Backd Terms of Service

Effective date: July 9, 2026 · Last updated: July 9, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Backd ("Backd," "we," "us," or "our" — the developer and operator of the Backd app) governing your use of the Backd mobile application and related services (together, the "Service"). These Terms are provided for transparency and may be updated as Backd evolves.

1. Acceptance of these Terms (clickwrap)

By tapping "I agree," "Create account," "Continue," "Sign in with Apple," or a similar control, or by otherwise creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, incorporated by reference.

We record your agreement — including the date and time, the version of these Terms you accepted, and an identifier associated with your account — as evidence of your acceptance.

Acceptance is enforced in-app: the email sign-up screen shows this clickwrap line beside the "Create account" action and records it (auth metadata + a durable legal_acceptances row: user id, document, version, timestamp). Sign in with Apple does not present its own clickwrap at the moment of tapping the button — instead, any account (Apple or otherwise) missing a current-version acceptance is routed to a mandatory, non-skippable screen showing this same clickwrap line before it can reach the rest of the app; the only way past that screen besides accepting is signing out. A version bump to these Terms re-triggers that same mandatory screen for every existing account, since the acceptance check compares against the current Terms version, not merely "has ever accepted."

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, in the app or by email) and will update the "Effective date" above. Changes are not retroactive. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account.

2. Eligibility and age

The Service is intended for users who can form a binding contract.

• You must be at least 13 years old (or the higher minimum age required in your country or region) to use the Service.
• If you are a minor in your jurisdiction (for example, under 18 in the United States), you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf.
• The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly allow children under 13 to create accounts or provide personal information. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete it.

Every account — regardless of sign-in method — must provide a birth year (not a full date of birth) before it can use the Service, and self-registration is blocked outright for a stated birth year under 13. This is a live, enforced technical control in every current build, not a planned feature: email sign-up collects it directly, and Sign in with Apple (which does not itself supply a birth year) is routed through the same mandatory screen described in Section 1 before reaching the app.

You represent that you are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction, and that you will comply with all applicable laws when using the Service.

3. Your account

You are responsible for:

• providing accurate account information and keeping it current;
• maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials (including any Sign in with Apple credential); and
• all activity that occurs under your account.

You agree to notify us promptly at support@backd.dev if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of your account that results from your failure to safeguard your credentials. One account is for one person; do not share, sell, or transfer your account.

4. What the Service is — accountability, not a financial product

Backd is a self-improvement and accountability tool. You set goals, submit photo or text "proof" of your progress, and choose specific buddies or groups to hold you accountable.

No real money moves through Backd. Some goals let you set a "stake" or "penalty" amount as a motivational device. This amount is self-tracked only. Backd does not collect, hold, escrow, transfer, charge, refund, or pay out any stake or penalty money, and Backd is not a bank, money transmitter, payment processor, escrow agent, lender, betting or wagering service, or financial institution. Any stake is an honor-system commitment between you and yourself (and, if you choose to share it, your buddies). Whether and how you ever pay a stake is entirely up to you and outside the Service. Backd has no role in, and no responsibility for, any money you decide to move based on a stake.

The only payments connected to Backd are optional Backd Premium subscriptions, billed through the Apple App Store as described in Section 11. Backd's core features are free; a subscription only unlocks additional features and is never required to keep using the app or to keep your existing data.

The Service supports your accountability efforts but does not guarantee any particular outcome, result, health benefit, academic result, or behavior change.

5. User content and the limited license you grant us

"User Content" means everything you submit through the Service, including goals and goal text, check-ins, proof photos and screenshots, written notes, journal entries, location notes, messages, group content, and your free-text messages to the in-app AI coach.

You own your User Content. We do not claim ownership of it.

To operate the Service, you grant Backd a limited, non-exclusive, revocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, transmit, reformat, and display your User Content solely as needed to:

(a) provide the Service to you; (b) display your proof and shared content to the specific buddies, reviewers, or groups you choose to share it with; (c) generate short-lived, access-controlled links so your chosen reviewers can view private proof media; (d) when you affirmatively trigger an AI feature (for example, tapping "Run AI check" on a proof, or sending a message to the AI coach), transmit the relevant proof image, goal text, your note, and/or your coach message to our AI service provider to return an automated, advisory result; and (e) make backups and perform routine technical operations (such as security and maintenance).

This license is limited to running the Service. We do not use your User Content to advertise, and we do not sell or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not grant the public any rights to your User Content; sharing is limited to the people and groups you select.

The license ends when you delete the relevant User Content or your account, except that (i) we may retain residual copies in routine backups for a limited period before they are overwritten, (ii) we may retain content we are required to keep by law, and (iii) the license survives as needed for content you already shared with a buddy who may retain their own copy outside our control (for example, a screenshot they took).

You are responsible for your User Content and the consequences of sharing it. Use good judgment about what proof you submit and whom you share it with.

6. Your warranties about User Content (IP)

For all User Content you submit, you represent and warrant that:

• you own it or have all rights, licenses, and permissions needed to submit it and to grant the license in Section 5;
• it does not infringe or misappropriate any third party's intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights;
• if it depicts another identifiable person, you have that person's consent to capture and share their likeness as proof; and
• it does not violate any law or these Terms.

You will indemnify us for breaches of these warranties as described in Section 15.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to help or permit anyone else to:

• submit User Content that is unlawful, infringing, fraudulent (including fake or doctored proof intended to deceive a buddy or reviewer), defamatory, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, or that depicts minors inappropriately;
• upload sexual content, graphic violence, or content that exploits, endangers, or sexualizes any child;
• harass, bully, threaten, stalk, dox, or impersonate any person, including buddies, group members, or Backd staff;
• submit another person's photo, location, health information, or other personal data without their consent;
• attempt to deanonymize, surveil, or track another user beyond the accountability features they have chosen to share with you;
• use the Service to make actual bets or wagers, to move real money, or to operate any gambling, lending, or money-transmission scheme;
• probe, scan, breach, or circumvent the Service's security, rate limits, signed-URL access controls, or row-level data protections, or access data you are not authorized to access;
• reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, or build a competing product from the Service except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
• introduce malware, spam, or automated/bot activity, or interfere with the Service's normal operation; or
• use the AI features to generate prohibited content or to attempt to extract another user's data.

We may remove User Content, and suspend or terminate accounts, that we reasonably believe violate this Section or the law.

8. Buddies, groups, and shared content

The Service lets you connect with buddies and groups and share proof and accountability information with them. Anything you choose to share may be seen, saved, or screenshotted by the people you share it with, and we cannot control what they do with it. Choose your buddies and what you share carefully. Backd is not responsible for the conduct of other users, on or off the Service. Your interactions with other users are between you and them.

9. Third-party services and optional integrations

The Service relies on, and can optionally connect to, third-party services. When you use them, their terms and privacy practices also apply, and we are not responsible for them. These include, depending on the features you use: our backend and storage provider (Supabase); push delivery (Apple Push Notification service via Expo); SMS reminders (Twilio — not currently enabled; opt-in only if ever offered); buddy-invite email delivery (Resend); subscription management (RevenueCat plus Apple billing); and the optional integrations you connect yourself, including Google Calendar, Canvas LMS, and Apple HealthKit (read-only and on-device). You are responsible for complying with the terms of any account you connect (for example, your school's Canvas account). You can disconnect optional integrations at any time in the app.

10. Intellectual property in the Service

The Service itself — including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and the "Backd" name and branding — is owned by Backd or its licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial accountability use. We reserve all rights not expressly granted. You may not use our name, logos, or branding without our prior written permission.

11. Subscriptions and billing (Apple App Store)

Backd's core features are free. We offer an optional auto-renewing subscription ("Backd Premium") that unlocks additional features; free-tier data and functionality are never hidden or deleted if you don't subscribe or a subscription lapses.

How billing works. Subscriptions are sold and billed exclusively through the Apple App Store (in-app purchase), processed via our subscriptions provider, RevenueCat. No credit-card or bank details are entered into or handled by the Backd app; your payment is processed by Apple under its terms and privacy policy.

Auto-renewal. A subscription automatically renews for the same period and at the then-current price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your store account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before each period begins.

Free trial. If we offer a free trial, your subscription begins automatically and your store account is charged the subscription price when the trial ends, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited if you purchase a subscription.

Cancelling. You can cancel or manage a subscription at any time in your Apple App Store account settings (Settings → your name → Subscriptions). Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you keep access until then.

Refunds. Refunds are handled by Apple under its policies; Backd generally cannot grant refunds for store-billed purchases. Except where required by law, payments are non-refundable and partial periods are not refunded.

Price changes. We may change subscription prices prospectively. Where required, the store or Backd will notify you, and price increases will not take effect until your next renewal after notice; you may cancel before they apply.

U.S. automatic-renewal disclosures (ROSCA / California Automatic Renewal Law and similar laws). By starting a subscription you acknowledge that: (a) it is an auto-renewing subscription that continues until you cancel; (b) you will be charged the price disclosed at purchase (after any free trial) at the start of each billing period; (c) the billing frequency (for example, monthly or yearly) is as shown at purchase; and (d) you can cancel at any time through your Apple account settings as described above, without penalty, before the next renewal. We present these terms clearly and obtain your affirmative consent at the point of purchase through Apple's purchase flow.

12. DMCA / copyright takedown and repeat-infringer policy

We respect intellectual-property rights. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, email support@backd.dev with: identification of the copyrighted work, identification of the material you believe infringes (with enough detail for us to locate it — most content on Backd is private, so please include the username, goal, or group involved), your contact information, a statement of your good-faith belief that the use is not authorized, and a statement that your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act for one.

We will review valid reports, remove or disable access to infringing content as appropriate, give the user who posted it an opportunity to respond, and, in appropriate circumstances, terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

13. Disclaimers of warranty

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or that proof, AI results, reminders, or notifications will be accurate, timely, or delivered. AI-generated proof assessments and coach responses are automated and advisory only, may be wrong, and are not professional advice. Backd does not provide medical, mental-health, legal, financial, or academic advice, and nothing in the Service is a substitute for a qualified professional. You use the Service at your own risk and are responsible for your own decisions, including any goal you set, any stake you self-impose, and any money you choose to move.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

• Backd and its officers, employees, and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to the Service, even if advised of the possibility.
• Backd will not be liable for any money you decide to pay or lose as a result of a self-imposed stake or penalty, for the conduct of other users, or for any third-party service.
• Backd's total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amounts you paid Backd for the Service in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) US $50. (Backd Premium is a paid subscription for account holders who purchase it; free-tier users who have paid nothing fall under (b).)

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

15. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Backd and its officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable legal fees arising out of or related to: (a) your User Content; (b) your use or misuse of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right (including any intellectual-property, privacy, or publicity right); or (d) your interactions or disputes with other users. We may assume the exclusive defense of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you will cooperate with us.

16. Disputes and governing law

16.1 Talk to us first. If you have a dispute with Backd, please contact us first at support@backd.dev and describe the problem. Most issues can be resolved quickly and informally, and you agree to give us 30 days to try before starting any formal proceeding.

16.2 Where disputes go. If we can't resolve a dispute informally, either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, or otherwise in a court of competent jurisdiction. These Terms do not require arbitration, and they do not take away your right to bring a claim in court.

16.3 Governing law. These Terms are governed by applicable United States federal law and, to the extent state law applies, the law of the U.S. state where you reside, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Nothing in these Terms limits any consumer-protection rights you have under the laws of your place of residence.

16.4 Survival. This Section survives termination of these Terms and of your account.

17. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete your account in Settings → Delete account, which permanently deletes your account and associated data (including proof media swept from storage and database records that cascade on deletion), as described in the Privacy Policy. Deletion cannot be undone.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms or the law, to protect users or the Service, or as otherwise permitted by law. We may also discontinue the Service or any feature. On termination, the licenses you grant survive only as described in Section 5, and Sections 4–6, 13–16, and 18 survive.

18. General

Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Backd about the Service and supersede prior agreements on the subject.

Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary, and the rest remains in effect.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

Apple App Store terms. You obtained the app from the Apple App Store, and you also agree to Apple's standard end-user terms, which apply to your use of the app and may give Apple certain rights (for example, Apple is a third-party beneficiary entitled to enforce these Terms against you as to your use of the iOS app).

Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

Contact. Questions about these Terms: support@backd.dev.