Why Are Some Apps Free and Others Not?
There are no two ways around it: free is nice. Most people opt for free apps and services over paid ones, and that’s perfectly understandable. Why then, at MosaLingua, do our language courses and iOS and Android apps cost money? Well, there are a few different reasons.
First, apps that are distributed freely on the App Store or Google Play Store aren’t entirely “free.” (You’ve probably heard the English saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”) True, you don’t pay any money up front to download the app. But below the surface, there is inevitably some form of payment going on:
- Some apps are available for “free,” but collect your personal data in exchange. The app developers can then sell your data to make money. This is, for example, the model adopted by popular companies like Facebook, Google, and Instagram. If you think about it, it’s another way of paying. Nothing comes out of your pocket, but you’ve given away something very dear to you – your personal information – in exchange for their product or service.
- Some apps use advertisements to generate revenue. The app is free to use, but in doing so you agree to watch ads that may or may not be intrusive and targeted (ever wonder who buys your personal data from the apps cited above?).
- Finally, “freemium” apps allow you to trial a product for a limited period and/or with limited features. Then, to continue using the app or to access all the features, users have to pay.
Why MosaLingua Isn’t Free…
1. We hired (and pay) a team of language experts
At MosaLingua, our services and apps cost a small amount of money. Our primary motivation for this is that, behind the fantastic quality of our apps, there’s an entire team of professionals. Learning experts, teachers, and translators all working together to offer a wide variety of learning tools and courses. We think it’s important to pay them fairly for their work, time, and expertise, especially because we’ve chosen to build our team from individuals who are not only qualified, but deeply passionate about language learning. We use part of our revenue to this end.
2. We put out regular updates and improvements
All of our apps and courses also have daily operating costs. Creating, updating, and improving our products on a regular basis is very costly, both in time and money. As Apple and Google update their platforms, so too must we update our products, not to mention all the improvements and user suggestions we implement.
3. We’ve chosen not to use ads
We spoke about ads before, as many app developers choose to offer “free” products or services by putting ads in their software. There are different kinds of ads: text, images or videos, some of which are intrusive and many of which are targeted. At MosaLingua, we think that ads are fundamentally incompatible with learning apps.
For this reason, we’ve chosen to create a neutral app. Unlike others, MosaLingua isn’t a game. Instead, we believe that concentration and effectiveness go hand in hand, and are essential to learning. Naturally, the last thing we want to do is interrupt your language learning with distracting advertisements and videos.
4. We don’t sell your personal information
Finally, know that at MosaLingua, we never sell your data. Our business model prioritizes revenue made by offering high-quality products and courses. It’s a model we find transparent, clear, and fair.
A Paid App, At a Reasonable Price
For these reasons, MosaLingua continues to offer paid apps. That said, we’ve always done our best to provide them at fair prices that allow the greatest number of users to benefit from our products.
- For Apple and Android users, we offer a freemium model, which we already explained. You can get started with a “lite” version of our app. Then, once you’re convinced that MosaLingua really does work, upgrade to a MosaLingua Premium (Web & Mobile) subscription for access to lots of extra content and features.
- Access to our web platform is $4.99 per month. In this case, it is a subscription service, but it’s cheaper than a latté! Most of our users think of this as an investment in themselves, and one that produces long-term results.
So What Is Free at MosaLingua?
There’s actually a ton of free content by MosaLingua! Here’s what we do offer for free:
Our free apps (freemium model)
As you’ve probably seen, we do have free versions of our paid app. These apps allow you to test our approach and method without paying a dime. Once you’re satisfied, and to continue making progress in your target language, you can opt to upgrade (via a monthly or annual subscription on the App Store or Google Play Store) for access to our premium content.
Free trials of our online courses
Most of our online courses, like MosaLingua Premium (Web & Mobile) and MosaSeries, are available with a free trial. We give you 15 days to test our learning techniques and content. After that time, it’s up to you to decide whether to continue or not. We also provide a money-back guarantee because we’re so confident that our products work.
Our blog and learning club
Finally—as you must know since you’re here right now!—our blog, email learning club, and YouTube channel are 100% free, and always will be. On the blog, we’ve published hundreds of articles in six different languages, with free guides, hacks and tricks, video tutorials, and more. We put up new videos on our YouTube channel often, too. All this content is free and available to you whenever you like. The same goes for our email newsletter: just sign up, and we’ll send you lessons, video guides, and tips for improving your language skills and learning abilities.
We hope we’ve shed some light on why MosaLingua’s apps aren’t free. This is the model we’ve chosen because it allows us to put quality above all else. The entire MosaLingua team is dedicated to helping our users learn languages, and we’re proud to have helped more than 10 million people so far!