Blue Iris renewal mandatory now?

[erkme73]

My priority plan expired this month, and unlike in the past where I just no longer qualified for updates, now I'm getting "Blue Iris Evaluation Version" watermark on all cameras. I really don't want to believe that Ken has gone to a 100% subscription service, but it's looking like that. I've always renewed for the top level every year, as I do want to support him as much as possible. But there is something unsettling to know that the continued use of the software at an older version is no longer possible.

I still have a copy of Office 2016. I'm good with that. I don't want to pay MS just to be able to use the software.

Tell me I'm wrong?

 

[wittaj]

Are you sure you don't have auto updates running or didn't accidently update after the date?

Post a screenshot that shows the version you are on and your expiration date. I suspect we will see you are on a version beyond your date and a rollback will fix it.

 

[erkme73]

Are you sure you don't have auto updates running or didn't accidently update after the date?

Post a screenshot that shows the version you are on and your expiration date. I suspect we will see you are on a version beyond your date and a rollback will fix it.

Oh man that would be such a relief. I'm sure that's what happened. I used that UI3 green update prompt earlier today to force an update without giving thought to the subscription having expired. That makes a whole lot more sense. I'm on version UI3 version 296, Blue Iris version: 5.9.9.65, and my subscription expired on 7/9/25. I'm renewing now. I absolutely support Ken, but on principal had a real issue with forcing everyone to the subscription model. I'm so glad that's not the case.

 

[OfficerD00fy]

Mine also expired, I am waiting anxiously to see how B.I 6 is before I make the decision to move entirely to UNIFI Protect. Hoping B.I 6 is great so I just stay with my current setup. The U.I and ease of use of protect has me tempted to jump ship

 

[kolbasz]

Mine also expired, I am waiting anxiously to see how B.I 6 is before I make the decision to move entirely to UNIFI Protect. Hoping B.I 6 is great so I just stay with my current setup. The U.I and ease of use of protect has me tempted to jump ship

Except there are no alerts or clips at the moment.

Unless you are going all UniFi cameras of course

 

[bp2008]

Please complain to BI support about this. This feature (BI telling web clients when an update is available) was added 3 months ago, and I warned Ken about this possible issue way back at that time, asking him to not tell the web client about updates newer than the support expiration date.

I guess he didn't read my email, because, well,

Exhibit A:

Oh man that would be such a relief. I'm sure that's what happened. I used that UI3 green update prompt earlier today to force an update without giving thought to the subscription having expired. That makes a whole lot more sense. I'm on version UI3 version 296, Blue Iris version: 5.9.9.65, and my subscription expired on 7/9/25. I'm renewing now. I absolutely support Ken, but on principal had a real issue with forcing everyone to the subscription model. I'm so glad that's not the case.

 

[erkme73]

Please complain to BI support about this. This feature (BI telling web clients when an update is available) was added 3 months ago, and I warned Ken about this possible issue way back at that time, asking him to not tell the web client about updates newer than the support expiration date.

I guess he didn't read my email, because, well,

Exhibit A:

I just fired off an email asking Ken to add a validation process when remote upgrades are triggered. That way the user can either be prohibited from updating entirely, or at least warned that continuing to upgrade will put the system into an evaluation/trial mode. Makes complete sense.

As it is, users that can't figure this out will think that Ken has moved to a greedy subscription-only model where they lose their system if not renewed every year. Thanks for the prompt to do so.

 

[bp2008]

Yup, the current remote update capability is extremely primitive. UI3 knows only the version number of the available update e.g. "5.9.9.65". Nothing else. Not any kind of release notes, release date, other available version numbers, etc. Just the one version number of the update that Blue Iris chose to tell about.

3 months ago when he added that, I asked for an API that would do a full update check and provide all the details so I could put a full update checker GUI into UI3. After 4 days he hadn't responded yet (and never would) so I just implemented the primitive update mechanism. You're the first person I remember seeing talk about it.