❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Here are answers to some common questions about ulives, organized by topic.
About ulives & LifeUp
Why are ulives data and Premium Access separate from LifeUp?
This is a great question! Here's the breakdown:
- ulives is a Spiritual Successor, Not a Port: Think of ulives as a brand-new app inspired by LifeUp, but specifically built and optimized from the ground up for the iOS platform. It's not simply LifeUp moved to a different store.
- Completely Re-developed: While sharing the core gamification philosophy, ulives features a completely new codebase with significant underlying architectural changes and upgrades compared to LifeUp.
- Future-Proofing: This new foundation allows us more flexibility for future development, including potential integration with AI technologies down the road.
- Different Development Teams: Due to various reasons, the progress of a LifeUp iOS version was slow. We have reassembled a team specifically for ulives (although currently just one person), allowing us to complete the development of ulives more quickly and flexibly.
- Platform Ecosystems: The App Store (for ulives) and Google Play (for LifeUp) operate as independent ecosystems. This includes their payment processing, account systems, and purchase management. Due to these platform differences, data and licenses cannot be directly transferred or shared between the two apps.
- Pricing and Premium Access strategy: LifeUp (Android) uses a lower price based on single-platform maintenance costs. ulives pricing and its technical approach are designed around cross-platform maintenance costs.
- Offline today, broader platforms later: ulives is currently a fully offline app without an account system or online features, so data remains local. A one-time purchase binds Premium Access to your Apple ID and can be used across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices. We plan to expand to Android and other platforms in the future, with Premium Access intended to be shared across them.
Therefore, ulives requires its own data management and its Premium Access is a separate purchase managed through the App Store.
Purchases & Premium Access
How is the Premium Access license bound?
Your ulives Premium Access is handled directly through Apple's In-App Purchase system.
- Tied to Your Apple ID: The purchase is securely linked to the Apple ID you used when you bought the Premium Access.
- Restoring Purchases: If you get a new iOS device or reinstall the app, you can easily restore your Premium Access using the "Restore Purchase" option within ulives, as long as you are signed in with the same Apple ID used for the original purchase. Apple manages the verification process.
Additional notes based on recent questions:
- Using multiple Apple IDs: Premium Access is bound to the Apple ID used at purchase. Switching the App Store login to a different Apple ID may prevent ulives from recognizing your subscription benefits. Please confirm you are purchasing with the Apple ID you plan to keep using. The current strict validation follows Apple's in-app purchase mechanisms; we are exploring looser checks so that benefits remain available after Apple ID changes. If you are experiencing issues today, contact us and we will help.
- Purchase not activating immediately: Sometimes Apple's in-app purchase system takes a little longer to acknowledge the transaction. Give it a moment, restart the app, or try re-authenticating with the App Store. If the delay persists or you have any concerns, please reach out to us for assistance.
How long will the "Early Bird Price" last? Will there be discounts?
We are currently in the Early Release Phase. We expect to continue refining the app for a significant period before any price adjustment. The Early Bird pricing is expected to be maintained for approximately another 6 months (from February 2026).
Our Pricing Philosophy:
- Lifetime & Cross-Platform: Our pricing is based on the value of lifetime access, cross-platform support, and development costs.
- No "Backstabbing": We will not offer limited-time discounts, flash sales, or coupons. This ensures that the price you pay today is the best possible price compared to any future point in time. We want to protect the value for our early supporters.
- Future Pricing: After the Early Bird period ends, we will increase the price of the Lifetime Premium Access. We may also introduce subscription options (Weekly, Monthly, Yearly) at that time.
- Important: Early Bird benefits are equivalent to Lifetime Premium Access. Even if subscription models are introduced in the future, your existing benefits will remain completely unaffected.
Note: We will not lower the base price. However, prices in specific regions may automatically fluctuate slightly due to exchange rate changes managed by the App Store.
Data & Sync
Does ulives support real-time cloud sync across devices?
Currently, ulives uses offline storage with data saved locally on your device. We support manual synchronization of the entire database through iCloud Drive backup/restore, and you can also export/import your data locally.
Why not real-time sync?
- Server-based Limitations: Most apps with real-time sync rely on server infrastructure, which comes with high costs and potential privacy/data loss risks.
- iCloud Sync Protocol Limitations: While iCloud offers sync protocols, our research shows they have limitations including stability issues (with reported data loss cases) and restrictions on data types.
- Stability Focus: We chose a more universal and stable local database approach to ensure data reliability.
Future Plans
We may evaluate combining iCloud sync protocols with our local database system to achieve near real-time synchronization effects. However, this requires extensive research and technical evaluation, and it's not a high priority in our current development roadmap.
Our early development focus remains on core app functionality and features. Cloud sync improvements will be considered after establishing a solid foundation for the app's primary capabilities.
What should I do if ulives shows "iCloud unavailable"?
If you're seeing an "iCloud unavailable" message in ulives, this is typically due to iCloud Drive being disabled or ulives not having the proper iCloud permissions.
Quick Solution:
- Enable iCloud Drive in your device settings
- Grant ulives permission to access iCloud
For detailed step-by-step instructions, see our comprehensive iCloud Troubleshooting Guide.
Platforms
Is there an iPad version, desktop app, or web version?
ulives is designed to run on iOS, iPad, and Apple silicon Macs (M-series).
Please note that these platforms currently run as standalone clients with separate local data, and do not support real-time sync with other devices yet. We're evaluating more form factors and data solutions over time.
Tasks & Penalties
How do I trigger penalties in ulives?
In ulives, penalties are designed to help you build discipline and accountability. Penalties are triggered only when a task is explicitly moved to the "Abandoned" status.
Task advancement modes and penalty triggers
ulives offers two basic task advancement options, and introduced more flexible overdue handling mechanisms in version v1.5.x:
| Advancement Mode | Behavior on Overdue | How to Trigger Penalties |
|---|---|---|
| Manual Mode | Tasks remain in current state | Manually abandon the task |
| Auto Mode | Default: Move to "Pending Confirmation"; can be set to "Auto-Give Up (Auto-Penalty)" mode | Manually confirm abandonment; or automatic (if set to "Auto-Give Up") |
More Flexible Overdue Handling (v1.5.x+)
Starting from version v1.5.x, we introduced more flexible overdue handling options. You can freely configure the behavior when a task becomes overdue:
- Move to Pending Confirmation: Default behavior, requires manual confirmation.
- Give Up (Automatic Penalty): Automatically moves to "Abandoned" status and triggers penalties upon overdue.
- Complete (Automatic Reward): Automatically marks as completed and grants rewards upon overdue.
- Skip: Automatically skips the task, with no reward and no penalty.
Custom penalties and future plans
You can also create your own penalty systems using:
- Negative experience values on items
- Item quantity effects to customize penalties
We're planning to introduce the following features for stricter enforcement:
- Support negative rewards (penalties) directly on tasks and subtasks