License Terms & Conditions, Refund Policy, Privacy

[waydabber]

Pro and free functionality

• The app has free and paid ("Pro") functionalities. Free functionalities are free to use, purchasing a license is not required to use these for non-business users. Pro functionalities are available with a Pro license.
• The goal is to have genuinely useful free functionalities in the app which are not crippled in any way. I encourage non-business users who do not need Pro functionalities and decide not to support the development by purchasing a license to enjoy and use the app in free mode. The app won't bother you with popups to purchase and ads to compensate the lack of purchase.

Trial period

• The app comes with a 14 days trial. The goal of the trial is to let you try out the app, including the Pro features and figure out if the app properly works with your hardware/software environment and it really suits your needs.
• After the 14 days trial is over, the Pro functionality will be disabled.
• Some of the Pro-only settings or changes made during the Trial will remain active so the transfer from Pro to free happens gracefully (for example, custom dummies, smooth resolution etc. should remain available until a reinstall, system upgrade or hardware change).
• I strongly encourage you to utilize the trial and decide if the app works for you, since there is no refund option.

Pro license price and purchase process

• The price of a Pro license is $18 or €18 + applicable VAT or Sales Tax (depending on selected territory during checkout).
• The currency depends on your location (in EU's Euro Zone, EUR will be applied, everywhere else USD, in China CNY).
• Tax levels also depend on your location (from 0% in certain countries or certain states of the US, reaching or even exceeding 25% in some EU member countries).
• The price and the location of the purchaser is automatically suggested by the third party payment provider (Paddle Inc.) based on IP address but it can be customized during checkout. The customization affects payment price (lowers or increases according to currency, FX rates, tax levels). It is your sole responsibility to set the location according to applicable regulations.
• Business details and VAT number (required for VAT returns) can be added during or after checkout.
• Paddle Inc. acts as the reseller of the app for KodeON (Kodeon Software Limited, the maker of the software). Paddle provides the in-app and online purchase experience, handles invoicing, payment methods, license management, activations and refunds (for technical reasons, within the refund policy). Paddle provides buyer support if you encounter any issues regarding any of these areas. You can also contact me directly on the app's Discord channel if you encounter any issues that can't be sorted out.

Pro license conditions for home users

• If the license is purchased via the app or the BetterDisplay.pro website, a single Pro license is valid for all your Macs in your household (technically this means 5 installations - so if you have an extended family, live in a huge mansion with dozens of Macs and everybody wants to use BetterDisplay, you'll still need to purchase more licenses in groups of 5). There might be other channels of license sales and the number of allowed activations may be different when the app is purchased via alternate channels/vendors.
• Licences are valid for the current major version of the app - major version upgrades might require a new license purchase. Current v1.x and v2.x app versions are covered with a single license.
• The license will not expire for the current main version (it is not a subscription). When a new main version arrives, you won't be forced to stop using the previous main version.
• If your workplace does not want to buy BetterDisplay for you but allows you to buy and install it for yourself or you are on BYOD or you are a private entrepreneur/freelancer, you are free to classify yourself as a non-business user and use the app on your business computer in free or Pro mode - this is a gray area and I leave it to your conscience to decide how to handle the situation.

Pro license conditions for business users

• Businesses who would like to use the app in any way (even free functionalities only) beyond the trial period are required to buy Pro license. This is not enforced by the app though - businesses are however kindly asked and expected to comply with the license terms laid out here.
• Businesses can opt to interpret the license as a per user and as a per machine licence (choose the one that makes more sense) - in both approaches the licences are transferrable between users and computers.
• If you need a volume license (10+ computers), please feel free to contact me.
• Non-profits, charities etc are not considered businesses.

Refund policy, withdrawal after purchase

• There is a really generous 14 day long trial to figure out if the app is working and you need the Pro version or not which should be more then enough to make a decision.
• Purchases are therefore final and there are no refunds. By downloading the app and activating the license you agree to loose the right to withdrawal after a purchase.
• The EU right to withdrawal does not apply since the purchase can be enjoyed immediately.
• On an individual basis I can still decide to issue a refund though, but this is not the rule rather the exception.
• If there is a technical issue regarding the purchase or activation (you simply don't receive your license number or the app refuses to activate or you are billed twice etc) you are of course entitled to a refund if the issue cannot be fixed.

Compatibility issues

• There are a vast number of setups out there. Because of this I cannot guarantee that the app will work properly on your specific configuration as I have no ability to test every possible hardware/software combo out there. This is why I advise you to utilize the Trial period to test your setup.
• The app is heavily dependent on the platform (macOS) it is running. By nature it utilizes undocumented features of the OS and various workarounds to make life easier. I cannot guarantee that the app or a specific functionality will work properly in every new version of macOS. Apple is continuously changing things in macOS which sometimes opens new possibilities, other times however breaks things or closes doors. Of course I am doing everything I can in my power to make things work. :)
• Incompatibility issues are not grounds for refunds (but on a case-by-case basis I may decide otherwise as I generally want those who use my app to be happy).
• The app uses technologies that are less prevalently used industry-wise (the use of the DDC/CI protocol for hardware control, EDID override capabilities, which might affect display timings, communication, etc). Properly implemented, robustly tested and standards-compliant hardware peripherals and displays should not get damaged in any way (even by erroneous settings), but there might be devices with inherent firmware issues, substandard internal design or other incompatibility issues that can suffer temporary or even permanent damage or get "bricked" (enter a permanently unresponsive state). I cannot guarantee that this does not happen and cannot take responsibility for such occurrences (but: I know of only a handful of events like this - which might even be simply freak coincidences due to the law of large numbers - even though I've been developing apps like this for years). Get informed and use the app and its features with appropriate caution!

Support

• I really try to support the user base by responding to GitHub Issues, Discussions and generally trying to be available to answer questions on the Discord channel. If I don't respond it is not because I am trying to be mean, but because I am a human with limited time. :)
• I am also motivated to fix any bugs or issues discovered as I generally want to make the app better, not worse. :)
• Having said these, the app is provided as-is. The Pro license does not include support time and there is no guaranteed support SLA or guarantee for fixing any bugs.
• If you have any question or issue and do not want to wait for my response regarding it, there is a chance that somebody else already had a similar problem - you can probably get answers faster if you search among Discussions, open and closed Issues or search in the Discord channel history.
• The Discord channel also serves as a community of BetterDisplay users, everybody is encouraged to participate and help each other.

Privacy Policy

• Licensing uses the third party provider Paddle as backend. This also means that the app communicates over the network with Paddle's servers to verify licensing, trial status and facilitate check-out using Paddle's SDK. Besides data required for licensing purposes by Paddle's services, no other info is transferred over the network. You can read more about Paddle and Privacy here.
• There is additional data collection in form of automatic crash detection and crash log collection starting from BetterDisplay v1.3.15. This data is handled by the third party provider Sentry. You can read about Sentry and Privacy here. Crash logs do not contain any personal data but might contain information about the hardware and software environment in which the app runs.
• I decided not to have a marketing list (marketing opt-in) of any kind. I also do not build any usage database or collect unique (and not unique) IDs either - besides what Paddle and Sentry collects and presents on its dashboard for me (these are only used to keep track of valid software licenses and for crash analysis purposes).
• Aside from Paddle and Sentry the only other form of network communication by the app is what is required for the built-in updater (Sparkle) to work in order to receive the update metadata and download the update binary from GitHub.

Note: starting with v1.4.7 the app gives the option to opt out of all forms of network communication.

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If you have any questions or feel something is not right or missing from the license terms, please let me know!

• waydabber

[skoshy]

@waydabber Question, if I want to de-register one of my 5 license uses (old MacBook, moving to new one), is that possible?

[waydabber]

Hi @skoshy - yes, you should click Settings/Pro/Deactivate License and then you should be able to activate again on the new Mac!

[jdjingdian]

What if I reinstall/clean my mac before deactive, is that mean I will lose the ability to transfer that license?

[waydabber]

Since you can activate on up to 5 macs for personal use, you should still be able to activate on a new Mac even if you did not deactivate. If you used up all your licenses by transferring 5 times in and never deactivating (this should be a rare occurrence as most users don't swap Macs on a monthly basis), then you can still contact Paddle and ask them to reset the license - or contact me so I can help you out. :)

[waydabber]

Hi all,

• The v2.x version is a free upgrade for all existing Pro users.
• The same license code works for the v1.x and v2.x pre-release.

[skoshy]

Curious about the potential licensing changes… I’m assuming the changes would be more restrictive, but I hope they will not be a hard pill to swallow!

[waydabber]

No decisions yet. :) Things might mostly stay as it is with some price changes (?) to offset both increase in functionality and the effect of inflation. Or it might be a good idea to introduce a subscription based alternative (as many apps seem to do nowadays) while keeping a higher priced one-off purchase option for the v2.x version. I definitely wouldn't go full subscription as I know many hate subscriptions (honestly - myself included) even though every business guy I talked to says this's what makes most sense for long-term sustainibility. Also, things need to stay reasonable - so if the app now costs $15 it will obviously not cost $150 all of a sudden... :)

I feel the app did not reach its full original vision with v1.x, that is why I decided to give v2.x version as a free update to those who already got v1.x.

[OfficialCRUGG]

Just to let you know, various countries, like Germany, give every citizen the right to receive a refund within 14 (might differ for other countries) days after purchase. This law overrides anything else. So your section saying that all purchases are final might apply to some countries, but definetly not all.

[waydabber]

Right, thanks for the info! I think the app's policy is more relaxed than this regulation since you do not even have to purchase the app at all to use it for the first 14 days (without limitations or any annoying nag screens). Users are actively encouraged to utilize the trial and try the app before buying it. Regarding the EU regulation afaik it is explicitly stated that online goods and computer software is except if the downloaded content was put to any use. In practice if somebody (despite the very generous trial opportunity and the license terms) asks for a refund especially when the app was not activated or it is obvious that there was a mistake on the buyer's part, the refund requests are never denied.

But: since managing refunds is a resource intensive manual process and not really the most optimal use of the sole developer's time behind this app, I really recommend everybody to utilize of the lengthy trial to make sure the app is worthy of purchasing (or its developer for support). :)

(for more info: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm - see the details and FAQ on digital goods purchased online)

[ilyannn]

You are right, but the business is supposed to clarify to the user that the regular withdrawal right does not apply since the purchase can be enjoyed immediately. I am not sure if Paddle does this as part of the checkout.

[waydabber]

Hi @ilyannn - thanks for the insight, I added this to the License Terms. :)

[ddsforlife]

Hello kind sir, do you ever provide discounts for Pro version for uni students at all?

[waydabber]

UPDATE:

A 30% student discount is available for studentappcentre.com premium members. A 7 day membership trial is available for new subscribers (student verification required) during which one should be able to get the discounted coupon code for the app.