Just lately, I stumbled throughout an app within the App Retailer that made me do a double-take—not due to what it does, however due to its price ticket. For the fee, you would have purchased a brand-new smartphone as a substitute.
My curiosity obtained the higher of me, so I researched essentially the most outrageously costly apps and why individuals purchase them.
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CyberTuner ($999.99)
CyberTuner’s price ticket will make you blink twice while you see it. At one cent underneath 4 figures, this piano tuning utility prices greater than the bottom fashions of the Samsung Galaxy S25, iPhone 16, or Google Pixel 9 (all sitting round $799 on the time of writing). Throw within the non-compulsory $84.99/12 months “CyberCare” subscription for updates and assist, and also you’re nicely previous the thousand-dollar mark.
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
Now, do not assume this app is a few shiny Silicon Valley gimmick designed to empty wallets. CyberTuner has been round for over 25 years, backed by US-patented expertise that genuinely reshaped the piano-tuning world. Earlier than it got here alongside, skilled tuners wanted hundreds of {dollars}’ price of specialised tools. Now, they carry round an app of their pocket that does the job higher.
CyberTuner’s secret sauce lies in its potential to research piano harmonics with a precision that the human ear can’t replicate. And while you’re tuning a $100,000 live performance grand piano, the margin between “fairly good” and “good” is non-negotiable. That’s why professionals pay smartphone-level cash for it—as a result of it helps them earn smartphone quantities of cash, and often much more.
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Shot Tracer Occasion ($999.99)
Golf has by no means been a budget-friendly sport, so it is maybe no shock that the Shot Tracer Occasion app carries a price ticket on par with the flagship telephones I discussed earlier. Though the app hasn’t seen an replace since 2023, its spot on the App Retailer suggests it’s nonetheless alive and nicely in some golfers’ arsenals. This isn’t your common swing-analysis app, however one constructed for skilled gamers, instructors, and occasion organizers who want excess of the fundamentals.
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
Its actual worth reveals up throughout tournaments. Set your iPhone on the tee field, and the app robotically information pictures, traces flight paths, and uploads all the things to a cloud gallery. Occasion organizers can feed spectators real-time shot knowledge, whereas instructors get the form of analytics that make their premium classes really feel justified.
In fact, spending that form of cash on a golf app sounds outrageous at first look, till you notice what it’s changing. Conventional pro-grade monitoring methods with ball-flight visualization can run into the tens of hundreds of {dollars}. Shot Tracer Occasion manages to condense that very same form of expertise right into a cell app, making it costly, sure, but in addition astonishingly accessible.
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roc.Kasse ($999.99)
roc.Kasse turns an iPad right into a full-fledged point-of-sale (POS) terminal, and it comes with a one-time price ticket of $999.99. At first look, a thousand bucks for an app feels outrageous. However stack that towards a conventional POS setup with {hardware}, service contracts, and coaching, you then would possibly notice that it seems like a discount.
For cafés or golf equipment that need to ditch the outdated money tills with out getting trapped in a vendor’s walled backyard of charges, paying as soon as for software program feels nearly liberating. Although I can think about the upfront value nonetheless stings for solo operators.
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
To place it in perspective, the worth of a single roc.Kasse license may as a substitute purchase three to 5 strong midrange Android telephones within the $199–$300 bracket (assume Galaxy A26, OnePlus Nord N30 5G, Moto G 5G, or TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G). However that’s evaluating apples to espresso machines. A telephone is only a commodity slab of glass.
The worth right here is within the POS logic—the tables, vouchers, tax settings, workflows, and backups—the entire invisible scaffolding that truly retains the enterprise working. If these workflows save time and clean turnover, a thousand {dollars} does really feel low-cost in comparison with the drip-drip-drip of misplaced effectivity or creeping subscriptions.
And actually, in a world the place each app is determined to lock you into month-to-month funds, a single excessive upfront charge nearly feels refreshing. It is perhaps even essentially the most sincere pricing you’ll discover.
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VERT Group System ($999.99)
The VERT Group System hyperlinks an iPad to wearable sensors that monitor a variety of efficiency metrics like leap hundreds, explosiveness, endurance, and motion effectivity. In contrast to an ordinary health tracker, it’s not fascinated by steps or energy. What it does is mannequin an athlete’s workload and flag potential damage dangers, all displayed by way of reside dashboards and in-depth experiences.
The app is designed for organizations working VERT sensors, not for a lone athlete seeking to monitor their morning jog.
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
The place it shines is in real-world group settings. A coach can spot when a participant’s leap depend is climbing into dangerous territory throughout observe, or a coach can tailor restoration protocols primarily based on reside workload knowledge as a substitute of intestine feeling. For a university basketball program or knowledgeable group, the fee is sensible. Avoiding even one main damage that might sideline a star participant for months pays for the system a whole bunch of occasions over.
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Verituner ($599.99)
Verituner is the opposite heavyweight within the piano-tuning world. Whereas it’s technically the “cheaper” different to CyberTuner, its price ticket nonetheless outweighs what you’d spend on a brand-new Google Pixel 9A, an iPhone 15, a Galaxy S24 FE, and even the Nothing Cellphone (3a) Professional.
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
However the cheaper price doesn’t suggest it’s any much less succesful; it’s merely geared toward a special nook of the market. The place CyberTuner is the software of alternative for high-stakes live performance tuning, Verituner usually finds its place with unbiased technicians working in houses or colleges, the place that $400 distinction can truly make or break a enterprise determination.
The larger level right here is that skilled instruments include skilled value tags. Piano tuning calls for an nearly surgical degree of precision, and each of those apps ship the form of accuracy that justifies each penny. The truth that the trade not solely sustains however actively is dependent upon two high-cost tuning apps says much less about extravagance and extra in regards to the very actual demand for hyper-specialized, professional-grade instruments.
Just like productiveness apps which are price their value, the fee would not appear so excessive when what you get out of it.
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Remaining Reduce Professional ($299.99)
Remaining Reduce Professional is available in at a $299.99 one-time buy on macOS, which, funnily sufficient, is about the identical value as a Samsung Galaxy A25. On iPad, Apple flips it right into a subscription at $4.99 a month (or $49 a 12 months).
Screenshot by Oluwademilade Afolabi — No attribution required
Within the “subscribe to all the things” tradition we now reside in, the Mac model nearly feels old-school, or perhaps even a bit of rebellious. And it undercuts the entire “apps that value greater than a smartphone” concept. You’re getting professional-grade enhancing software program—the identical variety utilized in broadcast studios and movie tasks—for the worth of a mid-range pair of headphones. That’s wild.
Would I purchase these expensive area of interest apps? Not except I used to be working a café that wanted a POS system, teaching athletes with measurable objectives, tuning pianos for a residing, or working as knowledgeable video editor.
As only a curious shopper, I can admit these apps aren’t meant for me. They’re enterprise instruments (specialised tools in software program type), and the worth solely is sensible in the event that they’re going that can assist you earn a reimbursement.
