Terms of Service

Self-drafted, not lawyer-reviewed. Suitable for closed beta. Have an Indian tech-focused lawyer review before public launch.

Last updated: 2026-05-18

1. Acceptance

By creating an account or using Video Mate ("the Service", operated by [YOUR LEGAL NAME OR REGISTERED ENTITY] — "Operator", "we", "us") you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms") and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.

If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may only use the Service with a parent or legal guardian's consent.

2. The Service — what it is and what it isn't

2.1 What we do

Video Mate is a mobile app and companion website that organises links to videos hosted by third-party platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, Bilibili) into human-curated playlists. We:

• Display video titles, thumbnails, durations, and a curator's notes
• Open the original platform's official player when you tap "play"
• Let you save curated playlists to your own library
• Send the share link of a public playlist to anyone you choose

2.2 What we are not

• We do not host video files. Streaming and playback happen on the source platform's infrastructure.
• We do not own the videos. Copyright stays with the original creators.
• We do not modify the source platform's content, ads, or monetisation. Creators receive the views and revenue exactly as they would from a direct visit.
• We are not a substitute for the platforms themselves. Features like comments, subscriptions, livestreams remain on the source platforms.

3. Eligibility and accounts

3.1 Age requirement

• Play Store: 13 and older
• App Store: 12 and older (matches our 4+ rating with mild social features)
• EU: 16 and older (under-16s need parental consent to create the account under GDPR)

3.2 Account integrity

• One account per person. Do not share credentials.
• Keep your password safe. We're not liable for losses from account compromise due to your own negligence.
• Use a real email address you can access — recovery flows depend on it.
• We may suspend accounts that show signs of automation (impossible click patterns, headless browser fingerprints).

3.3 Guest mode

Without an account you can still use a "Guest" mode with a 3-playlist cap, data stored locally only. Signing up upgrades you to "Member" and migrates your Guest data to our servers. After migration the local copy is deleted.

4. Acceptable use

When using the Service you agree not to:

• Reverse-engineer, decompile, scrape, or attempt to bypass our rate limits, RLS policies, or other technical controls.
• Submit false abuse reports to silence other users.
• Use the Service to redistribute content in a way that violates the source platform's own terms.
• Impersonate another person, real or fictional.
• Upload, paste, or transmit content that is unlawful, hateful, sexually explicit (where prohibited locally), harassing, defamatory, or that promotes self-harm.
• Use the Service to develop a competing product based on our curation, schema, or playlist data.
• Bypass region-locking imposed by the source platforms.

Violation may result in immediate suspension or termination — see §10.

5. Content rights

5.1 Third-party videos

Curated videos remain the property of their original creators. We make no warranty of availability — a video may be removed by the source platform at any time, and we will eventually mark its row as unavailable.

5.2 Curator notes and playlist titles

When you create a public playlist, you grant Video Mate a non- exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to display the title, emoji, description, and your chosen video ordering on the public share-link preview page. This licence ends when you make the playlist private or delete it.

5.3 Trove brand

"Video Mate", "Trove", the coral V logo, and the visual design system under lib/core/design/ are owned by the Operator. You may not use them to imply endorsement or to brand a competing product.

6. User-submitted content (future)

When user-uploaded video features ship (see roadmap), additional terms will appear in this section covering takedown, DMCA-equivalent counter-notices, and a repeat-infringer policy.

For now: only first-party curated content exists on the platform.

7. Reporting and takedown

If you believe content on Video Mate (a curator's playlist title, description, or selection) violates your rights:

• For India: email our Grievance Officer at grievance@videowithmate.7ven.work. Acknowledged within 24 hours, resolved within 15 days per IT Rules 2021 §3(2).
• For copyright (DMCA-style): email legal@videowithmate.7ven.work with a description of the work, the URL of the alleged infringing content, a statement of good-faith belief, and a signature. We process notices within 5 business days.
• For child safety, CSAM, terrorism: also report directly to appropriate authorities (NCMEC for CSAM, local police otherwise); we'll cooperate fully with valid legal process.

We honour repeated-infringer suspensions per US DMCA §512(i) and analogous Indian / EU procedures.

8. Subscriptions and payments (Phase 3)

When the Premium tier (ad-free, offline downloads, more) launches:

• Billing terms will be added here covering renewal, refund, and cancellation per Apple App Store / Google Play / Stripe / Razorpay conventions.
• Indian users may pay via UPI through Razorpay; international users via Stripe.
• Until then, the Service is free of charge.

9. Ads

The free tier displays third-party ads via Google AdMob (banner, native in-feed, interstitial post-playback). Ad personalisation respects your OS-level setting (Apple App Tracking Transparency on iOS; "Limit Ad Tracking" on Android). Premium subscribers (when available) will not see ads.

We do not pre-approve specific ads served — that is determined by Google's ad network. If an ad violates Google's policies you can report it directly to AdMob.

10. Termination

10.1 By you

Delete your account anytime via Profile → Settings → Delete account (in-app flow ships in Phase 3 — until then, email privacy@videowithmate.7ven.work). Cascade deletion completes within 30 days.

10.2 By us

We may suspend or terminate your account if you:

• Materially violate §4 (Acceptable use) or §3 (Account integrity)
• Cause us to receive a valid legal request to do so
• Engage in fraud against the ads system (invalid clicks, etc.)

We will notify you by email at least 7 days before termination unless the violation is severe (CSAM, fraud, ongoing harm) — those warrant immediate suspension.

10.3 Effect of termination

Your access ends. Your data is held for 30 days as a grace period in case you want to restore the account, then permanently deleted. Provisions of these Terms that by their nature survive termination (disclaimers, indemnification, limitation of liability) survive.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, or non- infringement.

We do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted or error-free
• Any specific video will remain available
• The curator-supplied descriptions are accurate (curators are humans with biases)
• The Service will meet your specific requirements

To the maximum extent permitted by law, mandatory consumer protection rights in your jurisdiction (e.g. Indian Consumer Protection Act 2019, EU consumer law) are not affected by these disclaimers.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Operator will not be liable for:

• Indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages
• Loss of profits, data, goodwill, or other intangibles
• The acts or omissions of third-party platforms (YouTube, TikTok, etc.)

Where law does not permit total exclusion, our aggregate liability is capped at the greater of: (a) the amount you paid us in the prior 12 months (₹0 if you are on the free tier), or (b) ₹1,000 INR.

Nothing here limits liability for gross negligence, wilful misconduct, fraud, death or personal injury caused by our negligence — these are not excludable.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend and indemnify the Operator against any third-party claim arising from your breach of these Terms or from content you contributed (when user content is permitted), to the extent permitted by law.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of [YOUR CITY], India.

EU / UK users retain the mandatory consumer rights of their home country; nothing here removes those rights.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If a change is material (adversely affects your rights, expands our liability shield, introduces fees) we will:

• Email registered users at least 14 days before the change takes effect
• Post an in-app notice on the next launch

Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. Prior versions live in our git history.

16. Miscellaneous

• Severability: if any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force.
• No waiver: failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment: you may not assign these Terms; we may assign them to a successor entity in a merger, acquisition, or restructuring.
• Entire agreement: these Terms + the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and the Operator.

17. Contact

| | | |---|---| | Legal & terms | legal@videowithmate.7ven.work | | Grievance Officer (India) | grievance@videowithmate.7ven.work | | Copyright (DMCA-style) | legal@videowithmate.7ven.work | | General | hello@videowithmate.7ven.work | | Postal | [YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS] |