Technical question about "licenses" in one-time-payment webapps/desktop applications

[deepdevotee]

Examples:

• screen.studio by pie6k
• bolt.ai by daniel nguyen
• Zenvoice by Marc Lou

My simplest assumption is:

Do you just have a database (e.g. Supabase). Then have your app do a GET request using the License Code. If the license exists in the db, allow access to the app. If not, block the access on the client-side.

But I may be wrong. Since if it's a simple conditional statement to block the access on the client-side. Wouldn't that be easily patchable if a determined pirate would just want to access the app without a license? Is this a vulnerability that's just accepted as "it is what it is" lol. Or is there some prevention for it?

Also is the vulnerability more apparent in a Downloadable Electron Desktop App vs a Web App (in browser)? Or just the same?

Thanks in advance!