Help with LumenPod

Get in touch

LumenPod is built and supported by one person. Every message is read by that same person, so please allow a few days for a reply.

• Email — support@lumenpod.app
• In-app — Settings → Help → Send feedback. This attaches your app version and macOS version for you.
• From this site — the feedback form, if the app won't start.

Which edition you have

Several answers below depend on where you got LumenPod, so it is worth knowing which one you are running.

• Direct download — a .dmg from lumenpod.app. You sign in on the website, buy a licence, and paste the activation code into the app. It updates itself.
• Mac App Store — installed from the App Store. Paid once, no account, no code to enter. It updates through the App Store.

Settings → About shows your version; the App Store edition has no "Check for updates" entry and no activation screen.

Local network and WebDAV sharing

Current direct-download edition only. In Settings → Local Network Sharing → Browser & WebDAV, choose Start and open the displayed address from another device on the same trusted network. The share is read-only HTTP without a password: anyone who can reach it can read unencrypted, unhidden public media while it runs. Encrypted and hidden media are excluded. Stop the share when finished; do not forward its port to the internet.

This is multi-device access to one host, not automatic library synchronization between Macs. The separately paired LumenPod app service does not protect the WebDAV address. For setup and client requirements, read Share Local Media from Mac over LAN and WebDAV.

What to include in a bug report

A report with these four things usually gets fixed; one without them usually turns into a round trip.

• Your macOS version and your LumenPod version (Settings → About).
• What you were doing, in the order you did it.
• What you expected, and what happened instead.
• The exact error text, if there was one. A screenshot is fine — but crop out anything private, since your media never reaches us and we'd rather it stayed that way.

Vault passwords and recovery

For a walkthrough of local encryption, original copies and recovery backups, read How to Keep Photos Private on Mac.

A vault password cannot be reset, recovered or bypassed — not by support, not by anyone. Your password is what derives the key that decrypts your media, and no copy of it or of the key ever leaves your Mac. There is no back door to ask for, which is the point of the design, and it is also the one mistake that cannot be undone for you.

The safeguard is the recovery package. In Settings → Encryption, export one for each vault; you get a .lprec.json file plus a one-time recovery key. Keep the two apart from each other and off the same disk as your library. With both in hand you can set a new password from the same screen. Without them, a forgotten password means the media in that vault is gone.

Do this before you need it. Re-export after you change a vault password — the old package no longer opens the vault.

Licence, codes and activation

Direct download only. The App Store edition has no activation code — skip this section if that is what you installed.

• Buying: a licence is $29.99, paid once. There is no free trial and no monthly plan, and every purchase is refundable for 14 days.
• Activating: a purchase hands you an activation code. Clicking its button opens the app and fills it in; if that fails, copy the code from your orders page and paste it into Settings → License.
• "Your licence expired" while it hasn't: the app re-checks with our server periodically and keeps working offline in between. A Mac that has been offline a long time needs one connected launch to catch up.
• A new Mac: activate it there too. The licence covers up to three Macs you own; the orders page lists which ones are in use.

Purchases, receipts and refunds

Bought on lumenpod.app. Checkout is handled by our payment provider, and your order code, invoice and activation codes live on your orders page. Within 14 days of purchase, use Request a refund on an eligible order. If the option is unavailable or anything gets stuck, email support@lumenpod.app from the account you bought with, quoting that order code — no questions asked. See the refund policy for the full policy and what happens after the window closes.

Bought on the Mac App Store. LumenPod is a paid app there: you buy it once and the whole app is yours — nothing to unlock afterwards, no account with us, no code to enter. Your purchase is verified on your Mac against your Apple Account.

• A new Mac, or a reinstall: sign in with the same Apple Account and install LumenPod from the App Store. Because it is a paid download rather than an in-app unlock, that is the whole procedure.
• If the app asks you to verify your purchase instead of opening, the App Store couldn't produce a valid receipt on that Mac. The button on that screen asks it again, and signing in with the Apple Account you bought with resolves it.
• Receipts and refunds are Apple's to issue. Request either at reportaproblem.apple.com. We never see your payment method or your Apple Account, so we can't look an order up for you.

Updates

The direct-download edition updates itself: Settings → About → Check for updates, and it also checks on its own. The App Store edition updates through the App Store like any other app and does not update itself. Switching from one edition to the other means installing the other one — there is no in-place conversion, and a licence bought on the website does not carry over to an App Store install or the other way round.

How the library stores your files

App Store edition. Importing copies your files into LumenPod's own library inside the app's container. It does not reference the folder you imported from, so the two are independent from that moment on: deleting an original leaves the imported copy intact, and deleting inside LumenPod does not touch your original. Plan disk space accordingly. Deleting the app removes that library permanently.

Direct-download edition. Importing catalogues your files where they already are, without copying them. Moving or deleting a file outside LumenPod therefore does affect the entry inside it.

Either way, keep your own backup of anything you care about. Time Machine and any other backup that covers your user library covers LumenPod too.

Requirements and known limits

• macOS 13 Ventura or later for the App Store edition; macOS 12 or later for the direct download. Apple Silicon only (M1 or later) — there is no Intel build.
• External and network volumes work in the direct-download edition only. The App Store edition keeps its library in the app's container, where the sandbox cannot reach a mounted volume after a restart.
• Handing a file to an external player is likewise direct-download only. In the App Store edition playback and preview happen inside LumenPod, because decrypted media never leaves the app.
• Media is organised by tags, ratings and search rather than by a folder tree.

If one of these blocks something you need, say so in a message — that is genuinely how the roadmap gets set.

Privacy, terms and licence

What can leave your device, and how to switch it off, is set out in the Privacy Policy. The Terms of Service and the licence agreement cover the rest. All three describe both editions and label the parts that differ.