Do you pay for apps?

Ok, confession time:

I rarely pay for apps, I can't remember the last time I did! :S Does that make me a bad Android user? There are just so many good free ones out there and I have a high patience level, so ads and that sort of thing don't bother me.

I've only bought a handful of apps:

• SwiftKey
• various office suite apps when I was traveling in India and still working from my tablet!)
• a Humble Bundle or two
• Link Bubble

I'd consider it a personal failure if I ever got sucked into paying for in-app purchases in games in order to progress. Actually, this is why I kind of gave up on Dead Trigger 2 after a while.

Well, If I talk about myself I also don't pay for apps rather than I get the pirated version from......... Actually the problem with me is I don't keep myself stick to a single apps, I started loosing interest once I installed the application but yes there are some exceptions with SwiftKeyboard and .... but majority of the time I don't like paying for application.

I've paid for some I regard as a necessity; root explorer, titanium backup, nandroid manager, SDMaid to name a few, though I have bought one or two games when they were on sale (Minecraft was reduced to 60p). The majority of my apps are free though.

I used not pay to any apps....
I do think that it is worthy buying them. There are updates and support. You can install it across many devices paying just once, and don't have do pay to install on new devices neither ...
I did get a bunch of them on promotional sales.

— modified on May 22, 2014, 10:17:36 PM

At the moment i only use free apps,due to the finiacial aspect our family is in. kid in college wife only working part time and i am disabled but once the money is right i would love to purchase some of the launchers and icons sets..

Mary Mod

Hey AndroidPIT readers,

How many of you actually pay for apps, or do you only download free apps? What are the key factors you look for before buying the app?

Also, are there any apps you bought which you wished you havn't?

I really do think there's no such thing as a free lunch. The problem with free apps is that they use your phone's data and wifi signal searching to post ads. Hence, always looking for a signal which translates to battery drain. I just knew there had to be a catch.

I do pay for good games and apps, like Smash Hit (really good job).

Re key factors - usually you look for a specific issue solution, which sometimes turns to be just a single feature in an app.
There are no apps I wished I haven't paid for.

The main goal for development companies is to monetize the apps, and it doesn't really matter whether users pay for an app upfront or not. It is needed to consider an average Internet user behavior and that issue goes deep in psychology. In the following context Loie Favre could be considered as an exception

I have a high patience level, so ads and that sort of thing don't
bother me.

Candy Crush is a good example of psychologically polished game.

Frozen Fall by Disney also uses really maximized monetization mechanisms, though went too far after last update and reminds me of a hidden casino mechanism.

— modified on May 23, 2014, 2:06:57 PM

Well at the beginning I pirated some apps (WidgetLocker for example) but this was ONLY because of the fact that I COULDN'T pay, not as in "I dont have enough money" or "I dont want to pay that much", I simply couldn't, keyword: credit cards...
as soon as I had a way to pay I got quite a list of paid apps legally including the ones I previously pirated for obvious reasons.

If I need an app for whatever reason and there is no free counterpart, I'll gladly pay, provided it's not too much of a price for that particular app type (let's say 20$ for an office package is acceptable, but not more than 10$ for a game and a quite good one at it), otherwise I'll pirate it without hesitation. If there's an app I need that can only be bought on google playstore, I'll pirate it no problem (my country was and now isn't, for whatever reasons, allowed for app purchases on playstore). But, in that case, I'll first contact the author and see if an alternative method of payment can be provided. Man, I have quite interesting experiences with that. It happened quite a few times that author was grateful that I didn't resort to piracy and gave me full version for free. That's very nice. But, believe it or not, there were some a**holes that didn't even want to hear me out, something like "if google doesn't support you, there's a reason, beat it", basically like that. Oh, man, those were gladly pirated. Other times we just set up another method, like paypal and everything is fine.
I want to point out this too: except for free ones, I prefer app stores other than playstore. I recommend amazon. There's a free app of the day action on amazon and from time to time some really good apps are available for free.

Which country do you live in anyway? But it really is weird not being able to buy anything in the play store...

I have no problems paying for apps, even if the only reason is to support the developer. But before I do so I will use the free version for at minimum a week just to make sure it's an app I really would use. I've bought a few like AutomateIt Pro, a few games, I've never paid of in app purchase never will, have paid for monthly subscriptions for online play mind you.

But not all IAPs are bad, some have the model not 2 have 2 versions, but rather put the unlock into an IAP, and IAPs can be retrieved later, so that's no problem...

Well, so far I have only bought Swiftkey and it was half the price at the time, really worth it.

Im not proud of this but I have downloaded the pirated APKs for most of my paid apps currently installed but because I dont like to pay for something I will be uninstalling one day later. So this is more like an over the 15 minutes trial before Google Play app trial time.

Now, yesterday I was really thinking that its about time I pay for the ones I havent uninstalled after a few months, and these are:
Apex Launcher Pro
DynamicNotifications
NotiSysInfo Pro
PowerAmp
Tasker

These are the ones that will be receiving my money soon.

I also look for the similar free apps, Im currently searching for a CamScanner replacement since the new monthly/yearly fee is just ridicolous!!

— modified on May 25, 2014, 4:48:49 PM

It is even more ridiculous if it is made using a subscription which essentially means that I need a credit card, and we ain't in the US where every 12 year old has one...

Yes, I pay for my apps. But there's a catch: I want to test the app throughly before buying. Mostly this means I pirate it. If it's worth, I pay. Maps with me, ai.type, dead space, local buss scheduler, Manga Rock, power amp, metro notifications, apex launcher, etc are just few of the apps I first pirated before purchasing.

Then there are donation wares. If it's good app, I donate 1-10 euros. With my mindset: when someone does a good job, I thank them.

Btw. The apps and services I avoid are those which have a monthly fee.

Other than that, I run with freeware.

— modified on May 25, 2014, 7:37:31 PM

never ever...

Yes, sure!

I do pay for apps. I currently have 10 paid apps and few paid icon packs. One of my criteria's was for them to have sdcard support. I don't mind paying since its a onetime fee for multiple devices and future phones.

yes i am..............thanks

No.Not at all...

I just install apks externally,I am an Android Developer,and don't see any points in wasting bucks at the Google Play Store,if I can install them even without root access (albeit,I have root access on my Canvas HD)...

— modified on May 26, 2014, 11:55:35 AM

I don't mind paying for apps. They are usually cheaper than a coffee and I've paid for coffee that doesn't taste very good. I'm an Android Developer and an open source enthusiast. I used to donate 10% of my monthly income to open source projects that contribute to my every day life.

I never pay for apps. or If i need an app which has price tag on it we Downloads its data+APK

Mary Mod

Hey AndroidPIT readers,

How many of you actually pay for apps, or do you only download free apps? What are the key factors you look for before buying the app?

Also, are there any apps you bought which you wished you havn't?

Hi,
Yes I will pay for any app, but several things I will keep in my mind before paying for a mobile app. I will ask some questions like:
1. Is it helpful for me?
2. Is this mobile app important for me?
3. It is easy to use?
4. Does this support advanced platform?
3. How it is beneficial for me?
4. Should I really pay for this app?
I will analyze all the above things that how a mobile application good for me.
If I will get satisfactory answer then I will buy any mobile app.

I read an article before couple of weeks. It eleborate a survey report that shows that ony 10% smartphone users pay for any mobile app.

Actually, I don't mind to pay for an app or two, but most of my apps are free. The key factor is whether I can find a free equivalent with the same features

never pay for apps

never did that. some apps have functions to buy paid stuff .like the candy crush game
I crack that apps and make everything free.

Never pay for apps or in-app purchases.

Except WhatsApp. And despite the low cost, I resent paying for a subscription to any messaging service when there are dozens of others available for free!

for games i dont pay. the apps that i paid are messengers and icams.

Nope!You need a credit card I think to buy apps.I don't have one.And I don't like Ads either.I've deleted Google Play Books because I couldn't get any free books without handing out details of my non-existent credit card.

I never pay for apps.

I confess Paid only for Whatsapp. Its joy time they are waiving off

Mary Mod

Hey AndroidPIT readers,

How many of you actually pay for apps, or do you only download free apps? What are the key factors you look for before buying the app?

Also, are there any apps you bought which you wished you havn't?

Diptangshu M.

Nope!You need a credit card I think to buy apps.I don't have one.And I don't like Ads either.I've deleted Google Play Books because I couldn't get any free books without handing out details of my non-existent credit card.

no you dont.
there is mobile payment, giftcards and recently we also have paypal...

Hi, not payed for a single app yet I am a new user, only 4 months, so may still buy in the future.
key factors: is a free alternative and does it do what i want? will this app save me time/hastle or give me an edge?

Philipp Junghannß (My1)

Diptangshu M.

Nope!You need a credit card I think to buy apps.I don't have one.And I don't like Ads either.I've deleted Google Play Books because I couldn't get any free books without handing out details of my non-existent credit card.

no you dont.
there is mobile payment, giftcards and recently we also have paypal...

depends on country...

I don't mind paying up-front, but I can't stand free apps with in-app purchases, especially the games which you can't beat without paying!

Nope, never pay for applications, i just use torrent so that means i am using paid applications but don't pay for it , But sometime some applications doesn't work on torrent so at the end if the app really useful to me i would like to pay for it.

I rare pay for apps. If I do it, it must be big title like BG