Many Tricks
Moom 4.4 is out, with a slew of visual updates for macOS 26 and some other minor changes (see the release notes).
The big news with this release is that, for some users, it’s our first-ever paid update for a non-major version upgrade. Those who purchased Moom more than a year ago will see that the update costs $8, which includes another year of additional updates. Those who bought less than a year ago will get the update for free, as it’s within their first year of included updates.
This is our first-ever implementation of our non-subscription business model, and we’re very curious to see how it goes.
Long, long time Moom customer here. Everything about this upgrade process was confusing and frustrating.
I thought the Sparkle update process was broken without an ‘Install’ button. (Why of why of why aren’t the word “This is a paid version that will not auto update” the very top line in the release notes in 72pt font??) So I redownloaded the DMG and reinstalled, then saw it was unlicensed, figured that was a side effect of overwriting the previous install, double clicked my license file, and was confused why that didn’t work. So I came to the blog and finally saw why.
If this was a v5.0 and it was obvious this was a paid upgrade, so be it. Just make this v5.0—the reasons for using a “minor” vs. “major” version number for this update might be important to you, the developer, but are not important to me, the consumer. If it’s a paid upgrade, I’m assuming it’s a major version and/or I’m using an auto-renewing subscription.
I get what you’re trying to do here, I support the product, and I’m glad to pay for it. IMO, though, I’d redo this whole process ASAP or it could be RIP for your support inbox.
Hoping this early feedback is helpful to you.
Just a quick comment on the non-subscription business model. Yes please continue. I don’t mind paying for major updates, whether it’s annually or more, especially since I use Moom all the time. It means that I can choose not to upgrade and keep using the software until I either decide to upgrade or it ceases to work because of an OS change. I dislike subscriptions where you basically pay for the app every year and it usually costs the same as an upgrade, but the app stops working if you don’t subscribe. So thank you.