Licensing

Holy Resource uses a license + owner model with device-aware access. In most teams:

one owner/super admin claims the license on a device
additional admins/staff join using invite codes

Where Licensing Lives

You can manage licensing from two places inside the app:

Settings → General Settings → Church Profile for current mode, active key, expiry, and branch entitlement in the Plan & License card
Settings → License Invites as a separate settings page for owner claim, invite creation, recovery, and transfer

Free mode is different

License invites, owner-token actions, and paid-license device onboarding are unavailable in Free mode. Free mode is local-only setup until a paid license is attached.

Claim Ownership (first owner)

If a paid license is not yet claimed, the first admin can claim ownership on that device.

The owner email may need to match the email used at checkout.
First-time claim can require a 6-digit verification code sent to that owner email.
Once claim succeeds, Holy Resource stores an owner token on that device so it can generate invites later.

If ownership already exists on another device, this device cannot claim directly and must join with an invite code instead.

Invite Additional Devices/Admins

From Settings → License Invites, the owner device can generate invite codes.

Invite codes can include expiry, max uses, initial branch role, and allowed branch IDs.
New devices redeem the code during onboarding in Join flow.
Join access is device-bound: the redeemed invite must verify online on that device at least once before offline onboarding can continue.
Join invites are also recipient-bound: the invite is locked to the intended email address, and the joiner must enter a verification code sent to that email before setup can finish.

This keeps branch scope, user access, and device binding aligned from the start.

Recover Ownership

If the owner lost access to the previous device, recovery is available both during onboarding and from Settings → License Invites.

Enter the owner email used at checkout.
Request a 6-digit verification code.
Confirm recovery on the new device.

If the server already recognizes the same device as owner but the local owner token was lost, Holy Resource can also restore that token on the same device.

Transfer Ownership

Transfer is for changing the owner email, not just replacing a device.

The current owner requests a transfer code from Settings → License Invites.
The current owner confirms the transfer using the verification code.
The local owner token on the old owner device is cleared.
The new owner then claims ownership on their own device using the new owner email.

Important Details

Invite generation requires the owner token to exist on the current device.
Owner email checks use the email associated with the purchased license.
Invite join and some recovery flows need internet access at least once on the target device.
Join invites depend on working email delivery for the intended recipient, because the invite email must receive a 6-digit verification code during onboarding.
Paid-license validation can issue signed offline lease state, so local use can continue offline for a period, but revalidation may still be required later.
Ownership and install location are different concerns: moving computers still requires a backup and restore plan.
Changing the paid license inside Settings is only supported when the replacement key belongs to the same church. If the key belongs to a different church, reset or leave the current church on that device first, then join the other church cleanly from onboarding.

Leaving A Church On This Device

If a joined staff/admin device needs to stop using a paid church license, use Settings → General → Maintenance.

Leave Current Branch removes this device from the active branch and purges that branch's local records.
If the user still has access to another branch in the same church, Holy Resource switches the device to that branch automatically.
If the user leaves their last remaining branch on that church, Holy Resource fails closed: it clears local license-linked tokens for that church, wipes the remaining local church data on the device, rotates the local encryption vault, and sends the device back to onboarding.
That last-branch reset is the supported path for starting over, joining a different church, or choosing Free mode on the same device.

This protects the church by making sure a device that no longer belongs to the church cannot keep a half-detached local copy of paid-church data or reuse leftover local join state.

Back up before you leave if you need personal local data

Leaving your last branch fully resets the device back to onboarding. Export or back up anything you personally need before confirming that action.

Moving to a New Computer

If you are moving Holy Resource to a new computer:

Export a full backup of your data.
Install Holy Resource and start onboarding.
Complete owner recovery, transfer, or invite join before finalizing setup.
Restore your data after the new device is ready.

For the full first-launch flow, see First Launch & Onboarding.

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Licensing

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