Legal
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the unburdening mobile application and the unburdening.org website (together, the "Service"), operated by unburdening ("we," "us," or "our").
By using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree to any part of them, please don't use the Service. We've written these in plain English wherever the law allows it.
You must be 18 or older. By using unburdening, you confirm you are.
You must be at least 18 years old to use unburdening. By creating an account or using the Service, you represent and warrant that:
If we learn you do not meet these eligibility requirements, we may suspend or terminate your account.
Your four-word code is your password. Don't share it. We can't recover it for you. If you lose access, you lose your account.
When you sign up, we generate a four-word recovery code that serves as your account credentials. You are responsible for:
Because we store your code as a one-way hash (see our Privacy Policy), we cannot recover or reset it for you if you lose it. If you have added an email address to your account, you can use the magic-link recovery flow to regain access. Without an email, lost account access is permanent.
Use unburdening for what it's for: sharing what you're carrying. Don't harm other users, don't break the law, don't break the app.
By using the Service, you agree not to:
Violation of these rules can result in immediate suspension or termination of your account. See our Community Guidelines for more detail about what we expect from members of the community.
Your words stay yours. When you share to the community, you give us permission to show the anonymized version to other users. That's it.
You retain ownership of everything you write within the Service ("Your Content"). By using the Service, you grant us the following limited rights:
You retain the right to delete Your Content at any time. When you delete content or your account, we remove it according to the timeline described in our Privacy Policy.
We do not claim ownership of Your Content. We do not use Your Content to train artificial intelligence or machine-learning models. We do not sell Your Content. We do not display advertising against Your Content.
unburdening is free to use with limits. Pro is $7.99 per month, billed through Apple. Cancel anytime in your Apple account settings. Refunds are handled by Apple.
The Service includes a free tier that lets you:
unburdening Pro removes the limits of the free tier:
unburdening Pro is offered as an auto-renewing monthly subscription at a price of $7.99 USD per month (or local equivalent), or such other price as may be displayed in the App Store at the time of subscription. By subscribing, you authorize Apple to charge the payment method associated with your Apple ID on a recurring monthly basis until you cancel.
We do our best to keep the Service running, but we don't promise it's always up. We may change or discontinue features over time.
We work to keep the Service available and reliable, but we make no warranty that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at any particular time. We may experience outages due to maintenance, updates, third-party service issues, or unforeseen events.
We may add, change, remove, or suspend features of the Service at any time, with or without notice. For material changes that affect paid subscribers, we will provide reasonable advance notice.
If we discontinue the Service entirely, we will give you reasonable notice and a way to export your data before shutdown.
unburdening is not a medical service, not a therapy service, and not a substitute for professional mental health care. If you are in crisis or considering harming yourself or others, please contact emergency services or a crisis line immediately.
No professional relationship. Using unburdening does not create a therapist-client, doctor-patient, or any other professional relationship between you and us. The Wise Friend is an artificial intelligence designed to provide reflective, empathetic responses. It is not a licensed therapist, counselor, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or medical professional, and it cannot diagnose, treat, or prescribe.
No medical advice. Content generated by the Wise Friend, content shared by other users, and any other information available through the Service is for informational and emotional support purposes only. It is not medical advice, mental health treatment, or a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. Do not delay or forgo professional care because of anything you read or experience on unburdening.
In a crisis. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, are at risk of harming yourself, are considering suicide, or feel any other person is at imminent risk, you must contact emergency services or a crisis line immediately:
Other users are not professionals. When you connect with another user through the Service, that person is also not a licensed professional (unless they are and have disclosed that to you outside the Service). Conversations between users are peer-to-peer emotional support and should not be relied on for medical or psychological care.
Continue your care. If you are receiving professional mental health care, please continue. unburdening is intended to complement, not replace, professional support.
The Service is provided as-is. If something goes wrong, our financial liability to you is limited.
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranties arising out of course of dealing or usage of trade.
Specifically, we do not warrant that:
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall unburdening, its operators, contractors, or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service.
In any case, our total cumulative liability to you for any claims arising out of or related to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the total amount you have paid us in the twelve months preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred US dollars ($100).
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation of liability for certain damages. To the extent those exclusions or limitations are prohibited under applicable law, they will not apply to you, and our liability will be limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.
If you do something on unburdening that gets us sued, you cover our costs.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless unburdening and its operators, contractors, and licensors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:
You can leave anytime. We can ask you to leave if you break the rules. Some clauses survive even after you leave.
Termination by you. You may delete your account at any time from within the app's settings. Upon deletion, we will remove your content according to the timeline described in our Privacy Policy.
Termination by us. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice, if:
Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. Sections concerning your content license, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, and any provisions that by their nature should survive will survive termination.
Most disputes between us go to private arbitration, not court. You also give up the right to participate in a class action. Small-claims court is an exception.
Before filing a formal claim, you agree to try to resolve any dispute by emailing us at hello@unburdening.org with a description of the issue. We will try in good faith to resolve the dispute within 60 days.
You and unburdening agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Service will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration administered by JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will take place in California, USA, or remotely by mutual agreement. The arbitrator's decision will be final and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.
You and unburdening waive any right to bring or participate in a class action, collective action, or representative proceeding. Disputes between us must be brought individually.
Notwithstanding the above, either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for disputes that fall within that court's jurisdiction (generally claims under $10,000 USD).
You may opt out of the arbitration agreement in this Section xi by sending an email to hello@unburdening.org with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms. Your opt-out must include your full name, account identifier, and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out has no effect on your other rights under these Terms.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Where arbitration is not available or required, you and unburdening submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in California.
If we change anything important, we'll tell you. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept the new Terms.
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you within the Service and via email (if you've provided one) at least 30 days before the changes take effect. For non-material updates (typos, clarifications, formatting), we will update the "Last updated" date at the top.
Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of any updated Terms constitutes your acceptance of those Terms. If you don't agree to the updated Terms, you should stop using the Service.
Standard legal cleanup.
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines, constitute the entire agreement between you and unburdening regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms freely.
Apple-specific terms. If you accessed the Service through the Apple App Store, the following additional terms apply: (a) these Terms are between you and unburdening only, not Apple, and Apple is not responsible for the Service or its content; (b) Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the Service; (c) Apple is not responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the Service; (d) Apple is a third-party beneficiary of these Terms and may enforce them.
Email and a human will reply.
For any question about these Terms, or to give us notice required under them:
Email: hello@unburdening.org