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Affinity Suite no longer for sale...Is this the end?

th0masp said:
Sure, it's a license for version 2. It does not explicitly include any future ones - and I don't think it even covers the previous version.

So, you'll be able to install and run this one indefinitely and in the even that the company decides to shut down the activation servers they'll probably pull an Adobe (CS2) or Avid (Media Illusion, my gawd - has it been this long? :D ) and make a patch available that skips the licensing check.

This company has been bought out a while back, after all. We've seen this whole corporate-merger playbook before, haven't we? In this case a company with a particularly old-fashioned approach to licensing got bought by the new guys.
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I purchased my license directly from Affinity and not the App Store, so I hope that they honor the lifetime license. That being said, I don't think the new owners are obligated to honor the previous owner's license? If not, I will be researching whether there is grounds for a class action lawsuit against the original licensor. All this is just speculation until they reveal the big secret on Oct 30th.
 
Dolphins1972 said:
I purchased my license directly from Affinity and not the App Store, so I hope that they honor the lifetime license. That being said, I don't think the new owners are obligated to honor the previous owner's license? If not, I will be researching whether there is grounds for a class action lawsuit against the original licensor. All this is just speculation until they reveal the big secret on Oct 30th.
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Yes they will have to honor your license even if the ownership has changed. As I said, one way to deal with it easy-peasy is to simply issue a patch that turns off licensing checks.

What they are not obligated to do however is to support it anymore going forward if they are moving on from release 2.x. So while you may have a lifetime license, the hardware/OS-compatibility to actually make use of it is another matter - and entirely up to you.

With Apple it tends to be a swift affair before you run into compatibility trouble on newer OS releases.
 
th0masp said:
What they are not obligated to do however is to support it anymore going forward if they are moving on from release 2.x. So while you may have a lifetime license, the hardware/OS-compatibility to actually make use of it is another matter - and entirely up to you.
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Welp, I've been modding my MP 4,1 for more than ten years now, so I'm very familiar with "hardware/OS-compatibility" and the fight to keep them running with the latest OS. Now I'm not saying that I have not hit some insurmountable walls because I have, but in most cases I've been able to find workarounds due to the hard work of others such as hardware/software engineers.
 
Herbert123 said:
One of the reasons I prefer PhotoLine: the license works off-line.
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FYI, the Affinity Photo v1 licenses work offline—I explicitly tested this in a VM—and I was under the impression they didn't change the licensing setup for v2. (I haven't bought v2 because they don't support my ancient version of macOS.)

hg.wells said:
I wish other companies would pause current sales to prevent customers buying old products a couple of weeks before replacements are released.
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Wouldn't it make more sense to offer free upgrades to anyone who bought the old version within the past month or so?

The problem with pulling from sale is that, well, what happens if you need a photo editor right now? It could be for a job.
 
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Wowfunhappy said:
The problem with pulling from sale is that, well, what happens if you need a photo editor right now? It could be for a job.
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I've read a great deal on the pursuant gnashing-teething . . . I have already purchased the License directly because of my perceived need.

If this was part of my "job", the purchase would have been pulled earlier ;)
 
There's an awful lot of F.U.D. going on with regard to this situation with Affinity and Canva.

While nothing can be ruled out with the upcoming software suite, I suspect it will be like so many others... not what we expect, certainly not everything we hoped for, but also not nearly as bad as we thought.

Think of it this way, too. At least Affinity/Canva is telling us SOMETHING is coming at the end of the month. Apple's Pixelmator is just sitting there un-updated since they purchased it, and Apple is never going to tell us ANYTHING about its status. It could get updated or cancelled next week and we won't know until it happens.
 
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MacGizmo said:
Think of it this way, too. At least Affinity/Canva is telling us SOMETHING is coming at the end of the month.
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I read the other day that they are gearing up for an IPO. Already selling stock to employees apparently. I wonder if the timing has something to do with that.
 
Dolphins1972 said:
I purchased my license directly from Affinity and not the App Store, so I hope that they honor the lifetime license.
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What do you mean honor? Are you expecting perpetual patching and/or support for future operating systems from Apple?
 
Dolphins1972 said:
I purchased my license directly from Affinity and not the App Store, so I hope that they honor the lifetime license.
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A lifetime license is worthless when the app itself becomes an online service. They didn’t give out free licenses for your benefit, they gave them out knowing whatever exists now will be part of the freemium package moving forward and to leverage that fact to get as many new accounts set up as possible. Even if just 5% of them convert to paying subs, that’s basically 5% boost in sales, for free. It’s a pretty obvious business move.

I don’t even know how people defend this slide into idiocracy.
 
ultratiem said:
A lifetime license is worthless when the app itself becomes an online service. They didn’t give out free licenses for your benefit, they gave them out knowing whatever exists now will be part of the freemium package moving forward and to leverage that fact to get as many new accounts set up as possible. Even if just 5% of them convert to paying subs, that’s basically 5% boost in sales, for free. It’s a pretty obvious business move.

I don’t even know how people defend this slide into idiocracy.
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Are you thinking of the wrong suite of apps? Affinity haven’t announced any online freemium packages.
 
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years ago I purchased affinity designer as that just launched and well.....works.
(I just use that to see layers on many individual projects created on an iPad as the designing is tedious)
after reading some of these massages, i'm under the impression that as long as I live,
i can still use the program on several Macs.
Another aspect is that my MacBook Air m1 runs the program as that is not cinched to their server.
if affinity decides to pull the rug out, I can still use that program using Tahoe
they could stop support for my edition of their designer or not update that.

therefor I guess i'm in this boat of uncertainty as the rest as
who knows what waves will nock that over next week?
 
MBAir2010 said:
i'm under the impression that as long as I live, i can still use the program on several Macs.
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Doubtful. They may let you keep everything that you have now, but it will be wrapped in a layer of frustration with monetizations at every turn. Want to save a mew file, it will default to a cloud save on their new Canva Plus Subscription Plan. Or there will be nag screens to “go Pro!” Or the classic, “you only get 5 files for free!”

Companies are ruthless in adding layer upon layer of annoyances to get some cash out of you. The warning prompts that you are trying to play Apple Music on “more than one device” are intentional. They likely lead to even a small conversation to Apple One and to Cook, thats free money.

Some people don’t care. They are content using apps with annoyances. I, for one, hate it. Homie don’t play that.
 
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hg.wells said:
Are you thinking of the wrong suite of apps? Affinity haven’t announced any online freemium packages.
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They haven’t but the iPad versions are free to download, with zero cost for the in-app license purchase (which previously had a cost).
 
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ultratiem said:
Doubtful. They may let you keep everything that you have now, but it will be wrapped in a layer of frustration with monetizations at every turn.
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this is a huge reason im using Mojvae and CS4 since i need a base to store designs.

well that $25 dollar price for Afinty designer was worth the use on my M1 macbook air
i don't use that much nowadays.
 
MBAir2010 said:
i'm under the impression that as long as I live,
i can still use the program on several Macs.
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You will certainly be able to keep using Affinity Suite 2, as it is now, until such time as an OS upgrade breaks it. How much support and development Affinity will get' and whether Affinity users will be 'grandfathered' into whatever the new deal is, remains to be seen.

All Software is time limited, if you upgrade your OS every year and hardware every five years.
 
benwiggy said:
You will certainly be able to keep using Affinity Suite 2, as it is now, until such time as an OS upgrade breaks it. How much support and development Affinity will get' and whether Affinity users will be 'grandfathered' into whatever the new deal is, remains to be seen.

All Software is time limited, if you upgrade your OS every year and hardware every five years.
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thank you, I have no idea what versions I own, as neither do they, according to the "visible" text
Screenshot 2025-10-24 at 4.44.13 PM.png

im really thinking about going back to Monterey for good and tossing in the  walled garden towel.
hopefully I can use a Tim' machine or saved version form that system.
 
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