The honest version
Circles is completely free. No ads, no in-app purchases, no subscription, no trial period. Everything works, nothing is locked. I pay for the servers myself.
If Circles grows to the point where I can't cover the costs on my own, I'll introduce a small one-time payment for new accounts. One price, once, forever. No subscription. No renewal. No tiers.
When that happens, I'll be transparent about it.
Anyone who has an account before pricing is introduced keeps Circles free forever. No asterisk. No expiry. No "unless." This is my way of saying thanks for believing in something before it had a price tag.
This is the most important part, so I want to be clear about it.
Every app that runs on ads has a financial incentive to make you addicted. They need you scrolling, tapping, coming back, because the more time you spend, the more ads they show, the more money they make. That's why social media apps are designed the way they are. The infinite scroll, the notification spam, the algorithmic feed that never lets you feel "done", none of that is accidental. It's the business model working as intended.
Circles doesn't sell ads. Which means I have zero financial incentive to keep you hooked. I don't care how many hours you spend in the app. I don't care about your "engagement." I don't need to track what you look at or build a profile of your behaviour to sell to advertisers.
A one-time payment means the app can genuinely be designed to be picked up when you want it and put down when you don't. There's no reason to manipulate your attention, because your attention isn't how I get paid.
Cut the ads and you cut the addiction. It really is that simple.
No ads. No sponsored posts. No "promoted" anything. No subscription. No premium tier. No in-app currency. No marketing emails. No upsells. No dark patterns designed to trick you into paying for something.
Just an app. One price. That's it.
Because subscriptions create the same incentive problem as ads. If I charged monthly, I'd have a financial reason to make Circles addictive, to keep you coming back so you keep paying. I'd have retention targets, churn metrics, engagement loops. All the same machinery that makes other apps awful.
A one-time payment removes that entirely. Once you've paid, I have no financial incentive to manipulate your behaviour. The app can just be good.
I'm still building Circles. Want me to let you know when it's ready?