Canva Affinity Studio adds arbitration clause: Difference between revisions
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
Serif, a UK based software development company, released the Affinity V2 Universal License in 2022 for their | Serif, a UK based software development company, released the Affinity V2 Universal License in 2022 for their flagship brand Affinity, a professional photo editing, vector illustration and page design software. The cross-platform Universal License bundled Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2 and Affinity Publisher 2. Instead of subscription model payments, user access to the Affinity V2 suite could be purchased and installed and activated through Serif and Serif user accounts for a one-time payment.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2024-03-25 |title=Canva Acquires Design Platform Affinity to Bring Professional Design Tools to Every Organization |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240325965656/en/Canva-Acquires-Design-Platform-Affinity-to-Bring-Professional-Design-Tools-to-Every-Organization |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=BusinessWire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-09 |title=Press Release - Affinity Version 2 sets new standards in creative software |url=https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/press/newsroom/affinity-v2-sets-new-standards-in-creative-software/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109150704/https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/press/newsroom/affinity-v2-sets-new-standards-in-creative-software/ |archive-date=2022-11-09 |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=Affinity Serif}}</ref> | ||
In 2024, Canva, a drag and drop | In 2024, Canva, a drag and drop graphic design template platform, acquired Affinity's parent company, Serif, as part of a series of global serial acquisitions in the stock photo, graphics, and artificial intelligence sectors.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |date=2025-09-06 |title=Acquisitions by Canva - List of Canva's Acquisitions |url=https://tracxn.com/d/acquisitions/acquisitions-by-canva/__LHKOZhxQIkd1nKd00xe8ZiSIZ1WlxGLsiY4nuztOWOY#list-of-acquisitions |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=Tracxn}}</ref> In the same year that Serif/Affinity was acquired, Canva also acquired AI image and art generation platform Leonardo AI.<ref name=":12" /> After the acquisition, Affinity and Canva created a fair pricing pledge in which "perpetual license will always be offered" to adopt Affinity users "to scale their workflows using Canva as a platform to share and collaborate on their Affinity assets." The second part of the pledge stated, "Affinity is here to stay."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-27 |title=The Affinity and Canva Pledge |url=https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/press/newsroom/affinity-and-canva-pledge/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251002083749/https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/press/newsroom/affinity-and-canva-pledge/ |archive-date=2025-10-02 |access-date=2025-11-03 |website=Affinity/Serif Press Release}}</ref> | ||
==Incident== | ==Incident== | ||
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As soon as October 3rd, 2025, there was [https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/235901-revealing-the-future-of-affinity/ discussion and speculation on a Serif forum] discussing the future of Affinity, and the original post reflects many aspects that happened, including that Affinity's software became free, that the new version of Affinity would be separated from the older versions, and that AI would be part of the new software. The post included concern that the forum may eventually be discontinued, and as of November 2nd, 2025, the forums are set to "read only." A pinned notice indicates that the forums went to read-only mode on October 6th, 2025, but Patrick Conner, the individual who wrote the read-me linked in the notice, indicated that the forums would still remain available, just without the ability to create new posts. | As soon as October 3rd, 2025, there was [https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/235901-revealing-the-future-of-affinity/ discussion and speculation on a Serif forum] discussing the future of Affinity, and the original post reflects many aspects that happened, including that Affinity's software became free, that the new version of Affinity would be separated from the older versions, and that AI would be part of the new software. The post included concern that the forum may eventually be discontinued, and as of November 2nd, 2025, the forums are set to "read only." A pinned notice indicates that the forums went to read-only mode on October 6th, 2025, but Patrick Conner, the individual who wrote the read-me linked in the notice, indicated that the forums would still remain available, just without the ability to create new posts. | ||
=== | ===Caveats=== | ||
The new Affinity Studio application is available free of charge to download, | The new Affinity Studio application is available free of charge to download, however there are concerns about privacy. | ||
*First, users of Affinity Studio are required [https://www.canva.com/product-suite-integration/authn/affinity?redirect_uri=https://www.affinity.studio%2Fen%2Fdownload&source=download_login_redirect&locale=en sign into Canva's website] to download the new Affinity Studio application. | *First, users of Affinity Studio are required [https://www.canva.com/product-suite-integration/authn/affinity?redirect_uri=https://www.affinity.studio%2Fen%2Fdownload&source=download_login_redirect&locale=en sign into Canva's website] to download the new Affinity Studio application, linking it to either a Google, Facebook, or email account. Users must agree to both [https://www.canva.com/policies/terms-of-use/ Canva's Terms of Use] (last updated October 30th, 2025) and the [https://www.canva.com/policies/affinity-additional-terms/ Affinity Additional Terms]; the dialog also prompts users to read the [https://www.canva.com/policies/privacy-policy/ Canva Privacy Policy]. By default, user data, (activity, content and media uploads) is being collected in order to train their algorithms, models and AI products and services. Users are able to opt out of these conditions. The ''Affinity Terms'' page also includes the following passage: <blockquote>If your Agreement allows multiple Users within your team to access the Affinity Software, then: […] Canva or its authorized agent will be entitled to enter onto your premises with reasonable notice to audit your use of the Affinity Software. This provision will survive termination of this License.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-30 |title=Affinity Terms |url=https://www.canva.com/policies/affinity-additional-terms/ |access-date=2025-11-03 |website=Canva}}</ref></blockquote> | ||
*Second, while most of the main features previously included in Serif's application appear to be present, features already available through Canva have been added to the Studio app, and these Canva AI-powered features require a subscription to use them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Colbow |first=Brad |date=2025-10-30 |title=This? This was the Big Affinity and Canva Announcement? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzh3zVX-Zk |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=YouTube / Brad Colbow}}</ref> This also includes features that rely on local (offline) machine learning models and incur no server processing costs, such as the "Create Depth Map" command, as well as the "Select Subject" command, which was previously available as part of the base toolset and is now only available via a subscription. | *Second, while most of the main features previously included in Serif's application appear to be present, features already available through Canva have been added to the Studio app, and these Canva AI-powered features require a subscription to use them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Colbow |first=Brad |date=2025-10-30 |title=This? This was the Big Affinity and Canva Announcement? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzh3zVX-Zk |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=YouTube / Brad Colbow}}</ref> This also includes features that rely on local (offline) machine learning models and incur no server processing costs, such as the "Create Depth Map" command, as well as the "Select Subject" command, which was previously available as part of the base toolset and is now only available via a subscription. | ||
*It's not clear what the future holds in regards to the Affinity Studio software, and whether existing features may get moved behind a paywall among other concerns.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Blake |first=Alex |date=2025-10-31 |title=Affinity says its new Adobe-rivaling creative app is ‘free forever’ – here’s how that really works |url=https://www.techradar.com/computing/affinity-says-its-new-adobe-rivaling-creative-app-is-free-forever-heres-how-that-really-works |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251103054755/https://www.techradar.com/computing/affinity-says-its-new-adobe-rivaling-creative-app-is-free-forever-heres-how-that-really-works |archive-date=2025-11-03 |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=techradar}}</ref> | *It's not clear what the future holds in regards to the Affinity Studio software, and whether existing features may get moved behind a paywall among other concerns.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Blake |first=Alex |date=2025-10-31 |title=Affinity says its new Adobe-rivaling creative app is ‘free forever’ – here’s how that really works |url=https://www.techradar.com/computing/affinity-says-its-new-adobe-rivaling-creative-app-is-free-forever-heres-how-that-really-works |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251103054755/https://www.techradar.com/computing/affinity-says-its-new-adobe-rivaling-creative-app-is-free-forever-heres-how-that-really-works |archive-date=2025-11-03 |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=techradar}}</ref> | ||