The Beta Program Is Open (and Version 1.6.57 Is Staying Put)

Fifty-seven. That is how many times I have told myself “okay, this is the last version for today.” The program you can download right now is 1.6.57, and that last number is not a typo, it is a confession.

So today I am doing the grown-up thing. Well, the grown-up thing for a redhead with ADHD who writes coin software for fun. I am opening a beta program, and I would like you in it.

Why a Beta, and Why Now

Here is the honest version. CoinScope Pro has grown up at my bench, on my computer, with my camera, my lamps, my Windows settings and my coins. That is a wonderful way to build something and a terrible way to test it. Software that works perfectly on the one PC that wrote it is the most suspicious software there is. I have learned that the humbling way, more than once, when something worked flawlessly for me and then met somebody else’s computer and simply did not.

Every microscope is a little different. Every PC is a little different. Every collector looks at a coin a little differently, and honestly that last one is the one I care about most. I can measure a doubled die down to the pixel, but I cannot guess which button you will press first, or which tool you will stare at and think “what on earth is this for.” You can tell me that. That is the whole point.

So let me be clear about what you are buying today. Version 1.6.57 is the program, and it is staying the program. It is what it is. The only changes it will get are fixes for major bugs, pushed out to everyone who has it, because a real problem gets fixed no matter which version you are on. New tools, bigger ideas and general improvements do not go into it. They go into the beta, and they arrive with CoinScope Pro 2.0, which I expect to release in December 2026. If you own CoinScope Pro, the 2.0 upgrade is yours when it arrives. Until then, 1.6.57 keeps getting those major bug fixes.

What Testers Get

• Every tool, free, for as long as you are in the program. The beta versions (1.7, 1.8, 1.9 and on towards 2.0) run fully unlocked for approved testers. To be clear, that is the betas. Testing on its own does not come with the finished 2.0; owning CoinScope Pro does. This beta program runs up to 2.0 and ends the day 2.0 is released, and I may start a fresh one after that.
• New features first. You see them while they are still warm, and sometimes while they are still a little on fire.
• A direct line to me. What you report changes what gets fixed and what gets built next. Not a ticket number in a queue. Me, at my bench, muttering at my screen on your behalf.
• Updates that come to you. New beta versions arrive on their own, and the program asks before it installs anything.

What I Ask in Return

A beta is unfinished by definition, so there is a short tester agreement, and I would rather you read it than be surprised by it. The short version: things may break, so back up your photographs and your collection first. And the beta reports its own errors. When something goes wrong, it sends me the error record, the program’s log, some basic details about your computer, and a picture of the CoinScope Pro window, only the CoinScope Pro window, never the rest of your screen. That picture might show whatever coin was open at the time, which, frankly, I will probably enjoy. You can read every word of it on the tester agreement page.

I approve each tester myself. It is not a velvet rope thing, I just want to know who is testing, on what, so that when a report comes in I can actually do something useful with it.

How to Get Involved

1. Make a free account on this site, if you do not already have one.
2. Go to My Account, then Beta Program, and press Request Beta Access.
3. Read the agreement, tick the five boxes, and tell me a little about your setup: your camera, your PC, and what you like to look at.
4. When I approve you, you get an email, and your beta download appears on that same Beta Program page. Sign in to the beta with your account and everything opens.

What I Hope 2.0 Becomes

I am aiming for December 2026. What goes in it are hopes, not promises. I have written enough software to know the difference, and enough version numbers to know 2.0 is a big one.

• The experimental tools grow up. Some of my favorite ideas live in the Experimental Tools tab right now, clearly labeled as leads rather than findings. I want the ones that earn it, measured against real coins with known answers, to graduate. The ones that do not earn it get honest labels or get retired. The program’s whole promise is that it would rather tell you “I can’t tell” than be confidently wrong, and 2.0 should keep that promise with more tools, not fewer.
• It works on your bench, not just mine. Every camera, every screen, every odd Windows setting you testers bring is a problem I get to find before a customer does.
• Less clicking, more looking. Faster from “coin under the scope” to “I know what I’m looking at,” with the collection doing more of the filing for you.
• Whatever you tell me I missed. Genuinely. Half of what is in the program today started as somebody saying “it should do this.”

If you have been poking at the trial and thinking “I have opinions,” this is the place for them. And if you just want the finished program, 1.6.57 is it: one price, $199.99, with a free 5-day trial first. Major bug fixes reach you automatically, and when 2.0 arrives, owners get the upgrade.

See you in the beta. Bring your weirdest coin and your least cooperative webcam. I mean that as a compliment to both.

– Jen