A macup license is tied to a device, not to you. When the device changes — new Mac, dead Mac, departing teammate, stolen laptop — you revoke the old seat and sign in on the new machine. The whole operation takes a minute.
When to reassign
Reassign a license when you:
- Bought a new Mac and want to move macup over.
- Retired or sold an old Mac.
- Had a team member leave.
- Lost a laptop, or had one stolen.
Each case is the same mechanical flow: revoke the old device first, then claim a fresh seat on the new one.
Step 1 — Open the Devices page
Sign in to web.macup.app. Open Devices in the sidebar. You’ll see every Mac currently consuming a seat on your account, with its last check-in time and destinations list.
Step 2 — Revoke the old seat
Find the old device. Click Revoke seat and confirm. The seat is released back to your account immediately.
Step 3 — Old device stops backing up
The next time the revoked device checks in, macup halts its backup loop and reports “License revoked” in the menu bar. If the Mac is still in your hands, you can now uninstall macup cleanly — see “Uninstall macup.” If it’s gone, there’s nothing further to do from your side.
Note: the local Keychain entry macup created still exists on the old device until you uninstall. That matters mainly for the hostile-takeover case below.
Step 4 — Install macup on the new device
On the new Mac, install macup and sign in — full walkthrough in “Install macup and run your first backup.” A fresh seat from your account claims the new device automatically. You won’t be asked to buy anything extra; you’re not adding a seat, you’re moving one.
Step 5 — Enter your passphrase
After signing in, macup prompts for your passphrase. Enter it. Your existing destinations — macup Cloud, any external drives, any bring-your-own-storage buckets — show up in the sidebar, already linked to your account.
Pick which backup sets to restore, if any. A new Mac often wants a different set of sources than the old one, so this isn’t automatic.
What revocation does and doesn’t do
Snapshots already stored in your destinations stay intact. Revocation is a license control, not a data-deletion event.
A revoked device cannot write new snapshots. The next check-in stops the backup loop.
A revoked device can still READ snapshots from its local Keychain entry unless you also rotate your passphrase. For routine moves (new Mac, sold Mac) that’s fine. For hostile-takeover scenarios — lost or stolen laptop — rotate your passphrase after revocation. See the forthcoming “Rotate your passphrase” article; at v1 the path is macup > Preferences > Account > Passphrase > Change.
Business and MSP plans
On Business and MSP tiers, seat revocation is an admin-console action, not a member-facing one. Members don’t have the Devices page in their own dashboard — an admin reassigns on their behalf. See the Business admin docs for the console flow.
If you’re out of seats
If you’ve hit your plan’s seat cap and try to add a new device without revoking first, macup shows “No seats available.” Revoke an old device, or upgrade your plan from Billing in web.macup.app. Upgrades take effect immediately; new seats appear in the count without a reinstall.