In July 2022, we introduced a new type of license: the maintenance license. The maintenance license provides continued technical support and software updates for personal customers. This does not apply to Synergy Business (our license for business customers), which is an annual subscription.
The cost of the maintenance license is a fraction of the full purchase price: $9.00 USD per year
You can extend your maintenance license at any time, before or after it expires. This can be done from your account page.
Our maintenance license is not a subscription, because it does not automatically renew and when the license expires, the software will continue to work without interruption; extending your maintenance license is optional. We don't store your credit card information, unless you want us to (purely as a convenience).
You'll still be able to use Synergy after your maintenance license expires, and you can continue to use the version of Synergy you last downloaded, forever. The download page will always show the latest version you have access to at the point when your license expires. There is no obligation to extend your maintenance license; it's only necessary to do so if you want continued software updates or technical support.
We introduced the maintenance license to ensure the long-term continued success of Synergy, which requires us to grow our team. We want to provide an excellent customer experience and we believe this type of license is in the best interest of our customers.
Customers who purchased from 8th July 2022 onward have received a Synergy maintenance license, which is not a product-specific license (i.e. it's not just for Synergy 1). The Synergy maintenance license covers all Synergy products (i.e. Synergy 1, Synergy 3, and any future major version of Synergy).
On 8th July 2022, we emailed all of our customers to let them know that we introduced the maintenance license, and at the time it only affected new customers. In the announcement, we also reassured existing customers (who we call Innovators and Early Adopters) that they have lifetime access to Synergy. In this context, lifetime refers to the lifetime of the product, and Synergy refers to the only available version at the time which was Synergy 1.
Customers who purchased before 1st July 2022 keep their original product-specific license which is valid for the lifetime of Synergy 1. These customers also received a new maintenance license additional to their existing license, which enabled access to Synergy 3.
Lifetime of Synergy 1: At this time, we are planning to support Synergy 1 until 2028. When this date is reached, we will either extend the lifetime of that product, or sunset the product and declare it as end of life. Once this stage is reached, Innovator and Early Adopter customers will still have download access to the latest version of Synergy 1, forever.
With the launch of Synergy 3 on May 31st 2023, we emailed all of our customers to let them know they have been granted a maintenance license as well as the existing product-specific license.
The term "lifetime" means the lifespan of our products, and not the lifespan of our customers. The term "product" means a major version of Synergy, such as Synergy 1 or Synergy 3. This is because Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 are distinct products, each with their own unique lifespan.
We intend to continue providing software updates and technical support for Synergy 1 for Innovators and Early Adopters, so there is no obligation for these customers to switch to Synergy 3, which is a different product. At the time of announcing the maintenance license, only Synergy 1 was available.
For Synergy 3, as it is a different product, we gave all Innovator and Early Adopter customers a complimentary upgrade with access to technical support and software updates for a fixed period. Once this period has expired, customers who do not wish to extend are free to continue using the latest version of Synergy 3 that they had access to, or switch to Synergy 1 where there is no limit on software updates or technical support (this is only available for Innovator and Early Adopter customers).
Maintenance licenses were given to specific types of customers with the following fixed time-periods:
Synergy 2 upgraders are people who purchased an upgrade from Synergy 1 to Synergy 2. Elite Synergizers will automatically have their maintenance license extended while their membership is active. Elite Synergizers were previously known as Elite Backers.
We do appreciate that the term, 'lifetime', was not defined in our EULA until it was revised on 1st June 2023, and so the meaning was once left open to interpretation. We have also clarified that before May 31st 2023, Synergy referred to Synergy 1.
While we have done our best to act in the best long term interest of customers, we appreciate that our definition of the word, 'lifetime', may not match the perspective of some customers, which is why we are offering a rebate to those customers. To apply for this rebate, please complete the Synergy lifetime rebate form (this requires a Google account to upload proof of purchase).
For more information, please read our EULA (end user license agreement).
If this article didn't help, you can talk to someone on our support team (unless we sent you here, in which case please reply via the ticket you already have open).