Popular iOS app Notability paywalls features that users already paid for, prompting raised pitchforks

Notability — one of the most popular note-taking apps on iPhone, iPad, and Mac — has switched to the freemium business model. While we’ve seen this move happen with other apps before, this app is taking away features users had already paid for. So if you’ve purchased the app and any in-app purchases (IAPs) to unlock extra features in the past, you’re going to be treated like any other free user in a year.

Owned by Ginger Labs, Notability announced in a Medium blog post that it will be going free on the App Store. Users who had already bought the app will get a free subscription for a year. Afterward, they will be losing all premium features to a paywall, including ones bought separately as IAPs, such as handwriting recognition. This got users raging on online platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, according to MacRumors.

Hi, just to get this straight:
– I’ve purchased Notability
– I’ve purchased Hamdwriting recognition (IAP)
– I’ve purchased stickers & Notebooks (IAP)
Now, in one year you’ll force me into a subscription scheme to use functions I’ve already purchased (also Cloudsync) ???!!!

— Frank (@the_alsatian) November 1, 2021

Astonished that @NotabilityApp is moving to a subscription model. I happily paid for the Mac and iOS versions of Notability separately all the way back in 2015, and it’s accompanied me through 3 degrees now. Very disappointed there is no grandfathering in; will be switching.

— Colin Whaley, MSc (@colin_whaley) November 1, 2021

This move doesn’t seem fair to users who had to buy the app for $8.99, in addition to other IAPs. Usually, apps that are switching to freemium grandfather original users and give them extra perks. In this case, initial buyers are only getting a single year of premium. And that is clearly not enough, based on their online complaints.

It also arguably violates the Apple App Store guidelines. Taken from section 3.1.2:

If you are changing your existing app to a subscription-based business model, you should not take away the primary functionality existing users have already paid for. For example, let customers who have already purchased a “full game unlock” continue to access the full game after you introduce a subscription model for new customers.

“How to go from a great business to just a plain scam.” – Lessons taught by @NotabilityApp

— Anderson Santos (@andersonsantos) November 2, 2021

Except you all aren’t “free”, are you @NotabilityApp? And you’re taking away features that people, like myself, fairly paid for already and now you’re trying to make us subscribe with that yearly fee to get said features again? Madness. https://t.co/XY3fKy20Kt

— Yaad (@Yaad10694143) November 2, 2021

Annoyed that my paid for @NotabilityApp app is “upgrading” me to a subscription service. Doesn’t the App Store usually do a new v2 app for subscription, and keep the old legacy paid for app? First time I’ve seen paid change to subscription…

— Iain Hannah (@sciigh) November 2, 2021

Notability is currently in the top charts of productivity apps on the App Store, and it has the Editors’ Choice badge. It has grown throughout the years — thanks to paid users’ support — and become one of the most recommended apps for note-taking. As a result, users feel betrayed and disappointed by the way they’re getting treated, despite their loyalty in the past years.

Do you use Notability? If so, how do you feel about their new business model? Let us know in the comments section below.

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