Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Hello App, Inc. ("Hello," "we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of the Hello mobile application ("App") and website at thehelloapp.us ("Website"), collectively the "Service."

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you represent that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree, you must not access or use the Service.

2. Eligibility

The Service is available only to individuals who are at least 13 years of age. By using Hello, you represent and warrant that: (a) you are at least 13 years old; (b) all information you provide during onboarding, including your legal name, date of birth, and face verification, is truthful, accurate, and complete; and (c) you have not been previously suspended or removed from the Service.

Users under 18: If you are under the age of 18, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed these Terms and our Privacy Policy and consents to your use of the Service. Parents and guardians who allow a minor to use the Service are responsible for overseeing the minor's use and assume full responsibility for the minor's compliance with these Terms.

We reserve the right to verify your age at any time and to terminate your account immediately if we determine that you do not meet the minimum age requirement or have provided false age information.

3. Account Registration & Security

You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your account. You agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and onboarding.
• Complete our face liveness verification process honestly and without any form of manipulation.
• Use a profile photo that is genuinely and exclusively of you and that passes our face-matching verification.
• Authenticate using one of our supported sign-in methods (Google or Apple) and keep your authentication credentials secure. You must not share access to your account with any other person.
• Notify us immediately at security@thehelloapp.us if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.
• Not create more than one account per person.

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not you authorized that activity. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with these security obligations.

4. Identity Verification & Trust

Hello employs a trust-first model. Before accessing social features, you must complete our multi-step face liveness verification process, which: (a) confirms you are a real, live person; (b) verifies your age against your stated date of birth using AI estimation; and (c) stores a verification capture for ongoing identity anchoring.

You expressly agree that:

• You will not attempt to bypass, circumvent, spoof, or otherwise manipulate the verification system by any means.
• You will not use photographs, screens, masks, pre-recorded video, deepfakes, or any other technology to deceive liveness detection.
• You will not impersonate another person, create accounts using another person's identity, or misrepresent your identity in any way.
• All trust and verification decisions are made server-side at our sole discretion and are not subject to appeal through the client application.

Consequences of verification fraud: Attempted or successful verification fraud will result in immediate and permanent account termination. We reserve the right to report verification fraud to law enforcement authorities. All data associated with a fraudulent account may be preserved as evidence.

5. Community Standards & Prohibited Conduct

Hello maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy for harmful behavior. By using the Service, you agree that you will not, under any circumstances:

• Harass, bully, threaten, stalk, or intimidate any user or group of users.
• Engage in grooming, sexual solicitation, sexual exploitation, or any predatory behavior toward any person, with particular severity applied to conduct involving minors.
• Create, upload, transmit, or distribute any content that is sexually explicit, obscene, pornographic, violent, graphic, hateful, or otherwise harmful.
• Engage in hate speech, discriminatory conduct, or incitement to violence based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic.
• Distribute spam, malware, phishing attempts, or unsolicited commercial communications.
• Attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with safety features, rate limits, security controls, or any technical measures designed to protect the Service or its users.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code or underlying algorithms of the Service.
• Scrape, crawl, or use automated tools to collect data from the Service without our express written permission.
• Use the Service for any illegal purpose or in violation of any applicable local, state, national, or international law.
• Facilitate, encourage, or assist any other person in engaging in any of the above prohibited conduct.

Reporting & blocking: Hello provides in-app tools that allow you to report messages and other content that violate our Community Standards, as well as block users whose behavior you find harmful or unwelcome. We encourage all users to actively use these tools to help maintain a safe community. Reports are reviewed by our moderation team and may result in enforcement action under Section 7.

6. Content, Messaging & AI Moderation

All profile photos must comply with our content guidelines and are subject to mandatory AI moderation before publication. Photos must: (a) depict only you; (b) show your face clearly; (c) contain no inappropriate, explicit, violent, or otherwise objectionable content; and (d) match your verified face capture.

Chat messaging: All chat messages sent through the Service are subject to automated AI moderation. Messages are reviewed in real time and may be approved, held for manual review, or rejected based on our content policies. Messages that violate our Community Standards (Section 5) may be blocked from delivery, and repeated violations may result in enforcement action under Section 7. You acknowledge and agree that AI moderation is an integral part of the Service and is applied to help maintain user safety.

By uploading content to the Service, you grant Hello a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, display, and distribute that content solely as necessary to operate, maintain, and improve the Service. This license terminates when you remove the content or delete your account, except where retention is required for legal compliance.

You retain ownership of all content you create and upload. You represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to the content you upload and that your content does not infringe upon any third party's intellectual property, privacy, or other rights.

7. Enforcement, Suspension & Termination

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to investigate, restrict, suspend, or permanently terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without prior notice, if we reasonably believe that:

• You have violated these Terms or our Community Standards.
• Your account poses a safety risk to other users, particularly minors.
• Your account is being used for fraudulent or illegal purposes.
• Continued access to the Service by your account is otherwise detrimental to the Hello community.

We may also, in our sole discretion:

• Remove any content that violates these Terms or our Community Standards.
• Reduce your trust score based on policy violations or suspicious behavior.
• Require re-verification if suspicious activity is detected on your account.
• Report conduct to law enforcement when required by law or when we reasonably believe it is appropriate to protect the safety of our users or the public.
• Preserve and produce account data and content in response to valid legal process.

NCMEC reporting: Conduct involving the sexual exploitation of minors will be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and to applicable law enforcement agencies as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A.

Account deletion: You may delete your account at any time through the in-app account deletion feature available in your profile settings. Upon deletion, your profile, verification data, and associated content will be removed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Certain data may be retained as required by law or for legitimate safety purposes, such as preventing previously banned users from creating new accounts.

8. Intellectual Property

The Service, including all software, design, text, graphics, logos, and other materials (collectively, "Hello Materials"), is owned by or licensed to Hello App, Inc. and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Hello Materials without our express written permission.

"Hello," the Hello logo, Finn the mascot, and other Hello marks are trademarks of Hello App, Inc. You may not use our trademarks without our prior written consent.

9. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. HELLO DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

While we employ AI-based verification and moderation systems and work continuously to improve them, we do not guarantee the absolute accuracy of these systems. No verification or moderation system is infallible.

Hello is not responsible for the conduct of any user, whether online or offline. You use the Service at your own risk and are solely responsible for your interactions with other users.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL HELLO APP, INC., ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AFFILIATES, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM; OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100.00).

THE LIMITATIONS IN THIS SECTION DO NOT PURPORT TO LIMIT LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. IN JURISDICTIONS THAT DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR LIABILITY, OUR LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Hello App, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any applicable law or regulation; (d) your content; or (e) your interaction with other users.

12. Dispute Resolution & Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Informal resolution: Before filing any formal dispute, you agree to attempt to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at legal@thehelloapp.us. We will attempt to resolve the dispute within 30 days.

Arbitration: If we cannot resolve the dispute informally, you and Hello agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court. There is no judge or jury in arbitration.

Class action waiver: You and Hello agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. You waive any right to participate in a class action, class-wide arbitration, or any other representative proceeding.

Exceptions: Either party may bring claims in small claims court if the claim qualifies. Either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of a party's copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights.

13. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or if modification is not possible, severed. The remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

14. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other agreements expressly incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Hello concerning the Service. These Terms supersede all prior or contemporaneous agreements, proposals, or representations, whether written or oral, concerning the Service.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will: (a) update the "Last updated" date above; (b) notify you through the App or by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect; and (c) where required by law, obtain your consent. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service.