I originally bought Scrivener from the App store in 2012. Certainly, when I purchased there was no information warning about updates.
However, as Scrivener does minor updates - app store purchasers don’t get them. How can that be right?
It’s all very well, now informing people like myself of the ‘policy’. But do you really expect me to purchase another copy from you directly so that I may get the service I should be getting.
Disgraceful.
I shall be moving to an alternative.
I have the Mac App store version and it has been continuously upgraded just like any other app bought that way. The latest version, v 2.8.1, was released in December. Have you checked your Mac App store update history lately?
All minor updates to Scrivener has of course also been available on the Mac App Store, free of charge.
it won’t be until Scrivener 3, which will be released before the end of the year, hopefully, that you will have to pay.
You’ve been getting free updates for the version you bought in 2012 for five years. If you are unaware, you have to use their App Store program to update software, you won’t get any update messages from within the program itself.
As for major updates, well, welcome to Apple’s store. That’s not our policy, that’s how Apple runs it—I’d suggest looking into direct-sales in the future if it bothers you. If you feel you can’t use Scrivener because of who you bought it from that’s your prerogative, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get stuck in the same situation with another developer by not being aware of the actual source of the problem. Buy direct (from whoever) if this concerns you and you consider it disgraceful. I say that as one who avoids the MAS for that and many other reasons.
I’d also add that Mac App Store users can send us their receipt and get a discounted upgrade to 3.0 from us just as users who bought Scrivener 2.x from our store will get a discounted update.
Nowhere have we ever said that we provide free updates for life - we certainly don’t. But the last time we asked for a paid update was seven years ago, and it will be a few years before the next one after 3.x. We can only afford to develop Scrivener if we charge for it and charge for major upgrades very few years. I’m not sure how it’s “disgraceful” to do what pretty much every other software company out there does to survive? The alternative is for us to move to a subscription model, of course, and charge yearly…
To the OP: it’s the same for every other app you buy on the Mac App Store.
You don’t need to agree with it, a lot of developers and users don’t either, but even Apple is doing it with their own programs (they brought out Logic X as a seperate program when before they were selling Logic 9 was on the store - and they were getting around this buy selling each program for a ‘new’ price that was the same as previous upgrade prices - and in my opinion the price of Scrivener is low enough to warrant the same treatment)
For myself: I bought on the App Store. I will probably buy again on the App Store. Yes, then I won’t get the discount, but honestly, we are talking about a cheap program in my opinion. I know price is relative, but it’s 50 euros or so, for a program I use every day, that I have gotten free updates for years. The difference now in updating pricing would probably be about 25 euros, but in return I don’t have to keep serial numbers, and on a new Mac I can just open the App Store icon, and re-download.
That advantage warrants 25 euro. It wouldn’t if the difference was like 100 euros, but for that price, that I know I will pay once for another couple of years probably; no problem in my opinion.
I bought mine on the app store. Then, I bought a copy for my daughter on the app store. Now, I’m gonna buy two new copies on the app store. It is a very inexpensive program, and we both use it all the time. I don’t mind paying a couple of clams to help keep the wheels at L&L turning, and I like how the updates install automatically.
Back into the mud I go.
Scrivener is one of the few programs where I feel so lucky to have it, and at a low price, that I pay for a new copy every few years. Five years of free upgrades to this program has covered a LOT of improvements, and all for only $45. I won’t balk at paying for version 3.0.
OTOH, if I had only recently bought it, I might feel differently. Also, with complex programs like this I sometimes buy them and then spend years before I understand them well enough to use regularly. (Others: Tinderbox, Devonthink.) In those situations, I do resent being asked to pay for the latest version. (Tinderbox is particularly troublesome; I eventually abandoned it.)
I recommend that everyone buy direct instead of from the App Store, whenever you have a choice. There are almost zero benefits to the App Store, and a variety of disadvantages including slower updates. YMMV
I bought from the app store and it does automatically update every time L&L push an update without getting charged extra. I have no issues paying for v3 when it gets released. L&L deserve payment for their work and I’d like to see that work continue. It is one of the few programs I actually recommend to other writers. I use the desktop version and the iOs version every single day. It’s a very reasonable price and at least it is a one-off rather than subscription.
Keep up the good work L&L!
I will buy Scrivener 3 from app store. Is there anyway I can get the discout? Omnifocus figured out a way to provide a discounted price for former users. I forgot exactly how they did it, but basically it checks whether there is a copy of previous version in the mac and if so, it offers/restores an inapp purchase. I have 3 macs and my wife has one, so I really want to buy it from App store. By the way, any update about its release date?
Our policy is more generous than Apple’s I think, in that you don’t all have to be sharing the same iTunes account to use the same software. Whatever the case, if they have some new family deal or no, that setup you described is no problem if you buy directly from us—and you would be getting a discount then.
Interesting, I did not know this was possible. I assume their in-app purchase thing is something independently coded, as I don’t believe this to be an Apple feature?
You can use Family Sharing to buy just one copy, and have the other user/AppleID use the license for free.
Before the end of the year. Likely somewhat before that.
Didn’t know this was possible; thanks for the info. Presumably, it’s not a violation of the MAS/developer agreement.
Explanation by The Omni Group:
support.omnigroup.com/omnifocus-2-upgrades/
What Omni did was this:
They created a small app that looked for an App Store version of their software on disk and checked its internal receipt validation file (to ensure it was a valid purchase from the App Store). If this was found, then the app would offer a discount price for the version on their store. However, Apple caught wind of this and didn’t like it, and told Omni to stop doing it. ( omnigroup.com/blog/omnikeym … -customers )
For OmniFocus, what they now do is this (as you can see through schrugged’s link, which explains that MAS users can not get a free or discounted update): if you have OmniFocus 1, you can’t get a discounted update, but what you can do is buy OmniFocus 2 (at full price) and then use your OmniFocus 1 installation to get a discount on the in-app purchase to OmniFocus Pro.
For OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner, they now make these available for free on the Mac App Store but they are read-only - you can look at files but not edit them. By doing this, you can get a free trial as a free in-app “purchase”, you can buy the full feature set as an in-app purchase, or you can upgrade from an older version as an in-app purchase with a discount (in-app purchases allow discounts).
These are all clever solutions, as you would expect from one of the premier Mac app providers (you can’t be a Mac developer and not have oodles of respect for Omni). However, none of them works for us:
Obviously (1) is not an option because Apple prohibits it.
We don’t have basic and pro versions of Scrivener, so we can’t offer a discount on an add-on. (And remember, with OmniFocus you sill have to buy the app again on the App Store, it is just the Pro extension they are able to offer the discount on.)
As nice a solution as this is, it would be almost impossible to create a read-only version of Scrivener because of its complexity and just how many editable areas there are (this is presumably why Omni only uses this model with their single-window UI apps and not with their more complex OmniFocus). It wouldn’t actually be impossible, but it would probably be a month of work on its own and then require constant maintenance with each change to the code.
This is why we are saying that if App Store users would like the discount, we will give them a discount on our store if they provide proof of purchase (we’ve seen other companies do this). This way, App Store users can get a discount if they want. but it does mean that they have to buy from our store. It’s just one of the pay-offs with the App Store - the App Store doesn’t offer discounted upgrades.
All the best,
Keith