Snippet: Cutting Down on Apple Subscriptions ☇

An interesting perspective from Vicent Ritter, living in Poland with a UK Apple account:

So let’s finally get to the article… Why am I cutting down? Well, it’s not only about the monthly cost, but it’s also the problem of where I stand with the quality of their services and the fine line of alienating a normal person (oh god, don’t hate me now, you’ll see). I can see raised eyebrows in the back! Oh no, I can see someone press the big red “cancel” button.

I’ve been tempted by Apple One, but I find that it’s often cheaper by about $30/year for me to cobble together a handful of items or annual subscriptions of things I actually use. While I’ve considered going back to purchasing music and using iTunes Match ($25/year) to stream my library, I also realize that I’d probably spend more than the remaining $84/year on buying music and be much pickier about what I’d add to my library. By my quick math, I’ve added about 120-200 songs/year to my library and who knows what one-offs I’ve listened to without adding. It makes Music feel like a good value.

The iCloud+ 200GB plan is cheap enough and convenient, so it would go nowhere, but also hurts the argument for Apple One for me (that is only 50GB, so I’d still have to add iCloud+).

I’ve subscribed to TV+ from the start and really enjoy it, feeling like the prior two price points were a bargain. I’d guess that out of the streaming services in our household, it currently gets the most use (followed by HBO Max, Prime Video, Netflix, and then Paramount+). However, with the increased price, Apple needs to continue to bring quality content or it could end up on the chopping block.

As for the other services, I’ve subscribed to Fitness+ in the past, but currently don’t because I am lazy I need to find more time in the day. I like the idea of Arcade, but just don’t find myself playing games on my phone other than a few longtime favorites. Similarly, News+ sounds great, but every time I try it, it seems to struggle with what I’m interested in and the ads are really tacky.

It’d be nice if Apple One allowed mix-and-match services with a bit of a discount or an annual option. Not only would that create a more “sticky” experience (I’m subscribing to one thing instead of 3-4), but I think I’d be less likely to scrutinize every price increase. In my case, if I keep TV+ things are only going up about $3/month (or $30/year), but it’s on top of every other streaming service increasing prices and inflation in general—not a great look.