The agreement, in plain words.

1The agreement

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Eiderlane LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("we", "us"), about your use of the Ruminate app for iPhone (the "app"). By downloading, installing or using the app, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the app. The app is licensed to you under Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement, and these Terms add to it.

The first time you open the app, you're shown a short set of disclosures and asked to tap Start your free day, or Agree & Start if the free trial isn't offered. Those disclosures are part of these Terms, and you can read them again at any time in the app under Menu › Privacy & Disclosures. Our Privacy Policy explains how data is handled, and is part of these Terms too.

When you agree to these Terms in the app, your iPhone records the date and time and the version you agreed to. That record stays on your device and is never sent to us.

2What Ruminate is, and what it isn't

Ruminate is a private notebook for your voice. It records you, transcribes what you say on your iPhone, stores it on your iPhone, and lets you read, search, organise and export it.

Nothing the app produces is a professional opinion of any kind: medical, psychological, legal, financial or otherwise. Using the app doesn't create a professional relationship with anyone. If you're worried about your health, talk to a qualified professional.

3The AI features

Some features use a language model that runs on your iPhone (Apple's on-device model, through Apple Intelligence) to tidy, title, summarise, find to-dos in and answer questions about entries you've already made. No entry text or question is sent to us or anyone else.

Don't rely on anything the app generates for any decision, whether medical, psychological, legal, financial or otherwise. Check anything that matters against your original entry. The app never overwrites your original transcript, so it's always there to check.

4The app doesn't monitor you, and can't get you help

The app doesn't read what you record in order to decide anything about you. It doesn't assess you, score you or form any view of how you are. It can't contact anyone for you, alert a person, service or authority, or summon help of any kind, in any situation.

The app does contain a fixed list of words and phrases, stored inside it, that decides when the app keeps its own AI features quiet for an entry. That's a rule about the app's output, not a judgement about you, and nothing about that check is scored, recorded or sent anywhere.

If you're in crisis, call or text 988 in the US, or call your local emergency number.

5Your journal, your iPhone, and the risk of losing it

Everything you record stays on your iPhone. There's no server of ours. We don't receive, hold or back up your journal, and we have no way to recover it. Your journal is also deliberately excluded from iCloud and device backups, so your journal is never copied anywhere you didn't choose. That privacy has consequences you accept by using the app:

• If you lose, break, wipe, reset or replace your iPhone, or delete the app, your entries are gone permanently unless you made a backup.
• If you delete an entry, it's gone at once. There's no trash, no undo and no server copy.
• An encrypted backup you save somewhere else is your only backup. Making one is free.
• If you forget a backup's passphrase, that file can't be opened by you, by us or by anyone. We can't reset or recover it, because we never receive the passphrase.
• Once you move a backup or export off your iPhone, it's outside the app's protection and your responsibility.

You're responsible for keeping your own backups. To the extent the law allows, we're not liable for the loss of any entries, recordings, transcripts, backups or exports, however it happens.

6Age

You must be 18 or older to use Ruminate. The app is for adults and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone, of any age, because the app transmits none to us (see the Privacy Policy). By using the app you confirm you are 18 or older.

7The free trial, Pro and payments

A free trial, then Pro. You can start one free trial of everything in the app. You start it by taking the free "1-Day Trial" item from the App Store when you set the app up (or later, from the app). It costs nothing, never renews, and is tied to your Apple Account, so it cannot be started again by reinstalling. If the App Store cannot be reached, the trial starts with your first entry instead. The trial lasts 24 hours from when it starts.

After the trial, recording new entries and the AI features (clean-up, to-dos, recaps, Ask, read-aloud, new sections and re-transcription) need Pro.

Always yours, with or without Pro: everything you have already recorded stays readable, playable and searchable. You can export any entry, and the encrypted backup and restore are always free. Nothing you made is locked, hidden or deleted when the free trial ends.

Pro is US$3.99 per month, US$14.99 per year, or US$49.99 once. The app shows the prices in your currency before the free trial starts and before you buy. Prices vary by region and may change. Any change applies to future purchases and renewals, and you will be told before a renewal at a new price.

Billing, renewal and cancelling

• Purchases are made through your Apple Account and processed by Apple. We never see your payment details.
• Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. Apple may charge your Apple Account up to 24 hours before a renewal, so cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the period to avoid the next charge.
• Cancel in your Apple Account's subscription settings: on iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. We can't cancel a subscription for you, and deleting the app doesn't cancel it. Cancelling stops future renewals, and you keep Pro until the end of the period you've paid for.
• Refunds are handled by Apple under Apple's policies, at reportaproblem.apple.com. We can't issue or refuse refunds. Any refund or withdrawal rights you have under the law where you live aren't affected.
• Lifetime means for as long as we offer the app, for the Apple Account that bought it. It isn't a promise that the app will exist forever, and it doesn't cover other apps. If you buy Lifetime while subscribed, cancel your subscription in your Apple Account, or it will keep renewing.

8Your licence

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the app on any Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions. The app may also be used by other accounts associated with you, as purchaser, through Family Sharing, volume purchasing or Legacy Contacts, where Apple makes that available. We keep all rights in the app that aren't expressly granted to you.

You may not copy, modify, sell, rent, lend, sublicense or redistribute the app, or reverse-engineer, decompile or try to extract its source code or models, except where the law expressly allows it despite this restriction.

9Using it lawfully

The app is for your own personal, lawful use. Don't use it to break the law, and don't record anyone without the consent the law where you are requires. Don't interfere with the app's security features or use the app to harm anyone.

The app has no accounts, no sharing, no feed and no way to publish anything to anyone. There's nothing to moderate, and nothing you record can reach another user through the app.

10Your content is yours

You own everything you record and write in Ruminate. We claim no licence, right or interest in your entries, recordings, transcripts, backups or exports. That's not because we've generously declined one: we never receive them. Nothing you record is used to train any model. What the app generates from your words on your iPhone, such as titles, summaries, cleaned-up text, to-dos and answers, is yours too.

11Maintenance and support

We alone are responsible for maintaining and supporting the app, as described on our Support page or as required by law. You and we agree that Apple has no obligation at all to provide maintenance or support for the app.

12Updates, availability and ending

We may update the app, change or remove features, or stop offering it. We won't deliberately delete your entries in an update, but because your journal lives only on your iPhone (see section 5), keeping a backup is up to you.

You can stop at any time by deleting the app, which deletes everything it stores. Cancel any subscription separately (see section 7). If you materially breach these Terms, your licence ends. Since there's no account or server, ending it can't reach into your phone. It means you're no longer permitted to use the app. Sections 2 to 5, 10 and 13 to 22 survive the end of these Terms.

13Warranty

To the fullest extent the law allows, the app is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement. We don't promise that the app will be uninterrupted or error-free, that transcription or AI output will be accurate or complete, that entries won't be lost, or that the app will meet your needs.

We're responsible for any warranty that can't be effectively disclaimed under the law. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the app to you. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation of any kind for the app, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses caused by a failure to conform to a warranty are our sole responsibility.

Some places don't allow warranties or consumer guarantees to be excluded. Where that's the case, this section applies only as far as the law permits, and you keep the rights your local consumer law gives you.

14Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• we're not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost entries or lost recordings, and
• our total liability to you for all claims about the app is limited to the greater of US$50 or the amount you paid for the app in the 12 months before the claim.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that can't be limited or excluded by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for gross negligence or wilful misconduct. Nothing in these Terms limits our liability beyond what applicable law permits.

15Product claims and intellectual property claims

You and we agree that we, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the app or your possession and use of it, including (a) product liability claims, (b) any claim that the app fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (c) claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar laws.

If a third party claims that the app, or your possession and use of it, infringes their intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are solely responsible for investigating, defending, settling and discharging that claim.

16Legal compliance

You represent and warrant that (a) you're not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and (b) you're not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

17Third-party terms

You must comply with any applicable third-party terms when using the app, such as your mobile carrier's terms. Your use of the App Store and Apple's services is governed by Apple's own terms. The app includes open-source software and a speech model licensed by their authors, and their notices are available from us on request.

18Apple

You and we acknowledge that:

• These Terms are between you and us only, not with Apple, and we, not Apple, are solely responsible for the app and its content.
• These Terms don't set usage rules that conflict with the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions as of the date you accept them.
• Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept them, Apple has the right, and is deemed to have accepted the right, to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

19Governing law and disputes

If something's wrong, please email us first at [email protected]. Most problems can be sorted out quickly that way, and we'll try to resolve any dispute informally within 30 days.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be decided by the courts located in Delaware, except that either of us may bring a claim in small-claims court. If you're a consumer, nothing here takes away the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live, or your right to bring a claim in your local courts where the law gives you that right.

20Changes to these Terms

If we change these Terms, we'll post the new version on this page with a new date, and publish material changes before the version of the app they apply to is released. Changes won't apply retroactively to your disadvantage. If you keep using the app after a change takes effect, the new Terms apply. If you don't agree, stop using the app and cancel any subscription through Apple.

21General

Whole agreement. These Terms, Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement, the in-app disclosures and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the app. If part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies, and that part is limited only as much as needed. No waiver. If we don't enforce something right away, we haven't given up the right to enforce it later. Transfer. You may not transfer these Terms. We may transfer them to a successor to our business, with notice.

22Contact

Questions, complaints or claims about the app go to:

Eiderlane LLC
Email: [email protected]