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Terms of Service

The agreement between you and POY: the service, your account, and content.

Draft v0.2 — Effective date: [GO-LIVE DATE] (drafted 2026-06-08)

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legally binding agreement between you and [CONTROLLER LEGAL NAME] (company no. [COMPANY NUMBER], of [CONTROLLER ADDRESS]) ("POY", "we", "us", "our"), governing your access to and use of the POY mobile application and related services (together, the "Service").

Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, or by accessing or using the Service, you confirm that you accept these Terms and agree to comply with them, together with the documents they incorporate — our Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Acceptable Use Policy, and Copyright & IP Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Your statutory rights are protected. If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms excludes or limits rights you have under the law that cannot be excluded or limited (including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in the UK, or equivalent EEA consumer law). Where these Terms conflict with those rights, your statutory rights prevail. Some clauses below (e.g. liability, dispute venue) apply to you only to the extent the law permits.

1. Definitions

  • "Content" — anything submitted to the Service, including photos, head-to-head photos, "Decide" questions and answer options, votes, reports, and support messages.
  • "Your Content" — Content you submit.
  • "Account" — your POY account, created via phone-number verification.
  • "Guidelines" — the Community Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy.
  • "Flows" — the three voting modes: Photos (single-photo voting), Versus (head-to-head), and Decide (a question + two text options).

2. The Service

POY is a place to get anonymous, community feedback on photos, plus a "Decide" mode for getting a vote between two short options. It is community photo feedback — not an appearance-rating service — and is designed for emotional safety.

Key characteristics, which form part of the agreed Service:

  • Anonymous — no usernames, profiles, bios, comments, direct messages, or followers; other users never see your phone number.
  • Ephemeral — photos are public for 24 hours; "Decide" posts for a window you choose (5 minutes–24 hours). Content is removed from your private archive and hard-deleted from our servers within 15 days.
  • Vote to post — posting unlocks after you vote on 5 items.
  • Daily limits — up to 3 posts per day, and up to 100 votes per day in each flow (the flows are never a shared pool).

We provide the Service with reasonable care and skill. We may change, add, suspend, or remove features, flows, or limits to improve the Service, for legal, safety, or security reasons, or as our business needs require. We'll give reasonable notice of significant changes where we can, but some changes must be made immediately (e.g. for security).

3. Eligibility & age

You may use POY only if:

  • you are 16 years of age or older;
  • you have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract;
  • you are not barred under applicable law and your Account has not previously been banned; and
  • you provide accurate information, including a truthful date of birth at our age check.

We operate an age gate at sign-up. We may use additional age-assurance measures in future where required (including under the UK Online Safety Act). If we believe you do not meet the age requirement, we may suspend or close your Account and delete its data. (See README open decision #4 on the age choice.)

4. Your Account

  • Sign-in. You register with a phone number, verified by SMS one-time code. You're responsible for keeping access to your number and device secure, and for all activity on your Account.
  • One account per person. You must not create multiple accounts, share your Account, impersonate anyone, or create an Account to evade a ban (see the Acceptable Use Policy).
  • Security. Tell us promptly at [privacy@heypoy.app] if you suspect unauthorised use.
  • No ownership of the Account. Your Account is a personal, revocable permission to use the Service; it isn't property and can't be transferred.

5. Rules for using POY

Your use of the Service must comply at all times with the Guidelines and the Copyright & IP Policy, which are incorporated into these Terms. In particular, and without limiting them, you must not post Content that is unlawful, sexual, exploitative of minors, hateful, harassing, violent, that promotes self-harm, that infringes others' rights, that depicts an identifiable person without their consent, or that depicts a child; and you must not manipulate votes, use bots or multiple accounts, scrape the Service, or circumvent its security or limits.

You are solely responsible for Your Content and for the consequences of submitting it.

6. Your Content — ownership, your promises, and the licence you grant

6.1 You keep ownership. You retain all rights you have in Your Content. We don't claim ownership of your photos or text.

6.2 Your promises (warranties). For everything you submit, you represent and warrant that:

  • you own it or have all rights and permissions needed to submit it and to grant the licence in 6.3;
  • it does not depict an identifiable person unless they have clearly consented to appear on POY, and it does not depict a child;
  • it does not infringe any third party's IP, privacy, publicity, or other rights; and
  • it does not breach these Terms, the Guidelines, or any law.

6.3 Licence to us. To operate, provide, secure, and improve the Service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable (to our service providers only), transferable licence to host, store, copy, cache, reproduce, process, adapt (e.g. resize/crop to display), translate (for "Decide" content), publish, and display to voters Your Content. This licence:

  • is limited to operating and improving POY — we will not sell Your Content or use it for third-party advertising;
  • ends when Your Content or your Account is deleted, except copies retained briefly in backups (which rotate out) or which we are legally required to preserve (e.g. for a safety report or legal claim); and
  • includes the right for other users to vote on Your Content while it is live.

6.4 Aggregated data. Aggregated, de-identified vote statistics and analytics are not personal to you, and we may use them to operate, secure, and improve the Service.

6.5 Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without obligation or compensation to you.

7. Moderation, enforcement, strikes and appeals

We screen Content with automated tools and act on user reports under our Moderation & Escalation policy. We may, proportionately:

  • remove, hide, or refuse Content (or hold it for review);
  • record strikes, warn, suspend, or permanently ban an Account (including immediately for zero-tolerance violations);
  • restrict features or rate-limit Accounts, devices, or numbers involved in abuse; and
  • report Content or conduct to the authorities where required (e.g. child-safety).

We aim to be fair and to give notice where appropriate and lawful. You may appeal a removal or Account action via in-app Support or [privacy@heypoy.app], and a person will review it. We don't guarantee we'll detect every violation, and moderation decisions are made in good faith. See the Community Guidelines §2 for the strike system.

8. Intellectual property in the Service

The Service, the POY name and logo, and all related software, design, text, graphics, and content we provide are owned by us or our licensors and protected by IP laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to download and use the app on a device you own or control, solely to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. You must not use our branding except as needed to use the Service normally. Third-party copyright complaints: see the Copyright & IP Policy.

9. Third-party services, app stores & devices

The Service relies on third-party platforms (e.g. Google Firebase) and is distributed via the Google Play Store. Your use of those platforms and your device is subject to their own terms, and we're not responsible for them. You're responsible for your device, your network/data charges, and keeping the app updated. We choose providers carefully — see the Privacy Policy and Cookie & Tracking Policy.

10. Fees and paid features

The Service is currently free. We may introduce optional paid subscriptions in future (e.g. via RevenueCat and the app store's billing). If we do:

  • we will publish clear pricing, billing, auto-renewal, and cancellation terms and any supplemental terms before you buy;
  • auto-renewing subscriptions renew until cancelled; you can cancel via your app-store account, effective at the end of the current period;
  • your statutory cancellation/refund rights (e.g. the consumer right to cancel) will apply, subject to any lawful exceptions for digital content you ask to access immediately; and
  • payments are processed by the app store / payment provider, not by us directly, under their terms.

We will update these Terms and the Privacy Policy to cover any paid features before launch.

11. Suspension and termination

11.1 By you. You may stop using POY at any time and delete your Account and all its data via Profile → Delete my account.

11.2 By us. We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access (in whole or part), with or without notice, if:

  • you breach (or we reasonably believe you've breached) these Terms, the Guidelines, the Copyright & IP Policy, or the law;
  • it's necessary for security, safety, or legal/regulatory reasons; or
  • we discontinue the Service.

Where appropriate and lawful, we'll give notice and an opportunity to appeal. We may also terminate or suspend inactive Accounts.

11.3 Effect. On termination, your right to use the Service ends and we may delete Your Content (subject to lawful retention). Sections that by their nature should survive (including 6.3 for already-shared Content, 8, 12–16, and 18) continue to apply.

12. Disclaimers

12.1 We provide the Service with reasonable care and skill. To the fullest extent permitted by law, and except for the express commitments in these Terms and your non-excludable statutory rights, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", and we disclaim all other warranties, express or implied (including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement).

12.2 We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that moderation will detect or remove all violating Content. Content is created by users; we are not responsible for other users' Content or conduct.

12.3 POY is light-hearted community feedback. Votes are the opinions of anonymous strangers, not facts about you or any person, and you should not rely on them for any important decision. POY is not a source of professional advice of any kind.

12.4 Nothing in this section excludes liability we may not lawfully exclude (see §13).

13. Limitation of liability

13.1 Nothing excluded that can't be. Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; breach of statutory consumer rights that cannot be excluded; or any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

13.2 Exclusions. Subject to 13.1, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for: (a) loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, or data; (b) indirect, special, incidental, consequential, exemplary, or punitive loss; or (c) loss arising from other users' Content or conduct, screenshotting or re-sharing of Content by others, de-anonymisation by others, or any matter outside our reasonable control.

13.3 Cap. Subject to 13.1, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of (i) the total amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim (which, for a free service, may be nil) or (ii) £100.

13.4 Consumers. If you are a consumer, this section applies only so far as the law permits and does not affect your statutory rights. We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breach or our failure to use reasonable care and skill, but not for anything outside that.

14. Indemnity (non-consumers only)

If you use POY other than as a consumer (e.g. for business purposes), you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable costs (including legal fees) arising from Your Content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms or the law. This clause does not apply to consumers.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If a change is material, we'll update the effective date and ask you to re-accept in the app before you continue using POY (this is tied to the in-app consent version). Non-material changes take effect when posted at heypoy.app/terms. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you don't accept, you must stop using the Service and may delete your Account.

16. Governing law, jurisdiction & disputes

16.1 Informal resolution first. Most issues can be sorted quickly — please contact [privacy@heypoy.app] before taking formal action, and we'll try to resolve it.

16.2 Governing law. These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or the Service (including non-contractual disputes), are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

16.3 Jurisdiction. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that:

  • if you are a consumer resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in your home jurisdiction; and
  • if you are a consumer resident in the EEA, you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence and may bring proceedings there; the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform may also be available.

16.4 Future US terms. If we offer the Service to users in the United States, we may publish supplemental US terms (which may include an agreement to binding individual arbitration and a class-action waiver for US users, as is standard for US platforms). Those would apply only to US users and would be presented for acceptance before they apply. (Not in force; placeholder — see README.)

17. Regional & device-specific terms

[Add app-store-required terms here. For Google Play, include the standard acknowledgement that these Terms are between you and POY (not Google), and that Google is not responsible for the app or support. If you ever release on Apple's App Store, add Apple's required "Licensed Application End User License Agreement" terms, including Apple as a third-party beneficiary.]

18. General

  • Entire agreement. These Terms and the documents they incorporate are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and supersede any prior understanding. You have not relied on any statement not set out in them (this doesn't limit liability for fraud).
  • Severability. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest continues in force, and the provision is modified to the minimum extent needed to be valid.
  • No waiver. Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
  • Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations. We may assign ours (e.g. on a sale or reorganisation of POY) without reducing your rights under these Terms.
  • Force majeure. We're not liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
  • No partnership/agency. These Terms create no partnership, agency, or employment relationship.
  • Third-party rights. Except as stated (e.g. our service providers benefiting from the 6.3 licence, or app-store beneficiary clauses), no one other than you and us has any right to enforce these Terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
  • Notices. We may give notices via the app, or to the contact details associated with your Account. Send notices to us at [privacy@heypoy.app] / [CONTROLLER ADDRESS].
  • Survival. Provisions that should survive termination do so.

19. Contact

[CONTROLLER LEGAL NAME], [CONTROLLER ADDRESS] — [privacy@heypoy.app] / hello@heypoy.app.

Questions about this policy? Contact privacy@heypoy.app or visit our contact page.