Signing in
The first time Vixlo opens with nobody signed in, a card covers the launch screen. You see it once on each Mac, and again whenever this Mac has been signed out. This page is for that first sign-in, for the moment the card refuses you, and for what brings the card back.
The sign-in card
The card is headed Sign in to Vixlo, and under the title it says what the account is for: Use the email and password of your Vixlo account. Your photographs never leave this Mac; the account only licenses the app, and Vixlo checks it once a day.
Two fields, Email and Password, and two buttons. Create an account opens the website's sign-up page in your browser. Sign in sends what you typed; ↩ does the same. The button reads Signing in… while the portal answers. A small line at the foot of the card names the portal this build talks to.
What leaves the Mac is your email and password, once, over an encrypted connection, with a name for this Mac, a code made from its hardware, and the versions of Vixlo and macOS. Straight after a sign-in that works, Vixlo makes one more request, to fetch your three answers from the website; it makes that request at no other time. That request and the licence check each carry three things: the sign-in Vixlo keeps for this Mac, which is how the website knows the account; this Mac's code; and the versions of Vixlo and macOS. Signing out sends the sign-in and the versions, and not this Mac's code. The password is never kept. What Vixlo keeps is in this Mac's own Keychain, on this Mac only: what it needs to stay signed in, a code for this Mac, the licence the portal signed and when it last heard from the portal, the email on the account, and your three answers from the website. Vixlo never asks a Keychain question of its own: if it cannot read an item it shows the sign-in card instead, and nothing already stored is touched.
When the card refuses
A refusal appears in a box under the fields, in these words. When you cannot sign in takes each one further.
| What the card says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Email or password is incorrect. | Try again. The password is the one you set on the website. |
| Verify your email first: open the link Vixlo sent you, then sign in. | The account exists but the address was never confirmed. Find the email, press the button on the page its link opens, then sign in. |
| This account is already signed in on three Macs: … | Three is the limit, and the message names them. Remove one on the website's account page, then try again. |
| Too many attempts. Wait a minute, then try again. | Wait, then try again. |
| Could not reach the portal: … | This Mac is offline, or the website is unreachable. Signing in needs a connection. |
| This build cannot verify the licence the portal sent. Update Vixlo. | Download Vixlo again from the website's download page and sign in with that copy. If the message comes back, write to support@vixlo.app. |
If Create an account cannot open your browser, Vixlo says Couldn't open your browser and The link is on the clipboard. Paste it into any browser's address bar.
After you are in
The card goes, and the launch screen is in front of you. Under the title bar, a line states the account when there is something to state. On a trial it reads Trial · 7 days left, and under that Ends 17 Oct 2026. Subscribe any time from your account page; nothing changes until then., with an Account page button at its end. The title bar's right-hand end carries the short form, Trial · 7 d. A paid subscription shows nothing at all, and neither does complimentary access until its last seven days.
From then on, Vixlo checks the licence at launch, when the Mac wakes and once a day while it runs, but never more than once in 24 hours: quit and reopen Vixlo, or wake the Mac, within a day of the last check and it does not ask again. Refresh in the Account section of the Settings window always asks at once. The check sends the sign-in Vixlo keeps for this Mac, this Mac's code and the versions of Vixlo and macOS, and nothing about your photographs, your files or your libraries. If the portal cannot be reached, nothing changes: the last answer stands. Offline, a trial still ends on its last day, and a subscription keeps working for 30 days past the end of the period paid for; Your account in the app has the detail.
Staying signed in, and what signs a Mac out
Quit and reopen Vixlo and you are still signed in. The card comes back when this Mac is signed out, which happens when:
- you sign out on this Mac, below;
- this Mac is removed from the list of Macs on the website's account page;
- the account's password is reset on the website, which signs out every Mac on the account;
- Vixlo's support signs the account out, or the account is deleted;
- Vixlo has not reached the website for 30 days, because it was not opened or this Mac was offline: the sign-in lapses, and the next check is refused.
Anything done on the website reaches this Mac at its next licence check, which can be up to a day away, or at once from Refresh in the Account section of the Settings window. Until then Vixlo runs on the licence it holds. Signing in again on the card brings the account back; your libraries were never part of it.
Three doors sign out, and they all do the same thing: Sign out in the Account section at the top of the Settings window; Sign out at the foot of the popover that opens from the account button, the circled person directly above Your keys at the bottom of the cull page's side panel; and Vixlo ▸ Sign Out of Vixlo in the menu bar. Signing out removes what Vixlo kept to stay signed in, this Mac's code and the licence from this Mac, and, when the website can be reached, frees the Mac's place on the account. Signed out with no connection, the Mac keeps its place until you remove it on the website's account page. Your libraries are untouched: they are files on this Mac, never part of the account.