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What does grandfathering mean?
Grandfathering is a pricing approach often used by apps and games built with their communities:
When prices rise, people who already bought or subscribed keep the purchase rights or renewal price they originally received.
In other words, price increases do not take those existing rights away.
Why does PlanCoach use it?
When an app is young, its features are incomplete, stability is imperfect and trust has not yet been earned. I do not like simply asking early users to put up with that. The developer should show some commitment too.
For me, that means two things:
- Listen to users and make the app better.
- Offer early users a lower price.
I also want the people who chose to trust us to feel rewarded when a new feature arrives or the price changes: “I’m glad I bought this.”
The difficult part: seeing an old price
If you discovered PlanCoach early but did not buy it, the old price can make a later purchase feel worse even when you still think the current app is good value.
Anchoring
The first price you saw can become a reference point. Instead of comparing today’s product with today’s price, you keep comparing the price with that original number.
Loss aversion
A missed opportunity can feel like a loss even when no money has actually left your account. Buying now may feel like admitting that you missed the earlier price, so waiting becomes emotionally easier.
Ways to think about the decision
The original article uses investment metaphors to describe that feeling:
- Start from today. If this were the first time you had heard of the app, would its current features be worth its current price to you?
- Separate price from value. A past price is an opportunity that has already passed. What matters for the decision is what you expect to get from the app now.
- Allow an imperfect decision. Nobody always finds the lowest price. Do not let the difference alone decide whether something useful is right for you.
What if you just missed a price change?
App Store price changes do not always happen at the exact expected moment. In one change, ours happened 20 minutes early.
The approach described in this December 2025 article was a one-week price-difference buffer after each price jump:
- People purchasing during that period could enter by posting a comment with a screenshot. The draw returned the price difference to 20% of entrants.
- The most popular comments, up to five, received the difference separately from the draw.
- The previous draw used a transparent method that participants could verify themselves.
That was the balance we came up with between acknowledging how a sudden price change feels and keeping development sustainable. These are the original article’s campaign terms, not a live offer counter.
I am happy to keep building alongside the people who choose PlanCoach. If you are not ready, you are welcome to check back and see how the app develops.
At publication, PlanCoach’s rating had reached 4.9. Thank you for the support.