Plans, trial and billing

Pilot EFB Desk is a paid subscription with no free tier, and it says so at the door. This chapter is the one page for the plans, the trial, the Subscription page in Settings and how to cancel. It also draws the line between Desk and the iOS app's plan, Pilot EFB Pro: two products, two subscriptions, and neither opens the other.

Find your way around

The web edition has three gates, in this order, and nothing else loads until all three are passed:

The subscription screen carries the two plans, the trial terms line, the Subscribe button, an honest Sign out instead of a "Not now", Sign out and remove local data for a shared or borrowed computer, and a line stating that a web subscription is separate from any App Store purchase.

The plans

Both are USD, and the price shown is the total you pay: it includes any VAT or sales tax due where you live. Both include everything Desk does: there are no add-ons and no tiers. If the price changes, the new price applies only from your next renewal after at least 30 days' notice by email, and you can cancel before that renewal and never pay it (terms of service, section 5b).

How to subscribe

1. Open app.pilotefb.com and sign in.
2. Accept the disclaimer if this account has not accepted it before.
3. On the subscription screen, pick Yearly or Monthly.
4. Click Subscribe. When your account qualifies for the trial, the button reads Start 2-day free trial instead, and the ticket above the plans spells the terms out: "Free for 3 days, then $199.99/year or $19.99/month. A payment card is needed to start; cancel before the trial ends and nothing is charged. One free trial per person and per payment card."
5. Complete checkout on Stripe. The button reads Opening checkout... while the redirect runs and Confirming your payment... when you return.
6. The page flips to the desk on its own once Stripe confirms.

Above the button the screen states the cancellation position: by subscribing you ask us to start your access immediately; if you are a consumer you can still cancel within 14 days of subscribing by emailing support@pilotefb.com, and the refund is what you paid less a proportionate amount for the days already supplied; after that, auto-renewal can be cancelled at any time from Settings > Subscription. Stripe checkout asks you to tick the same statement.

How to read the Subscription page

1. Open Settings > Subscription. The page is titled Subscription, "Your Pilot EFB Desk membership, billing and storage allowance".
2. Read the membership card at the top: a status chip and the one date that matters - Renews, Expires, Trial ends, Period ends or Demo ends (a grant with no expiry shows none) - with a fact strip beneath (Billed via and Applies to: "Every device you sign in to").
3. Below it sit the billing card and the photo-storage meter, side by side when the page has room and one above the other when it does not, then Everything included, the grid of what the subscription covers. During a trial, the plan card on the Settings rail says the same thing in one line: "Trial - first charge ", or "Trial ends , nothing charged" once you have cancelled.
4. The context rail on the right lists the List prices (Yearly and Monthly) and links to the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Send feedback.

The billing card depends on how you hold Desk. A Stripe subscriber sees Billing & payment, "Secure Stripe billing portal - payment details and cancellation". A demo or promotional grant sees Demo access or Promotional access with the note that nothing is billed.

One subscription covers one pilot. Desk can be open in up to two browsers at the same time on your account, and the iOS app never counts towards that; Settings > Privacy & security > Desk sessions lists them and signs one out (Settings and sync).

How to change your card or cancel

1. Open Settings > Subscription.
2. Click Manage subscription. The Stripe billing portal opens in a new tab; this page stays put.
3. In the portal, update the payment method, download invoices, or cancel.
4. Cancelling stops future charges. Your access continues until the end of the period you have paid for, and the page's milestone changes from Renews to Expires.

Deleting your account does not cancel Desk billing. While a subscription is still set to renew, Settings refuses the deletion and asks you to cancel under Settings > Subscription > Manage subscription first.

If you are a consumer you may also cancel within 14 days of subscribing by emailing support@pilotefb.com; the refund is what you paid less a proportionate amount for the days already supplied, as the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 provide. After the 14 days, auto-renewal can still be turned off at any time, and refund questions go to the same address.

Demo access by invitation

Crew rooms and operators weighing Desk up for several pilots can ask for a demo by email; we issue a link of the form app.pilotefb.com/demo/... The person opening it signs in (or creates a free account) and lands in the desk with full Desk access for a fixed number of days - nothing is billed and no card is taken. A Demo chip counting the days left sits in the top bar beside the clock for the whole demo; clicking it opens Settings > Subscription, whose Demo access card reads "Ends - nothing is billed until then" and carries a subscribe button. When the demo ends the account returns to the subscription screen with everything entered during the demo intact.

Organisation seats

Organisation accounts are built into Desk but not open yet. An invitation link opened today reads "Organisation invitations are not open yet - nothing was used or changed.", and no organisation console appears in the sidebar. Once Pilot EFB opens them, an organisation - a flight department, a school, a club - will hold a block of Desk seats, and a seat will pass the subscription gate without a personal subscription. Organisations describes how they are designed to work; to ask about one for your operation, email support@pilotefb.com.

iOS and Desk side by side

Subscribing on iPhone or iPad does not unlock Desk, and a Desk subscription does not give you Pilot EFB Pro or affect your App Store billing. Pilot EFB on iPhone and iPad has the iOS side in full.

Troubleshooting

The button says Subscribe, not Start 2-day free trial. The trial is offered only to accounts that have never had one and have never been a Stripe customer. If the page shows the plain button, the trial is not available to this account, or the check could not be read - reload the page to ask again.

Checkout would not open. The screen reads "Could not open checkout. Please check your browser settings and try again." A content blocker cancelled the redirect to Stripe; allow it for app.pilotefb.com and retry. Starting checkout also needs a connection.

I pay for Pro on my iPhone but the web asks me to subscribe. That is by design: the two subscriptions are separate. The subscription screen says so under the plans: "subscribing on iPhone or iPad does not unlock the web app, and this web subscription does not affect your App Store billing."

Where next

• Overview - the first desk you see once the gates are passed.
• Settings and sync - the sync bridge between phone and desk, and the storage meter.
• Organisations - organisation seats, which are not open yet.
• Pilot EFB on iPhone and iPad - the iOS app, its plan and what stays on the phone.