With the release of Black Highlighter 25.0, you may notice a change to the pricing model. Let me start with the most important note up front: if you have ever paid a dime for Black Highlighter, nothing is changing. You’ll keep all the features you have today with no additional purchase.

If you’ve been using Black Highlighter for a while, you may be familiar with the Ultra Highlighter upgrade that adds powerful features such as automatic redaction, document scanning, and Shortcuts support. If you’ve ever considered upgrading to Ultra Highlighter, now’s your best chance: you’ll be able to get it at the existing price for two more weeks, until March 25, 2025.

Going forward, Black Highlighter now has three options for upgrading to Ultra Highlighter (prices are in USD, but adjust according to your local App Store):

All of these options provide access to the same exact set of Ultra Highlighter features; the different options are all about what you find most convenient. As a token of gratitude for those of you who’ve kept up with Black Highlighter for a while, the one-time purchase is on sale for the same $4.99 price it was previously until March 25, 2025. And to reiterate: if you already have the Ultra Highlighter upgrade from a past purchase, that’s still honored and nothing will change. Thank you greatly for your past support.

I know that a change in pricing like this is going to be surprising, so let me share a bit about why it’s happening. Black Highlighter started as a personal passion project. As such, it’s always been an app where I’ve had more ideas for how to expand and improve it than the free time needed to actually build those ideas. This updated pricing helps with that situation. It’s not about funding any particular new features, but about creating a sustainable foundation that allows me to work full-time on Black Highlighter for years to come.

Subscription pricing provides consistent, long-term support, while the one-time purchase is available for those who prefer it and helps give a nice “boost” early on. With this more sustainable approach, I can dedicate more time to making Black Highlighter the most powerful and easy-to-use tool it can be. Your support directly contributes to the app’s future.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported Black Highlighter over the years; whether you upgraded to Ultra Highlighter, used the free version, or just shared the app with someone you thought would enjoy it. Every one of you has helped along the way, and I’ve been incredibly happy with the journey so far.

I’m very excited about Black Highlighter’s future under this more sustainable approach. There are already several new (and long-requested!) features in development that I can’t wait to show you over the next few months.

I welcome any comments or questions about these changes. Please reach out via e-mail or social media. Any and all input I receive is valuable, and helps make Black Highlighter the app that it is today. Thank you all for your trust and support over the years.

Q&A

What happens if I’ve already upgraded to Ultra Highlighter? Absolutely nothing. Ultra Highlighter will continue to work exactly as it always has. Thank you for your support!

What if I have Ultra Highlighter because I bought Black Highlighter when it required an up-front purchase? Wow! You’ve been using Black Highlighter for quite a while! Your original purchase will continue to be honored, and a super thank you for sticking with me since the beginning.

Will there still be a free version of Black Highlighter? Absolutely! Black Highlighter will remain available as a free download, and none of the features that are currently free are going away. The Ultra Highlighter upgrade just adds extra powerful features for those who need them.

Will there be different features in the subscription vs. one-time purchase? That’s not planned at the moment, but I can’t make a permanent promise. Future features may require ongoing costs to myself, and thus subscription pricing. I hope you trust me enough that I’ll do my best to do right by one-time purchasers if that time comes.

If I subscribe and later cancel, will I lose access to Ultra Highlighter features? Yes; you’ll have access to the Ultra Highlighter features only while your subscription is active.

Why is the one-time purchase price increasing? A one-time purchase price of $4.99 was nice when Black Highlighter was a small side project, but it wasn’t sustainable long term. The new price better reflects what it takes to bring Black Highlighter to you.

When exactly do these changes take effect? The ongoing subscription options are available now. The new one-time purchase price will go into effect on March 25, 2025.