Don't BUY the APP

[cliffp71]

I have been geocaching since 2005. I don't go often but enjoyed it when I could. Always used my gps. When the ap came out for my phone I purchased the upgrade. Recently they renewed the app sending the money I spent on the original app down the drain. That is fine , I would pay for a new app even with a renewing fee every year. A couple bucks seems more than fair. The problem is that they want over $7/month or close to $40 per year. That is simply ridiculous to ask for a game that is driven by the players. Players who pay to create the caches and travel bugs etc! Ground Speak needs to rethink this effort to become SUPER RICH overnight.

I think people should stop playing for a year to see that they like that reaction to their greed. Maybe there will be a game they is more user friendly and actually has a way for player to make money rather than to spend money.

[+NanCycle]

7 minutes ago, cliffp71 said:

I have been geocaching since 2005. I don't go often but enjoyed it when I could. Always used my gps. When the ap came out for my phone I purchased the upgrade. Recently they renewed the app sending the money I spent on the original app down the drain. That is fine , I would pay for a new app even with a renewing fee every year. A couple bucks seems more than fair. The problem is that they want over $7/month or close to $40 per year. That is simply ridiculous to ask for a game that is driven by the players. Players who pay to create the caches and travel bugs etc! Ground Speak needs to rethink this effort to become SUPER RICH overnight.

I think people should stop playing for a year to see that they like that reaction to their greed. Maybe there will be a game they is more user friendly and actually has a way for player to make money rather than to spend money.

Good grief!  Do you think the servers that run the website are free?  Do you think the Groundspeak staff works for free?  

Anyway, the app is free. You are perfectly welcome to play the game without paying anything at all.  Except of course your cell phone service  (Why isn't that free?)  Maybe you should go back to using your GPS.  The only thing to be paid for is the Premium membership which provides a lot of additional benefits--which by the way require the equipment and staff.

[+cerberus1]

How is this a Getting Started issue?

[Keystone]

1.  The official Geocaching apps are free.

2.  This is not a "Getting Started" issue. Moving.

3.  I cannot tell whether the OP uses Android or iPhone.  If I guessed wrong, OP can report their post and have the discussion moved to the correct forum.

[+NanCycle]

Ya know, there are about 5 or 6 other websites/apps that I use for free that have additional advanced features that I could use if I paid the $whatever that they charge for their paid version.  I guess, instead of just quietly using the free features that I want, I should be getting on their sites and raising a ruckus about how they want to force me to pay for full use of their site/app.  Should I berate them for being so greedy that they put out a product that they charge for, even though they let me use a part of it for free?  

[+CAVinoGal]

I'm confused ... the APP (Android, IOS, whatever) is free - the features are determined by your geocaching.com membership - basic member only (free)  or premium @ $30 per year, or monthly as you choose.  It's less to pay bythe year, rather than by the month.  

You dont pay for the app, you pay for membership in geocaching.com - right?

[+NanCycle]

20 minutes ago, CAVinoGal said:

I'm confused ... the APP (Android, IOS, whatever) is free - the features are determined by your geocaching.com membership - basic member only (free)  or premium @ $30 per year, or monthly as you choose.  It's less to pay bythe year, rather than by the month.  

You dont pay for the app, you pay for membership in geocaching.com - right?

You are not the one who is confused.  Speaking of confused, I am confused as to how $7 per month comes to $40 per year.

[+noncentric]

8 hours ago, cliffp71 said:

I have been geocaching since 2005. I don't go often but enjoyed it when I could. Always used my gps. When the ap came out for my phone I purchased the upgrade. Recently they renewed the app sending the money I spent on the original app down the drain. That is fine , I would pay for a new app even with a renewing fee every year. A couple bucks seems more than fair. The problem is that they want over $7/month or close to $40 per year.

The recurring subscription is for a Premium Membership, which provides several benefits to a geocaching.com member. One of those benefits is FULL functionality in the official app. Without being a Premium Member, the app is still usable, it just has limitations. Without being a Premium Member, a cacher can still open the website on their phone's web browser and see all non-PMO caches that way. Then open the free Google Map app and enter the coords there to guide yourself to the cache.

Cachers that don't use an app can still see all non-PMO caches on the website, just like they could in 2005.  When geocaching.com started, there were no "apps".  There weren't even smartphones.  Times change, so I don't begrudge GS for changing their requirements.  At least they still haven't changed the price of a premium membership.  It has been the same price since the first day premium memberships were made available.

I'm constantly amazed at cachers that think their one-time, $10 purchase of the old app was a significant contribution to Groundspeak. If someone used the $10 app for 5 years, then that means they contributed $2 per year. The revenue from a one-time sale of the "Classic App" (paid app) is hardly enough to pay for development and maintenance of it. That means that Premium members are subsidizing the app that Basic members are using. Some Premium members would say that that is unfair.

 

8 hours ago, cliffp71 said:

That is simply ridiculous to ask for a game that is driven by the players. Players who pay to create the caches and travel bugs etc! Ground Speak needs to rethink this effort to become SUPER RICH overnight.

I think people should stop playing for a year to see that they like that reaction to their greed. Maybe there will be a game they is more user friendly and actually has a way for player to make money rather than to spend money.

You want to make money off the game, instead of spending money on it?  Now who's being 'greedy'. It's a game, supported by Groundspeak's servers and databases. If cachers think the game would be the same without the support of Groundspeak, then they are welcome to place caches and post the coords on their own website to let other cachers know about it.

 

1 hour ago, CAVinoGal said:

You dont pay for the app, you pay for membership in geocaching.com - right?

You are correct. The functionality of the free app is based on membership level.  Basic members see less functionality/caches on the app than Premium members see. But we still see cachers come to the forums to complain that the app costs $30/year.

[+kunarion]

27 minutes ago, noncentric said:

Without being a Premium Member, a cacher can still open the website on their phone's web browser and see all non-PMO caches that way. Then open the free Google Map app and enter the coords there to guide yourself to the cache.

Yes!  It's even possible to send coordinates from the web site to some GPS Apps.  So you could have the whole free Geocaching.com site as usual and still get bearing and distance when you're ready to be directed to a cache.

 

27 minutes ago, noncentric said:

Times change, so I don't begrudge GS for changing their requirements. 

I bought several "game" Apps that are now gone (they stopped functioning, no more updates), and instead they have a new version that has "coins" to buy or whatever.  Even some of the Geocaching Apps I bought haven't been updated in years.   Look in the App store and you'll notice that the games are all "free".  Except for a handful of game Apps, they all changed.  It's the way of the future.  Or something.

Edited November 5, 2017 by kunarion

[+CAVinoGal]

11 hours ago, NanCycle said:

You are not the one who is confused.  Speaking of confused, I am confused as to how $7 per month comes to $40 per year.

New math? 

10 hours ago, noncentric said:

12 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

You dont pay for the app, you pay for membership in geocaching.com - right?

You are correct.

Thanks for the confirmation.  I think my confusion arose because I came to the hobby AFTER the $10 "old" app mentioned below.

10 hours ago, noncentric said:

I'm constantly amazed at cachers that think their one-time, $10 purchase of the old app was a significant contribution to Groundspeak. If someone used the $10 app for 5 years, then that means they contributed $2 per year. The revenue from a one-time sale of the "Classic App" (paid app) is hardly enough to pay for development and maintenance of it. That means that Premium members are subsidizing the app that Basic members are using. Some Premium members would say that that is unfair.

18 hours ago, cliffp71 said:

I think people should stop playing for a year to see that they like that reaction to their greed. Maybe there will be a game they is more user friendly and actually has a way for player to make money rather than to spend money.

?  I'm not in this to make money - and where is the money you'd like to make going to come from?  Other players??  You want others to pay, so you can play and make money?  But you don't want to pay yourself.  Yup, makes total sense.NOT.

As others have stated, many "free" apps/games get you started, and give you a taste, then want you to pay to unlock more features.  The feature level you get with the GS app is dependent on your membership level at Geocaching.com.  Other companion apps DO charge you to unlock more features of their app, in addition to your GS membership, though you get to test drive them for free and continue to use the free levels as you choose.

It's not greed on the part of GS, it's a way to keep this hobby running smoothly for those of us who like to play.  Without the database and user interface, geocaching as we know it today would not exist.  I'll gladly pay $30 a year (more, as I purchase stuff from the shop too!) to support the GS infrastructure that makes this all possible.

Edited November 5, 2017 by CAVinoGal
typo corrections

[+cerberus1]

11 hours ago, noncentric said:

I'm constantly amazed at cachers that think their one-time, $10 purchase of the old app was a significant contribution to Groundspeak. If someone used the $10 app for 5 years, then that means they contributed $2 per year. The revenue from a one-time sale of the "Classic App" (paid app) is hardly enough to pay for development and maintenance of it. That means that Premium members are subsidizing the app that Basic members are using. Some Premium members would say that that is unfair.

I kinda agree.  We use very little for our pm though (notifications & favorites).  I'd like to think my pm helps keep the site free for basic members, and no longer have an opinion whether they're using a GPSr or phone.  

IIRC, when the ten buck app came out for ios/android,  my windows phone app became "geocaching live", with full function only with a pm, years before this setup for the other two started.  We've played here a while, and the other 2/3rds thought it was a steal that she only had to cough up ten bucks for that function, but realized some time ago the site  wouldn't be able to float that way forever. 

[+Tassie_Boy]

On 05/11/2017 at 7:35 AM, NanCycle said:

 Except of course your cell phone service  (Why isn't that free?) 

Amazing isn't it how they very quickly forget the rest of what they spend on geocaching that dwarves the $30ish spent on premium membership.... Phone plans, Fuel, Lunches etc while out, equipment.... it goes on and on.