License and Activation
Chute is a one-time purchase; there is no subscription. The certificate an activation issues does carry an expiry date, though — the license screen of Chute iOS, Chute tvOS and Chute Android shows it as Expiration Date — and the app re-checks it on every start: once that date has passed the certificate stops unlocking anything.
What runs without a license depends on the platform:
- Chute iOS — the proxy engine, the rule engine, the DNS stack and the live dashboard all work, but the install is held to one configuration: adding a second, selecting a different one and Sync From iCloud each raise the purchase alert. While there is no configuration yet, Sync From iCloud under Add Configuration From... can fetch the first one; the iCloud Sync row under About always asks for a license. The advanced features listed on the unlock screen are off as well.
- Chute tvOS — the same single-configuration limit, and there is no iCloud sync on Apple TV. The unlock screen lists Multiple Configurations, Local Proxy Server Control and Traffic Recorder. Decryption is not on that list and has no switch here, but without a license the engine decrypts nothing either.
- Chute Mac — nothing runs until the license is settled. With no certificate on disk Chute opens the license window at launch and waits there; the proxy starts only after the license verifies, and a failed check stops it. The 15-day Evaluation is what unlocks the app in the meantime.
- Chute Android — one local configuration. The HTTP and SOCKS5 listeners run as the profile sets them, but the runtime switches listed below cannot be changed, and the engine neither decrypts nor records.
What a purchase covers
| Bought in | Covers |
|---|---|
| Chute iOS | 3 iPhone or iPad devices and 3 Apple TV devices |
| Chute tvOS | 3 Apple TV devices and 3 iPhone or iPad devices |
| Chute Mac | Mac devices only, according to the plan purchased |
Buying in either the iOS or the tvOS app produces the same license. There is no need to buy twice to cover both platforms.
Chute Android is a one-time unlock, bought on the license screen: Purchase License in Settings (the main screen's About button), which reads View License once the app is licensed. Without it Chute keeps a single local configuration: adding, importing, downloading, scanning, copying or subscribing to a second one raises the upgrade dialog, on every channel including the Wi-Fi upload and Remote Server. The runtime switches are gated as well — the Control Panel's HTTP Server, SOCKS5 Server, MitM and Traffic Capture rows and the Dashboard's MitM and REC quick toggles cannot be changed — while the listeners themselves still run as the profile sets them.
Switching the selected configuration while the tunnel runs is free, and so is the editor's MitM page. Decryption and recording are a different matter: as on iPhone and Apple TV, the engine enforces the license itself, so without Chute Pro nothing is decrypted and no body is recorded, whatever a profile's [MITM] enable = true or [Replica] section asks for.
Android ships in two flavors. The Google Play build sells the unlock through Play Billing (Unlock Android Features) and restores with Restore Purchase → Restore Google Play Purchase. The build downloaded from chute.life carries no Play Billing at all: Purchase on chute.life opens the website, and Activate with Email takes the license mail and key, confirmed with Register. The activated-device list works the same way in both.
Chute Dashboard for macOS is free and needs no license.
Restoring in the app you bought from
On Chute iOS and Chute tvOS, open the license screen from About, then choose Restore Purchase → Restore IAP Purchase. This asks the App Store for the purchase made with the Apple Account currently signed in, and works on any device signed into that account. On the Google Play build of Chute Android the same step is Restore Purchase → Restore Google Play Purchase.
Chute Mac has no in-app purchase and nothing to restore. Its license window offers three things: Register, which activates the Mac from a license mail and key; Purchase, which opens the plans page on the website; and Evaluation, which requests a 15-day trial license. Entering the mail and key is the only way a Mac is licensed.
Activating on the other platform
If Restore IAP Purchase finds nothing on a device that should be covered, the purchase was almost certainly made in the other Chute app.
The App Store sells Chute iOS and Chute tvOS as two separate products. Restore IAP Purchase can therefore only see the purchase made in the app it is running in — it will not find an iOS purchase from the tvOS app, or the other way round. The license itself already covers both platforms; you carry it across by binding it to an email address.
- On the device where you bought, open the license screen and choose Bind Account.
- Enter an email address. The license key is sent to that address — check the spam folder if it does not arrive.
- On the other platform, open the unlock screen and choose Restore Purchase → Restore with Email.
- Enter the same address, and paste the license key including its
----- BEGIN LICENSE -----and------ END LICENSE ------lines.
Binding is a one-time step. Afterwards the same address and key activate the license on any device it covers, including a device that has been reset or replaced. Chute Android offers the same Bind Account step while its license is not yet bound, and takes the address and key through Restore with Email on the Google Play build or Activate with Email on the chute.life build.
Chute Mac is not part of this flow: it has no Bind Account step, and is registered directly with the mail and key its own purchase produced.
Activated devices
On Chute iOS, Chute tvOS and Chute Android the license screen lists every device the license is currently active on and marks the one in your hand. Revoke (Revoke License on Apple TV and Android) deactivates the license on the current device and frees its slot; the license can be restored later with either the store account or the email and key.
Chute Mac has no device list. About → Revoke License deactivates this Mac, deletes its certificate and returns the app to the license window.
If a device is lost or wiped before it was revoked, reset the license from the License Manager on the website, which deactivates every device at once.