Timed Trials

Timed trials let customers evaluate your app for a limited period before buying. A trial activation is keyless, so the user starts one without entering a license key. Cryptlex trials are verified and node-locked, so a trial does not reset if the user reinstalls your app or reformats the machine. Each trial activation appears in the admin portal under Trials -> Trial Activations.

Before trials will work, create a trial policy on the Trials -> Trial Policies page and link it to your product on the Home -> Products page. Only one trial policy can be linked to a product.

How a trial works

Start the trial on first run with ActivateTrial(). Call it once, ideally on a button click, not on every start, since each call re-validates against the Cryptlex servers.
Verify on every start with IsTrialGenuine(), after your IsLicenseGenuine() check, and read the time left with GetTrialExpiryDate(). This works offline.
If verification returns any other status, the trial has either not been activated on this machine yet or could not be validated. LA_FAIL specifically means the trial has not been activated on this machine, so it is the signal to show your "Start Trial" action. Handle the returned status before deciding to call ActivateTrial().
When the trial expires, the functions return LA_TRIAL_EXPIRED; prompt the user to buy a license.

Only some of these calls need the network. ActivateTrial() and SyncTrialActivation() reach the Cryptlex servers, while IsTrialGenuine() and GetTrialExpiryDate() validate the stored trial locally and work offline, so a trial extension does not apply until the machine syncs. Offline trial activations cannot be handled through the customer portal; host the offline trial activation form instead.

Trial fingerprint matching

When a trial is activated, the server matches the machine's fingerprint exactly, regardless of the configured fingerprint matching strategy. Calling ActivateTrial() again after a change in the machine's hardware configuration can therefore create a new trial activation with a fresh trial ID. SyncTrialActivation(), on the other hand, honors the fingerprint matching strategy for existing trials, so a minor hardware change does not prevent an already activated trial from syncing.

Never call ActivateTrial() to refresh an already activated trial, for example to pull an extended expiry date. Call SyncTrialActivation() instead: it syncs the existing trial activation with the server without any risk of creating a new one.

Resetting a trial during development

Trials cannot be reset by your customers, but while testing your integration you will want to start fresh trials on your own machine. To reset a trial, delete its trial activation on the Trials -> Trial Activations page in the admin portal, then call the Reset() function in your app.

Reset() clears all locally stored LexActivator data for the product, not just the trial. If the machine also has an activated test license, call DeactivateLicense() first, otherwise its local record is wiped while the activation stays consumed on the server.

Floating trials

Floating trials do not exist; trials are always node-locked. To let a customer evaluate floating licensing, create a floating license that expires after a short period, such as 30 days.

Enforcing periodic server contact

Trials validate locally and work offline. To require server contact during an evaluation, call SyncTrialActivation() from your app at the interval you want. It refreshes the local trial data from the server, so server-side changes such as an updated expiry date or a deleted trial activation take effect on the machine.

Extending a trial

You can extend a trial to give a customer more time to evaluate your product:

Ask the customer for their trial ID. Your app gets it with GetTrialId().
In the admin portal, open Trials -> Trial Activations, search for the trial ID, and from the actions menu choose Update Expiration Date, pick the new date, and click Update.
In your app, call SyncTrialActivation() to pull the new expiry date to the client without reactivation. It also refreshes trial activation metadata if you have set any.

Sample code

For the full flow and per-language samples, see Using LexActivator.

// On every start, after the IsLicenseGenuine() check
status = IsTrialGenuine();
if (LA_OK == status) {
  // trial is active
  unsigned int trialExpiryDate = 0;
  GetTrialExpiryDate(&trialExpiryDate);
} else if (LA_TRIAL_EXPIRED == status) {
  // trial has expired, prompt the user to buy a license
} else {
  // trial has not started, start it (for example, on a button click)
  status = ActivateTrial();
}

Software Maintenance and Support Containers and Virtual Machines

Last updated: 9/14/2026