The
Manifesto
Owning software shouldn’t be a luxury.
The going rate
Somebody is paying $7.99 a week to delete duplicate photos from their own phone. That’s $415 a year for something the phone does by itself. This is what the top apps in a few very simple categories charge right now.
$7.99/ week
to find duplicate photos on your own phone
$415 a year
$14.99/ week
to turn a photo of a page into a PDF
$779 a year
$6.99/ week
to change the channel on your TV
$363 a year
$14.95
to unlock a QR code reader
your camera reads them free
Prices listed on the US App Store, checked 9 November 2026. Weekly plans × 52 weeks.
The Sevens
The fine print, in the same size type as everything else.
apps
Seven small apps to start. Each one replaces something that charges you rent.
Fine print
Seven is where we start, not where we stop. We keep going as long as there are subscriptions worth retiring.
engineering days
Each app gets about seven days of engineering. Small on purpose, and done when it does its job.
Fine print
That’s effort, not a stopwatch. One app takes three days, another takes ten. Seven is the budget we scope to, and the build log says when we blow it.
day trial
Use the whole app free for a week. When the week ends, it asks. It never bills you on its own.
Fine print
The clock starts when you install. No sign-up, no card up front, no charge at the end you didn’t choose.
dollars. once
Pay once, keep it, share it with your family. No weekly fee, and no “Pro” tier waiting behind the paywall.
Fine print
$7 is the US price. Where seven of your currency is worth more, it’s that: €7, £7. Where $7 is a lot of money, it costs less. On iPhone, Family Sharing is on: one purchase covers your whole family group, up to six people.
month updates
Every app gets at least one update every seven months, for as long as we’re around.
Fine print
That cycle is for chores: new OS versions, toolchain bumps, the dull work that keeps an app alive. Critical bugs and security fixes ship when we find them, not when the calendar says. New features are a bonus, and supporters can help fund them. Whatever they fund ships to everyone who owns the app.
Done means done
Each app does its one job, then stops growing. None of them will ever have any of this.
- No subscriptions. Not weekly, not yearly, not “optional”.
- No ads. You paid. That’s the business model.
- No accounts. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to log into.
- No servers. We don’t run a backend for your phone to call, so there’s no monthly cost to pass on to you.
- No tracking. No analytics, no third-party code. We collect nothing.
- No second paywall. $7 buys the whole app, not the right to see the next price.
Pay for what you need.
Not forever. Just once.