TuneIn Radio Pro gets unexpected price hike
If you haven’t already paid to upgrade to TuneIn Radio Pro, then chances are you won’t be doing so anytime soon. The popular internet radio app just got a massive price increase from $3.99 to $9.99 for no apparent reason, making its free, ad-supported counterpart look like an even more attractive option.
TuneIn Radio Pro has been a surprising success on both Android and iOS. It has over 50,000 ratings averaging at 4.3 stars in Google Play, and between 1 million and 5 million downloads — and that’s impressive for a paid Android app, particularly one that can be enjoyed for free if you don’t mind the ads.
But it may not be so popular in the future, thanks to a surprising and unexplained price increase to $9.99 on both platforms.
Where mobile apps are concerned, that’s a lot of money — especially on Android. Even top games like Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Gameloft’s excellent new shooter Modern Combat 5: Blackout can all be had for under $7 each. So, what’s the deal with paying $10 for free internet radio?
Well, it’s thought that TuneIn may be trying to dissuade people from going pro. It’s certainly possible that the ad-supported version brings in more revenue than the paid version, and so the company could be trying to push new customers towards the free TuneIn app instead — without pulling the paid version altogether and frustrating those who already bought it.
On the other hand, it could just be a mistake.
We’ve reached out to TuneIn to see if we can get a reason for the price increase, and we’ll update this post when we get a response. In the meantime, stick with the free version.