Many Cerberus Free 'Lifetime' Licenses Are Expiring In A Few Days Because Developers Gotta Eat

[AlexCross]

Cerberus is one of the more full-featured device security apps available on Android. It has more features than Android Device Manager, and more importantly it existed years before Google's solution. The developer has occasionally offered free lifetime licenses for the app, but now users are seeing that their "lifetime" licenses are set to expire in a few days. What gives?

We've checked a few accounts that were recipients of the free lifetime promotion, and indeed they're set to expire in a little less than two weeks, according to the Cerberus web interface. If you click on the provided link, you get a PayPal page where you can buy a 4.99 license. The app itself doesn't mention the pending expiration at all. Affected users who have reached out to LSDroid have been told that making those licenses free for a lifetime wasn't feasible, presumably because of the cost. However, allowing them to expire without any sort of explanation is rather shady. Here's what our tipster was told when he contacted the developer.

We are sorry but we could not make those licenses last for a lifetime. We hope Cerberus helped you recover a lost or stolen device during these years, and that you will consider buying a license.

I'd wager running an app like Cerberus isn't easy right now as Google's Android Device Manager framework is good enough for most people, and it's included on every Android device. Look, we all want developers to be able to make a living creating the apps and services that we use, but that doesn't mean you should do whatever you can to make a buck. If you offer something free for a lifetime, you need to plan ahead and make sure you can hold up your end. At the very least, letting people know in advance about the license expiration would have been nice.

Here is the message that I, AlexCross have recived:

Hi *****,

You received a free license for Cerberus in our birthday promotion in April 2014. We deeply apologize, but it was not feasible to make it last for a lifetime, so your license will expire after 3 years of free service, on May 1st 2017.

We are sending you this notice well in advance of the license expiration, because by then the app will be more expensive and subscription-based (with an annual or monthly fee). If you want to purchase a lifetime license with a one-time payment now, you can use this link: https:*** . All your Cerberus account settings will remain unchanged, including the number of devices that you can manage with the account. This option will be available until the end of October 2015.

We never made, and we will never make any retroactive changes to paid licenses, so if you buy the license now it will not expire. Otherwise, you can enjoy Cerberus for free until the end of April 2017 and then decide if you want to keep using our service, with the licensing options that will be available at that time.

Thank you,

The Cerberus Team.

[AlexCross]

I bought Cerberus from the Amazon AppStore, they left that AppStore and when I asked them why can't I use the app that I bought they said that I have to call Amazon for a refund. My opinion, don't buy their crap.

[steven36]

My opinion , is if you don’t want to get ripped off if you use Proprietary stuff to only use cracks or freeware . If you don’t want to use cracks switch to Liunx Phones and desktops O/S. :D

[Holmes]

Indian giving sons of B*TCHES. I honestly thought I read there or you were giving away free licenses and I didnt know about cerberus now watch them get hacked by a disgruntled customer.

[CODYQX4]

Lifetime license expired: please buy a new lifetime license...

[hawk007]

Lifetime license expired: please buy a new lifetime license...

lifetime -> upto its expiration date. :P

[steven36]

Lifetime license expired: please buy a new lifetime license...

Look all those people who bought admuncher and they went to freeware . I used the cracked version for years the cracked version then the pl lic then they gave me lic for a year then i went back to the cracked version after that then it became were it was not even very effective at what it was for . Most Proprietary stuff is not worth buying and they say developers got to eat ? well they should get in a different line of work I tell you . Because I need to eat too and giving them my money for toys don’t feed me. B)

[namek]

That's plain lying and cheating. So low.... if you thinking of making the product to cost money later, why do you say lifetime? Whos lifetime? Your rabbit?

[straycat19]

That's plain lying and cheating. So low.... if you thinking of making the product to cost money later, why do you say lifetime? Whos lifetime? Your rabbit?

Rabbits live longer than their lifetime license did.

[namek]

That's plain lying and cheating. So low.... if you thinking of making the product to cost money later, why do you say lifetime? Whos lifetime? Your rabbit?

Rabbits live longer than their lifetime license did.

My rabbit broke it's back and died quite young:(