System Settings

Pass activation settings: Activate on Purchase and Activation date - Locked

Sarah Chen

By Sarah Chen

July 4, 2026 · 2 min read

A pass's activation date is when its validity clock starts ticking — the expiration date is calculated from it using the pass duration. The Activate section has two settings that control when that happens and what customers can book around it. Understanding them helps you decide whether a pass should start counting down at purchase, or only when the customer actually starts using it.

#passes#activation#settings

Activate on Purchase

When this is on, the pass activates the moment the (verified) purchase completes: the activation date is set to the purchase day, and the expiration date is calculated immediately as purchase day + pass duration. The validity clock starts ticking right away, whether or not the customer books anything.

Note: this setting only applies to one-off purchases. Subscription passes always activate on purchase.

Activation on first booking (when the toggle is off)

When Activate on Purchase is off, the pass sits dormant after purchase with no activation or expiration date. It activates when the customer makes their first reservation: the activation date becomes the date of the booked class (not the day they made the booking), and the expiration is calculated from that class date + the pass duration.

Two behaviours worth knowing:

  • If the customer later books a class on an earlier date than the current activation date, the activation date shifts back to that earlier class — and the expiration recalculates from it.
  • If the customer cancels the only reservation that activated the pass, the activation resets — the pass returns to its dormant, not-yet-activated state.

This mode is customer-friendly for passes bought in advance: the clock only starts when they actually start attending.

Activation date - Locked

This toggle only appears when Activate on Purchase is off. When locked, once the pass has an activation date (set automatically by the first booking, or set manually by an admin), the customer cannot book any class dated before it — the pass shows as unavailable for those classes with the reason "Pass activation after class".

Without the lock, booking an earlier class would shift the activation date back (see above). With the lock, the activation date acts as a hard start date.

Typical use: selling a membership that starts on a fixed future date. Set the activation date when selling the pass, enable the lock, and the customer can only book classes from that date onward.

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