Today we are excited to announce that Blocs for iPad is available on the iPad App Store. This huge milestone marks a new era for those who enjoy building websites with Blocs.
Packed with powerful features, Blocs for iPad brings desktop class web design and marries that with the portability of iPad to deliver an amazing, modern, new way to build websites anywhere, anytime.
As well as a new website, to celebrate the launch we created this promo video showing off how awesome Blocs for iPad is:
We also wrote a little blog post with more details on the app and of course pricing.
I was looking forward to this for a long time, but I am disappointed to see that it’s a subscription based model with no option for a one-time license purchase. I’ll stick with the Mac version. I have reached subscription fatigue at this point.
Stunning work from Blocs team. Kudos to the promo - as always top notch editing, music, animations. I always digthe promo videos from Norm and his AE skills and edits. Congratulation for the iPad release. Hopefully Blocs will get worldwide huge attention it sure deserves.
Sorry, although it looks super-intriguing, i will stay with the mac version. there are too many subscription based apps. and i am in no mood to pay for apps every month.
I’m scratching my head over this one, and running into a few speed bumps. So here’s the deal: you’re cool with dishing out $99 to $149 every two years, but you balk at the thought of parting with $49 each year (keep in mind, 30% of that goes straight to Apple’s pocket, not the app creator’s). You got me on the edge of my seat hoping someone can enlighten me why saving more each year isn’t considered a sweet deal.
I simply can’t comprehend all the fuss and complaints concerning subscriptions. Granted, there is a handful out there who try to exploit you subtly (Hey, Quickbooks. Are you listening? ) but let’s be practical about it.
I have several subscriptions for tools that I use everyday in my business. Each one pays for itself. eg. I use Calendly for clients to book zoom calls pre, during and after projects. Most of my clients are overseas, it pays for itself in 1 zoom call, in time saved, going back and forwards negotiating calendars and time zones.
Blocs iPad annually is $49 a year. I do not know what you charge an hour for your time, but it should pay for itself almost instantly. Even for a non-commercial user. What is your time worth, and the convenience of using the iPad version?.
My observation - there are several mutual benefits for developers and customers to use subscription. One of the side effects I’ve seen is negative comments / reviews from people who have no intention of using the product anyway. The balance of this - is its not for everyone and thats ok (There are some products I would not pay subscription for myself). But I do not get the need for those people to post negative reviews, which related more to their needs, not a products usability.
By the way Congrats @Norm on the “Official” release
Me too! II have therefore cancelled all subscription-based contracts.I buy software and then maybe updates later - but I don’t get involved in any more subscription pressures. So I will not buy blocs for iPad - not buy Apple software (they make same mistakes like Adobe). I canceled adobe and buy all software from affinity.
well, as far as i can see, nobody posted anything bad about the app or posted negative criticism. instead some people said, they love the app, but wouldnt like to use a subscription based model. i think, on a pure information basis its nice to tell, i wont buy something, so the creator knows, some people dont like that price-model.
as a professional working with design apps (adobe, quark, affinity and many more), music apps and the usual helpers ranging from type-tools to production-tools, i have many many subscription based services. let alone that i am a normal human with streaming services and other apps from fitness to weather.
i recently counted the many subscription based apps and the money, i pay every month, and i have to say, they were too many. every little app has a nice price, that sounds alright. it`s just the sum.
I don’t like subscriptions either, and I understand the thinking of a user who only wants to create one personal website. However, it is indeed a more cost-effective way to use Blocs for iPad. You can utilize it for $5/month while working on your project and cancel the subscription when you no longer require it. It’s as simple as that. For users who create more than two websites per year, $50 for such a powerful website builder is a no-brainer.
Subscription fatigue is real. Here’s the problem. In my personal experience I have not seen one app move to Subscription pricing that got demonstrably better. If anyone can tell us their experience with a formerly paid application that improved significantly due to moving to subscriptions please let us know. I think Developers have a cadence to software design that is unique to themselves and whether an app is subscription based off paid the actual output will not significantly change.
For many people the issue isn’t the money. $50 is trivial but the reticence comes from the nagging fear that the software will stop working and with subscriptions they will stop performing one the subscription fees lapse.
I believe solution is the psuedo subscription. You pay $xxx and get updates for a specified time. When your update subscription lapses the app works with the frozen feature set of your last licensed update. This removes the fear of software that doesn’t work and simultaneously rewards the developer because the expectation isn’t software updates in perpetuity which takes labor.
I think this is what would have happened had iOS had a mechanism to handle this …alas with Apple it’s all in or nothing but the non iOS versions could move to such a model. Some developers like the guys behind Agenda make it work so there’s a way.
Moaning about a regular monthly/yearly pricing model only makes limited sense when the monthly/yearly pricing is what you consider to be too “high”.
In the case of Blocs for iPad, the pricing is insignficantly low and probably the biggest bargain in the web building world. You will struggle to buy a decent sandwich or park your car for an hour, for the low price Blocs for iPad, for 1 month.
or do you want me to collect it? 
Don’t forget the 
) but let’s be practical about it.