7. Access Levels: Category, Release, and Item are independent
ARS lets you set a Joomla View Access Level on the Category, the Release, and the Item — each one separately, not inherited automatically. This is actually the right design for a commercial product, once you understand it: you generally want the Category and Release browsable at Public (so people can see your product exists, read changelogs, and find you via search — good for discovery and SEO), while the Item — the actual downloadable file — is what should carry the restricted Access Level.
| LEVEL | RECOMMENDED ACCESS | WHY |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Public | Lets anyone browse and discover the product page |
| Release | Public | Lets anyone see version history / changelogs |
| Item | Registered (or your licensed-users group) | Gates the actual file download |
One more detail worth knowing before you rely on it: per Akeeba's own confirmation, a correctly issued Download ID authenticates an unlogged-in request to a Registered-restricted item on its own, natively — you don't need a logged-in browser session for it to work, because it's designed specifically for Joomla's own background update-check process, which never has one.