The two versions are built from the same code and share one editor: the same free version, the same line editor and the same Save. What differs is how you buy, how the app is updated, how a refund works and when it goes online, and the table below sets those side by side.
What is the same in both?
Everything you do with a document. Both open, edit, check, save, print and share PDFs the same way, need macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon, and start as the free version. Free to try. Your first 5 line edits save clean. After that, saved files carry a watermark until you buy once. In both, your files never leave your Mac: the app reads only the files you open and writes only where you save. The words differ in a few places: the store version speaks of an “in-app purchase”, the download of a “licence”, and the Help menu holds the items of its own channel.
How do the two versions differ?
| What differs | Mac App Store version | Download from pdftextfix.com |
|---|---|---|
| Installing | From the Mac App Store | A disk image from the download page, signed and notarized |
| Buying | A one-time in-app purchase, “Unlock PDF Textfix” | A one-time licence, paid through Paddle and sent by email |
| Network | Only to confirm a purchase with RevenueCat, when you buy or restore it | Once on each Mac to activate a licence, then about once a week to check it; a request for the update feed, only when you allow it, and the update itself when you choose to install it |
| Updates | By the App Store | Help > Check for Updates… or automatic checks you agree to |
| Another Mac | Restore Purchase with the same Apple Account | Enter the same licence; it is active on 3 Macs at a time, and a fourth activation removes the Mac used least recently |
| Sharing | Family Sharing can share the purchase | One person per personal licence; a Team of 5 licence names five people |
| Refunds | Requested from Apple | Within 14 days if it does not work as described, through Paddle or us |
| Price | Pricing | Pricing |
When does each one go online?
The store version, only when you buy or restore the purchase, to confirm it with RevenueCat and, until you quit the app, a few times more to keep that confirmation current. Its Help > Saving and Privacy window says: “The app has no account. It goes online only when you buy or restore the purchase, to confirm it with RevenueCat, the service that records our in-app sales, and, until you quit the app, a few times more to keep that confirmation current.” It sends the record of the purchase, a random identifier and the versions of the app and of macOS, and nothing about your files; before you buy it sends nothing, and once bought it stays unlocked without a connection. The download has no account either, and checks pdftextfix.com for updates only when you allow it: it asks before its first automatic check, and Help > Check for Updates… checks at once when you choose it. A check is one HTTPS request for the update feed. Like every web request it carries your IP address, and it names the app, its version and the version of Sparkle, the framework that installs the updates. When a check finds a new version and you choose to install it, the update itself is downloaded too. With a licence, the download also goes online once on each Mac to activate it, sending the licence, a hashed identifier of the Mac, the Mac’s name and model and the app’s version, and about once a week to check it, sending the licence ID, that identifier and the app’s version. Without a licence, it never contacts the licence service. To buy, it opens this website in your browser. The privacy policy has the details.
How do buying and activating work?
In the store version, the purchase is offered in the Help menu, in Settings and in the sheet before your first watermarked save. Once bought, Settings says so in one line. On another Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, Restore Purchase unlocks it.
In the download, you buy on the pricing page and the licence arrives by email. The link in that email opens PDF Textfix, which checks the licence on your Mac and then activates it online; or choose Enter Licence… and paste it. The activation needs an internet connection once on each Mac. A licence is active on 3 Macs at a time, and activating a fourth removes the Mac used least recently, so there is nothing to deactivate first. After that, the app works offline and checks the licence about once a week when the Mac is online; after 30 days without a successful check, it asks you to connect once. Help > Licence… lists the Macs using the licence, with Remove for the others, and Remove Licence… takes it off a Mac you give away.
How do refunds work?
For the download, the free version is how you find out first whether it fits. Within 14 days of the purchase, the money comes back if the app does not work as described, if you bought it twice by mistake or if your licence never arrived; otherwise a purchase is final. The refund policy gives the two ways to ask. In the store, Apple sells the in-app purchase, so Apple decides refunds. Its support page says: “Some purchases from the App Store, iTunes Store, Apple Books, or other Apple services might be eligible for a refund.” The request goes through reportaproblem.apple.com.
Can I switch later?
You can install the other version, but the purchase does not move with you. A licence from this website unlocks only the downloaded version, and the in-app purchase unlocks only the store version, so buy where you mean to stay. Files you saved with one version open in the other.
More questions about the two versions
How does each version get updates?
The store version is updated by the App Store, like any app from it. The download updates itself through Help > Check for Updates…, or through automatic checks once you agree to them. Both are built from the same code, and every version’s notes are on the releases page.
Do I need an Apple Account for the download?
No. The download has no account of any kind; the licence is a line of text you keep.
I lost my licence. What now?
Help > Lost Licence writes an email to support asking for it again, with lines for the purchase email address and the order number. The lost licence page says the same for when the app is not at hand.
Can my company buy it for a team?
On this website, yes. The terms offer a Team of 5 licence that names five people, each on up to 3 Macs at a time; write to contact@pocketimplementation.com with the number of people.
