Trial codes and gift codes — the important difference
One asks for a card and starts charging you. The other does not, and lapses silently.
This article describes something in the app that is missing, partly built, or advertised elsewhere and not actually available. It says what happens today and how to get the outcome by hand. Everything of this kind is listed on known gaps.
Both kinds of code give you a period of Plus or Pro. They are redeemed in the same box. What happens at the end of the period could not be more different, so check which one you have before you redeem.
Trial codes
- A card is required. You go through Stripe checkout and your card is stored.
- Nothing is charged during the trial period.
- When the trial ends, it converts to a paid subscription automatically and your card is charged.
- To avoid that, cancel before the end date, in the billing portal. Cancelling still leaves you the full trial period.
A trial code is a subscription that starts later. That is the honest way to hold it.
Gift codes
- No card. No checkout. Access is granted directly.
- When the period ends, your account drops back to Free. Nothing is charged, ever.
- There is nothing to cancel, and the billing portal will not open for you at all, because there is no Stripe customer behind your account. See managing or cancelling your subscription.
The part we are not happy with
A gift lapse is silent. One day you have Plus, the next you do not, and the only warning is a banner in the app that appears fourteen days before the end and gets more insistent in the last three days. There is no email.
If you were not in the app during those two weeks, the first you will know is that your readings are locked. Nothing is lost — charts, library and client records all stay — but it is a bad way to find out.
This is on our known gaps list. Until it is fixed: when you redeem a gift code, note the end date somewhere outside the app.
And for Pro gift codes specifically: when the gift lapses, every branded share link you have sent to a client stops working that day.
How to tell which you have
The preview shown before you confirm a code says whether a card is required. If it takes you to Stripe, it is a trial. If it grants access immediately without asking for payment details, it is a gift.