March 2026 - Subscription Management Improvements
Smart Subscription Downgrade Scheduling
Downgrade your subscription plan at the perfect time! When you downgrade, the change now automatically schedules for your renewal anniversary instead of taking effect immediately. This means you'll keep access to your current plan's features until the very end of your billing period.
Key Benefits:
- Get full value from your current plan - no wasted days
- Automatic scheduling at renewal anniversary (no pro-rata refunds needed)
- Clear visibility of when the downgrade will take effect
- Flexible - cancel the scheduled downgrade anytime before it takes effect
- Seamless transition with no interruption to your research work
✓ Example: If you're on Professional and downgrade to Basic on March 14th, but your billing renews on April 13th, you'll keep all Professional features until April 13th, then automatically switch to Basic.
Scheduled Downgrade Notifications
Never lose track of upcoming plan changes! When you have a scheduled downgrade, you'll see a clear notification banner in your Billing tab showing exactly when your plan will change and what plan you're moving to.
What You'll See:
- Prominent warning banner with downgrade details
- Target plan name and effective date clearly displayed
- Reassurance that you keep current features until the change date
- Quick access to cancel the downgrade if you change your mind
- Automatic updates when you cancel or modify the downgrade
Cancel Scheduled Downgrade
Changed your mind about downgrading? No problem! You can now easily cancel a scheduled downgrade with a single click. Your subscription will continue at the current plan without any interruption.
Features:
- One-click cancellation from the Billing tab
- Confirmation dialog to prevent accidental cancellations
- Instant removal of the downgrade schedule
- Subscription continues at current plan and pricing
- Clear success notifications
💡 Pro Tip: You can cancel a scheduled downgrade anytime before the effective date. If you need more features later in your billing cycle, just cancel the downgrade and you'll continue at your current plan!
Enhanced Subscription Management Backend
We've completely rebuilt the subscription management system using Stripe Subscription Schedules for more reliable and flexible plan changes.
Technical Improvements:
- Proper handling of subscriptions in various states (active, canceled, scheduled)
- Automatic detection and clearing of conflicting cancellations
- Robust period field access with intelligent fallbacks
- Comprehensive error handling and user-friendly error messages
- Full integration with Stripe's latest subscription scheduling APIs
How to Use New Subscription Features
Scheduling a Downgrade
1. Navigate to Settings → Billing & Subscription
2. Click Manage Plan to view available plans
3. Select a plan lower than your current plan (e.g., Professional → Basic)
4. Review the proration preview showing your downgrade schedule
5. Click Confirm & Pay to schedule the downgrade
6. You'll see a success message with the effective date
⚡ Note: The downgrade will be scheduled for your renewal anniversary. You'll keep all your current plan features until then!
Viewing Your Scheduled Downgrade
1. Go to Settings → Billing & Subscription
2. Look for the orange warning banner below the "Current Plan" section
3. The banner shows:
- The target plan you're downgrading to
- The exact date when the change will take effect
- A reminder that you keep current features until the change date
- A "Cancel Downgrade" button
Canceling a Scheduled Downgrade
1. Navigate to Settings → Billing & Subscription
2. Find the "Downgrade Scheduled" warning banner
3. Click the Cancel Downgrade button
4. Confirm your choice in the dialog
5. Your subscription will continue at the current plan
6. The warning banner will disappear immediately
January 2025 - Previous Features
Interview Management Dropdown Menu
Manage your interviews more efficiently with our new dropdown menu system. Each interview now has quick-access actions for viewing details and deleting interviews directly from your campaign dashboard.
Key Benefits:
- Quick access to interview actions without navigating away
- View interview details instantly with one click
- Delete interviews with confirmation to prevent accidents
- Improved UI refresh after deletions
- Better error handling and notifications
Backend Database Integration & Cross-Device Sync
Your data now syncs seamlessly across all your devices! We've migrated from local storage to a robust backend database, ensuring your campaigns, interviews, and submissions are always accessible from anywhere.
What This Means For You:
- Access your research data from any device (desktop, laptop, mobile)
- No more data loss when clearing browser cache
- Work from home, office, or on-the-go with full data sync
- Collaborate more easily with consistent data across platforms
- Automatic backups and data recovery
- Better performance with server-side processing
✓ Important: All your existing data has been automatically migrated to the new database system. Simply log in and continue working!
Multi-AI Provider Support
QAI now supports multiple AI providers, giving you flexibility and reliability. Choose from Google Gemini, OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, or Groq for your transcription and analysis needs.
Benefits:
- Better service reliability with multiple provider options
- Choose the AI that works best for your specific needs
- Automatic fallback if one provider has issues
- Future-proof as new AI models become available
Password Reset & Account Recovery
Forgot your password? No problem! We've added a complete password reset system with email verification and secure token-based recovery.
Features:
- Request password reset via email
- Secure token-based verification (15-minute expiry)
- Rate limiting to prevent abuse (5 requests per hour)
- Email verification for added security
- Clear instructions and user-friendly process
Refreshed QAI Logo & Branding
QAI has a new look! We've updated our logo and branding to better reflect our mission of making qualitative research easier and more accessible.
Session Timeout Improvements
We've enhanced the session management system to provide a better user experience and prevent unexpected logouts.
Improvements:
- Fixed memory leak that could slow down the application
- Extended warning time before automatic logout
- Clearer notifications about session status
- More reliable session tracking
Interface UX & Screen Optimization
We've refined the user interface to make better use of screen space and improve overall usability. Navigation is now more intuitive, and information is easier to access.
Enhancements:
- Optimized layout for better screen space utilization
- Improved navigation and information hierarchy
- More responsive design across different screen sizes
- Cleaner, less cluttered interface
- Fixed z-index layering issues with dropdowns
December 2024 - Earlier Features
AI-Powered Document OCR & Text Extraction
Upload and process any type of document - scanned PDFs, handwritten notes, printed text, or photos of documents. Our AI-powered OCR uses advanced vision technology to extract text with exceptional accuracy, even from difficult handwriting.
What You Can Process:
- Scanned PDFs - Old interview transcripts, research papers, consent forms
- Handwritten Notes - Field notes, questionnaires, even messy cursive writing
- Printed Documents - Forms, surveys, typed reports
- Photos of Documents - Whiteboard notes, flipchart photos, document images
- Mixed Documents - Documents with both printed and handwritten content
Key Benefits:
- Process research materials you previously couldn't digitize
- Save hours of manual transcription work
- Understand document structure and context, not just extract text
- Works with messy handwriting and overlapping text
- Consistent AI experience - same technology as interview transcription
- No need to distinguish between scanned and digital documents
💡 Pro Tip: Upload photos taken with your phone of handwritten interview notes, and QAI will extract and analyze the text automatically!
Multiple Color Themes
Choose from four beautiful color themes to personalize your research workspace. Each theme has been carefully designed to provide excellent readability and reduce eye strain during long research sessions.
Original Purple
Classic & Professional
Warm Neutral
Soft & Inviting
Mint Sage
Fresh & Calming
Blue Teal
Cool & Focused
Benefits:
- Reduce eye fatigue with colors that suit your preference
- Create a workspace that matches your mood and working style
- Improve focus with themes designed for extended use
Dark Mode Support
Every theme now includes a dark mode variant, perfect for late-night research sessions or reducing screen brightness in low-light environments.
Benefits:
- Reduce eye strain in low-light conditions
- Save battery life on laptop devices
- Work comfortably during evening research sessions
- Minimize screen glare and improve sleep quality
Theme Persistence
Your theme preferences are now saved to your account and automatically restored when you log in from any device. No need to reconfigure your preferred look every time!
Benefits:
- Consistent experience across all your devices
- Saves time - set it once and forget it
- Your preferences follow you wherever you work
How to Use New Features
Using Interview Management Dropdown
1. Navigate to any Campaign and view your interviews
2. Look for the three-dot menu (⋮) next to each interview
3. Click the menu to reveal options:
- View Details - Opens the interview details page
- Delete - Remove the interview (with confirmation)
4. Actions take effect immediately with notification feedback
Resetting Your Password
1. On the login page, click "Forgot Password?"
2. Enter your registered email address
3. Check your email for the password reset link (expires in 15 minutes)
4. Click the link and enter your new password
5. Log in with your new password
⚡ Note: Password reset requests are limited to 5 per hour for security. Make sure to use a strong password!
Processing Documents with OCR
1. Navigate to your Campaign and select Interviews
2. Click Upload Interview (button now supports both audio and documents)
3. Select your document file:
- PDF files (scanned or digital)
- Text files (.txt)
- Image files (coming soon: .jpg, .png)
4. QAI automatically detects the file type and processes it
5. Text is extracted and ready for questionnaire analysis
⚡ Note: Handwritten documents may take slightly longer to process than typed text, but the AI handles even difficult handwriting accurately.
Changing Your Theme
1. Click on your profile icon in the top-right corner
2. Select Settings from the dropdown menu
3. Choose your preferred Color Theme from the available options
4. Toggle Dark Mode on or off as needed
5. Your preferences are automatically saved!
Performance & Reliability Improvements
Enhanced Infrastructure & Stability
Behind the scenes, we've made significant improvements to ensure QAI is more reliable and performs better:
- Backend Database Migration: All data now stored in PostgreSQL for better reliability and performance
- Cross-Device Synchronization: Real-time data sync across all your devices
- Fixed Interview Details Bug: Resolved issue where wrong interview data showed across campaigns
- Improved File Upload: Enhanced file processing workflow with better error handling
- Subscription Plan Persistence: Your plan settings now save correctly across sessions
- Session Management: Fixed memory leaks and improved session timeout handling
- UI Refresh Fixes: Improved notification and UI updates after deletions
- Security Enhancements: Added comprehensive security documentation and best practices
- Production Deployment: Improved deployment scripts with automatic backups and rollback
- Better Error Handling: More informative error messages and graceful failure recovery
Infrastructure & DevOps
We've significantly enhanced our deployment and infrastructure capabilities:
- Nginx Configuration: Optimized web server setup with SSL support
- Docker Optimization: Better container management and resource allocation
- Database Migrations: Automated Alembic migrations for seamless updates
- Environment Management: Improved .env configuration with better validation
- Automated Backups: Production update script creates automatic database backups
- Health Monitoring: Better service health checks and status reporting