Offline activation of v2?

[RDW]

One of my favourite features of v1 is that there is no requirement for online activation - a simple licence key is all that is required. Is this method of activation available for v2, especially for computers with no internet connection? This may affect my purchasing decision.

[Callum]

19 hours ago, RDW said:

One of my favourite features of v1 is that there is no requirement for online activation - a simple licence key is all that is required. Is this method of activation available for v2, especially for computers with no internet connection? This may affect my purchasing decision.

Hi RDW,

You have to have an active internet connection in order to activate the app for the first time however you can work offline after this initial activation

Thanks
C

[siup]

Bad news for me and a  break to my purchase of all the updates... but is it possible in the future to transfer the licence from a computer that have internet acess to a computer without internet?

Edited November 11, 2022 by siup

[Zibbo]

Sadly I found this thread a little too late. I bought V2, realized you need to login and then I issued a refund. Maybe I will use Affinity again in the future if this features comes back.

Maybe they could add this pretty important point to the FAQ, would save much time.

[walt.farrell]

6 hours ago, Zibbo said:

I bought V2, realized you need to login

But only once, to validate the license.

6 hours ago, Zibbo said:

Maybe they could add this pretty important point to the FAQ, would save much time.

It's already there, and has been since the launch, I believe:

 

[Zibbo]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But only once, to validate the license.

Yes, but thats my point. No installation on offline machines and I am using one as my main workstation. 

That said, I don't like it when software requires an external server. Let's assume that the login servers will be switched off in X years. Affinity 1.x will still work then because it can be activated offline. V2 will be dead from that point on.

[Danielx64]

31 minutes ago, Zibbo said:

Yes, but thats my point. No installation on offline machines and I am using one as my main workstation. 

That said, I don't like it when software requires an external server. Let's assume that the login servers will be switched off in X years. Affinity 1.x will still work then because it can be activated offline. V2 will be dead from that point on.

I agree, after seeing this thread and a lack of an option to start a trial I think I will pass this on

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Danielx64 said:

and a lack of an option to start a trial

Not sure I understand that comment. The apps downloaded from either the Mac App Store, the iPad Store, or the Microsoft Store should run as Trials for 30 days or until you purchase a license and activate it.

[Danielx64]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Not sure I understand that comment. The apps downloaded from either the Mac App Store, the iPad Store, or the Microsoft Store should run as Trials for 30 days or until you purchase a license and activate it.

See my topic here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170818-unable-to-start-trial-of-any-affinity-products/, I downloaded it from this website.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Danielx64 said:

See my topic here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170818-unable-to-start-trial-of-any-affinity-products/, I downloaded it from this website.

Thanks. That doesn't mean there's no option to start a trial. Just that there's no option yet with the approach you took. You could have downloaded from a different store, for example. But I'm confident Serif will figure out what's going on with you there.

[tks128]

i just wanted buy designer2 but if not offline activation then doesnt have sense for me..

Edited March 28, 2024 by tks128

[ljredux]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:15 AM, Callum said:

Hi RDW,

You have to have an active internet connection in order to activate the app for the first time however you can work offline after this initial activation

Thanks
C

People reinstall operating systems and inevitably buy new computers.  Even when logged into the same Microsoft or Apple account, Affinity V2 will be dead on those systems without an activation server.

perpetual
adjective
continuing or enduring forever; everlasting.

Adobe's legal department already redefined the meaning of this word when they began deactivating their activation servers for some products. 

There's no good reason to be confident that a few years down the line, Canva won't do the same.

No amount of carefully crafted PR statements are going to undo concerns about this problem.

[monzo]

2 hours ago, ljredux said:

People reinstall operating systems and inevitably buy new computers.  Even when logged into the same Microsoft or Apple account, Affinity V2 will be dead on those systems without an activation server.

perpetual
adjective
continuing or enduring forever; everlasting.

Adobe's legal department already redefined the meaning of this word when they began deactivating their activation servers for some products. 

There's no good reason to be confident that a few years down the line, Canva won't do the same.

No amount of carefully crafted PR statements are going to undo concerns about this problem.

Yep, I'm concerned about the silence over this issue. I bought a perpetual license from Serif only three months ago, so the software should have been updated before it was sold to another company to ensure my access is not at risk, now that they have no control over it.

This stinks, and shows a lack of care for loyal customers.

[mark117h]

22 hours ago, monzo said:

Yep, I'm concerned about the silence over this issue. I bought a perpetual license from Serif only three months ago, so the software should have been updated before it was sold to another company to ensure my access is not at risk, now that they have no control over it.

This stinks, and shows a lack of care for loyal customers.

I get what you are saying, best thing I can say to that is to install Affinity on your machines and activate it, when it comes to updates keep an eye on the forum to see what’s changed, if Canva’s not integrated yet, then update, whereas if peeps say it’s got Canva in it then don’t update and run for the hills lol that’s what I will intend to do. 

[monzo]

2 hours ago, mark117h said:

I get what you are saying, best thing I can say to that is to install Affinity on your machines and activate it, when it comes to updates keep an eye on the forum to see what’s changed, if Canva’s not integrated yet, then update, whereas if peeps say it’s got Canva in it then don’t update and run for the hills lol that’s what I will intend to do. 

Yeah definitely. I’m a couple of updates behind on my main Mac which I’ll leave for now, but I’ve just downloaded and installed V2 on my laptop, so they’re up to date.

The worry is Patrick said it does connect occasionally even after activation, hopefully if there’s an issue with Canva’s server, or they remove our old licenses, the callbacks won’t stop them from working.

Ideally they should update V2 products to remove the online activation requirement, so if I need to reinstall in future my licenses are still ‘perpetual’, and not at the mercy of a company I didn’t purchase them from.