Pricing Update — v1.4 Launch Reset
When I launched Pladio 1.4 last week, the response blew me away. Honest, detailed, generous feedback from radio enthusiasts, fellow developers, and the Apple-blog community — including a thoughtful piece from Caschy over at Caschys Blog. Thank you. Genuinely. But one piece of feedback came up again and again, from almost every corner: the prices are too high.
I sat with that for a few days. I re-read the comments. I looked at what comparable indie apps charge. I looked at what Pladio actually offers in v1.4. And I came to the same conclusion you did: You were right. The prices were too ambitious for where Pladio is today.
So I've adjusted them. Here's what's changed, and why.
What's Changing
Plan changes:
Monthly CHF 6.00 → CHF 0.90
Annual CHF 60.00 → CHF 9.00
Lifetime CHF 150.00 → CHF 19.00
These prices are live in the App Store by tomorrow (08.05.2026).
Why I Got It Wrong
I'll be honest with you: I priced Pladio based on what I hoped it was worth, not what it currently is worth to a new user discovering it for the first time. Pladio 1.4 has features I'm genuinely proud of — a 5-band equalizer, station alarm, sleep timer presets, an Apple Watch companion, a tvOS app, in-app volume control.
But these are quality-of-life features. They're not exclusive content. They're not a streaming catalogue. They're polish on top of a free radio app, and the price needs to reflect that reality. A first-time user shouldn't have to make a CHF 60 decision to find out whether Pladio's premium features fit their listening habits. CHF 0.90 a month is a fair "let me try it" commitment. CHF 9.00 a year is a fair "I'm in" commitment. CHF 19 lifetime is a fair "I want to support this indie project long-term" commitment.
That's the bar I should have set from the start.
What's Free, Still
To be very clear: everything that was free in Pladio 1.3 is still free, forever. That includes:
Streaming 40,000+ stations worldwide
Song recognition
Apple Music integration
Favorites and recents synced via iCloud
CarPlay support Home Screen Widgets (all of them)
Siri Shortcuts and App Intents
Spotlight, Focus Filters, Lock Screen Now Playing
27-language localization
Premium is a thank-you-and-here's-extra layer on top — not a paywall in front of basic functionality.
A Note on Being a Solo Indie Developer
Pladio is a passion project I build alongside my day job at Skyguide. There's no team, no investors, no growth-hack pressure. Just me, evenings and weekends, trying to make the radio app I always wanted on my own devices. That also means I make pricing mistakes in public. Thanks for telling me when I do. I'd rather hear it now and fix it than discover it six months later in a quiet decline of installs.
If you tried Pladio and bounced because of the price — please give it another look. And if you have more feedback (about pricing, features, anything), my inbox is open: [email protected].
Patrick
Indie Developer, KREANIQS
