Subscription Check-In

We live in a subscription-filled world, and they pile up quickly. It’s good every once in a while to check in on what services you’re subscribed to and make sure they’re still working for you. When I saw Greg Morris write about the state of his subscriptions, I was inspired to do the same.

Here’s what I’m subscribed to as of February 2023:

Services

  • Apple One Premier: I’m thankful Apple decided to offer all of their services in a bundle. I use many of them daily, and it’s so much easier to just pay for them all in one lump sum. The Premier plan includes Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, iCloud+, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+ for me and my family.

  • AppleCare: Having a protection plan on my devices has saved me in the past, so I always get AppleCare for the stuff I carry.

  • Walmart+: My local store started offering grocery delivery, and I couldn’t resist trying it. Now I’m spoiled on it. My plan is to never walk into a grocery store again.

  • AT&T: I switched to AT&T when it was the only way to get an iPhone, and I’ve been with them ever since. I don’t think about my cell plan much, which is probably the nicest thing you can say about a cell plan.

  • eMeals: I’ve never been good at meal planning, so I let this service do the hard work for me. Each week, the app offers a selection of recipes to choose from. I pick the ones I want, and then eMeals adds the ingredients directly into my Walmart shopping cart for delivery.

  • Quip: Not really a tech thing, but I still think it’s cool. Quip is a subscription for dental products. I use it to get new toothpaste and toothbrush heads delivered on a recurring basis.

  • Chewy: Sticking with the health theme, I have a subscription for Winter’s flea collar. It has to be replaced every eight months, which is a schedule I’m never going to keep track of in my head. Thankfully, Chewy handles it for me.

Apps

  • OpenBudget: The best budgeting app out there. I use it every day, so I’m happy to pay the annual subscription every year.

  • GoDaddy Studio: I hate the name. (It used to be called Over.) But the app is a great graphics tool that I use all the time for work.

Website Tools

  • Squarespace: This blog has lived many places, but Squarespace is where it’s stayed the longest, and for good reason. It’s a great place to host a website.

  • Google Domains: The cheapest place to buy domain names, and the website makes it super simple to configure them.

Memberships

  • Club MacStories

  • Relay FM

  • Six Colors

  • MacSparky Labs

  • ATP

  • Dithering

  • iPad Pros

  • Mastodon (via Patreon)

Hardware

  • iPhone Upgrade Program: I switched from my carrier’s upgrade program to Apple’s a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back. It’s the easiest way to buy an iPhone, especially if you like to upgrade whenever the latest model comes out.

  • Apple Card Monthly Installments: While there’s no upgrade program for Apple’s other devices (yet), you can use the Apple Card to split up the purchase of Apple devices over several months interest-free, creating your own semi-subscription. I’ve used this option several times for its convenience. Currently, I’m paying installments on my Apple Watch Series 7 and finishing up the installment plan for my M1 iMac next month.

Streaming Services

  • Disney Bundle: I’m a sucker for anything Star Wars, and Katherine can’t miss an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, so bundling Hulu and Disney+ together just made sense. We get ESPN+ included, too, but have never used it.

  • Netflix: The streaming service I just can’t seem to get away from.

  • Peacock: This is the latest addition to my streaming life, and I’m actually impressed with it. Peacock has a breadth of comedies, which are my go-tos, and it’s the only place to watch NBC series next-day.

  • HBO Max: Included with my AT&T plan.

  • Paramount+: Included with Walmart+.

  • Apple TV+: Included with Apple One.

Seeing them all listed in one place like this, I’m recognizing that I have a lot of subscriptions. 😳 Believe it or not, I actually trimmed this list down a little bit this year. I cancelled Amazon Prime and haven’t missed it other than wanting to see a couple of Prime Video shows. And I purchased lifetime subscriptions to some of my favorite app apps (Everlog, Awesome Habits, and Up Ahead) in order to simplify my app subscriptions. Still, I’ve hit that subscribe button on a lot of stuff.

At the same time, there isn’t anything on this list that I don’t find valuable. If I didn’t feel like I was getting my money’s worth out of a subscription, this would be the perfect opportunity to cut it. But I don’t think I’ll be losing any of these anytime soon.

Who knows, though? The world of subscriptions moves fast, and one nice thing about them is that you can make changes anytime you need to. We’ll see where things stand in a year or two. Thanks for checking on my subscriptions with me!

What’s your favorite service that you subscribe to? Are you looking to cut down on some subscriptions this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts.