“develop something totally new that's super exciting that people want and that they're like oh yeah heck yeah i'm going to subscribe... instead of locking features that users have been using behind the subscription”

Use The Carrot Not The Stick — Put New Features Behind Subscription, Not Features Users Already Have

Apps that switch to subscriptions and lock previously free features behind a paywall create instant outrage. Astropad launched a second binary as a subscription-only product with genuinely new capabilities built over two years. Existing app users kept what they had; subscribers got something new. This carrot-based approach keeps advocates advocating instead of churning into critics — the psychology of choice versus coercion makes all the difference.