AVG activation: the activation code, the account and the step from the free app

One owner, several brands

AVG began as Grisoft in Czechoslovakia in 1991, was bought by Avast in July 2016, and came under Gen Digital when Avast merged with NortonLifeLock in 2022. The brands remain separate products with separate accounts: a code for this maker’s apps is redeemed in those apps and recorded in its own account, not in a sister brand’s. Card statements show the shared ownership. The billing article lists Gen Digital INC, Avast Software S.R.O and Norton Ireland Limited among the names a genuine charge can carry, alongside DRI*AVG Technologies for orders handled by Digital River.

Where the code is printed

The activation code arrives in the order confirmation email from no.reply@avg.com; older confirmations came from avg.cs@digitalriver.com and printed the code beside the words License Number. A code re-sent through the maker’s web form comes from notification@mails.avg.com. Retail boxes contain a printed card with the code on its instructions side. The maker’s articles say the code is typed with its hyphens and give no example of its shape, so this page shows none. Once a subscription is in the account, its code also appears on the account’s subscription tile, where it can be copied.

From the free app to the paid edition

The free app activates itself when installed, and the maker notes that a year later it may prompt for that free activation to be renewed. The paid edition is reached from the same place. The instructions for Internet Security start by opening the free app and then either typing the activation code from the order email or signing in to the account, after which the paid features unlock. On a Mac, the code field sits under My subscriptions.

Upgrading from inside the free app can also begin a two-month trial of Internet Security. The maker says a payment method is required and that the paid subscription starts when the trial ends, unless it is cancelled before. Its website separately offers 30 days of PC protection without a card.

Sign-in, the sign-in key and the device allowance

Signing in from the app opens the default browser at id.avg.com. If that route fails, the maker documents a fallback in which the browser displays a sign-in key that is typed into the app. A subscription can be activated on as many devices as were bought. Moving it means deactivating it on the old device and activating it on the new one, by code or by sign-in, and a subscription the app no longer recognises shows the status “Your subscription is not valid” until one of the two is repeated.

What the account records

The account exists to manage paid subscriptions. Its tiles show where each subscription is in use, its activation code, how many devices remain available, its status, when the next payment falls and which payment method is on file, with installers, order IDs and invoices alongside. Devices appear within two hours of activation. A purchase appears automatically when the email address given at checkout matches the one used to sign in, while purchases from Google Play and the App Store do not appear at all.

Renewal, notice and refunds

Subscriptions renew at the end of each period unless the renewal is cancelled ahead of the billing date, and a discounted first-term price gives way to the full price at renewal. The maker sends a notification email 30 days before the billing date; annual renewals may be billed up to 35 days ahead, and a failed charge is retried for up to 14 days after expiry. Cancelling renewal sets the status to Expiring and refunds nothing for the time remaining. The refund policy allows a request within 30 days of buying an annual plan, but not for app-store or reseller purchases or for services already redeemed.

Phones and tablets

A subscription bought through Google Play activates on the device used to buy it. One bought from the maker’s store is activated on Android by signing in, or by typing the code under “Already purchased?”. On iPhone and iPad, the mobile app signs in to the account or retrieves a purchase from the App Store tied to the same Apple ID; the maker states that typing a reseller code or an activation code is not possible on iOS at all.

What the maker publishes about fake messages

No page on avg.com lists things the company never does. What its knowledge base does give are the addresses its own mail comes from, and one for reporting:

• no.reply@avg.comOrder confirmations carrying the activation code.
• notification@mails.avg.comA code re-sent through the maker’s web form.
• spam@avg.comThe reporting address for scam emails, forwarded as attachments; it sends no replies.

The maker notes a rise in subscription-renewal scams in which fake emails carry malicious links. The subscription tile in the account shows the next payment date it holds on record, which is the date to compare any renewal notice against.

The account page and an imitation

Address bar first, page second: that is how both wireframes are meant to be read. The imitation uses a reserved example domain, so it marks a pattern rather than naming a site.

Six terms from the apps, the account and the bank statement

Six expressions, briefly explained, from the apps, the account and the card statement.