Hi,
Will online subscribers be able to use Iphone app on same subscription?

yes. That's what they said before

That's the plan. It will be the best experience for users if there's one subscription in either place, which you can do with either the existing web setup, or with in-app subscriptions from your iOS device.

any discount for subscribers only use the web version?

The price will likely stay the same.

Honestly I think the one-price buys all approach is the best. It'd be really annoying to have, say, a one month price, a three month price, and a year-long subscription price, which would be different if you were just online, just had the app, or both. I really think the best advice that's ever been given is "keep it simple stupid."

@joshwhitson13

I agree that I'd prefer if the price was independent of platform - i.e. able to use whatever apps link to Skritter under a single active membership.

I disagree, however, regarding discounting for longer term subscribers. I would happily pay a year upfront if it meant some discount compared to monthly payments that a user can cancel at anytime.

Same here. Although I'm happy to pay $4.95 a month to support Skritter (I could easily add all of the NPCR single characters right now and use that and the predefined 3800 items NPCR list for the rest of the year, cancelling my monthly payment at this point) and would happily pay $59.95 a year, but at $10 a month I will likely add lists, cancel, review for a few months, sign up again, add, cancel, review, etc. ad inf. Which would be a pain in the ass.

You pay 4.95 per month??

Why is the price different for different users??

@穆安

If you signed up during a promotion, you got a certain period of half price membership.

@icebear

I liked the idea of a long-term or prey-pay discount, but it then occurred to me that since the Skritter guys are so nice, I think if they could afford to charge us all $5, they would! So maybe there's a reason behind the current system :).

(of course if they do ever offer a discounted year -or more- subscription, I'd totally buy it!)

I have a burden of 2500+ and could easily keep on months trying to get it down but I pay my tenner because Skritter is such a fine experience that I´m happy to support it. Expecting it to be the same with iphone app.

@StEskil
Exactly :)

@malaili2
"Skritter is the most expensive software out there" - that doesn't really make sense without a frame of reference. What are you comparing it to? If you've found a cheaper, better alternative, I'm sure everyone would like to know!

We initially did the tiered pricing, where you could buy longer periods of time for lower prices, but we opted for the KISS method as josh mentions. When possible, simpler is better, in our experience. It's very hard to keep complexity from encroaching everywhere!

@范博涵 and @malaili2: that's actually the intention of the system. If you are price conscious and want to get the most bang for your buck, you can strategically cancel when you just want to review, or after you've added everything you want (though the system won't work as well if you add a whole bunch at once).

@范博涵: for this reason we try to make it as easy as possible to switch (one button on the site to unsubscribe, as little credit card info as possible to subscribe). Hopefully with how streamlined it is to go back and forth, and how you'd do it once every handful of months, it's not too much of an effort for those who want to do it. It should take no more than a minute or two to go either way.

@malaili2, for how much you've paid and how long you've used Skritter, you're paying under $30 per year. And the longer you go without paying for a subscription, the lower that price goes (down to zero if you were to go on studying forever). The *maximum* cost is $120.00/year. But you've opted for the lower cost method, where you learn less, spend less, and remember everything, so please use that actual cost when considering how expensive Skritter is, to be fair.

@malaili2 I think its also worth bearing in mind what alternatives exist that tangibly improve your character writing recall (along with other forms of Chinese recall) and are as streamlined and easy to manage. Plus with the number of hours... I've used Skritter about 160 hours over 7 months, which is about $0.43 cents per hour (ignoring the initial three months at half price). That's pretty damn modest.

I think it's worth noting that people tend to be fine with paying monthly fees for computer programs like Skritter, but may be reluctant to do the same for phone apps. I know whenever I see a GPS app on the App Store where you have to pay monthly to use it, I go somewhere else.

I'm curious if that might affect your company's plan to reel in subscribers from the phone app (I remember Nick or Scott mentioned that somewhere). People might be interested in the Skritter app at first, but then may turn away when they find out they have to pay monthly. After all, a lot of people might see it as just added costs for their already expensive phone plan, instead of a cost to learn characters.

Obviously this only applies to people trying out Skritter for the first time on their iOS devices. :P

malaili2 What exactly is your problem with Skritter?

Do me a personal favour.

When you find a similar product with the same level of customer support that is cheaper please let us all know. And then please get on every post and tell us how much you dislike everything here.

Until then, please let us enjoy our Skritter experience in peace.

@malaili2 Your usage stats indicate otherwise... anyway, I find that most of your complaints and demands here have a strong sense of entitlement, which will immediately turn off most readers. If you don't like the service don't use it, as others have suggested. Many of us are incredibly happy with how the service works.

I think cable television is huge rip-off. I don't berate the companies and subscribers who find it worthwhile; I merely don't subscribe.

One of the wonderful futures of Skritter is the "public profile". Anybody can see how long you have practices since you joined and how many characters you learned. And before you complain again: Yes, you can deactivate it.

Like Icebear said. Drop the self entitlement.

It is one thing to make suggestions and point out shortcomings.

It is another to complain about everything and how much you dislike it and how ridiculous it is.

The latter becomes an irritation quite fast.

Skritter is not the only choice, you can do it the old fashioned way and just write with a pen and paper.

Or, if you want to keep the SRS, you can use Anki (free), look at the Anki flashcard with the English definition or pinyin, and then write the characters on a piece of paper to test yourself. Plenty of people I know do that, Skritter is just way more convenient.

"@$0.43/hr, it would cost me about $50.00 per month."

Your math is wrong. It never costs more than $10 a month.

Your stats in your profile show you've studied since September for 118 hours. That's just over 8 months; if you were paying each month, that would be $79.60.

Calculated per hour, that would mean for each hour you studied, you paid $0.67. That to me seems like a very good value. You could study an hour for free with pen and paper, or for the amount pocket change under a couch cushion, you get all the advantages of Skritter. And you've already said that you don't pay each month, so the price you are paying per hour of study is even lower than $0.67.

Sounds to me like a great deal. Such a great deal in fact that hundreds if not thousands of other people are willing to pay the same, keeping Skritter in business.

@malaili2

If your budget is that low, then you shouldn't bother with using tricks to learn, anyway. It is called, you, a teacher when you can afford one, your text book, writing the characters with your finger on your pants' leg, and a lot of bull headed determination.

Is it hard? Absolutely. It is quite doable, though. That is how I did it. I only came to Skritter as a means of managing my vocabulary and characters when they become to numerous for me to control on my own. (3k+ characters)

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. I think this thread has covered the ground thoroughly by now, so let's end this one here and move on to greener topics.

(deleted)

@malali2...just curious, how much a month would a private tutor 24/7 who constantly reviews with you and keeps you moving along without getting tired cost? just curious...re: income...isn't Skritter a business? if they pegged subscriptions to people's incomes it would be tough to - you know - survive.

$10 a month are two lattes at Starbucks with tip.