Journal

Why there is a device limit, and why it is three

July 2, 2026

The app allows three activated devices per account. People reasonably ask what that is for, since we also say, loudly, that we are not interested in policing how you use software you bought.

What the limit is for

Exactly one scenario: you copy your application folder onto a friend’s machine and hand it over. That copy carries an activation certificate with it, and without a check of some kind it would just work — a second, unpaid, fully functional install created by dragging a folder.

So the certificate is bound to the machine it was issued for. On launch, the app compares a stable machine identifier against the one baked into its signed certificate. Different machine, no match, back to the sign-in screen.

What the limit is not for

It is not there to stop you sharing your account with your partner. It could not: the sign-in screen accepts your password from anywhere. We decided that is fine, and the reason is not generosity. Anyone holding your password holds read, write, and delete access to every word you have ever written in this app, because there is no per-document permission model on top of end-to-end encryption. That is a sufficient deterrent on its own, and adding a second one would only make life worse for the people paying us.

It also will not stop a determined person from patching the check out of the binary. Of course it will not. We are not going to spend your money building defences against an adversary who was never going to pay.

Replacing a computer

Reinstalling an OS or swapping a motherboard changes the machine identifier, which looks to us exactly like a brand-new device. So the limit would quietly eat slots over the years if you could not clear them yourself.

You can. Sign in on this site, open your devices, and revoke the old one. The slot is free immediately. No email, no support ticket, no waiting on us.