So a redditor recently asked me an absolutely fair question about why CurrentKey Stats is a subscription app, and I would like to provide an explanation in full, because who doesn’t love free or really inexpensive software? (I do very much!)

When I launched this app 5 years ago in early 2019, it had a different freemium business model that didn’t work (I made about $129 total). I learned the hard way that this really is niche software. I had written several thousands of lines of code, figured out some tough problems, spent I think over 1000 hours working on it at the time (much more since then), but it was all OK because it was a positive experience in other ways, and I was single with no kids and a ton of free time. But then I got married, had two kids, got a mortgage payment, while still not making much at my day job and — with the app needing maintenance and bringing in effectively nothing: I pulled the app from the App Store entirely for 2+ years. Not only because it wasn’t worth it for to me to spend time on, but because I was so poor (not exactly broke, but still the opposite of affluent) that, as a Mac developer in 2021, I was rocking a 2014 Macbook Pro that could no longer run recent macOS versions. About 5 months ago, in mid-2024, I bought a used 2019 Macbook Pro for $600 off of Amazon (honestly, a great purchase 😅). Suddenly Mac development was again viable. Then I looked at my inbox, saw 30+ people had emailed me wanting CurrentKey Stats back in the world, and I decided that it could work if I asked Mac users (who wanted this app) to chip in less than a cup of coffee in dollars each month, so I could stay on modern Mac hardware and keep this thing working and relevant (with new features).

I absolutely love this work and making your time with your Mac more enjoyable. I’d love to hear from you and wish you the very best.

– Spencer