Release notes outline upcoming customer-impacting changes that are expected to display in beta and/or production environments. Please note that features considered for future development are not included in the notes.
Unless otherwise stated, all features in this release are available in the Production environment on 2026-01-05.
Other Updates
Badges
Free Issuing Capability End of Life
Affected Users: Issuers
Location to Enable Feature | N/A |
|---|
Permissions | Free Issuers |
Affects User Interface | Yes |
Affected Areas | Free Issuing |
Summary
Free issuer capabilities in Parchment Digital Badges have reached end of life and are fully removed as part of the transition to a more scalable, secure, and value-driven credentialing platform. To avoid confusion or error messages for users in Canvas, the old Parchment Digital Badges LTI integration should be removed.
This change follows the previously announced phase-out of new free issuer accounts.
Current impact:
- Free-tier issuer accounts no longer have access to the Issuers menu, badge creation and awarding tools, or other issuer-related features in both the standalone platform and the Canvas LTI.
- Canvas LTI integrations associated with free-tier issuer accounts no longer function.
- Issuer APIs for free-tier accounts are no longer available.
What remains available:
- Learners continue to access earned badges at no cost through Backpack.
- Badges previously issued by free-tier accounts remain valid and publicly viewable.
- Public issuer and badge award pages remain accessible for verification and reference.
Change Benefit
This change supports a digital credentialing ecosystem that is trusted, verifiable, and impactful. Focusing on premium issuer offerings enables the platform to:
- Increase badge credibility and recognition across academic and workforce settings
- Provide advanced capabilities, including Pathways, richer metadata, analytics, and skills
- Reduce misuse or unsupported use cases that diminish badge value
- Reinvest in issuer support, ongoing innovation, and long-term platform quality
Feature Workflow
When accessing the Canvas LTI, users receive an integration error message indicating that the free tier is no longer supported.
Notes:
- The Free Issuers menu and all associated issuing functionality is removed from the user interface.
- Issuer APIs for free-tier accounts are deactivated.
- The deadline to export any issuer-related data is January 4, 2026.
- After January 5, 2026, issuer pages and tools are no longer accessible in any form.
- This change has no impact on paid Parchment Digital Badges customers.
- Learners retain full access to their earned badges via Backpack, which remains free and available.
To remove the old Parchment Digital Badges LTI integration at the Root account or Sub-account level, click the Apps link [1], then click the Manage tab [2]. Locate any old Parchment Digital Badges LTI’s [3], Click the Options icon [4] and then select Delete App [5].
The Parchment Digital Badges app can also be deleted at the course level in Course Settings. Navigate to the app [1] and click the Delete link [2].
For assistance contact your Customer Success Manager at Instructure.
