I have a lifetime for ARC3 and it is still valid at this time. I can send you a screenshot if you need it.
I installed ARC4 and was forced to subscribe. I subscribed for one week and then cancelled the subscription, but I cannot restore my lifetime.
How should I do this? Sorry to annoy you with this. I really like the new app; it’s super fast, but I prefer not to pay again since I already paid €200. What should I do to solve this? Ward
Hi @Ward! I’m guessing you have the newest version of the old app installed yeah? Got to the new app via the old app telling you about it?
That update of the old app sets up a shared customer id between the two apps, so that they each know about the other’s subscriptions/purchases. Which is what should have carried your Lifetime over to the new app.
So what’s probably happening is a caching problem, either at App Store layer or RevenueCat layer (the middleware that provides the shared customer stuff). One or both has outdated info.
In the new app, try tapping the reload/refresh button in the Subscriptions view. That should snap it out of the outdated info state.
Also worth opening up the old app again and opening the subscriptions view in that one too. To try to jog that one out of any similar potential outdated info state.
Also, make sure you cancel your subscription in the new app! You don’t want to be accidentally charged at the end of the week 
And even if cancelled the full one week trial will still continue. And by then surely both apps should have realised they were working on outdated info. It’s likely they already have, and your free trial is masking that - the app is showing you that as the active subscription because that’s the one you started inside the new app, but it probably already knows now of the Lifetime carried over from the old app.
Hi Matt
Thanks for the great app update to version 4 and for your response.
I tested everything you said. I did cancel the week trial. I closed both apps and checked the subscriptions and refreshed many times. Version 3 is still on the lifetime plan, but version 4 is now on the monthly plan.
Is this an Apple problem?
Yeah I think partially. Or a RevenueCat problem. Or both.
But I think the good news is it’s probably all fine now.
It should be the case by now that the new app knows about your Lifetime from the old app. It’s just showing you the new trial subscription because that’s what it knows locally, in its own systems. But underneath that it’ll also know about the Lifetime.
So once the trial expires all should be fine. It was probably just a temporary thing, with one or both apps getting told outdated / wrong info, which then self corrected once the App Store or RevenueCat systems self checked and updated a bit later.
Hi Matt
Sorry to come back to this, but it’s still not solved. I try everything possible, but it’s still on the monthly plan, and I received an email from Apple.
Apple email subscription stops on April 24. That’s only two days from now.
Can you please help me to fix this?
@Ward That email is nothing to worry about. You’re all good 
The email is just telling you that the free trial you started is going to end. But the new app itself will already know about your lifetime from the other app. So once the trial ends the new app will continue on happily, no problems.
Inside the new app it’s still showing you the monthly, not the lifetime, because that’s the trial/subscription it started itself so the one that’s closest to it. But underneath that it’ll also already know about your lifetime - it’s just not showing that in the UI.
Which is actually something I could fix - that’s a UI weakness that could definitely be improved. Though perhaps it’ll become meaningless soon, once everyone’s transitioned over to the new app and got past this sometimes initially unreliable handover situation. But I’ll file that today anyway, to get into an update soon.
But anyway, yeah, you’re still all good! Nothing to worry about. It’ll go fine once the trial ends tomorrow-ish.
If it doesn’t go all fine tomorrow-ish though, definitely let me know immediately! I think it’s extremely unlikely that anything will go wrong, but if it does I’ll be here as rapid response to sort it out in whatever way I can.
Matt
Apple has charged my account for 1 month.
I noticed you updated the app last Friday, but it did not help. When I opened the app today, I got a message saying I need to resubscribe. I did that, but within two minutes I cancelled. I am still being charged the monthly subscription fee.
I have asked Apple for a refund. If they will not take care of this, I will hold you accountable. I do not think I should be paying for it. I paid $200 for a lifetime subscription.
I have been patient, but I am getting angry. Money is being taken from my account, and I do not have time for this. I have a very busy job, and I do not have time to keep dealing with this. Now my accounting has to fix this.
Please solve this.
As I experienced problems a bit similar to yours, you might be interested in this thread:
I agree with Matt that you are probably fine now if you have cancelled the subscription in the new app.
However, whatever you do, don’t subscribe again in the new app! That’s why you have been billed by Apple. Instead, let the current (cancelled) subscription run out and then it could be fine. If not, try solving the issue without starting a new subscription. If your subscription doesn’t carry over from the old app, try what I did in the thread I linked, ask here for advice but don’t buy it again from Apple.
Hi again @Ward!
First up, let’s keep this civil. I will not engage with threatening language. I appreciate you’re angry, and I’m here to help, but I will not tolerate escalation to threats or demands.
Now, on to working the problem.
For the refund, Apple will grant that without problem. There is no reason to deny a refund request immediately after a charge.
It is unclear why your existing Lifetime status hasn’t carried over to the new app. Most likely RevenueCat hasn’t linked your two profiles for some reason. But we can proceed with a solution regardless.
The new app update, v1.0.1, includes a new debug field that will allow us to find out what’s happening inside RevenueCat. And critically, I can then use that to grant you the correct entitlement manually, so that you can access the app without further problem.
In the new app, open settings (top left button) → Debug Info (down the bottom). Then in that view, scroll down to “Subscription”, expand that section, then tap on the customer ID number to copy it to clipboard.
Then please email me that id, to matt@bigpaua.com. From there I can assess the problem in RevenueCat, and critically, also manually grant you the proper entitlement.
Here is a screenshot showing the Subscription section in Debug Info, to illustrate:
Ok, following up here with more detail, after sending you an email reply @Ward. But to recap the email:
I’ve now granted you Lifetime entitlement manually in RevenueCat. So you should be back up and going in the new app now!
Oh if the new app still shows the subscription view, tap the reload button (the refresh arrow thing). And if even that doesn’t work, swipe the app closed then restart it, and try again.
And now more detail:
Our suspicion at this point is that the old app hasn’t linked up the accounts properly. Well, that’s what we can see as proven in RevenueCat’s UI. Your customer profile there only knows about the new app, not the old. So yeah they haven’t linked up properly.
Our hunch for why that’s happened is that the old app might have only launched/restarted in the background, while the phone was locked. The “vendor ID” that’s required to link the two apps isn’t available when the phone is locked - it returns empty! Which we’ve just learnt today. Frustrating discovery! But at least it might explain some part of the mystery.
Both apps check and set that “vendor ID” when they start up, in order to ensure the two apps are linked. So the fix should be as simple as swiping the old app closed then reopening it. Because that will get it to start up again while you’re watching, while the phone isn’t locked. The vendor ID will be available, the accounts will link up.
At least, that’s what we expect if our theory is correct about what might be going on. Unproven, but it’s the best theory we’ve got at this point.
So yeah, next step is try that! Swipe the old app closed, reopen it, and …
Actually, now that you’ve been manually granted Lifetime for the new app, you probably won’t see any change. Hmm. Well, I mean, that’s fine. The goal is to ensure your Lifetime is available in both apps, and it now should be.
But doing the swipe close then reopen will still link the two customer profiles, which is still desirable. And then we can check in RevenueCat to prove that it worked. Which is important for other people who might be having this same problem!
And yeah, definitely let me know if it’s still not right. This time I’m super confident (I’m staring right at the Lifetime entitlement on your ID in RevenueCat now - this time it’s definitely there), but given this has been quite a run of bad luck, I’m still nervous!
And thanks for bearing with me while we worked through this. This whole transition to a new app, carrying over existing subscriptions and purchases, has been a first time experience. Have never had to do this for an app before. And there’s been a bunch of traps in it that I didn’t see coming!
