I have access to the web app and it syncs the podcasts as well as the play position.
Are you referring to something else?
It's obviously untrue. For many services the marginal cost of supporting a paid user on an ongoing basis approaches zero.
I'd imagine this is one. They presumably store some subscription and profile data and that's about it.
What if the app falls out of favor and new marginal revenue can’t cover fixed costs?
What if the business wants to innovate in a way that dramatically changes its cost structure (maybe introduce a feature that requires a usage based license)? Sure you can gate older users but how long do you have to maintain a separate set of features for them?
Obviously it’s the apps responsibility to make a fair deal with users and stick to terms offered. Sure some companies can make a model that amortizes an upfront payment effectively over decades. In reality though, all that really matters to a company is new cash that pays expenses. If you’re not contributing to that at some point you are no longer the customer.
Source: https://blog.pocketcasts.com/2019/09/18/major-new-update/
That said, I distributed remember themes and icons being a thing in the paid app which isn't available under the new model unless you subscribe.
iirc we were only grandfathered in for 3 years.
I'm still on my lifetime plan, maybe open a support ticket?