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Apple Store -> Affinity Direct


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Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Ollie. :)

5 hours ago, olm said:

Is there a way to switch my already bought apps for mac from the Apple Store direct to an affinity account without buying new licenses?

Sadly not. When you purchase from the Mac App Store your contract is with Apple rather than Serif, and since the two companies don’t share individual customer details it isn’t possible to switch from one store to the other.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Other vendors do offer a workflow to achieve exactly this. I have successfully switched at least one product from the Mac App Store to a direct license by providing evidence of the Mac App Store purchase. That app was PaintCode from PixelCut. I'm sure there have been others.

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1 hour ago, zkarj said:

I have successfully switched at least one product from the Mac App Store to a direct license by providing evidence of the Mac App Store purchase. That app was PaintCode from PixelCut.

I can find no app named "PaintCode" for sale in the MAS, or for that matter anything from a developer named "PixelCut."

Are you sure you bought this app through the MAS?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

I can find no app named "PaintCode" for sale in the MAS, or for that matter anything from a developer named "PixelCut."

Yes. They left the MAS because they could not offer upgrade pricing. I asked what my options were and they asked me to send the proof of purchase after which they sent me a code to redeem for upgrade pricing.

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I just did a search for PaintCode. The only app I could find with that name is £178 ($199) per year! If that's the app you're referring to, I don't think you can really compare it to the Affinity apps which you buy outright for a one off fee!

Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz :  32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home
Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad

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Well if anyone chooses not to believe my *technical example* of switching a MAS license to a standalone one because the apps don't look or sound the same, that is their prerogative, but I was addressing this:

11 hours ago, Alfred said:

since the two companies don’t share individual customer details it isn’t possible to switch from one store to the other.

It seems PixelCut have pivoted again since I purchased my license in 2018. But at that time:

Fact: V2 was in the MAS.

Fact: V3 was not.

Fact: On enquiring about upgrade pricing I was asked to send in proof of MAS purchase.

Fact: When I did, I was provided a link for upgrade pricing for a standalone V3 license.

It doesn't matter if you charge 99c for Photoshop or a million bucks for an "I am rich" app, or whether you charge a one off fee or a subscription... there is a workflow that has been used in the real world that I have personally taken advantage of that is technically equivalent to what @olm asked about.

Please don't make me redact bits of my email and post that as well.

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Thanks for your answers. My question tended to a switch over the customer relation, which was my argument for asking this (to establish a direct relation). It is a question of marketing strategy, if you want to sell a software or even if you want to foster a customer relation or even if you want to live with both ways. It is really sad that Serif doesnt provide such a way yet, for those who want to.

My question was not intended to prepare a greenfield to discuss which other software vendor offers such a license swap @zkarj @R C-R @PaulEC, this fact is quite irrelevant.  For those who are looking hard for real world example: The FTD,XYZ timeplanning software 2Do (2doapp.com) offers such a license swap within minutes.

I intended to discuss about same software from same vendor but different selling stores with the effect of different distribution ways and possible differences.  

Edited by olm
typo
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11 hours ago, zkarj said:

Fact: On enquiring about upgrade pricing I was asked to send in proof of MAS purchase.

Fact: When I did, I was provided a link for upgrade pricing for a standalone V3 license.

Fact: That is not the same thing as switching a MAS license for one version of an app to an Affinity Store version of the same app at no additional cost. We do not know what Serif might offer for upgrade pricing whenever the next version of the Affinity apps will be released.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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5 hours ago, R C-R said:

Fact: That is not the same thing as switching a MAS license for one version of an app to an Affinity Store version of the same app at no additional cost.

That's a question of policy, not possibility. Please refer, again, to the original statement regarding impossibility.

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44 minutes ago, zkarj said:

I did not say Serif would or should or that it makes financial or policy sense to offer this option. I just said it is possible and has been done by others.

The only example you cited was for upgrade pricing, not for "switching" an existing license for one version of an app from one store to another.

I'm wondering how that could be done because Apple does not share any personally identifiable information with third party MAS store vendors, nor would any of those third party vendor have any way to cancel the license Apple grants to purchasers for apps bought through the MAS & tied to a user's Apple ID.

So at best, those vendors could issue an additional license for the same version of the app, but I cannot think of a good financially sound reason why they would do that unless they really are only offering a discount on an upgraded version.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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12 hours ago, zkarj said:

I give up.

As R C-R might put it...

Serif/Affinity do not know that I have paid for Designer and Photo. This is because I purchased them through the App Store. Serif would be very foolish to simply take my word that I have in fact paid Apple for them and hand over a copy from their web-store with new and valid licences/keycodes.

A discount for an upgrade to a subscription is another kettle of fish.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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50 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Serif/Affinity do not know that I have paid for Designer and Photo. This is because I purchased them through the App Store. Serif would be very foolish to simply take my word that I have in fact paid Apple for them and hand over a copy from their web-store with new and valid licences/keycodes.

If a user could provide proof of purchase of the MAS app, then Serif would not have to take the user's word for that. However, the only proof of purchase I know of that Apple provides for MAS app purchases is via an email receipt. While there is a document number included in that email, Serif would have no way of knowing if it was actually that user's purchase receipt because Apple will not tell Serif who's purchase that document number is linked to, or even if it is a legitimate document number.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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  • 1 year later...
9 minutes ago, Matthew Twomey said:

Once purchased from the MAS you can register your app to Affinity. They certainly can identity you and your purchased app, if you allow them to (through registering it).

One more time, Serif, like every software developer, has no access to the Mac App Store. They really truly do not know for certain if I own Designer. I am not going to give them my Apple ID and Password either.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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10 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

One more time, Serif, like every software developer, has no access to the Mac App Store. They really truly do not know for certain if I own Designer. I am not going to give them my Apple ID and Password either.

You are incorrect, and your responses may mislead people.

This has nothing to do with "giving anyone your apple ID and password". It also has nothing to do with Affinity having some kind of privileged access to the app store (which they don't).

As an app publisher myself, I can tell you it's a common practice to KYC "know your customer" by having them register post purchase from the app store. I have the MAS version and upon registering it (within the app), Affinity does indeed know I have purchased the app (because you can't register the app unless you've purchased it). In fact I have several entitlements, from Affinity, that require that I have purchased and registered the app. Why some folks think this is technically infeasible is beyond me - companies do it all-the-time.

It is true - that if you "do nothing" and don't take the step to register the app, there is no way they can know you've bought it. But that's besides the point of this thread.

 

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3 hours ago, PixelPest said:

and how do you get their "betas" without registering as a customer? I thought that was the requirement.

The requirement for running the betas is that you have the retail product installed (and it does not matter which Store you purchased from) or that you have a Product Key for the retail product purchased from the Affinity Store.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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6 hours ago, Matthew Twomey said:

I have the MAS version and upon registering it (within the app)...

How specifically did you do that? I have the MAS version of AP & I can find no place within the app to register it or to get to any screen that says "registration complete."

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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28 minutes ago, R C-R said:

How specifically did you do that? I have the MAS version of AP & I can find no place within the app to register it or to get to any screen that says "registration complete."

That's part of the My Account feature, and once Registered you can see your registered apps in your Affinity Store account.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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  • Staff

The replies given in this thread are correct. As to whether limitations about "proof" of product ownership still hold are irrelevant as we do not offer this option at the moment.

Explanation: Originally, Serif software did not have the My account feature. It was not there when we launched the applications 6 years ago (on the mac App Store only) or 4 years ago (when we launched the Microsoft Store version and the Affinity Store). NOW the "My Account" feature effectively does allow us to reconsider how all this sort of thing hangs together going forward, but it is extremely complicated to get it all to work as users would wish, and will not be reverse engineered to version 1. We do hope that we can facilitate this sort of request in the future, but for now the answers given in this thread are correct, and will not change for version 1

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Serif's My Account is great for handing out free content.

The question was not about trusting people and offering an upgrade discount. It is about Switching from the Mac App Store Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher to the Serif Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher. Version One MAS to Version One Serif Store.

A possible scenerio:

Serif Affinity is trusting that I have not gone to my friends house, used her computer and logged into my Apple ID, installed Photo on her machine and then registered Photo to My Account. Now I just ask Please can I switch from this Mac App Store version to the Serif version? They then send me all that I need, the installer and a valid code. Now my friend has her very own copy of Photo, nothing to do with my version from the Mac App Store. I then go to my Cousin's place and repeat.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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