Welcome to kwyd. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and kwyd, LLC (“kwyd,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) and govern your access to and use of the kwyd mobile application and related services (collectively, the “Service”).
Please read these Terms carefully. They include important provisions that limit our liability, require individual arbitration of disputes, and waive your right to participate in a class action (see Sections 15 and 17).
By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
Eligibility
You may use the Service only if you:
- are at least 18 years of age;
- are able to form a legally binding contract with us; and
- are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction.
By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet these requirements. If you are under 18, you may not use the Service. See Section 6 — Minimum Age and Underage Users.
Your Account
You create an account using Sign in with Apple. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account and for maintaining the security of your account and device. You agree to provide accurate information and to keep it current. Notify us promptly at support@kwyd.co if you believe your account has been compromised. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of your account.
You may have only one account unless we expressly permit otherwise, and you may not share your account, transfer it, or allow others to use it.
The Service
kwyd is a private social application designed for staying connected with a small group of people you actually know. The Service lets you create a profile, share posts and moods, optionally add locations, take and share photos, send messages, connect with friends, and receive notifications. It also includes:
- your door, a page of your own that your friends can see, and on which you can arrange photos;
- your whiteboard, which — if you allow it — lets your friends draw on your door;
- slides, which let you invite friends to something and see who is in; and
- your semester bin, which keeps your past slides where you and your friends can look back at them.
We may add, change, or remove features at any time. We may also impose limits on certain features, such as the number of connections you can have.
The Service is intended for personal, non-commercial use to connect with people you know personally. It is not intended for adding, soliciting, or contacting strangers. See Section 5 — Acceptable Use and Content Policy.
You agree to send, accept, and maintain friend connections only with people you personally know in real life. kwyd is not designed for meeting new people, and you must not use it to establish contact with anyone you do not already know offline.
Your Content
4.1 Ownership
You retain ownership of the content you create, post, or share through the Service (“Your Content”). We do not claim ownership of Your Content.
4.2 License to us
To operate the Service, you grant kwyd a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, store, reproduce, display, and transmit Your Content solely for the purpose of providing, securing, maintaining, and improving the Service and as otherwise permitted by our Privacy Policy. This license exists only so that we can run the Service (for example, storing your posts and showing them to the friends you choose). It ends when Your Content or your account is deleted, except for content retained in routine backups for a limited time, content that you have shared with others who retain it, or where retention is required by law. We do not use Your private Content for third-party advertising.
4.3 Your responsibility
You are solely responsible for Your Content and the consequences of sharing it. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to Your Content and that Your Content does not violate these Terms, any law, or the rights of any third party.
4.4 Feedback
If you send us suggestions or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use it without restriction or obligation to you.
4.5 Content others create on your surfaces
Some features let one user create content that appears on another user’s page. The clearest example is the whiteboard: if you allow it, a friend can draw on your door, and what they draw is shown to the people who can see your door, labelled with who drew it. The following rules apply to that content.
- Ownership. A drawing belongs to the person who made it. Being shown on your door does not transfer ownership of it to you, and it does not transfer ownership of your door to them.
- Both of you can remove it. The person who drew it can remove it, and so can the person whose board it is on. You do not need a reason, and you do not need the other person’s agreement.
- Blocking removes it. If either of you blocks the other, drawings between you are removed immediately, in both directions.
- Deleting an account removes it. If either account is deleted, drawings involving that account are deleted.
- It is not permanent by design. Whiteboards are wiped every week as a normal part of how the feature works. Do not treat a whiteboard as a place to keep something you want to keep.
- You are responsible for what you draw. A drawing is Your Content under these Terms, including Section 4.3 and Section 5, and appearing on someone else’s door does not make it their responsibility.
- You control whether it can happen at all. You can turn off your whiteboard, and you can report a drawing as you would any other content.
Your door itself is Your Content and the rest of this Section 4 applies to it normally. Note only that what your door looks like can depend on another person’s actions where you have allowed it.
Acceptable Use and Content Policy
You agree to use the Service responsibly and lawfully. All content and conduct on the Service must comply with United States law, as well as the rules below. These rules apply to everything you do on the Service, and they apply with particular force to public-facing content — including your display name, username, profile photo, and bio — because that content can be seen by others, including people who are not your friends.
kwyd has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. We act on reports of objectionable content promptly — our goal is within 24 hours — by removing the content and, where warranted, ejecting the user who provided it. See Section 7 — Reporting, Blocking, and Moderation for how to report content or a user.
5.1 Prohibited content
You may not create, post, share, store, or transmit any content that:
- is illegal, or that promotes, facilitates, or encourages illegal activity, or that violates any United States federal, state, or local law;
- depicts, promotes, glorifies, incites, or threatens violence, or terrorism, or harm to people or animals;
- promotes, encourages, instructs, or provides means for suicide, self-harm, self-injury, or disordered eating;
- sexually exploits, endangers, or sexualizes minors in any way, or that constitutes child sexual abuse material (we report such material to the appropriate authorities and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as required by law);
- is sexually explicit, obscene, or pornographic;
- is hateful, harassing, bullying, or threatening, or that attacks or demeans others on the basis of a protected characteristic;
- harasses, intimidates, stalks, defames, or invades the privacy of any person, or discloses another person’s private or personal information without authorization (doxxing);
- impersonates any person or entity, or misrepresents your identity or affiliation, including in your display name, username, profile photo, or bio;
- infringes any patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, or other intellectual property or proprietary right;
- contains malware, viruses, or other harmful code; or
- is otherwise objectionable, abusive, or harmful, as determined by us in our reasonable discretion.
5.2 Prohibited conduct
You may not:
- use the Service to add, solicit, contact, or interact with strangers, or to engage in phishing, social engineering, scams, fraud, or deceptive practices;
- attempt to use the Service to contact, groom, or solicit minors;
- send spam or unsolicited or repetitive messages, requests, or content, or engage in mass or automated friend requests;
- impersonate another person, create a false identity, or operate a fake or misleading account;
- harass, abuse, threaten, or intimidate other users, or otherwise abuse the platform or its features;
- attempt to access another user’s account or any account, system, or data without authorization;
- collect, scrape, harvest, or store other users’ information except as the Service intends;
- reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, tamper with, probe, or attempt to discover the source code, structure, or security of the Service, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
- circumvent, disable, or interfere with security features, rate limits, or access controls;
- interfere with, disrupt, overload, or place undue burden on the Service or its infrastructure, including through bots, scripts, or automated means not expressly authorized by us;
- use the Service for any commercial purpose, advertising, or solicitation without our prior written consent; or
- use the Service in any way that violates these Terms or applicable law.
5.3 Public-facing content standards
Because your display name, username, profile photo, and bio can be seen by others, they must comply with all of the rules above. They must not be obscene, hateful, harassing, deceptive, impersonating, infringing, or otherwise prohibited. We may remove or require you to change public-facing content that violates these Terms.
5.4 Photos, prints, and drawings
Certain features let you capture and share photographs (“prints”), add photos to your door, and draw on a friend’s whiteboard. All of these must comply with the rules above, and in particular must not contain nudity, sexually explicit material, graphic violence or gore, or any illegal content. Drawings are subject to these rules exactly as photos and posts are, and a drawing placed on someone else’s door must not harass, demean, or impersonate them or anyone else. Every photo you upload is screened automatically on our servers before it is stored, to help block such images; a photo the screening refuses is never stored and is never shown to anyone. Screening is automated, is not guaranteed to be available or accurate, and it does not reduce your responsibility for the content you capture or share. We may remove any print and suspend or terminate any account that violates this section.
Minimum Age and Underage Users
The Service is for users 18 and older. We collect your date of birth during onboarding and verify age eligibility, and you agree that the date of birth you provide is accurate. You may not misrepresent your age or attempt to circumvent our age requirement.
If we learn or reasonably believe that a user is under 18, we may suspend or terminate the account and delete associated information. We do not knowingly permit anyone below the minimum age to use the Service. If you believe an underage person is using the Service, please report it to support@kwyd.co.
Reporting, Blocking, and Moderation
7.1 Reporting and blocking
The Service provides tools to report content or users that you believe violate these Terms and to block other users. We encourage you to use these tools. kwyd has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. We review reports of objectionable content promptly, with a goal of acting within 24 hours, and where we find a violation we remove the content and, where warranted, eject the user who provided it. That commitment is how we operate, but it is not a warranty: we do not promise a particular outcome, a particular response time, or a particular action in any individual case. Blocking a user limits that user’s ability to interact with you within the Service.
Safety features — including blocking, reporting, age screening, and automated photo screening — are provided as-is. They depend in part on device settings and third-party technology, may not detect or prevent all harmful content or conduct, and do not create any duty or guarantee on our part beyond what is stated above. You remain solely responsible for your interactions with other users and for the content you view or share.
7.2 Our moderation rights
Photo uploads are screened automatically, as described in Section 5.4. Beyond that, we may, but are not obligated to, monitor, review, moderate, or screen content and conduct on the Service. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion and without prior notice, to:
- remove, restrict, disable, or refuse to display any content;
- limit, suspend, or terminate any account or access to the Service;
- investigate suspected violations of these Terms; and
- take any other action we consider appropriate, including reporting unlawful activity to law enforcement.
We may take these actions for any reason, including suspected violation of these Terms, risk to other users or to us, or as required by law. We are not responsible for content posted by users and do not endorse it.
Privacy
Your use of the Service is subject to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and share information, including information about location access, push notifications, Sign in with Apple, photos, invite links, and the product analytics we use to understand how kwyd is used. Please review it carefully.
Two points are worth stating here as well. Direct messages are stored on our servers and are not end-to-end encrypted. And a kwyd leaves your friends’ feed after 24 hours or when you replace it, but we keep the post so your history and semester bin work — you can delete any post at any time. Both are explained in the Privacy Policy.
Intellectual Property
The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, the “kwyd” name and marks, and all related intellectual property, is owned by kwyd or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for its intended purpose, subject to these Terms. We reserve all rights not expressly granted. You may not use our name, logos, or marks without our prior written permission.
Copyright and DMCA
We respect intellectual property rights and respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement consistent with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to our designated agent with the information required by the DMCA, including: (a) a description of the copyrighted work; (b) a description of where the allegedly infringing material is located; (c) your contact information; (d) a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized; (e) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; and (f) your physical or electronic signature.
DMCA Agent: kwyd, LLC, Attn: Copyright Agent, 1449 S Michigan Ave STE 13266, Chicago, IL 60605; email legal@kwyd.co.
We may remove allegedly infringing content and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.
Third-Party Services; Apple
The Service relies on third-party services, including services provided by Apple. Your use of those services is governed by their respective terms and policies, and we are not responsible for them. Section 19 — Apple App Store Terms contains additional terms that apply because you obtained the app through the Apple App Store.
If you choose to share a kwyd to Instagram, your device hands the image to Instagram and you post it there yourself. kwyd does not post on your behalf. What you post to Instagram is governed by Meta’s terms, not ours.
Fees
The Service is currently provided free of charge. We reserve the right to introduce paid features or subscriptions in the future. If we do, we will provide additional terms governing those features, and any purchases made through the Apple App Store will be handled and billed by Apple under Apple’s terms.
Termination
You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, at any time and for any reason, including if you violate these Terms, with or without notice, and without liability to you. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends. The provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including Sections 4.2, 4.4, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 19.
Disclaimers
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, KWYD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 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 FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY CONTENT IS ACCURATE OR RELIABLE. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDUCT OF, OR CONTENT POSTED BY, ANY USER, WHETHER ONLINE OR OFFLINE. YOU USE THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.
Limitation of Liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, KWYD AND ITS OWNERS, MEMBERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS (THE “KWYD PARTIES”) WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICE, ANY USER CONTENT OR CONDUCT, OR THESE TERMS, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE KWYD PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE KWYD PARTIES FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US TO USE THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).
These limitations apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you; in that case, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.
Indemnification
To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the kwyd Parties from and against any claims, demands, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) Your Content; (c) your violation of these Terms or any applicable law; or (d) your violation of the rights of any third party. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with us.
Dispute Resolution; Arbitration; Class Action Waiver
PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT.
17.1 Informal resolution
Before filing a claim, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at legal@kwyd.co and giving us 30 days to resolve it.
17.2 Binding arbitration
Except as set out below, you and kwyd agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by a recognized arbitration provider under its applicable consumer rules, rather than in court, except that either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court. The arbitration will be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.
17.3 Class action waiver
You and kwyd agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.
17.4 Exceptions and opt-out
This section does not require arbitration of claims seeking injunctive relief to stop infringement or misuse of intellectual property. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to legal@kwyd.co within 30 days of first accepting these Terms; if you opt out, the Governing Law and Venue section below applies to disputes between us.
Governing Law and Venue
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to the arbitration provisions above, you agree that any dispute not subject to arbitration will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
Apple App Store Terms
The following additional terms apply because you obtained the kwyd app through the Apple App Store. In this section, “Application” means the kwyd app and “Apple” means Apple Inc.
- Acknowledgement. These Terms are between you and kwyd only, and not with Apple. kwyd, not Apple, is solely responsible for the Application and its content.
- Scope of license. Your license to use the Application is a non-transferable license to use it on any Apple-branded device you own or control, as permitted by the Apple App Store Terms of Service.
- Maintenance and support. kwyd is solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the Application. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support.
- Warranty. kwyd is solely responsible for any product warranties, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If the Application fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any); to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the Application.
- Product claims. kwyd, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the Application, including product liability, legal or regulatory non-compliance, and consumer protection claims.
- Intellectual property claims. kwyd, not Apple, is responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any third-party intellectual property infringement claim relating to the Application.
- Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
- Third-party beneficiary. You acknowledge that Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and that Apple has the right to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, such as by posting the updated Terms in the Service or on our website and updating the “Last Updated” date above. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service.
General
- Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and kwyd regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.
- Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect, and the unenforceable provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary.
- No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
- Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign them freely, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
- No third-party beneficiaries. Except for Apple as described in Section 19, these Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights.
- Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
- Notices. We may provide notices to you through the Service or by email. You may contact us at the address below.
Contact Us
kwyd, LLC
1449 S Michigan Ave STE 13266
Chicago, IL 60605
United States
Email: support@kwyd.co (general) · legal@kwyd.co (legal notices)