Terms of Service

Effective date: [INSERT DATE]

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Family Chat platform (“Service”), operated by [INSERT LEGAL ENTITY] (“we”, “us”, or “our”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms.

1. Service Description

Family Chat provides private Matrix chat servers for families. Each subscribing family receives a dedicated Dendrite (Matrix homeserver) instance, accessible through any compatible Matrix client. The Service includes:

• A dedicated, isolated chat server for your family.
• A control panel for managing family members and settings.
• Optional federation with other Family Chat families or external Matrix servers.

2. Accounts

Registration

• You must provide a valid email address and accurate information when signing up.
• The person who creates the account becomes the initial “Parent” and account holder.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.

Parent and Child roles

• Parent accounts have full administrative control: adding/removing members, managing billing, and configuring federation.
• Child accounts have access to chat only, with no administrative privileges.
• Parents are responsible for the activity of Child accounts they create.

3. Subscription and Payment

• The Service is provided on a monthly subscription basis at the price listed on our pricing page.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. By subscribing, you also agree to Stripe’s terms.
• Subscriptions renew automatically each month until cancelled.
• You may cancel at any time through the billing portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
• We reserve the right to change pricing with 30 days’ notice. Price changes do not apply retroactively to the current billing period.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable law or regulation.
• Send spam, malware, or unsolicited bulk messages.
• Harass, threaten, or abuse others.
• Impersonate another person or entity.
• Attempt to access other families’ servers or data.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or its infrastructure.
• Use automated systems to scrape or extract data from the Service.
• Circumvent security measures or access restrictions.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, with or without notice depending on severity.

5. Data Ownership

• Your data is yours. Chat messages, media files, and other content on your Dendrite server belong to you and your family.
• We do not claim ownership of your content.
• We do not read, analyse, or mine your chat messages.
• You grant us a limited licence to store and transmit your data solely to provide the Service.

6. Federation

• Federation allows your family’s server to communicate with other Matrix servers.
• Federation is disabled by default. Parents can enable it selectively through the control panel.
• When you federate with external servers, your messages sent to those servers are subject to the privacy policies of those servers.
• We are not responsible for data shared with external federated servers.

7. Service Availability

• We aim to provide reliable service but do not guarantee 100% uptime.
• We may perform scheduled maintenance with reasonable notice.
• We are not liable for service interruptions caused by third-party providers, network issues, or circumstances beyond our control.
• In the event of extended downtime (more than 48 consecutive hours), we will provide a pro-rated credit on request.

8. Suspension and Termination

By you

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Upon cancellation:

• Your server remains active until the end of the current billing period.
• After the billing period ends, your server is suspended.
• Your data is retained for 30 days after suspension, then permanently deleted.

By us

We may suspend or terminate your account if you:

• Violate these Terms or the Acceptable Use policy.
• Fail to pay subscription fees.
• Use the Service in a way that threatens the security or stability of our infrastructure.

We will provide notice before termination when possible, except in cases of severe or urgent violations.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• The Service is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
• We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages.
• Our total liability is limited to the amount you paid for the Service in the 12 months preceding the claim.
• We are not liable for data loss. You are responsible for maintaining your own backups of critical data.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the Service, your content, or your violation of these Terms.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or through the control panel at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of [INSERT JURISDICTION]. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be resolved in the courts of [INSERT JURISDICTION].

13. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at:

Email: [INSERT CONTACT EMAIL]