Where the activation code comes from
The maker calls its licence string an activation code, and it reaches a purchaser in one of three ways. A purchase on avast.com produces an order confirmation email containing the code, and the same purchase appears in an account created for the email address given at checkout. A boxed product from a retailer contains a printed card bearing the code. And once a paid app has been activated, its code is shown inside it. The maker’s articles say only that the code is typed or pasted with its hyphens; none gives its length or grouping, so this page prints no shape.
The reseller code
A subscription bought from a retail store or a third-party seller such as Amazon may arrive with a code the app will not take. The maker calls it a reseller code. It has to be exchanged for an activation code on a page at myaccount.avast.com, and until it is, the app answers “This code is not valid.” The exchange takes place on the maker’s own domain, and its article describes no payment and no telephone call as part of it.
Activation inside the app
On Windows the paid apps take an activation code from their main menu, or sign in to the account using a password or a one-time passcode sent by email. On a Mac the code is added under My subscriptions as an activation of paid features. When one code covers several apps, the maker offers to install and activate all of them together. Each code works on the number of devices bought, and moving a subscription means deactivating it on the old device before activating it on the new one.
The maker’s article on activation messages explains what each refusal means:
“Sorry, this code has expired.”
The subscription the code belongs to has ended.
“Sorry, this code is for a different app.”
The code was issued for another of the maker’s apps, so this one cannot use it.
“This code is not valid.”
Most often a reseller code that has not yet been exchanged on the maker’s site.
“Sorry, you’ve used this code too many times.”
The device allowance is used up; the Available for figure in the account shows how many devices remain.
The rebuilt hub app
The maker has rebuilt Avast One as a hub: one app from which the individual apps are chosen, installed and used, and every new installation of the hub installs this version. By default it provides Free Antivirus. Signing in to an account that holds a subscription installs and activates the paid apps, among them Premium Security, SecureLine VPN and Cleanup, without further steps. Subscriptions bought under the hub’s earlier names, Silver, Gold and Platinum, continue to work in the new app.
Two older names have gone. The maker says Pro Antivirus and Internet Security are no longer available, and that their users received an upgrade to Premium Security.
What the account shows
The maker describes its account as “a portal for managing your paid Avast subscriptions”. Each subscription appears as a tile with six fields: where it is currently used, the activation code, how many devices it is still available for, its status, the next payment date and the payment method. Installers, order history and invoices sit alongside, and a newly activated device joins the device list within two hours. Subscriptions bought through Google Play or the App Store do not appear, because those stores keep their own records.
Renewal and the first-term price
The maker sells continuous subscriptions. Each renews at the end of its period unless cancelled before the next billing date, and it says it notifies subscribers by email before charging. A discounted price may apply to the first period only, with later periods charged at the full price. Cancelling renewal in the account leaves the subscription running to its end with the status Expiring, and the maker notes that cancelling brings no refund for the time remaining. Its refund policy, shared with AVG, covers requests within 30 days of an annual purchase and excludes purchases made through app stores, resellers and retailers.
The free app and the trials
The free app activates itself on installation, and after twelve months may ask to renew that free activation. Trials of Premium Security vary by platform, region and offer; the maker lists 7-day, 30-day and 60-day versions. Some trials need a payment method, and for those the first paid term is charged on the trial’s last day unless the trial is cancelled first.
Phones and tablets
On Android, the hub app is unlocked by signing in, by an activation code entered under “Already purchased?”, or by restoring a Google Play purchase made with the same Google account. On iPhone and iPad the app signs in to the account or restores an App Store purchase made with the same Apple ID. One of the maker’s articles also describes a field for a subscription code on iOS, while another documents only sign-in and restoring.
What the maker says about its own messages
The maker’s guide to fake emails sets out how its genuine mail behaves, and its general article on fake technical assistance adds a rule about payment:
- Mail only from an Avast domain such as avast.com, never from a free provider like Gmail
- No unprompted contact with people who do not use its products
- Malware reported only through the app itself
- Gift cards, bank transfers and cryptocurrency named as the marks of a fake
Messages that use the maker’s name can be forwarded, as attachments, to spam@avast.com, an address that sends no replies. The maker reports a rise in renewal scams in which a fake email carries a malicious link. The account is the check: the next payment date on the subscription tile is the one it holds on record.
The account page and an imitation
Read each wireframe from the top. The address bar says who is answering, and the page beneath says what is being asked for. The imitation uses a reserved example domain and stands for a pattern, not a particular site.
Six terms from the apps and the account
Short definitions of six expressions that appear in the apps and on the account tiles.
Avast Account
The portal at id.avast.com for paid subscriptions, created automatically with the email address used at checkout.
Activation code
The string that unlocks a paid app, shown on the subscription tile with a control for copying it.
Reseller code
A code from a retailer or online seller that must be exchanged at myaccount.avast.com before an app accepts it.
One-time passcode
A sign-in code sent by email, used instead of the account password.
Currently used on, Available for
Two tile fields: the devices using the subscription now, and how many more it can cover.
Expiring
The status of a subscription whose automatic renewal has been cancelled; it stays valid to the end of the period.