New versions (V-4.0.x) of Pimlical/Android and Pimlical/Desktop are now available. Along with the release of these new versions, the method of purchasing and accessing updates has been significantly changed, so you will want to read this carefully.

Over the past 16+ years since Pimlical became available, users have been treated to free major upgrades and free Tech Support with never a requirement to re-purchase. Documentation had stated that while minor upgrades (V-3.4 to say V-3.5) would be offered at no cost, that was not guaranteed for major upgrades (V-2.x.x to V-3.x.x), although in practice that was not done.

Going forwards, there will still be no requirement for existing users to re-purchase Pimlical, but neither will there be free access to all the new features. Bug fixes, changes to maintain compatibility with OS environments will continue to be made and Tech Support provided to all users.

For new users, Pimlical will only be available on a subscription plan - annual, five year and lifetime plans are available for Pimlical/Android, Pimlical/Desktop and the bundle of both P/A and PD. There are also Qty2 plans which incorporate a 50% discount on the second subscription. Along with the licensing information, you will also notice that the About dialogs in the new versions now display a Subscription Field which shows when the subscription will lapse, along with a button to purchase a new subscription. Automatic re-purchase of subscriptions is not supported.

All EXISTING, registered users of Pimlical will remain perpetually licensed, and have a subscription enabled through the end of this year (December 31, 2023), which means that they will have access to all the new features for evaluation purposes. If they choose not to purchase a subscription, access to the new features will lapse, but the application will remain licensed and functional. So users who do nothing will continue to get access to new releases with bug fixes, etc. but after December 31, 2023 will no longer have access to any new functionality.

New users who never purchased Pimlical before this announcement and who now purchase a subscription will be licensed only for the duration of the subscription they purchase, so when their subscription lapses, their license will also lapse. Note this only applies to NEW users who have never purchased Pimlical before.

Those of you who have been actively purchasing software over the years are well aware that the vast majority of software developers now have these types of plans in place -- even my old compass app (a relatively simple App) now wants $3.99/month for its use (!). And most of them now FORCE their users to pay up to even be able to continue accessing the App - something which Pimlico is not doing here for all of its existing user base.

These new versions do now incorporate a Trial Period for use (P/D has always had that, but this is new for P/A) which should facilitate evaluation of the applications for new users, and during the Trial period, access is provided to all the new features.

These new versions incorporate some new features, but the most important changes have involved the long-standing issues with trying to maintain compliance with the Google PlayStore. Recently, these restrictions have become so onerous, that I have decided to no longer go through hoops trying to modify Pimlical to be in compliance, especially since some of these modifications involves crippling functions in P/A that I and other users find really useful. Pimlical/Android DOES now regain its full page alarm dialog functionality that was lost when Android-10 first came out (and which the PlayStore may soon not allow anyway). That is not being considered a new feature, so non-subscription users will be happy to see that functionality restored in P/A.

I do plan to release a V-3.9 of P/A through the Playstore in two weeks or so, but it will have none of the new functionality (since some of that new functionality runs contrary to Google's PlayStore restrictions), and I do not plan to add any new functionality to that version either as the source code will be forked (split in two) in order to put together a Playstore-compliant version. It will be maintained at that level for as long as it is still feasible to maintain compliance with google's ever changing restrictions on functionality. Also, users of the Playstore version will have to manually move their data from the old Pimlical folder to the new Pimlical folder in Scoped Storage.

The next release of Pimlical/Android WILL incorporate an automatic download and install of the application (controlled by existing preference settings) - so there will be no ongoing need to manually download updates and install them.

I realize some users will be disconcerted by these changes, but I do believe the vast majority of users realize that Tech Support and on-going development of an application involves significant costs and effort. And as a mature application, almost everyone who would want to use Pimlical has already found it and purchased it. And removing the work necessary to maintain PlayStore compatibility will free up time to put into future development (hopefully not too much just to maintain compatibility with the ever-changing Android OS!

The new purchase pages for Pimlical are now linked to the main https://www.PimlicoSoftware.com page/

The new Subscription Purchase page is:

https://www.PimlicoSoftware.com/PayPalSubscription.html

and this can be reached by tapping the BUY NOW button on the home page and can also be accessed from menu | About (or menu | Help | About in P/D), where there is a button/link to reach this page in these newly released versions.

This page includes links to download the latest releases of Pimlical/Android and Pimlical/Desktop. For existing users, these versions will now pick up the current licensing/subscription information in the licensing databases - you should see the application marked as licensed with a subscription expiring on December 31, 2023. If you do not see that information, it will be because you have a NEW registration name for P/D or a new ReferenceID for P/A - in which case contact Tech Support and provide a screenshot of the About Dialog. Your ReferenceID for P/A cannot be changed – it is either your primary email account OR your Android DeviceID.

For new users who have never used Pimlical before, these download links will currently run a single 30-day trial period for Pimlical.

If you are switching from the Google V-3.7.110, you will need to uninstall the Google version first before installing the Direct Download version. I recommend that you make a copy of the Pimlical folder first before uninstalling the Google version, just to protect against inadvertent mistakes in handling the transition.

V-4.0.x of Pimlical/Android uses "scoped storage" - meaning that the Pimlical folder is now located at: /Android/Data/com.pimlicosoftware.PimlicalA/files/Pimlical. If you are an existing user, V-4.0.x will automatically move your existing data from the old Pimlical folder location to this new folder in scoped storage on initial launch (at which point the original Pimlical folder contents will remain, and can be treated as a backup copy). And remember that using Scoped Storage means that when you uninstall the App, you *MUST* check that all-important checkbox to preserve your existing data. Otherwise Google will delete all of your local data and preferences, and there is no recovery from that!

Finally, note that these new versions of P/A require a MINIMUM OS version of 6.0. They will not run on earlier versions of the Android OS.

If you are the kind of user that gets bent out of shape any time things change, I would recommend you wait a day or so to see what experiences other users who are more of the 'early-adopter' genre experience in installing V-4.0.x. I will be monitoring this forum for technical issues in this new release.

Cheers!

Pimlico Software

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When emailing tech support, if you are using Pimlical, try sending from the application first:

      Pimlical Desktop: menu | Help | About & Tech Support - tap EMAIL TECH SUPPORT button

      Pimlical Android: menu | Help & Usage Tips - tap CONTACT TECH SUPPORT button

If that does not bring up your email system with filled-in form, go to https://www.PimlicoSoftware.com/techsupport.html and look for section "Technical Support on Specific Products" for the requisite information (you can copy the block of text there and then just add in the required information).

In addition: if reporting a problem, please Look in the Pimlical folder for any error files (error files have a .ERROR extension, although earlier versions of P/A sometimes had TXT Or LOG extensions) and send those files here for analysis if you see any.

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