Free Version: I have 2 accounts, and being forced to upgrade!

[adamkripke 0]

I cannot access my EVERNOTE records due to the recent change. The "free" version limits you to having only TWO accounts.  I currently have ONLY two accounts active: my PC and my mobile app. I never use the web version, and it is NOT an option to revoke access to the web version. Since you have zero choice in the matter if the web version counts as an account that is complete BS. Then you REALLy only are allowed to have ONE other account (NOT TWO). Am I wrong? Why is it forcing me to upgrade when I only have two accounts?! I have important documents I have been accessing for years, now all of a sudden this? You collect my data, isn't that enough revenue for you? Any help is appreciated. 

[gazumped 12,072]

Hi.  You presumably have ONE account,  but are accessing it on two devices - your PC and your mobile.  Provided you always access Evernote from the same connection on those two devices you should never have a problem.  Except that people do tend to change devices,  and connect from different IP addresses,  so Evernote gets the impression that a new device has been activated.  In that case you trigger the warnings and have a couple of chances to connect on a recognised device,  go to your account online and cancel the access for everything else.  You'll then be able to sign in from your 'new' device.  If that fails,  then you have two choices.  To wait until your device resets are renewed,  or to buy access to make the problem disappear.

IMHO storing important documents in a free app is not a good idea - you have no financial or contractual relationship with the provider,  and no grounds on which to demand reconnection.  You may be able to take advantage of one of Evernote's special offers to get a reduced cost subscription for a year,  or you may have the option to pay monthly in which case a couple of instalments should help you sort the matter out.  But I'm afraid if you're locked out,  you are locked out until the limit resets.

This Forum by the way is mainly supported by other users,  and Evernote do not "collect your data" for any form of profit.  If you've been using the service for years. they're necessarily reserving a few gigabytes of cloud storage for your notes and backups,  and have been syncing with your devices each time you connect to make sure your data is up to date.  They've been doing that for free,  apparently for some years;  and being a business operation,  and not a charity,  they need to limit how much of their storage and bandwidth these accounts soak up.  I quoted some help links below - good luck with your access.

Evernote system limits  |  Understanding the device limit  |  How does Evernote use my personal information and data?

 

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:20 PM, adamkripke said:

Why is it forcing me to upgrade when I only have two accounts?!

There is a monthly data upload limit on the free account, and it may be that you've bumped into that, especially if you're uploading a lot of documents. The system limits page that @gazumped linked to can clarify this. If that's what happened, the limit should reset on the monthly anniversary date and restore your access.

[BruceVa 2]

Apparently we are victims of random ip addresses.  My T-Mobile IP addresses change all the time.  Why can't cookies be used instead?

[agsteele 3,060]

@BruceVaCan you tell us more about the problem you are experiencing along with the Evernote app you are using.

[PinkElephant 8,829]

The explanation with „changing IP addresses“ makes no sense at all.

In mobile networks there is and there wasn’t an IPv4 address for each device. There are by far not enough of these addresses available. The standard is that IPv4 only exists deep in the network infrastructure, not on the individual devices.

The devices are identified as such, independent from the network and „IP address“ they use.

Nobody is „victim“, usually an unintentional user action causes the device to be recognized as a new one by EN.

[Boot17 1,539]

There is no way that we as users could know, but I doubt that Evernote uses the IP address (much, if at all) to determine a different device. If the web version counts as one device then why does it matter which IP it is coming from and with desktop and mobile they can get all kinds of actual device information from the actual desktop or mobile client.

[PinkElephant 8,829]

Here we have a mixing up of wordings: You can have as many accounts as you want - but being on one Free account, only 2 clients/devices are allowed.

This means one installed client on a physical device, like a desktop or mobile EN app. Here it really is the device that is meant - if you install the mobile client on a phone and a tablet, it’s 2 devices, and uses all allowed slots.

The exception is the web client, that is not installed, but runs in a browser. This counts as one, even if used from different physical devices.

So if a Free user uses EN on one PC and a phone, it is 2 clients (=devices), and he can’t add the web client. If a Free user needs access from different devices*, he needs to use the web client, and then can add only one other device, being a phone, tablet or a desktop. *The web client does not work in mobile browsers.

[BruceVa 2]

17 hours ago, agsteele said:

@BruceVaCan you tell us more about the problem you are experiencing along with the Evernote app you are using.

Thanks for the reply.

I am using the basic EN on two devices; desktop and laptop pcs.  I am not a heavy user and feed EN 99% of the time with clips taken by the firefox 'addon'.  I have the EN app and firefox on each device.  Occasionally I will get asked to upgrade or drop a device.  If I remember right the last time I successfully clipped and then opened my EN app to look at the clips and was asked to upgrade.  How did I violate the two device rule?

Whether this has anything to do the problem I don't know, but I very often get asked by a web sites that I use often and some daily to identify myself because I am on a new device when I am on my usual desktop pc.  Whatever they are using to identify my device has changed.

To respond to another comment re fixed IPs I am not an expert in the protocol, but have been told that TMobile home internet service (hot spot) does not use fixed IP addresses because of a shortage of them, but you can get a fixed address by paying extra. 

Bruce

[BruceVa 2]

11 hours ago, Boot17 said:

There is no way that we as users could know, but I doubt that Evernote uses the IP address (much, if at all) to determine a different device. If the web version counts as one device then why does it matter which IP it is coming from and with desktop and mobile they can get all kinds of actual device information from the actual desktop or mobile client.

Can't disagree, but my every day visits to the Washington Post and NY Times or my sometimes visit to my credit union.cause the 'who are you' problem causing a new log in and maybe a two phase identification when I have been on the same machine for years.  Embedding something on my pc that only they know of and can check would make sense.

I should point out that I do not use a VPN.

[BruceVa 2]

4 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Here we have a mixing up of wordings: You can have as many accounts as you want - but being on one Free account, only 2 clients/devices are allowed.

This means one installed client on a physical device, like a desktop or mobile EN app. Here it really is the device that is meant - if you install the mobile client on a phone and a tablet, it’s 2 devices, and uses all allowed slots.

The exception is the web client, that is not installed, but runs in a browser. This counts as one, even if used from different physical devices.

So if a Free user uses EN on one PC and a phone, it is 2 clients (=devices), and he can’t add the web client. If a Free user needs access from different devices*, he needs to use the web client, and then can add only one other device, being a phone, tablet or a desktop. *The web client does not work in mobile browsers.

Is a firefox clipper a device?  Given that the likely reason for the restriction to two devices is to keep the syncing across devices to a minimum whey would a clipper be counted as a device?

[PinkElephant 8,829]

A web clipper is no device. It is a browser extension to clip content to an EN account.

A web client is a device. It is a full view of the account through a browser, allowing to access and edit all content on the account.

Both should not be confused.

[BruceVa 2]

6 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

A web clipper is no device. It is a browser extension to clip content to an EN account.

A web client is a device. It is a full view of the account through a browser, allowing to access and edit all content on the account.

Both should not be confused.

So my EN app on my pc is a web client?  How do I access my database after clips if that is true and I'm limited then to one physical device or an inability to see my data base.

[PinkElephant 8,829]

The EN app (installed software) is one client. If you open EN in a browser window, it is a second client.

And then you have used the 2 free clients associated with your Free account.

[BruceVa 2]

19 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

The EN app (installed software) is one client. If you open EN in a browser window, it is a second client.

And then you have used the 2 free clients associated with your Free account.

Is clipping considered opening EN?  I just clipped an article with EN and had no problem.  I then, after closing our of the clipping,  opened the desktop app and had no problem. 

After clipping there is an option to open web or app from the clip page.  I selected app and had no problem.  I then tried to open the web version and it failed for an unknown reason.  It may be that opening that web option is what is creating the issue?

[agsteele 3,060]

For understanding devices you can forget the web CLIPPER in Firefox. This is not a device.

You say you are using Evernote on a laptop and a desktop. If you are using the Evernote application on either PC that will count as a device. If you also access via the web browser in addition to the apps then that would count as a third device.

If you are only using the web browser and none of the applications then the good news is that this will only count as one device no matter how many PCs you use the web browser on.

In addition to the device limits, a Free account also has lower limits than a paid subscription on the amount of data you can upload each month AND the maximum size of a note. So it is possible that you could be busy clipping and exceed the monthly limit using the Firefox clipper or you could clip a web page that has large images or media files. I think the latter is unlikely but for a busy user it would be quite possible to exceed your monthly limit without realising.

[PinkElephant 8,829]

Sure it failed - if you already had 2 clients connected, it won’t allow a third device. In this case the web client would have been the 3rd device.

That it is the web CLIPPER offering to open the app or the web client is no ticket for a free ride. We subscribers see the same options - but we don’t need to make a mental count, since we can have as many devices as we want.

The web clipper itself uses the API to directly access the cloud server. You can even use the web clipper if there is no client installed on a computer. Web Clipper is an independent browser extension that has its own code base (just for the clipping). It doesn’t need a client to perform its duties. It just needs to know to which account it needs to send the clipped content.

[BruceVa 2]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Sure it failed - if you already had 2 clients connected, it won’t allow a third device. In this case the web client would have been the 3rd device.

That it is the web CLIPPER offering to open the app or the web client is no ticket for a free ride. We subscribers see the same options - but we don’t need to make a mental count, since we can have as many devices as we want.

The web clipper itself uses the API to directly access the cloud server. You can even use the web clipper if there is no client installed on a computer. Web Clipper is an independent browser extension that has its own code base (just for the clipping). It doesn’t need a client to perform its duties. It just needs to know to which account it needs to send the clipped content.

So I think I've solved my problem....don't click on the offer to open the web option.

Thanks everyone for the help.  I love the app even with low usage and was concerned that I'd have to give it up.