Pro

Use the Pro pane to see whether this installation has access through a trial or an activated license. From here you can purchase or enter a license, manage activations, and understand a licensing notice. Check the status after purchasing or activating to confirm that Pro is available.

Where to find it: Settings > Pro. Pro badges and licensing notices elsewhere can lead here.

License management must be enabled, including for the trial. Purchase and activation communicate with the licensing provider.

Pro pane with an activated license, eight installations and license-management actions

An activated license shows its current status and the available management actions.

Status and licensing permission

When licensing is disabled, the pane reports Licensing & Pro Features Disabled and offers Licensing & Pro Features. Enabling it initializes licensing and refreshes the app's configuration. The same permission is available in Application settings. Turning permission off limits the app to free features. To remove an activation, use the separate license-management actions.

Read the current status

A trial or active license can make the features available, while an outdated-license notice can add conditions to continued use or reactivation.

Licensing server connectivity

Whenever you open this pane with licensing enabled, BetterDisplay checks its connection to Paddle. With an activated license, the app requests its activation list. Otherwise, it tests server access without submitting license details. This check also runs when the trial has expired.

If the request fails, an orange notice titled Unable to Reach Licensing Servers explains that new license activations and license management need access to Paddle’s licensing servers (*.paddleapi.com). These features may not work properly until connectivity is restored. The notice asks you to check your network connection and firewall settings. The app retries every five seconds while the pane remains open. Once the request succeeds, the notice disappears and retries stop. Disabling licensing or closing the pane stops the checks. See activation troubleshooting for network and firewall checks.

Purchase and enter a license

Choose Buy BetterDisplay Pro to open checkout, or Already Have a License? to activate a purchase you already made. When a license is present, the latter button reads Manage License. Paddle provides these windows.

Activate an existing purchase

Enter Email Address and License Code, then choose Activate. Activating License can appear while the request is processed. Cancel leaves the form, and Buy Now offers a purchase alternative. After activation finishes, check the refreshed Pro-pane status.

If activation fails, see How can I fix Paddle activation errors? for email and key-entry checks, Paddle connectivity and local licensing-data troubleshooting.

Complete a purchase

The checkout interface supplies an Enter License alternative and can report Completing Purchase. Its payment form, available methods, error messages and commercial details are supplied by the provider and may vary. Closing a window does not by itself prove activation succeeded. The app refreshes licensing after checkout or activation finishes.

Additional payment methods & licenses or Additional licenses links to the purchase website. License Terms opens the applicable terms. Use those links to check current prices, purchase methods and license coverage.

Beneath the License Terms line, Licensing FAQ opens Licensing Questions, and activation troubleshooting opens the Paddle activation-errors FAQ.

Manage activations

An activated license shows Manage Activations or Deactivate License, depending on the license and the activation list returned by Paddle. Select that button or the activation-count notice to open the available choices.

Manage Activations offers:

The simpler Do you want to deactivate the license? confirmation offers Deactivate and Cancel, and reminds you to save your license details for future activation. Deactivation removes Pro access from the affected installation. Check the refreshed status to confirm that Paddle accepted the request.

License notices

License Issue Detected means the installation was remotely deactivated or its hardware identifiers no longer match its activation. Reactivate the installation to resolve it. Dismiss only hides the notice.

Version compatibility and an existing activation

An Outdated License error says the license cannot activate the current app version and directs you toward a new license. A separate upgrade-continuity notice can appear while an existing activation remains usable. It explains that deactivation or reinstallation will prevent reactivation of that version with the old license. Deactivate and Buy or Enter New License deactivates, then opens checkout. Dismiss keeps the current activation and hides the warning. The smaller outdated-license banner can reveal the warning again.

Automatic replacement of an older activation

The maximum-activations notice reports that an older activation was automatically removed to make room for the new one. Select Dismiss to clear this notice. No further activation is removed by dismissing it.

Manage Activations confirmation with three removal choices and Cancel

Manage Activations distinguishes removing this installation, other installations or all activations. This example uses the separate DEV sandbox.

The App Menu and Settings may hide or disable individual Pro features as Pro access changes. An enabled preference does not establish that a particular display supports the feature.

Additional information

This section explains licensing requirements and platform compatibility for the features described above.

Features requiring Pro license

No active Pro license is required to open this pane, purchase a license or enter one. License-management actions need the corresponding license state and a successful provider response. Individual app features have their requirements listed on their own pages.

Platform compatibility

All features described on this page are available on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. License state, supported app version and provider responses determine which management actions appear. Purchasing or activation requires communication with the licensing service.