A keep-awake app without a subscription: pay once on macOS
A monthly charge for a button that keeps the screen on gets noticed eventually. Usually while going through statements, usually months later.
What a subscription would mean here
A subscription is the right shape when something is delivered continuously: a server that answers, data that stays current, a model that has to be computed. A keep-awake app delivers none of that. It takes out an assertion in the operating system and later takes it back.
So a subscription here would be neither expensive nor cheap, but ill-fitting. It would charge for the time in which nothing happens — and that is most of it.
What buying once actually means
Pro is bought once and stays. There is no renewal, nothing to cancel and nothing that gets charged in six months. The amount is €4.99, one time.
Free stays more than a demo: keeping awake indefinitely, the menu bar icon with its state, launch at login and the appearance setting. If you never need a span, you never need Pro.
What belongs to Pro
Fixed spans from five minutes to twenty-four hours, a custom timer in hours and minutes, time remaining and end time in the panel — and lid mode, which keeps the machine awake with the lid closed, provided the small helper is installed.
That is the whole split. There is no second tier, no team licence and no feature that moves behind a new payment later.
Who sells, and in which currency
In a Mac App Store purchase, Apple is the seller, not the developer. That also decides the currency: the App Store shows the price in the account's local currency, following its own price tiers. The amount here is the chosen tier in euros.
In practice it also means the purchase belongs to your Apple ID, not to the machine. After a clean install, „Restore purchases" brings it back.
How to spot a pricing model that fits
- Does the app deliver something continuously that costs money? If not, a subscription needs justifying.
- Is the free tier usable, or only a demonstration?
- Is the price on the page — or only inside the checkout?
- Is there a second tier that features could move into later?
Common questions
Is there a trial?
Yes. Pro runs for a limited period so you can try it, and counts down in the panel. After that the free features remain.
What if I have a voucher code?
Codes are redeemed in the panel, without spaces and without hyphens. If a code is refused, the support page takes it from there.
Paying once is not a price tag on this app, it is the position behind it. The home page says what stays free and what Pro adds.