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How payments work

Overview

This section explains how billing works across UnoLock’s four tiers: Free, Inheritance, Sovereign, and HighRisk. It covers subscriptions, Bitcoin payments, prepaid credit, upgrades, downgrades, storage overages, and extra access keys. It does not change how your Safe is unlocked; Safe access still depends on registered access keys.

Who Is This For?

This section is relevant for any UnoLock user choosing a paid tier, managing prepaid credit, or planning around storage and access-key limits.

What Does It Explain?

This section covers: - How subscription payments (monthly or yearly) are processed and adjusted for storage or key overages. - How Bitcoin payments are validated and credited through the separate payment flow. - How users manage upgrades, downgrades, and storage/key expansion, with a cap of 10 access keys on paid tiers. - How billing is kept separate from encrypted Safe contents and normal Safe access.

Why Is This Important?

Understanding how payments work is critical to: - Prevent service interruptions from lapsed payments on paid plans. - Understand payment privacy boundaries and how UnoLock separates billing from Safe contents. - Manage upgrades and downgrades effectively, aligning with your evolving security needs. - Predict cost increases from storage overages ($1/GB/month) or additional access keys (up to 10 maximum). - Maintain continuity for estate planning, family use, or high-risk workflows.

How Does the Payment Process Work?

Subscription Model

  • Billing: Charged at the start of each billing cycle (monthly: $3 for Inheritance, $8 for Sovereign, $14 for HighRisk; yearly: $36 for Inheritance, $86.40 for Sovereign, $151.20 for HighRisk with 10% discount on Sovereign and HighRisk).
  • Overages: Additional storage beyond the base tier (1GB for Inheritance, 5GB for Sovereign/HighRisk) is billed at $1/GB/month, added to the next cycle. Additional regular access keys (beyond 1 for Inheritance, 3 for Sovereign/HighRisk, capped at 10) incur charges, applied in the next cycle. The single extra Agent Key allowed on Free and Inheritance for the included Safe space is separate from that regular-key expansion.
  • Upgrade Anytime: Tier upgrades are immediate and seamless, with prorated adjustments for remaining time.
  • Downgrade Requires a New Safe: To keep the lower-tier state clean and predictable, downgrades require creating a new Safe. Unused balances are returned as promotional codes for future use.

Bitcoin Payments

  • The app generates a one-time payment reference and payment amount for the transaction.
  • Once the transaction is detected and confirmed, credit is applied to the billing flow for the target plan or prepaid balance.
  • Bitcoin payments are available for monthly subscriptions, annual plans, or adding credits for storage/key expansion (e.g., up to 10 keys maximum).
  • The payment path is designed to keep payer records separated from Safe contents and normal Safe identity in day-to-day operation.

Prepaid Credit Model

  • Available for Bitcoin users to pre-load credits for long-term use, covering tier costs, storage overages, or additional keys (capped at 10).
  • Credits are consumed based on the tier, time, and storage usage (e.g., $1/GB/month for overages).
  • If credits run out, the Safe gracefully reverts to the Free tier (1MB storage, 1 included access key) with no data loss.
  • Promotional codes from refunds or downgrades can be applied toward future plans.

Tier Transition Rules

  • Upgrades: Immediate, with prorated adjustments for the remaining billing period. For example, upgrading from Inheritance ($3/month) to Sovereign ($8/month) adjusts the cost based on time left.
  • Downgrades: Require new Safe creation to prevent privilege loss or unsafe state rollback. Unused balances are issued as promotional codes.
  • Access Key Expansion: Inheritance includes 1 normal key, Sovereign and HighRisk include 3 normal keys, with expansion up to 10 keys maximum across all paid tiers. Free and Inheritance can also add 1 Agent Key for the single included Safe space. Additional regular keys incur charges where applicable, reflected in the next billing cycle or deducted from prepaid credits.

Privacy by Design

  • Billing data is handled separately from encrypted Safe contents.
  • Bitcoin payments use one-time payment references instead of turning Safe access into a conventional account/password model.
  • The payment process supports UnoLock’s privacy-first architecture while remaining distinct from client-side encryption and access-key authentication.