# Updates & renewals

Licensing and Updates Basics:

- **Your license is a 12-month *update window***, not a 12-month
  *runtime*.
- Anything **released within the window** is yours forever, even
  after the license expires.
- Updates released **after expiry** require a renewal to install,
  but your existing version keeps running.
- Nothing about your data, recordings, or detection changes when a
  license lapses. Fregata keeps running.
- **Trials are the exception.** When a 30-day trial runs out,
  Frigate stops and the app blocks and shows a buy-or-quit dialog —
  there's no "lapse and keep running" path the way paid licenses
  have. See
  [After the trial expires](/getting-started/activation/#after-the-trial-expires).

## How update checks work

- Once a day, Fregata checks for a new update.
- If a newer version exists **and your license covers it**, the
  tray surfaces **Update available: v\<X.Y.Z\>**.
- Updates are **not auto-installed**. You decide when. Click the
  menu item to open the download window.
- **Want to check right now?** Open the tray menu →
  **About Fregata…** and click **Check for Updates**. It tells you
  on the spot whether you're up to date, and offers a **View…** link
  if there's an update — no need to wait for the daily check. If an
  update is found, the tray item appears too.

## Before you install a major update

A major update — 0.17 to 0.18, say — **migrates your `config.yml` in
place**, and that migration only runs forwards. Fregata copies your
existing config aside first, naming it for the version you're coming
**from**:

```
~/Fregata/config/backup_config_0.17-0.yaml
```

That file is your way back to the older version. Keep it.

Your recordings are not at risk here. Database migrations only add new
tables and columns, so an older Fregata reads a newer database without
complaint — clips just won't carry data the older version never knew
about. **The config is the one-way door.** Going from 0.17 to 0.18, for
example:

- **Masks get rewritten.** Motion and object masks move from the older
  plain form to a structured one. 0.17 only understands the older form,
  so if you use any mask at all, 0.17 will refuse the migrated config.
- **GenAI settings get restructured**, if you have a provider configured.
- **Deprecated settings are dropped** — `record.sync_recordings`,
  `record.export.timelapse_args`, `snapshots.clean_copy`,
  `ui.date_style`, `ui.time_style`. An older version still starts
  without them, but those settings are gone and revert to their
  defaults.

### Going back to an older version

1. Quit Fregata.
2. Restore the backup over your config:

   ```sh
   cp ~/Fregata/config/backup_config_0.17-0.yaml ~/Fregata/config/config.yml
   ```

3. Install the older version and launch it. Your recordings need no
   action.

Skip step 2 and the older version will start, fail config validation,
and stop — see
[FATAL: config validation failed](/guides/troubleshooting/#fatal-config-validation-failed).

:::note
Versions before 0.18 wrote this backup to a single fixed
`backup_config.yaml` instead. If you're upgrading **from** one of those,
copy your `config.yml` somewhere safe yourself first: on those versions
the first launch after a rollback overwrites that one backup file before
it reports any error.
:::

## When your license won't cover a new release

If a version was released **after** your license expired, the tray
shows a yellow indicator instead of the standard update item. The
update window says something like:

> Fregata 1.4.0 was released on 2026-08-12. Your license covers
> updates released up to 2026-06-15. Renew for $10 to install this
> update; your current version keeps running either way.

Renewing extends your update window forward by 12 months **from the
date you renew**, not from the date your license lapsed. So a
30-day gap between expiry and renewal isn't 30 days you "lose" — it
just shifts the next year forward by a month.

## Renewing

Two ways:

1. **Click "Renew" in the update window.** It opens
   [fregata.app/renew](https://fregata.app/renew) pre-filled with
   your license email and key. Pay $10, return to the app, the new
   expiry shows up on the next heartbeat (within ~6 hours, usually
   minutes).
2. **From the Fregata.app site.** Go to
   [fregata.app/manage-license](https://fregata.app/manage-license),
   sign in with your license email, click **Renew**.

## What if I never want updates?

Skip them. Don't click. The prompt is a single tray menu item, and there's no nag-screen.
Your existing install with a paid license runs forever.

## Keeping multiple Macs current

A license binds to one Mac. If you want Fregata on two, you have
two options:

- **Two licenses.** Buy a second one. Same email is fine; the
  manage-license page will show both licenses.
- **Volume licensing for businesses or households with several
  Macs** — reply to your license email.

:::note
On a renewal, *only the expiry date* changes. The license key is
the same string; you don't re-enter it, the app picks up the new
expiry automatically.
:::