Terms of Service

FLAME provides the FLAME emotional-presence app. For questions about these Terms, contact us at info@flameapp.uk. The registered legal entity operating FLAME and its address will be stated here on launch.

• Circle: the small, private group of people you choose to share your flame with.
• Flame / check-in: a mood and intensity you record, which your circle can see.
• Warmth: a preset, wordless gesture you can send to your circle.
• Content: any information you provide to the Service, such as your display name and check-ins.

You must be at least 16 years old to use FLAME. If you are aged 16 or 17, you confirm that a parent or guardian is aware of and permits your use. FLAME is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly allow them to use it. If we learn that someone under 16 is using the Service, we may remove their account.

FLAME uses anonymous authentication, so no email or password is required to start. Your account is tied to your device unless you choose to add an email to save it across devices. If you clear your app data or reinstall without having saved your account, it cannot be recovered. You are responsible for activity that takes place through your account.

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse-engineer, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law.

You agree not to, and not to attempt to:

• harass, threaten, abuse, impersonate, or harm another person;
• use the Service for anything unlawful, or to breach anyone’s rights;
• access, probe, disrupt, overload, or reverse-engineer the Service or its infrastructure;
• circumvent our security, rate limits, or access controls;
• use bots, scrapers, or automated means to access the Service; or
• resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service.

We may investigate and take action, including suspending or terminating accounts, for conduct that breaches these Terms or that we reasonably consider harmful to others or to the Service.

FLAME is designed for small circles of people who trust each other. At present a circle holds up to 3 people; bigger circles are available for free on request. Invite links expire after 7 days and can be used once. You are responsible for who you share your invite link with. We are not responsible for the conduct of other people in your circle.

You keep ownership of your Content. To operate the Service, you grant us a limited licence to host, store, and process your Content solely to provide FLAME to you and your circle, as described in our Privacy Policy. FLAME does not offer free-text messaging between users; warmth gestures are preset. You are responsible for the Content you provide and confirm you have the right to provide it.

FLAME is a wellbeing and social-connection app. It is not a medical device, not a diagnostic or treatment tool, and not a crisis, counselling, or mental-health service. It does not provide medical or clinical advice. Never rely on FLAME in an emergency or in place of professional help.

If you are struggling or in crisis, please contact a qualified professional or a crisis service, for example the Samaritans (call 116 123 in the UK and Ireland) or the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988 in the US), or your local emergency number. Wherever you are in the world, you can find a verified local helpline at findahelpline.com.

We are building and improving FLAME continually. We may add, change, suspend, or remove features at any time. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that data will be preserved. We may perform maintenance or updates that temporarily limit availability.

FLAME is currently free to use. If we introduce paid features in future, we will present the price and terms before you buy, and any purchase made through an app store will be billed by that store (for example, Apple) under its rules, including its auto-renewal and cancellation terms. You will be able to manage or cancel a subscription in your app-store account settings. Nothing is charged to you now.

Your cancellation rights. If you are a consumer in the UK or EU and you buy a subscription, you normally have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of purchase. Where you ask us to start a digital service immediately and acknowledge that you may lose this right once it has fully begun, that statutory right may not apply, but any app-store cancellation and refund terms still do. We will always set out how to cancel and claim a refund at the point of purchase.

The Service, including the FLAME name, the Ember character, the flame designs, the software, and all related content, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual-property laws. These Terms do not transfer any of those rights to you. You may not use our name, logo, or branding without our prior written permission.

The Service relies on third parties, including Supabase (database and authentication), Vercel (hosting), and the Apple App Store (distribution and, in future, payments). Your use of those services may also be subject to their terms. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

If you obtain FLAME through the Apple App Store, you acknowledge that: these Terms are between you and FLAME only, not Apple; Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the Service; Apple is not responsible for any product warranties or claims relating to the Service; and Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. You confirm you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo and are not on any US Government prohibited-parties list.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits your statutory rights as a consumer, which remain unaffected.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, or for any loss of data, profits, or goodwill, arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Service. Because FLAME is currently provided free of charge, our total aggregate liability to you for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim, or £50.

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to reimburse us for reasonable losses and costs we suffer arising from your breach of these Terms or your unlawful misuse of the Service. This does not apply to the extent the loss was caused by us.

You can stop using FLAME at any time and delete your account or leave a circle from within the app. We may suspend or terminate your access if you materially breach these Terms, if required by law, or if we reasonably need to protect the Service or other people. On termination, the licence in section 5 ends. Sections that by their nature should survive (including sections 8, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 19) will continue to apply.

These Terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you are a consumer, you benefit from any mandatory protections of the law of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales or, where the law allows, your local courts. We would always prefer to resolve any concern informally first, so please contact us at info@flameapp.uk before taking any formal step.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms; we may transfer ours to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided your rights are not reduced. We may update these Terms from time to time; we will change the date above and, for material changes, give reasonable notice. Continued use after changes take effect means you accept them.

Questions about these Terms: info@flameapp.uk.