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What read-only means

Read-only is the state Vixlo is in when the account no longer unlocks it, and it is a pause, not a lock-out. This page covers what still works, what waits and what lifts it.

When it happens​

  • The seven-day trial ends, on its date, and nothing has been bought.
  • A subscription ends: it was cancelled and its paid period is over, or a failed payment was never fixed, and either Stripe ended the subscription or the thirty days past the period's end have passed.
  • Complimentary access from an invite code ends.
  • The app has been unable to reach the website for 30 days past the end of a paid period, so the licence it holds has run out.

A trial, a failed payment's thirty days and a licence that has run out offline end on their date, whether or not the Mac can reach the website: the app judges those dates itself, from the licence it holds. It looks at launch, when the Mac wakes, once a day while it runs and on Refresh in the Settings window, so an app left open through the date carries on until the next of those. A subscription that was cancelled or ended by Stripe, and complimentary access that has ended, wait for the app's next check with the website (about once a day, or on Refresh), because only the website knows they are over.

What the app shows​

The notice under the title bar becomes a lock notice: Vixlo is read-only until you subscribe, and under it Your trial or subscription has ended. Every library still opens, and Export and Hand off still write real files; culling and developing are paused until you subscribe on your account page. For an invited account that has never had a subscription, the first sentence is Your complimentary access has ended. On the launch screen, the chip at the title bar's end reads Read-only.

The lock notice under the title bar

In the Settings window, the Account section says what ended, beside the word Read-only and a Subscribe button:

  • The trial has ended. Subscribe on the account page to keep culling and developing.
  • The subscription is canceled. Subscribe again on the account page to keep culling and developing.
  • Complimentary access ended 12 Jan 2027. Subscribe on the account page to keep culling and developing.
  • The licence could not be renewed. Sign in again, or check the subscription on the account page.

The Account section in the Settings window while read-only

Press a decision key, or move a slider on the edit page, and a message says why: Vixlo is read-only until you subscribe, with Subscribe on your account page to keep culling and developing. under it. The frame is exactly as it was.

The message after pressing a decision key while read-only

In Vixlo 0.1

Two things answer wrongly while Vixlo is read-only.

Undo is not paused. Edit ▸ Undo stays enabled, and on the cull page each ⌘Z takes back one more change from the library's history and saves it: a decision, star rating, favourite or colour label, even one made before the pause. The message says Last culling decision restored. On the edit page ⌘Z, and the undo arrow in the top panel beside Back to cull, do the same for a decision made there earlier in the session; an adjustment is not undone, but the message says Adjustment undone and the step is used up. Until you subscribe, avoid Undo, whether by ⌘Z, Edit ▸ Undo or that arrow; if you use it, ⇧⌘Z puts the change back.

H in Compare. With a proposed pair on screen, H (and ⇧H) is refused like every other decision, but the lock message is then replaced by Both held, and with auto-advance on the pass moves past both frames. Neither frame was held. Press ← to step back: their badges are as they were.

On the website, the account page's Plan pill reads Read-only with No active subscription. Every library still opens; decisions and adjustments are paused. (or Your complimentary access ended on 12 January 2027. Every library still opens; decisions and adjustments are paused until you subscribe.), and the Subscribe buttons are back.

What still works​

  • Every library opens, and you can switch between them.
  • Browsing, search, the gallery, and looking at a pair in Compare: C opens it, and Leaving Compare lists the ways out.
  • Adding photographs. Scanning a card or folder into a library (⋯ ▸ Library… ▸ Scan a card or folder…, File ▸ Scan Source… or File ▸ Import…) copies and verifies as it does on a subscription, and so does the import after creating a library. Read-only pauses what you decide and develop, not what you bring in; Importing from a card or a folder has the steps.
  • Export, Hand off and Share review write real files, exactly as before. Read-only never touches what leaves the Mac, so your work is always yours to take out.
  • Signing in and out, the Settings window, and the account page.

What is paused​

  • Take, Hold, Reject and clearing a decision. The three decision buttons at the right-hand end of the pass line dim, and in the Edit menu Take, Hold, Reject and Clear are disabled. Undo is not paused; see the caution above.
  • Accepting a proposal, with ↩ or ⌘↩, which writes the same decisions: it is refused with the message above, and the frames stay undecided.
  • Stars, favourites, colour labels and notes on a decision, and restoring a frame from the bin.
  • Every develop adjustment. In Single, the develop panel that Develop opens beside the photograph shows the lock title and sentence at its top; its tools are dimmed and do not respond. On the edit page the same title and sentence run under the top panel; the develop panel looks as usual, but a slider writes nothing, and the message above says why.

The develop panel in Single, with the lock notice above its dimmed tools

Nothing is deleted, nothing is hidden, and the pause itself changes nothing already decided or developed. Decisions and edits made before it stay in the library and export exactly as they were, unless you undo them. What is never touched lists what Vixlo leaves alone whatever the account says.

Lifting it​

Subscribe on the account page — from Subscribe in the Settings window, the notice's Account page button, or the rail's Manage account… — then press Refresh in the Settings window. The lock notice goes, the buttons light up, and the next key you press lands. Without Refresh, the app notices at its next check. A redeemed invite code lifts it the same way.

If the Settings window says The licence could not be renewed, the licence this Mac holds has run past its date: a failed payment's thirty days are up, or the Mac has been out of touch with the website for too long. The same sentence appears when the licence stored on this Mac cannot be read, and then the Settings window adds Last check: The cached licence could not be read; sign in again if this persists. Fix the card on the account page if a payment failed, connect the Mac and press Refresh, and if that does not clear it, sign out and in again.