Subshittification

The intentional degradation of a digital service, app, or platform by removing previously free, standard features and locking them behind a paid monthly subscription. Rather than creating new value to justify a cost, the company artificially breaks a functional product to force users into a recurring payment cycle.

Etymology
A blend of subscription and enshittification (the broader economic process of platforms decaying as they seek to extract value from users).

"Google’s decision to disable the highly functional Google Assistant to force everyone onto the clunkier, less capable Gemini Advanced subscription model is peak subshittification."

"YouTube Music used to play in the background for free, but total subshittification means it cuts out now the second I lock my phone screen."

"This smart-fridge app just went through absolute subshittification; now I have to pay $4.99 a month just to adjust the temperature from my couch."

Related terms
Subshittify (verb): To deliberately break a free feature for financial extraction.

Paycrapification (noun): The general decline of an app's usability due to aggressive monetization.

Subshittification by OneNutBandit August 9, 2026