Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Hay que renovar la suscripción cada mes, pero a veces la aplicación ofrece más tiempo de meditación sin cobrar nada. - You have to renew the subscription every month, but sometimes the app offers more meditation time without charging anything.

Hay que renovar la suscripción = One must renew the subscription / You have to renew the subscription (in general, that’s the rule).
There is no specific subject; you don’t say yo hay que, tú hay que, etc. It always stays hay que.

Comparison:

Tener que + infinitive: obligation for a specific subject
- Tengo que renovar la suscripción. = I have to renew the subscription.
Deber + infinitive: should / ought to (often more moral or advisory, and sometimes a bit weaker than tener que)
- Debes renovar la suscripción. = You should/ought to renew the subscription.

So hay que talks about what is necessary in general; tener que and deber pin that obligation to someone specific.

Why is it renovar la suscripción instead of something like renovar su suscripción?

Renovar la suscripción is talking about “the subscription” in general, like a rule that applies to any user:

Hay que renovar la suscripción cada mes.
= You have to renew the subscription every month (that’s how the system works).

If you say renovar su suscripción, you’re focusing more on a specific person’s subscription:

Hay que renovar su suscripción cada mes.
= You have to renew your subscription every month. (e.g. talking directly to one customer, or about a particular person.)

Both are grammatically correct.
Here, the definite article la is natural because we’re describing a general condition of the service: “the subscription” that comes with this app.

Could you also say cada mes as todos los meses? Is there any difference?

Yes, both are correct and very common:

cada mes = every month
todos los meses = every month / all the months

In practice they are almost interchangeable. Differences are tiny:

cada mes sounds a bit more neutral and rule-like.
todos los meses can sound slightly more colloquial/emphatic, like stressing the repetition: “all the months”.

In this context, you could say:

Hay que renovar la suscripción cada mes.
Hay que renovar la suscripción todos los meses.

Both are fine in Latin American Spanish.

Why is aplicación feminine (la aplicación)?

The word aplicación is grammatically feminine in Spanish.

Patterns that help:

Most nouns ending in -ción (información, situación, aplicación, suscripción, etc.) are feminine.
So we use feminine articles and adjectives: la aplicación, una aplicación, esta aplicación.

This is true both for “application” in a general sense and for “app” (software) in Latin American Spanish:

La aplicación de meditación = the meditation app.

What does cobrar mean here, and how does sin cobrar nada work grammatically?

Here cobrar means “to charge (money)”.

cobrar = to charge, to bill, to collect payment.

sin cobrar nada literally = “without charging anything”.

Structure:

sin + infinitive = without doing X
- sin cobrar = without charging
nada here is an indefinite pronoun = anything / nothing (depending on English structure)

So:

… ofrece más tiempo de meditación sin cobrar nada.
= … it offers more meditation time without charging anything / at no cost.

Could you say sin cobrar without nada? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say both:

sin cobrar
sin cobrar nada

They are both correct and mean essentially the same:

sin cobrar = without charging (money)
sin cobrar nada = without charging anything at all

Adding nada gives a bit more emphasis, like “not charging anything whatsoever,” but the basic idea (it’s free) is the same.

Why is it más tiempo de meditación and not más tiempo para meditar? Are both correct?

Both are correct; they’re just slightly different ways of expressing the idea.

más tiempo de meditación
- literally: “more time of meditation”
- treats meditación as an activity or resource you’re getting more time of
- very natural in the context of apps, services, etc.
más tiempo para meditar
- literally: “more time to meditate”
- focuses more on what the extra time is for (the action of meditating)

In context:

… ofrece más tiempo de meditación sin cobrar nada.
… ofrece más tiempo para meditar sin cobrar nada.

Both sound fine in Latin American Spanish. The original with de meditación sounds very normal in marketing or app descriptions.

Why is there no pronoun like la after renovar? In English we say “renew it”.

Spanish doesn’t need a pronoun when the direct object is already clearly stated as a noun right next to the verb:

renovar la suscripción = to renew the subscription
direct object: la suscripción (explicit)

You would only add a pronoun if you were replacing or referring back to an already mentioned object:

Tengo que renovar la suscripción. Voy a renovarla mañana.
= I have to renew the subscription. I’m going to renew it tomorrow.

In the original sentence, the object is present directly after the verb, so no extra “la” is needed:

Hay que renovar la suscripción… ✅
Hay que renovarla la suscripción… ❌ (that would be wrong; it doubles the object incorrectly in this position).

Where can a veces go in the sentence? Is A veces la aplicación ofrece… also correct?

Yes, a veces (sometimes) is flexible in position. All of these are natural:

A veces la aplicación ofrece más tiempo…
La aplicación a veces ofrece más tiempo…
La aplicación ofrece a veces más tiempo… (less common, but possible)

Differences are small:

A veces la aplicación ofrece…
– Slightly more emphasis on the “sometimes.”
La aplicación a veces ofrece…
– Slightly more neutral, just inserting “sometimes” in the middle.

In everyday speech and writing, the first two positions are the most frequent.

Why is the present tense used (hay que renovar, ofrece)? Could we use a different tense?

Spanish present tense often expresses:

general rules or conditions
habits and regular actions

So:

Hay que renovar la suscripción cada mes…
= You have to renew the subscription each month (that’s the ongoing rule).
… la aplicación ofrece más tiempo…
= the app sometimes offers more time (this is something it does from time to time).

You could change tenses depending on the meaning:

Imperfect (past habit):
- Había que renovar la suscripción cada mes, pero a veces la aplicación ofrecía más tiempo…
  = You used to have to renew it every month, but sometimes the app would offer more time…
Future (for future rule):
- Habrá que renovar la suscripción cada mes…
  = One will have to renew the subscription every month…

In the original, the present tense is correct because it talks about how the app works now, in general.

Could we say la aplicación te ofrece más tiempo de meditación? When do we need te?

Yes, you can say:

… a veces la aplicación te ofrece más tiempo de meditación sin cobrar nada.

Here:

te = to you (indirect object pronoun)
It emphasizes that you, the user, are the one receiving the benefit.

Difference in nuance:

la aplicación ofrece más tiempo de meditación
= the app offers more meditation time (in general; users get it, but it’s not pointing to anyone in particular).
la aplicación te ofrece más tiempo de meditación
= the app offers you more meditation time (speaking directly to the user or clearly about a specific person).

We need an indirect object pronoun (me, te, le, nos, les) when we want to explicitly say who is receiving something:

La aplicación me ofrece… = offers me
La aplicación nos ofrece… = offers us

In the original, the focus is on what the app does in general, so leaving out te is natural.