I have an activation code — where does it go?
You have a code that looks like
GLRP-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX, you are on this website, and there
is nowhere to type it.
There is nowhere on this website to type it, and that is not a bug. A code is redeemed in GPSLarp on your Mac. This site only shows you the code; the app is what takes it.
01Where the field is
Open GPSLarp. The code goes into the panel headed Unlock GPSLarp, into the box that already shows the shape of a code, and the button beside it says Activate. That is the whole of it.
If that panel is not on screen
This is the part worth knowing before you go looking. The app shows the Unlock panel only once a free run has been used up — the run of whichever mode you have selected, or all of them — and hides it completely for an account that is already paid. So a brand-new install, signed in, with every free run still untouched, has no code field on screen at all. Use a mode once and it appears. That is a rough edge in the app rather than something you are doing wrong, and it is the most common reason this page gets opened.
02Redeeming it
01Sign in first
A code binds to an account, so the app has to know which account before it will take one. If you are signed out it answers "Sign in first — the code binds to your account." and does nothing else. If signing in is the part that is failing, start at sign-in trouble instead; nothing on this page can proceed without it.
02Type the code into the Unlock panel
Type it or paste it. It is one line: the GLRP- prefix and
four groups of five characters. The alphabet deliberately leaves out every
character people misread — no code contains 0, 1, I, L or O
— so if you cannot tell whether you are looking at a one or an I, it is
neither, and the same goes for a zero and an O.
03Press Activate
The button beside the field. One press; it talks to the server, so give it a moment on a slow connection.
04Read what it says back
On success the status line reads "Activated — all modes unlocked". Anything else is one of the refusals in if that did not work below, and each of them means something different.
03Where a code comes from
One is issued to your account when you subscribe. One can also be issued by hand, which is what support does when somebody needs access without going through checkout. Either way it belongs to an account rather than to a machine, and it stays bound to that account.
You do not need a code to install GPSLarp, and you do not need one to use the free run of each mode. The installer asks for nothing and the free runs come with the account — see what you get without paying. A code is what removes the run limits, not what lets you in.
Your code is on your account page on this site, in the section called Activation code. If it says there is no activation code on the account yet, that is the ordinary state of an account that has never subscribed — not an error, and nothing to retry.
04If you have lost it
The account page can issue a replacement. The thing to understand before pressing it: the replacement takes effect immediately, and the old code stops working the moment the new one exists — including on a Mac that is already using it. If you have GPSLarp activated on a machine you no longer have in front of you, replacing the code is how you cut it off, and also how you cut yourself off if that was not what you meant.
05If that did not work
It says a code looks like
GLRP-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. The shape is wrong.
Almost always that is a stray space at either end, a missing group, or a
line break from copying out of an email. Retype it by hand if pasting keeps
failing.
It says the code is not valid. Read this one carefully, because it is deliberately unhelpful and it is worth knowing why: an unknown code and a badly-formed code get exactly the same answer, so that nobody can sit and feed guesses at the server to find out which codes exist. The cost of that choice falls on you, holding a code you know is real, being told only that it is not accepted. Check it character by character against your account page, which shows the code the account actually has.
It says the code has already been used, or has been revoked. Those are two different histories with one remedy. A code is spent once it is bound; a revoked one was withdrawn deliberately. Your account page shows the current code for the account, and if it shows one you have not used, use that one.
It says there have been too many attempts. Wait a few minutes and try again. The limit exists for the reason in the paragraph above, and waiting is genuinely all it wants.
It says activation codes are not switched on in this environment yet. That one is ours, not yours. It means activation codes are not configured on the server you are talking to — there is nothing wrong with your account and nothing you can do from your side. Contact support and say you saw that message.
The honest limit of this page: it tells you where the code goes and what each answer means. Activation unlocks the modes on your account — it has nothing to say about whether a mode then does what you want on your iPhone, which is a separate question with its own separate honest answer on the location did not change.