# GPT Astra Launch Giveaway: Free Banked Resets LLMS index: [llms.txt](/en/llms.txt) --- > This post describes the promotion as it stood on September 4, 2026, Beijing time. “Today” refers to that date throughout. Astra's rollout later finished ahead of schedule; see the update below. Let's get to it. Astra is out, but the initial plan was to roll it out to everyone over several days. In the meantime, **for every day your paid ChatGPT account goes without Astra access, Tibo will give you one banked reset**—a reset you can save and use later. [Tibo's original announcement](https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2095651088502591861) said the first reset would arrive about three hours after his post, or around 10 a.m. today in Beijing. That's a great deal, so **create your accounts while there's still time.** I'm signing up for a batch of new $20-a-month Plus accounts and banking their resets for Astra. A quick tip: you can sign up for ChatGPT with an email address, or use your Google or Apple account. You may be asked to verify a phone number when paying, though that doesn't always happen. Based on my signup experience at the time, one phone number could be linked to at most three accounts, and mainland Chinese numbers weren't accepted. For separate browser environments, click your avatar in the top-right corner of Google Chrome and create a new profile. Each profile lets you sign in independently. You can also sign in to two ChatGPT accounts within each Chrome profile: click your avatar at the bottom left of the ChatGPT website and choose “Add account.” For most users, I'd suggest creating three accounts: one through Google, one through Apple, and one with your own email address. The phone number can't be from mainland China or Hong Kong. In my experience at the time, you only needed to receive a verification code once, so you could try a paid SMS verification service such as 5SIM. It might take a few attempts. So far, the resets appear to be limited to paying users, which means you'll also need a way to pay with a card issued outside mainland China. If you don't have one, you could consider gift cards or gifting a subscription to a friend from your main account. There were claims that Go, Plus, and Pro all qualified for resets, but Go's eligibility was unconfirmed; Astra access required at least Plus. I'm playing it safe with the $20-a-month Plus plan. In effect, you're spending $8 or $20 on an “option”: bank the resets on a cheaper subscription, then, once Astra is available, upgrade to Pro at a $200 “strike price” and use them. The $8 Go version of this idea depends on whether Go actually qualifies for resets. Based on my own usage, I estimate each reset is worth roughly $50–$80 to me—and you might get more than one. I already have five accounts. Today's goal is to add five more $20-a-month Plus accounts. Once Astra arrives, I'll put those banked resets to work. --- ## Update: An Early Rollout, with Resets Still Included At **6:30 a.m. on September 5, Beijing time**, Tibo [announced that Astra had rolled out ahead of schedule to all Plus and Business users](https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2096002992046796932). At **8:39 a.m. that day**, he [confirmed that all Plus, Pro, and Business users would still receive one banked reset](https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2096035437299237298). Accounts created or upgraded before September 4 at 8 p.m. Pacific Time would also qualify—**September 5 at 11 a.m. in Beijing**. Go was not among the plans listed in this follow-up announcement. The original offer of one reset for each day's wait applied only while an account was still waiting for Astra access. With the rollout completed early, the initial assumptions about how many resets you could bank no longer held. The post above records that brief promotional window.