Apple's Creator Studio creates a subscription where free apps used to live

Mac faithful aghast at helpful wallet-emptying suggestions

Apple fanbois are realizing what the Creator Studio subscription means for its productivity apps, and many are unhappy with the direction of travel.

On January 13, Apple introduced the Apple Creator Studio, which it called (with typical Apple modesty) "an inspiring collection of the most powerful creative apps."

From January 28, the faithful could spend $12.99 (£12.99 in the UK) per month (or $129/ £129 per year) on a suite of applications that included "intelligent features and premium content for Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and later Freeform for iPhone, iPad, and Mac."

"[With] Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform, Apple Creator Studio subscribers can be more expressive and productive with new premium content and intelligent features across Mac, iPad, and iPhone," Apple enthused.

Except that Keynote, Pages, and Numbers have traditionally been free with macOS. That's not changing - but users wanting premium features, many powered by Apple Intelligence or OpenAI, will need to subscribe.

Apple is now pushing upgrade ads at users, prompting complaints in the company's own forums.

One put it bluntly: "Apple apps are not supposed to be an ad-laden experience. We aren't here for that."

While there is nothing new about products urging users to pay for a subscription or to upgrade (see Microsoft), it is jarring for Apple users who likely hoped the company was above such things in its productivity apps.

In 2024, when questioned about charging for AI-enhanced services in an interview with WIRED, Apple boss Tim Cook said: "We never talked about charging for it. We view it sort of like multitouch, which enabled the smartphone revolution and the modern tablet."

Clearly, Apple has talked about it since then.

Users were also not warned that an upgrade would include nagging about a premium subscription, which has stuck in their craw.

For context, users aren't required to subscribe, but pop-ups frequently suggest they should for various features.

Still, ads in Apple's productivity suite, even for its own services, feel like a slippery slope. As one user put it: "makes me worry this is a creeping approach to a macOS bloatware strategy. ®