Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms govern your use of Shoal — the messaging service available at app.shoal.chat, the marketing site at shoal.chat, and any related tools or apps we offer (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, being added as a device to a family, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, you should stop using Shoal.

Our privacy policy covers how we handle data; it forms part of these terms by reference.

2. Who can use Shoal

You can hold a Shoal user account on your own if you are at least 18 years old. Younger people can use Shoal in two ways:

• If you are 13 or older (or the equivalent age of digital consent in your jurisdiction), you may register your own user account, with your parent or guardian's awareness.
• If you are younger, a family admin can add you to a family as a device, without an email or password of your own. The admin who adds you is responsible for your use of the Service.

By signing up, you confirm that you meet these requirements.

3. Your account

Your account is identified by your email address. We do not use passwords; you sign in with a one-time link sent to that email. This means access to your email is, in practice, access to your Shoal account — keep your email secure.

You are responsible for what happens on your account. If you suspect your account is compromised, contact us at security@shoal.chat and we will help you secure it.

Don't share your account with anyone else. Each person should have their own user account, or be added as a device.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to use Shoal to:

• Break any law or facilitate illegal activity
• Harass, threaten, abuse, stalk, or defame any person
• Distribute child sexual abuse material — we treat this as a hard line and will cooperate with law enforcement to the fullest extent the architecture permits (see our security page for what we can and cannot read)
• Spam, phish, or send unsolicited bulk messaging
• Distribute malware, viruses, or other harmful software
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your relationship to a child you add to a family
• Attempt to circumvent the encryption protections that make Shoal what it is
• Probe, scan, or attack the Service or its users; reverse-engineer the Service except to the limited extent UK or EU law specifically permits
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers, crawlers) to access the Service without our written permission
• Use the Service for commercial messaging, marketing, or anything other than personal family communication

Violating any of these may result in suspension or termination, depending on severity. For serious matters (CSAM, credible threats of violence, attacks on the Service), we will terminate immediately and notify the appropriate authorities where required by law.

5. Family admins and children

A family admin can add other family members and children to a family, revoke access, rotate keys, and read children's conversations as part of the structural oversight described on our security page.

By becoming a family admin, you confirm that:

• You have lawful authority to add any child you place in the family — typically as a parent, legal guardian, or other person with parental responsibility.
• You will use admin oversight responsibly, in the interests of the children involved and consistent with their evolving privacy as they grow up.
• You are at least 18 years old.

We may limit certain functionality for children to comply with the UK Children's Code and equivalent laws elsewhere. As a child grows older, they may choose to register for their own user account; admins should respect that choice consistent with the child's age, the child's maturity, and any applicable law.

6. Your content, our service

You own the messages, names, profile pictures, and other content you send through Shoal. Because almost all of your content is encrypted before it reaches our servers, we do not — in normal operation — read, analyse, or use it for any purpose beyond delivering it to its intended recipients. (For the architectural caveat on what is technically possible at the operator level, see section 4 of the privacy policy.)

You grant us only the narrow technical licence we need to operate the Service: to store, transmit, and route the encrypted content as part of normal message delivery. We are not asking for, and you are not granting, any licence to read your content, train models on it, serve advertising against it, or share it with third parties beyond our subprocessors (listed in the privacy policy).

You are responsible for the content you send. If we receive a credible report that an account is being used to abuse or harm someone, we may suspend the account while we investigate, even though we cannot read the content of the relevant messages without the cooperation of an admin who is a recipient.

The Shoal name, logo, design, and software are ours (or our licensors'). You can describe Shoal and link to it; please don't use our branding without permission, or imply endorsement we haven't given.

7. Pricing and billing

Today, Shoal is free to use during our preview period. There are no charges, no required payment information, and no time limit on the preview.

We plan to introduce paid family plans in the future. We are writing this section now so the framework is in place when that happens. The following terms apply to paid use of the Service once paid plans are launched.

Notice before charges begin

We will give existing users at least 30 days' notice before introducing any required charges. During the notice period you may continue using Shoal under the terms in place at the time you received notice. If you do not wish to continue under paid terms, you can close your account or, where we offer a free tier, switch to it.

Plans, prices, and taxes

Specific pricing, plan structure, and the included features will be published on our pricing page and the in-app checkout flow when paid plans launch. Prices may differ by region. Where applicable, VAT or other taxes will be added in accordance with local law.

Payment processing

Payments will be processed by a third-party payment provider ([TBD — to be named at launch]). We do not store full payment card details on our servers. Use of the payment provider will be subject to their separate terms and privacy notice.

Recurring subscriptions and cancellation

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled. You can cancel at any time from within the app; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid period, and you will continue to have access until then.

Refunds

You are entitled to the statutory consumer rights available in your jurisdiction. In the UK, this includes the 14-day cancellation right for digital subscriptions purchased online under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, subject to the exceptions for digital content and services that have begun to be supplied with your consent. Beyond statutory rights, our refund approach will be published with the pricing page when paid plans launch.

Failed payments

If a payment fails and is not resolved within a reasonable time (which we will specify when paid plans launch), we may suspend access to paid features. Account data and message contents are not deleted purely because of a failed payment; suspension is not the same as termination.

Price changes for existing customers

Where we increase the price of an existing subscription, we will give you at least 30 days' notice. You can cancel before the change takes effect; if you don't, the new price applies from your next renewal.

8. Service availability

We work to keep Shoal available and reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access. The Service is provided on an "as available" basis. We may need to take parts of the Service offline for maintenance, security work, or to deal with operational problems.

Shoal is not a substitute for emergency communications. Don't rely on it to reach the emergency services.

9. Suspension and termination

You can close your account at any time. Closure triggers deletion of your account record and revocation of all device keys, as described in our privacy policy.

We may suspend or terminate access to your account if:

• You materially breach these terms
• We have reason to believe your account is being used to harm other users
• We are required to do so by law
• You haven't used your account for a sustained period (we'll give notice before doing this)

For severe breaches — including CSAM, credible threats of violence, or attacks on the Service — we may terminate immediately and without prior notice. We will provide notice of any termination in all other cases.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available". We make no warranties beyond those required by law. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that messages will always be delivered.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with the Service in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in that period and (b) £100. We will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for matters that cannot, by law, be excluded or limited — including death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. For material changes, we will give you reasonable advance notice — by email, in-app notice, or both — and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after the changes take effect means you accept the new terms.

If you don't accept a material change, you can close your account before the change takes effect. For paid users, a material change that disadvantages you also gives you a right to cancel before it takes effect with a pro-rated refund of unused subscription time.

12. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Disputes will be resolved in the courts of England and Wales, except that consumers resident in another jurisdiction retain the protection of any mandatory rules of the law of their country of residence.

13. Contact

Legal questions: legal@shoal.chat

Privacy questions: privacy@shoal.chat

General enquiries: hello@shoal.chat

Postal address: [registered address TBD]