How to buy, activate and move your Pairbar licence

Before you start

• Pairbar installed (see how to install Pairbar).
• An internet connection: activation talks to Lemon Squeezy's licence API at api.lemonsqueezy.com.
• The email address you bought Pairbar with, if you need to look up your key.

Steps

1. Buy
   Use the buy buttons on the trial line above the tab bar, on the lock screen or in Settings → Licence, or the pricing page, and pick yearly, monthly or lifetime. Checkout runs in your browser through Lemon Squeezy, which handles payment, VAT and the receipt. Every option has every feature: $49/year ($39 first year with LAUNCH), $9/month or $129 lifetime (first 200 buyers). The launch code LAUNCH is filled in for you on yearly.
2. Let it activate itself
   Finish the checkout in your browser. A few seconds later Pairbar unlocks by itself: the app asked for your licence as soon as the payment went through, so there's no key to copy. The browser shows You're in; if Pairbar doesn't unlock, press Open Pairbar there.
3. On a new Mac, use your email
   Install Pairbar, then open pairbar.com/activate and enter the email you bought Pairbar with. The email has an Activate Pairbar button: it opens Pairbar and activates it (the link works once, for 30 minutes). No password, no key.
4. Or paste the key by hand
   The key is also in the receipt email from Lemon Squeezy (and at app.lemonsqueezy.com/my-orders). Paste it in Settings → Licence during the trial, or under Already subscribed? on the lock screen, and press Activate. Email and Licence key have visible labels. Switching back to email clears a previous key error and keeps the key draft.
5. Check the status
   Settings → Licence shows your plan with Active and the licensed email address, the Licence key mostly hidden, and This Mac: the name of this activation, made of the Mac's model and a random id.

Activation error messages

Renew or manage the subscription

• A subscription renews by itself: yearly at $49, monthly at $9. A lifetime licence never renews and never expires. Manage subscription… in Settings → Licence opens your Lemon Squeezy account, where you can update the card, see invoices or cancel.
• If you cancel, Pairbar keeps working until the month or year you paid for ends. When a subscription ends, it keeps working 14 more days, then locks until you renew.
• To renew an ended subscription, use Renew on the lock screen or in Settings → Licence. Once the payment goes through, press Renewed? Check again (or wait for the next check) and Pairbar unlocks with the same key.

Move the licence to another Mac

A licence is for one person on up to 3 of their own Macs. To free an activation, open Settings → Licence on the Mac you're leaving and choose Deactivate this Mac…. Pairbar locks there until a key is entered again. On the new Mac, install Pairbar and activate with the same key.

The weekly check and working offline

• About once a week, Pairbar checks the key with Lemon Squeezy in the background. It sends the key and this Mac's activation id, nothing about your chats or files. Check now in Settings → Licence runs it on demand.
• If the check can't reach Lemon Squeezy, nothing changes at first. After it has been failing for a while, a warning above the tab bar shows that the licence has not been checked and the date it keeps working until. In a narrow sidebar the status is shorter, with Details below it; hover for the full explanation.
• Pairbar locks only if it can't check the key for 14 days after the check was due: three weeks in all. When you're online again it unlocks by itself, or press Check again.
• If Lemon Squeezy says the key is no longer valid (for example after a refund), Pairbar keeps working for 14 more days with a "Licence problem" line, then locks.

What the lock screen pauses

While Pairbar is locked, scheduled workflows and check-ins don't run (they resume from their schedule once unlocked), ⌃⌥K quick search is off, and chat alerts are quiet. Nothing is deleted. If Claude and Codex aren't open when Pairbar starts locked, the lock screen opens in its own window; the menu-bar icon's Licence… opens it too.

Troubleshooting

Activation fails on a company network

Activation and the weekly check need api.lemonsqueezy.com. Allow it in your firewall, VPN or content blocker, or activate on another network.

The old Mac is gone and all activations are used

You can't deactivate a Mac you no longer have. Email support (Settings → Licence → Help with your licence) and ask for the activation to be freed.

"Licence not checked lately" line

Pairbar hasn't reached Lemon Squeezy for a while. Go online and press Check now in Settings → Licence; it still works until the date shown.