pharmerpk

I have posted a thread with the same grievance. It's not exclusive to China as my Apple ID is a US account. And I find that there's no point asking for explanation/help here as we will only see people defending Serif because they don't have the problem. I ended up purchasing V2 because there's no recourse from Serif. It is my last purchase from this shady company.

As a customer, why should I have to worry about Apple and Serif's relationship? All I know is I bought Serif's software, and while Apple had tried working with me for a solution, Serif simply didn't care. That's all I can see as a customer. The fact is that Serif chose to sell their software on Apple's platform, but then simply washing their hands and refusing any customers needing help is downright hostile. The fact that there are some people having similar problems should tell Serif that there is a problem. The least they could show is trying to understand what the problem is. But nope. Serif's statements has zero value to me now as obviously they didn't even want to be hold accountable when what they promised is not what a customer got. My point with Pixelmator is clear. Instead of taking out the old app completely from the app store, they simply kept it there. Thus people that have bought it can still find it and download it without much fuss. That's the whole point. I can still download Pixelmator classic because I purchased it way back when, and it's still available on the store. I cannot download Affinity V1 app that I had bought because Serif simply took it out from the app store listing and refused to be accountable nor even have a conversation with me to diagnose the problem. Like I said, in the end, I purchased V2 because I had to. Serif got their money, exactly as they wanted. Never again.

Anyway, it's clear that Serif has zero interest in helping, as they finally responded to my support request email by saying the same thing with zero attempt to even know more about the issue. From their perspective, seems like if you purchased their apps from the Apple app store, it's no longer their problem. Any problems, jokes on you. It's one thing to at least try to see what kind of problem the user is having. Nope. Not our problem, go talk to Apple. Ridiculous and downright snobbish. I would like to at least mention Pixelmator for doing it the right way. When they released their new version, Pixelmator Pro, they didn't just take out their original app. They still made it available as Pixelmator Classic, that way users that already purchased the old version can still access the app easily. Imo that's the better and user friendly way.

From what I understand, the region follows the Apple ID, not the machine. Let's say I'm in Switzerland, but if my AppleID is US, it will still go to US app store. cmiiw. Mine is US region, btw. The one that suggested me to ask Serif directly was Apple support. Apple support gave me a direct link to the app, and it showed an error that the app is not available. Thus Apple support told me to ask directly from Serif as according to them, the developer is the one in control of the app visibility. I'm not a developer, so I wouldn't know the ins and outs of app publishing in the app store. But all I see is Apple did try to help with no avail, while Serif simply implied "too bad." In any case, I already purchased V2, so Serif got my money. But this will be the last time I deal with Serif, ever. I would rather have Serif simply be honest and just said "you have to buy V2, V1 is no longer" than implying "V1 license is still valid, but if you cannot access them, haha jokes on you."

That was one of the troubleshooting steps that I went through with Apple. We even logged into my Apple ID through the Music app, and we confirmed that the purchase was made with my AppleID account (the purchase history was there).

When I was on the phone with Apple support, they actually gave me a direct link for the V1 app that they had. But then it gave me an error that the app is no longer available. Thus Apple support advised me to contact the developer directly to see if they can give me access since, according to Apple, the developer is the one in control of the visibility of their apps in the app store. My biggest disappointment is when I got in contact with Serif, all I got was repeated replies of simply telling me to read the FAQ and ask Apple. They literally didn't even bother to work with me, troubleshoot, anything, at least in my perspective. Their responses, to me, feels like "sorry, too bad." Basically they lied about the V1 licenses being valid, as they didn't even bother to look further into the problem.

I stored the projects in iCloud Drive, and have them backed up. But just my files/projects. I never back up the apps themselves. I just upgraded (sold) my old intel mac for an M1 Macbook Air, thus the reinstallation. I never thought of needing to back up the apps because every time I reset/upgrade to a new mac, I have always been able to redownload the V1 app without issues. Of course, that's before Serif released these V2.

When there's more than one person having problems, that means there's something wrong. Yet Serif's cold response doesn't really give me any confidence on this company. The new V2 requires activation using an account. What makes us think that that will be forever? For all we know, when V3 is out, they can simply disable activation on V2, and bam, we will be dead on water. Zero confidence. I am forced to buy V2 as I have projects on the format already. But this will be my last as I will start looking to transition to a different app for new projects. Zero confidence, zero support.

Sure, but I still have a valid license, and Serif's response was simply "go read the FAQ and go back to Apple" is not helping anyone, when Apple has worked closely with me (Apple support even called me) to troubleshoot several things. In the end, as a customer, my impression is I'm being forced to buy V2, as the problem coincided with the release of V2. I had no problem accessing the V1 apps in the past before they released V2.

That's on an old macOS. Try it on Catalina and up. I have Monterey on Apple Silicon, by the way. In the end, for me, even Apple support's given link didn't work, thus they concluded that I should ask Serif since the developer is the one in control of the visibility of their apps. Serif could simply do what Pixelmator did when they released their Pro version. The old app is still available and downloadable, renamed as classic.

I told Serif support that I can provide proof of purchase if required, but nope, they didn't bother. All they did was told me to read the FAQ and go ask Apple. Like I said, zero effort to even understand the issue. Apple support even tried giving me a specific link from their end, and it showed error that the developer has removed the app. Thus Apple support told me to contact Serif directly as they said the developer is the one in control of the visibility of the app. So yeah, I have to purchase V2. Will be my last purchase from this company.

Affinity support simply threw the problem back to Apple, and told me to contact Apple. Zero effort to even try understanding my problem and simply point fingers back at Apple. Really disappointed. I guess I have to fork out the money for V2. But that will be my last purchase with Affinity.

I have purchased V1 apps years ago from the Mac App Store. But since V2 apps are released, V1 apps are no longer listed. They don’t appear in my purchased app list. I have contacted Apple, and after going through several methods of troubleshooting, their conclusion is to request the specific app from the developer. I tried contacting affinity through twitter and FB messenger, but no response. No way to contact support further? This is quite annoying that the “only” recourse seems to buy the V2 apps.