manageable and optional support flowing in, that will feel like a win.
This is just the beginning of the experiment. I don’t know how it will evolve or what lessons I’ll take away, but I’m excited to see where it goes. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Either way, I’ll come out of it with a clearer understanding of how people interact with software — and hopefully, along the way, I’ll build apps that people truly enjoy using.