You can move between Sprout and Grove, and between paying monthly and yearly, from Plan and books. Unless you pay for extra readers, you make the change on our payment provider's page. If you do pay for them, it is made inside Plan and books instead.
The buttons on Plan and books
The "Plans" card has a switch for "Monthly" or "Yearly" and a box for each plan. The button in each box tells you what it will do:
- "Your plan" marks the plan and the way of paying you have now. It cannot be pressed.
- "Change to Grove" or "Change to Sprout" moves you to the other plan.
- "Switch to yearly" or "Switch to monthly" appears on your own plan once you flip the switch to the other way of paying.
- "Choose Sprout" or "Choose Grove" appears if you have never had a plan.
If you do not pay for extra readers
- Open Plan and books.
- Set the switch to "Monthly" or "Yearly".
- Press the button on the plan you want.
- Our payment provider's page opens, the same one "Manage your plan" opens. Choose the new plan there and confirm it.
- Return to Plan and books. The change can take a moment to show.
The payment page swaps your plan rather than adding a second one, takes into account the part of your current period you have already paid for, and shows the price before you confirm.
If you pay for extra readers
The payment page cannot change a plan that includes extra readers, so the change is made in the app.
- Open Plan and books, set the switch, and press the button on the plan you want.
- A sheet opens, called "Change to Grove?", "Change to Sprout?", "Pay yearly instead?" or "Pay monthly instead?". It gives the new plan's price, says what happens to your extra readers, and says when you are charged.
- Press the button on the sheet to confirm, or "Not now".
- Plan and books then tells you which plan you are on.
What the sheet says about the charge:
| The change | What the sheet says |
|---|---|
| Any change during your free days | "Nothing is charged until your free days end." |
| Any change between monthly and yearly | Your new plan "starts today and is charged to your card now, with what is left of your current plan taken off." |
| Sprout to Grove, paying the same way | "The difference for the rest of this billing period is charged to your card today." |
| Grove to Sprout, paying the same way | "The difference for the rest of this billing period is taken off your next bill." |
A change made this way never ends your free days. If your card is declined, nothing changes.
Your extra readers are kept only as far as you still need them. A Sprout family with three readers who moves to Grove needs no extra reader, because Grove covers 4, and the sheet says the extra reader is no longer charged. If you remove your last extra reader, plan changes go back to the payment page.
If the change is refused, a message says why: a payment has not gone through, your plan is set to end, buying is paused on your account, or the new plan could not cover all your readers.
What happens to this month's books
Books you have left this month come with you, adjusted by the difference between the two allowances. Moving from Sprout to Grove adds the difference to what you have left. Moving from Grove to Sprout takes the difference off, which can leave you with none for the rest of the month. Switching between monthly and yearly on the same plan leaves your books as they are. Your extra books are never affected.
If a change ends your free days, your first full month of books starts then. Your monthly books explains how the allowance works.
Moving to a smaller plan
Changing plan never removes a reader. If you have more readers than the new plan covers, they all stay and keep reading, but you cannot add another until you are within the limit. On Sprout, an extra reader covers a third child. With four readers, only Grove covers them all, because Sprout covers at most 3 even with its extra reader; the other way is to remove a reader first.
When a plan cannot be changed here
- If a group pays for your plan, the "Plans" card is not shown and you cannot change the plan yourself.
- If we gave you your plan, choosing a plan of your own starts a paid plan in its place. Plans paid by a group, or given by us covers both of these.
- If your plan has ended and the box for your old plan still says "Your plan", see Cancel your plan for how to start again.
To stop paying altogether, see Cancel your plan. If a change did not come out as you expected, write to us from Help in your dashboard and choose "A payment, a plan or a refund".