# Subscriptions and plans

What the Account page does, where billing actually lives, and which button to press when you upgrade or change PC.

Blabb is free to install and free to dictate with, up to 2,000 words a day; a subscription lifts the
cap. Installing and billing are two separate systems, run by two different companies, and knowing
which is which saves a lot of confusion later.

## Where the money goes

Installing is free from the **Microsoft Store**. The Store handles the app and its updates, and asks
for no payment method.

Billing runs through **Polar**, a merchant of record — not the Store. Polar takes the payment,
handles tax and invoicing, and gives you a licence key on the confirmation page at the end of
checkout. Blabb stores that key on your PC,
encrypted, and never sees your card details.

So: an app problem is a Store matter, and a payment problem is a Polar matter. Blabb's Account page
is where the two meet.

## Blabb Free

A fresh installation dictates straight away: **2,000 words a day**, every feature included, no card.
The count resets at local midnight.

Words are counted after a dictation finishes, so a sentence that crosses the limit is transcribed
and typed in full. Only the next dictation is refused, and that is when the upgrade ask appears.

It is not a trial: nothing is counting down, no card is involved, and there is nothing to cancel.
It does not expire. When 2,000 words a day stops being enough, a subscription lifts the cap — and
that is where the free trial starts.

## The 14-day free trial

Every subscription plan starts with a **14-day free trial** — the one-time lifetime licence does not,
because there is no recurring charge to cancel. You enter a card at the Polar checkout, the trial
runs for a fortnight, and you can cancel inside it through **Manage** on the Account page without
being charged. See [Changing or cancelling your plan](/docs/account/cancel-and-refund/).

So there are two free things, and they are not the same one:

| | What it is | Card needed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Blabb Free | 2,000 words a day, indefinitely, without subscribing at all | No |
| 14-day free trial | The start of a real subscription | Yes, at checkout |

## The Account page

Settings → **Account**. Everything to do with your licence is on it.

| Control | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Status badge | Whether your subscription is **Active**, **Expired**, **Inactive** or **Unknown**, with the plan name beside it. |
| Available plans | What you can buy. Subscribing opens a checkout in your browser. |
| **Subscribe** | Starts checkout for that plan. |
| **Manage** | Opens the Polar billing portal, where changes and cancellation happen. |
| **Refresh** | Re-checks your subscription now — the badge, the permission to dictate, and the specialist vocabulary. |
| Licence key and **Activate** | Paste the key from your confirmation page, then activate this PC. |
| **Remove** | Signs this PC out, and asks the server to free the licence slot for another machine. |

**Unknown** is the fourth badge and the one people ask about. It does not mean anything is wrong with
your subscription — it means Blabb could not get an answer, which is what you will see whenever you
are offline. See [Using Blabb offline](/docs/account/working-offline/).

There is also a short **How this is used** card, explaining what the payment provider handles and
what Blabb keeps. It is on this page and no other, because this is the one screen where money and a
third party appear.

## When to press Refresh

Press **Refresh** after anything changes on the billing side — a plan change, a renewal, or an
upgrade to the Medical or Legal vocabulary.

Refresh re-verifies your subscription straight away: the status badge, the permission to dictate,
and the specialist vocabulary your plan now includes. Everything else is on a daily schedule, which
is why this button exists — you have just changed something and you should not have to wait for it.

Press it after subscribing, after an upgrade to Medical or Legal, and after fixing a failed payment.

## When to press Remove

Press **Remove** when you are moving to a different PC.

Each PC you activate holds a slot on your licence. Remove deletes the key from this PC and asks the
server to hand the slot back so another machine can take it. It does not cancel anything and it does
not touch your subscription.

The two halves are not equally certain. The key is always deleted locally, even if the server cannot
be reached — so Remove always signs this PC out. Freeing the slot is best effort, and if it fails
Blabb tells you so and points you at your Polar account to free it there.

> [!NOTE]
> Removing the licence leaves your history, your settings and your saved words exactly where they
> are. It signs this PC out; it does not clear it.

## Moving to another PC

1. On the old PC: Settings → **Account** → **Remove**.
2. Install Blabb from the Store on the new one.
3. Settings → **Account**, paste the same licence key, **Activate**.

The key from your confirmation page is the one you keep using. There is no separate Blabb account
and nothing to sign in to.

## See also

- [Install and activate](/docs/get-started/install/) — the first-run version of all this.
- [Using Blabb offline](/docs/account/working-offline/) — what happens when the licence server is
  unreachable.
- [Medical and legal vocabulary](/docs/editions/overview/) — what the dearer plans add.