Terms & Conditions

Close2Me (the “App”) is a mobile application for communicating with people nearby over Bluetooth, developed and operated by an individual developer (“we”, “us”, or “our”). These Terms & Conditions (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and us. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not download, install, or use the App.

1. Acceptance of these Terms

By downloading, installing, accessing, or using the App, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you use the App on behalf of another person or an organization, you represent that you are authorized to accept these Terms on their behalf.

2. Eligibility

The App is not directed to children under 13, and you must be at least 13 years old to use it. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the App only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. You are responsible for complying with any age or consent requirements that apply where you live.

3. What the App does

The App lets you discover nearby devices over Bluetooth and exchange messages, calls, voice notes, files, and SOS signals with them. Its core features are offline-first: they do not require an internet connection, a phone number, or a Close2Me account, and message content is not routed through a server that we operate. Some messages may be relayed hop-by-hop across other nearby Close2Me devices to extend range.

The App is provided for lawful personal communication. We may add, change, suspend, or remove features at any time, and availability may vary by device, platform, and region.

4. Your device, identity, and security

The App generates a private cryptographic identity that is stored on your device and protected by your platform’s secure key storage (Android Keystore or iOS Keychain). You are responsible for keeping your device secure, including using a device lock and keeping your operating system up to date. Because there is no account and no central server, we cannot recover your identity, conversations, or data if your device is lost, reset, or uninstalled, subject to any platform backup behavior. Verifying a peer’s identity (for example, by comparing fingerprints or scanning a QR code in person) is your responsibility before you treat a conversation as trusted.

5. Acceptable use

You agree that you will not, and will not attempt to:

• use the App to send unlawful, harassing, abusive, defamatory, threatening, hateful, or deceptive content, or content that infringes another person’s rights;
• use the App to transmit malware, spam, or to interfere with, disrupt, jam, or overload nearby devices or the mesh;
• harass, stalk, impersonate, or endanger any person, or collect or share another person’s information without a lawful basis and appropriate consent;
• reverse engineer, decompile, tamper with, or circumvent the App’s security or cryptographic controls except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
• use the App in any way that violates applicable laws, regulations, or the rules of any venue, event, or network you are using it in; or
• use the App to relay content on behalf of others in violation of these Terms.

6. Your content and interactions

You are solely responsible for the content you send and for your interactions with other people through the App. Because conversations happen directly between devices, we do not host, monitor, moderate, or control the content you exchange, and we cannot retrieve, delete, or moderate it once it has been sent. A recipient may save, copy, screenshot, record, or share what you send. Do not send anything you would not want a recipient to keep or disclose.

7. AI image generation

The App includes an optional feature that generates images from a text prompt you provide, using an AI model that runs on your device. This section applies whenever you use that feature.

You are solely responsible for the prompts you enter and for the images the App generates in response, including how you use, save, or share them. Because generation happens entirely on your device, we do not review, moderate, or have visibility into your prompts or the images produced, other than the automated, on-device safety check described in our Privacy Policy.

When using the image generator, you agree that you will not use it, or the images it produces, to:

• break any law, or exploit or harm minors;
• generate or spread false information intended to harm;
• generate or spread personal identifiable information;
• defame, disparage, or harass others;
• make fully automated decisions that adversely affect a person’s legal rights;
• discriminate against individuals or groups based on protected characteristics; or
• provide medical advice or interpret medical results.

These restrictions mirror the ones shown in the App before you download the image-generation model, drawn from the CreativeML OpenRAIL-M licence that governs the underlying model.

Generated images are produced by an automated model and may be inaccurate, unexpected, low-quality, or unsuitable for your purpose. We make no warranty of any kind about the accuracy, appropriateness, or fitness for a particular purpose of prompts you enter or images the App generates; see Section 12 (Disclaimer of warranties) below.

We do not claim any ownership rights in the images the image generator produces for you. This is a deliberate choice: because generation runs entirely on your device, we have no access to what you create and no basis to claim it.

If a generated image appears to have bypassed the App’s safety check, or is otherwise objectionable, you can report it directly within the App.

8. SOS and emergencies

The App’s SOS and related features are a best-effort way to reach people nearby and are not a replacement for emergency services such as 911, 112, or your local equivalent. Delivery depends on nearby devices, Bluetooth range, battery, and other factors, and is not guaranteed. Never rely on the App as your only means of obtaining help in an emergency. Where possible, contact official emergency services directly.

9. App stores and third-party services

Your download and use of the App are also subject to the terms of the app store you obtained it from (for example, Google Play or the Apple App Store). The App uses third-party services, including Google Firebase for bounded analytics, performance monitoring, crash diagnostics, and configuration, and — if you enable AI image generation — Hugging Face for a one-time AI model download, as described in our Privacy Policy. Those services are governed by their providers’ own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for third-party services.

10. Licence and intellectual property

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the App on devices you own or control for your personal, non-commercial use. All rights, title, and interest in and to the App — including its software, design, and trademarks — remain ours or our licensors’. These Terms do not grant you any rights in our branding except as needed to use the App as intended. This section does not affect ownership of images you create with the AI image generator, which is addressed in Section 7.

11. Privacy and security

Your use of the App is subject to our Privacy Policy. The App uses cryptography to protect direct conversations, but no system is perfectly secure. Encryption on direct links does not hide all metadata, and multi-hop mesh relay is encrypted hop-by-hop rather than end-to-end. Our phase-accurate description of what is and is not protected is published in the Privacy & Security Assessment. You use the App with an understanding of these limits.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

The App is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranties regarding availability, security, reliability, or delivery of communications. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we do not warrant that the App will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that messages, calls, files, or SOS signals will be delivered. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.

13. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, communications, profits, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the App — including any failure to deliver a message or SOS signal, any interception of communications, or any harm arising from your interactions with other users. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the App, your content, your interactions with others, or your violation of these Terms or of applicable law.

15. Termination

You may stop using the App and uninstall it at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to the App, or discontinue the App, at any time if you breach these Terms or where we reasonably consider it necessary. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnification — will survive.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, provide notice within the App or on this page. Your continued use of the App after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

17. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of [Jurisdiction — insert your country/state before publishing], without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located there for any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the App, except where applicable law grants you the right to bring proceedings in your local courts.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@close2me.app. For privacy matters, contact privacy@close2me.app.