Category Archives: Purchases

FrogSparks licensing server blocked by Russian government

According to this site, maps.frogsparks.com is among many sites being blocked by the Russian government (technically, the IP address the host resolves to is part of a large block “B-class” of IPs blocked wholesale by Russia – the block is not targeted at MyTrails specifically). This means that for users in Russia, MyTrails Pro can no longer verify its licensing status, and will revert to Free mode even if you have paid.

If you are affected by this, you can use a VPN to allow MyTrails to get around the block. The licensing status must be verified at least once every two months.

MyTrails 2.1.4b2 contains a workaround for this.

Moving to another device

Here’s a checklist of things you should do to move all your data when you change devices:

on your old device, make sure MyTrails is connected to your account, so your purchases, if any, will be available on your new device
make a backup of MyTrails’ state on your old device
1. if you have rooted your device, you can use Titanium Backup or a similar tool
2. if you have not rooted your device or are not sure what “rooted” means, you can use a tool such as MyBackup (you can install it from MyTrails > Preferences > About) or Helium
3. if you can’t make a backup, at least export your waypoints from MyTrails into a GPX, by using the export global waypoints hidden option
unless you keep all your recorded tracks in Dropbox, make a copy of your recorded tracks on your computer
if you have offline maps, you can copy them to your computer as well
on your new device, install MyTrails (you don’t need to install the MyTrails Pro License application unless you haven’t connected MyTrails to your account in step 1)
if you made a backup in step 2, restore it on the new device
make sure MyTrails on the new device is connected to your account
check that your recorded tracks are still available (if not, copy them from your computer to the new device, and load them into MyTrails)
make sure your offline maps are still available (if not, first check the location for offline maps in MyTrails > Preferences > Other, then copy them from your computer to that location and restart MyTrails)
check that your global waypoints are still available (if not, load the exported global_waypoints.gpx; unfortunately the waypoints will no longer be global, but will remain associated with that track, which you should leave checked)

I made a purchase but MyTrails failed to activate it

In some very rare cases, MyTrails may have trouble activating a purchase you made via in-app purchase, so Google (or PayPal) will have charged your account but MyTrails doesn’t register that fact.

MyTrails usually warns you of the fact and suggests corrective measures; even if it doesn’t, the first things to try are:

make sure MyTrails is connected to your Google or FrogSparks account (MyTrails > Preferences > Accounts > Google or FrogSparks) or in MyTrails’ navigation menu
if you made your purchase from within MyTrails
- trigger a new attempt to register your purchase by going into MyTrails > Preferences > About > Retry purchase (in MyTrails 2.0.3 or later – in earlier versions go to the same screen you initially tried the purchase)
for purchases from the web site
- the account you used to connect to the web site (and the email address on which you received the confirmation email) matches the account to which MyTrails is connected (displayed at the bottom of the navigation menu)
if this doesn’t work, please contact support@wp.paour.com, providing the following information (clicking the link provides a pre-formatted email for this):
- the email address of the account MyTrails is connected to
- your Google Wallet (from Google’s confirmation email or wallet.google.com) or PayPal (from their email or www.paypal.com) purchase number

I changed or reset my phone, how can I get my purchases back?

Background

MyTrails tries hard to keep track of your map subscriptions or Pro status even when it is uninstalled or reset, but sometimes it fails.

By default, your purchases are tied to your device through a unique random identifier that MyTrails creates (referred to as the UUID). In some circumstances (device reset, ROM update, etc.), this UUID may be regenerated, which breaks the connection between your device and subscriptions.

For this reason, we recommend to also connect MyTrails to your Google account (in MyTrails > Preferences > Accounts > Google), or create a FrogSparks account (if you prefer not to use your Google account everywhere), so that MyTrails may have a more permanent way of tying your purchases to you.

Solution

So, provided you did associate MyTrails to your Google or FrogSparks account before you changed or reset your phone, all you need to do to restore your purchases is to connect to your account again (MyTrails > Preferences > Accounts > Google) or in MyTrails’ navigation menu.

For paid offline maps, once you have restored your account connection, you can copy the map data from the old device to the new (it’s usually stored in /sdcard/MyTrails/offline), or you can download it again; because MyTrails subscriptions are based on the area of the union of your downloads, if you download the same areas, you will not have to pay extra (and you can use maps.frogsparks.com to de-authorize maps that you had downloaded to the old device).

If this fails, please contact support@wp.paour.com and provide the email address associated with your Google (or FrogSparks) account, as well as the Google Wallet purchase number for the purchases (you can find it on the email receipts from Google, or on wallet.google.com).

Migration issues between FrogSparks and Google login

If you’re a new user, you should always use a Google login on the web site and on your devices (as long as you have configured a Google account on the device, which you have done if you use the Play Store or Gmail): it’s easier, one less password to remember, and you should not encounter any problem.

If you had already created a FrogSparks account, you should also migrate to using a Google account everywhere. In most cases, simply logging in to your Google account from MyTrails on a device that is also connected to your FrogSparks account should automatically merge your Google account to your FrogSparks account.

There is one possibility for failure: if your Google account’s email address is not the same as the email address you used for your FrogSparks account and you connect to your Google account from a device not already connected to your FrogSparks account, or from the web site, then both account will remain separate and you will not be able to merge them. You should contact us so we can delete your Google account from our databases so you can then merge the account properly as described above.

You may choose to use only a FrogSparks account everywhere (if you don’t have a Google account for example). Or once you have an account that works both as a Google account and a FrogSparks account, you can use the FrogSparks account where the Google login is not available (for example on Kindles).

MyTrails Pro available as an in-app purchase

When I started developing MyTrails, in-app purchases (IAP) were not available on the Play Store, so like all apps from that generation, a tiny app (MyTrails Pro License) served to indicate to the main app that the user had purchased the Pro version.

It worked, for the most part, but some users didn’t know that they could just download the Pro license again for free when they switched to a new device.

So now MyTrails is available as an IAP. Buying it is slightly easier and the minor support burden should be a thing of the past.

I also wanted for users who have both a Google device and a Kindle to not have to purchase the Pro version twice just because of the platform divide, so the license information is stored on my server, and it is attached to your FrogSparks account.

On Google devices, the FrogSparks account is superseded by using your Google account; on Amazon devices the FrogSparks account remains. If you already have a FrogSparks account (or you also use a Kindle), both accounts can be attached by first connecting to your FrogSparks account, then your Google account, from your Google device.

All this happens in MyTrails > Preferences > Accounts > FrogSparks.

If you already have purchased the Pro license, MyTrails will first prompt you to create or connect to your account, and will transfer the license to the server, after which you will be prompted to uninstall the Pro License (but you don’t have to). The Pro License application will remain available on Google Play for the time being, but should no longer be used.

tl;dr: If you want MyTrails Pro, from now on the IAP is the way to go, MyTrails will guide you.

Can I extend the size (rather than the duration) of an offline subscription to a premium map?

You can extend the duration and/or extend the volume by purchasing another subscription within MyTrails.

When you purchase another subscription, if it is the same “size” as a current subscription, it by default extends the duration, but you can select the option to add to the current subscription area instead.

Purchasing a subscription of a different size always adds to the area rather than extend the time.

Can I only subscribe to (not own) premium maps?

MyTrails lets you freely define the locations you download offline, so you don’t have to select a particular map number or administrative division when you purchase a map. Also, when you no longer need to have a given map offline, you can remove it and download another map without any additional cost (like a map lending library), so you don’t have to pay for a very big subscription, only what you need to have access to simultaneously.

This flexibility does mean that we can’t offer perpetual licenses (similar to owning, but in the digital world actual ownership is getting scarce).

I deleted a premium map from my phone, how do I get the credits back?

MyTrails complains my Pro license is outdated or that the license check failed