It's Craney... FYI 🤷‍♂️

Subscription costs for apps and services is a part of mainstream life now, and just as developers get the benefits of recurring revenue streams for ongoing development and improvement of their apps, we also get the benefit (if we choose to) of looking at the state of the service, the market they sit in and how much value these things truly bring, then voting with our wallets. In theory…if we sit down and do the work! ¹

That being said, here’s what I subscribe to currently, as well as what’s staying/going in 2024!

🚨 Note: Any monthly subs I’ve put in the yearly price of the sub in my estimates 🚨

Applecare Warranties - £167.76/Year

• AppleCare/Apple Watch Ultra (£59.88/Year) - I think I might risk this and cancel. My old Apple Watch even after 2 years wasn’t even eligible for the battery replacement. This has been the case with my last 3 watches. 👎
  

• AppleCare/iPhone 15 Pro Max (£107.88/Year) - My phone is one of my most important devices. I can’t risk getting rid of AppleCare. 👍
  
  

Streaming/Storage - £697.17/Year

• AppleOne Premier (£443.40/Year) - Ok Ok, hear me out! This subscription gives Apple Music, Apple TV, News+, Fitness and 2TB of Storage to my whole family (Me, My Wife & 2 boys). Un-Bundling or reducing a tier and adding storage saves basically pennies so it’s just not worth it. I really really need to use the fitness components of this in 2024 to make it worth it though. 👍
  

• Crunchyroll (£59.99/Year) - I’ve really re-discovered my love of Anime this year and the service is pretty cheap. I need my Gundam and Lupin. It’s staying. 👍
  

• Disney+ (£109.90/Year) - I really enjoyed watching some shows on this. The Bear. The Old Man. The kids watch stuff on it…The movie choice is ok but….that’s a lotta money with the new renewal price… I do prefer it however to….🤷‍♂️
  

• Netflix (£83.88/Year) - I loathe Netflix. The reduced content, the increase in prices, the restrictions on sharing….but the family love it. I guess it’s staying. 🤷‍♂️
  
  

Game Services - £275.87/Year

• Xbox Game Pass £155.88/Year - If I play at least 3 full price games I Would have bought, then it’s worth keeping. Especially for the value the kids get from it as well.👍
  

• Playstation Plus Premium £119.99 - Took this out on a discounted rate. The service is hot garbage. Absolutely not worth the price. It’s gone. 👎
  
  

Apps - £183.44/Year

• Sofa £29.99/Year - Bought on a discounted rate. Won’t renew. It’s clunky, complex and I always feel like I’m wrestling against it vs it helping me. It seems MacStories has moved onto Sequel which seems more streamlined, has more interesting features and is cheaper. Think I’ll switcheroo. 👎
  

• Final Cut Pro £49.99 - I tried to be a video editor. I am not. Easy cancel. Back to iMovie. 👎
  

• Footpath £21.49/Year - I need to actually use it more in 2024 to justify it. It’s an elegant piece of software. It’s well priced for what it does. It stays for 2024. 👍
  

• Lose It £34.99/Year - What would Jan be without another attempt at weight loss. It appears they’ve added IF features to it now as well. It stays as it’s due for renewal mid-year. We’ll see how I get on with it. 👍
  

• Ivory £24.99/Year - Probably not a popular opinion, but I don’t feel like it’s justified the price for me personally. I’m not using Mastodon as much at the moment I’m gonna go back to the official app and take my chances whilst I trial some alternatives. 👎
  

• Bear £13.99/Year Grandfathered - Finally 2.0 came out… aaaaand it’s still a bit clunky, underbaked² and not precisely what I’m looking for. I stuck with you for a damn long time but it’s over. Tagging and linking is clunky, Bear for Web is something I’m just not interested in either. Time to learn Obsidian instead for the grand price of free and move on. 👎
  

• Infuse 8.99/Year I honestly forgot I was subscribed to this. I don’t use it at all anymore… 👎
  
  

Services - £384.90/Year

• YNAB £90/Year - I love it. It helped me create this list and look at costs. It gave me the confidence to plan to quit a job that was harming me, take time off and move myself in a different career. I had that financial confidence due to this app helping me plan. 👍
  

• ‌Micro.Blog £80-ish - What you’re reading this post on! So it’s gotta stay! I did upgrade to premium for the video hosting, but trying to get something to stay in the small file size limit is more trouble than it’s worth, plus I have no plans to start a podcast or newsletter anytime soon, so I’ll probably go back down to the $50 (£40-ish) plan again and embed my videos via Youtube instead. 👍
  

• Tinylytics £40-ish/Year - Fun! Elegant and shows me that on occasion someone actually reads the stuff I put on my blog :) Absolutely staying. 👍
  

• NextDNS £19.90/year - Essential. Adblocking and enhanced security for the whole family. Simple to setup with Apple products and smart. Highly recommend it. 👍
  

• 1Password £55-ish/Year - I’ve used 1Password since it launched, it’d be ridiculous to stop now. It’s had some ups and downs since it was gobbled up by VC’s but I can’t ever imagine switching. 👍
  

• Nest Aware £50/Year - I need it for my Next Cameras to use with my Starling Hub to pipe them into HomeKit. Maybe at one point I should look at proper HomeKit cameras instead. 👍
  

• Microsoft365 £50/Year - I always get this on a deal with some antivirus software which I never even install as it’s cheaper. Family licence and it’s used more by my kids and my wife than me. 👍
  
  

Total Costs

Current cost of subscriptions £1709.14/Year or £142.43/Month

Revised cost of subscriptions 1402.31/Year or £116.86/Month.

Potentially we can drop this further if we ditch Disney+ and/or Netflix even for a period of time. Maybe do a few months with one then flip to the other… We’ll see. Still fairly pricy but considering spreading it out over the services and the fact a lot of these don’t just serve me but the whole family… not too bad!