Upgrading to Premium App

[+SwiteAndBB]

Hi everyone, a total noobie to geocaching after finding first one on Saturday and 5th one last night.

My question is this: I paid £20.99 for a years membership on the geocaching.com website on my notebook on Saturday night. Now I want to use the Premium Geocaching App but its asking me to pay £20.99 to download it. I dont want to click anything and end up paying double (£42)and I only have the intro app still and see no way of upgrading it now I am a member for a year. Thank you for any help.

Edited August 18, 2014 by SwiteAndBB

[+Bear and Ragged]

Hi everyone, a total noobie to geocaching after finding first one on Saturday and 5th one last night.

My question is this: I paid £20.99 for a years membership on the geocaching.com website on my notebook on Saturday night. Now I want to use the Premium App but its asking me to pay £20.99 to download it. I dont want to click anything and end up playing double (£42) so I do I get the Premium app as I only have the intro still and see no way of upgrading it now I am a member for a year. Thank you for any help.

 

No such thing as a "Premium App"

 

There is Premium Membership.

 

Groundspeak has two apps:

Basic/free with limited features.

Full/paid app (approx £6) that will show all caches available for Non-Premium (Basic) Members.

 

Pay for Premium Membership ($30) and you get access to PMO (PremiumMember Only) caches, and the use of features such as Pocket Queries, Bookmark lists etc.

 

IF you have the Free app, DONT upgrade through it!

 

Go to the store to purchase the Paid for app.

 

It is a PAID app, even Premium Members have to pay for it.

 

It IS NOT a "Premium App".

Edited August 18, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+SwiteAndBB]

Right. I get it now. I thought the app was part of the whole geocaching.com website and now I've paid for a years membership my app would automatically upgrade to show all other features. I didnt realise I had to pay again. It gives me a choice of paying £6.99 for 3 months or £20.99 for the year.

This is becoming an expensive hobby. lol. I only started on Saturday and I have a lot to learn.

Thank you so much for your help and for explaining Bear and Ragged.

[+Bear and Ragged]

It gives me a choice of paying £6.99 for 3 months or £20.99 for the year.

 

The app purchase is a One-Off payment.

 

Premium Membership is a regular yearly/3 monthly payment.

 

DO NOT try to 'upgrade' the app via the free/trial app.

 

It will only get you Premium Membership, with no added extras.

(OK, it will show all traditional caches. But the Full/paid for app will show ALL types of caches)

 

ONLY upgrade to the Paid for app via the itunes store/Google Play.

 

You're not the first to be caught out, and you wont be the last!

Groundspeak have admitted the wording is wrong on the free app, but don't seem to be 'fixing' it!

Edited August 18, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+Semper Questio]

Right. I get it now. I thought the app was part of the whole geocaching.com website and now I've paid for a years membership my app would automatically upgrade to show all other features. I didnt realise I had to pay again. It gives me a choice of paying £6.99 for 3 months or £20.99 for the year.

This is becoming an expensive hobby. lol. I only started on Saturday and I have a lot to learn.

Thank you so much for your help and for explaining Bear and Ragged.

 

It kind of sounds like you are still misunderstanding the situation a bit. The prices you quote above are rates for the web site's premium membership. It has nothing at all to do with the version of the app you are using. I see on your user profile that you are now a premium member so just ignore all that "membership" stuff in the app now. To move from the free Intro app to the full version app you need to go to your app store such as Google Play for Android users and buy it. It is a 1-time purchase (unless you change platforms such as move from iPhone to Android).

[+Bear and Ragged]

1.1. Benefits of Geocaching Premium

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=175

 

2.2. What is the difference between the Geocaching Intro app for iPhone, the Pro app, and Geocaching Premium?

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=514

 

The free Intro app for iPhone is an introductory app. Basic members are served up 3 recommended traditional geocaches at a time. You will also receive 3 nearby geocaches, as indicated with the green circle icon.

 

Geocaching Premium Membership offers the benefit of using the free Intro app to find all traditional geocaches. Premium Membership also allows you to take advantage of features like Pocket Queries, Premium Member Geocaches and Favorite Points. You can take advantage of these features on the website or the full version of the iPhone app. (Note: These features are not accessible in the Intro app.)

 

The full version of the iPhone app (the "Pro" app) for $9.99 is perfect for those who want to explore all geocaching has to offer with their phone. It displays all geocache types, lets you see your Pocket Queries, allows you to save geocaches to an offline list and more.

[Pup Patrol]

Right. I get it now. I thought the app was part of the whole geocaching.com website and now I've paid for a years membership my app would automatically upgrade to show all other features. I didnt realise I had to pay again. It gives me a choice of paying £6.99 for 3 months or £20.99 for the year.

This is becoming an expensive hobby. lol. I only started on Saturday and I have a lot to learn.

Thank you so much for your help and for explaining Bear and Ragged.

 

Sounds like you've been caught up in a very common misunderstanding of Premium Membership versus the app options.

 

A lot of people come to the forum because they don't understand that Premium Membership is not connected to any of the apps. Premium Membership is $30 per year. It doesn't include any app options.

 

The paid "Pro" app is $10.00.

 

Perhaps the Help Center articles might be worth a read:

 

Help Center → Apps

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=12

 

2.2. What is the difference between the Geocaching Intro app for iPhone, the Pro app, and Geocaching Premium?

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=514

 

1.15. iPhone app Feature Comparison

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=442

 

 

B.

[+SwiteAndBB]

Ok. So the full app is £6.99 here in the UK. I have just had to swap from my broken android to my daughters hand-me-down iphone so I'm now using that as my full time phone. I think the confusion was me reading the in-app purchases below the app which led me to believe I was paying membership again. I'll get the one-off purchase now through the itunes app store and thats me sorted. Thank you to all who have helped me muddle my way through this confusion. Very greatful. I'll read all the help files too. Thank you. :)

Edited August 18, 2014 by SwiteAndBB

[+Bear and Ragged]

I think the confusion was me reading the in-app purchases below the app which led me to believe I was paying membership again.

 

That's the badly written bit.

The 'In App' purchase gets you Premium Membership. Has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting the advanced Geocaching app!

 

It 'Upgrades' your membership, not the app.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+L0ne.R]

I think the confusion was me reading the in-app purchases below the app which led me to believe I was paying membership again.

 

That's the badly written bit.

The 'In App' purchase gets you Premium Membership. Has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting the advanced Geocaching app!

 

It 'Upgrades' your membership, not the app.

 

This seems to happen a lot - i.e. new players paying for PM when they really only want/need the $10 (£6.99) app. Does anyone know if Groundspeak will refund the PM if contacted about the mistake. If enough people get PM refunds, they may make it very clear at the outset what the new player is paying for.

[+cerberus1]

I think the confusion was me reading the in-app purchases below the app which led me to believe I was paying membership again.

 

That's the badly written bit.

The 'In App' purchase gets you Premium Membership. Has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting the advanced Geocaching app!

 

It 'Upgrades' your membership, not the app.

 

This seems to happen a lot - i.e. new players paying for PM when they really only want/need the $10 (£6.99) app. Does anyone know if Groundspeak will refund the PM if contacted about the mistake. If enough people get PM refunds, they may make it very clear at the outset what the new player is paying for.

Supposedly fixed the wording at least once to make it more clear, but folks still come in confused ...

In another forum (the app), a Lackey might chime in, asking the OP to mail via Groundspeak (due to personal info and all...) and I guess the OP, happy to get it fixed, never came back to say whether it was or not.

[+SwiteAndBB]

I've got the premium membership and now I've bought the upgrade app so I'm all good to go. I didnt realise I actually went hunting for my first ever geocache on Saturday which was International Geocache Day. How cool. Anyway, I think paying for the premium membership and the app is money well spent (now I know what I've paid for) and I'm ready to go hunting for more. Thank you all so much for your help.