Phill — Terms of Service

Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE]

Welcome to Phill ("we," "us," "our"), operated by a sole proprietor. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legal agreement between you and the sole proprietor governing your use of the Phill website at phill.chat, our apps, and related services (together, the "Service").

Please read these Terms carefully. They include an AI accuracy disclaimer, a limitation of our liability, and a mandatory arbitration clause with a class-action waiver (Section 18) that affects how disputes are resolved. By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

Plain-terms summary (not a substitute for the full Terms): Phill is a journaling and reflection app where you talk with AI portrayals of historical thinkers. It's for reflection, not therapy or professional advice. The AI can be wrong or make things up — don't rely on it for facts or decisions that matter. You own what you write. Subscriptions auto-renew until you cancel. Most sales are final. Serious disputes go to arbitration, not court.

1. Who can use Phill (Eligibility)

You must be at least 16 years old to use Phill. If you are under 18, you may only use Phill if a parent or legal guardian has read and agreed to these Terms on your behalf, and you confirm at signup that they have. By using Phill, you represent that you meet these requirements. Phill is not intended for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly allow under-16 users.

Phill is available only in regions we support. You may not access or use the Service from a region where we don't offer it, or where doing so would be illegal, and you may not use tools to disguise your location to get around regional restrictions.

2. What Phill is — and what it is not

Phill lets you keep private journal entries and have conversations with AI characters modeled on historical philosophical and public figures (for example, Marcus Aurelius, Machiavelli, or Socrates), including a multi-figure "Council" feature. The AI is powered by third-party AI technology (currently Anthropic's Claude).

Phill is a personal-reflection and self-exploration tool. It is NOT therapy, counseling, medical or mental-health care, crisis intervention, or professional advice of any kind. The AI figures are fictional portrayals for reflection and entertainment; they are not the real historical people, not licensed professionals, and not affiliated with or endorsed by any figure's estate. See our Not-Therapy Disclaimer, which is part of these Terms. If you are in crisis, contact the resources listed there or your local emergency services.

3. AI portrayals of public figures

The characters in Phill are interpretive, AI-generated portrayals inspired by the writings and public personas of historical figures. They are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any figure, their estate, heirs, or representatives. Any resemblance is for reflective and educational purposes. The AI may present views, phrasings, or "facts" the real person never held or said.

4. AI accuracy — use at your own risk

AI responses are generated automatically and can be inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, biased, or entirely made up ("hallucinated"). They are opinions and reflections generated by software — not statements of fact, and not professional, legal, financial, medical, or psychological advice.

Do not rely on Phill for any important decision. You are solely responsible for how you use anything the Service produces. Always verify important information with a qualified professional or a trustworthy independent source. You use the Service and its output at your own risk.

5. Your account

You're responsible for the accuracy of your signup information, for keeping your login secure, and for everything that happens under your account. Don't share your account, and tell us at [SUPPORT EMAIL] if you suspect unauthorized use. One account per person unless we agree otherwise.

6. Acceptable use

Phill is meant for personal reflection and journaling. You agree that you will not:

• use Phill to plan, encourage, or carry out self-harm, suicide, or harm to any other person;
• use the Service for any illegal purpose, or to violate anyone's rights;
• try to make the AI produce content that is illegal, that sexualizes minors, that facilitates violence or weapons, that harasses or defames others, or that is otherwise harmful;
• attempt to bypass, disable, or interfere with any safety, filtering, rate-limiting, or security feature;
• hack, probe, or breach the Service; introduce malware; or gain unauthorized access to any account, system, or data;
• scrape, crawl, harvest, or use bots or automated means to access the Service or its content, except as we expressly allow;
• copy, resell, sublicense, rent, or commercially exploit the Service, our AI characters, prompts, or outputs;
• reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract our source code, prompts, or models;
• misrepresent your identity or age, or impersonate anyone;
• upload others' personal or confidential information without permission;
• overload or disrupt the Service or its infrastructure.

We may investigate and take action (including suspension or termination) for any violation, and we may report illegal activity to authorities.

7. Your content and the license you give us

You own the content you create — your journal entries and your conversations ("Your Content").

To run the Service for you, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, host, process, transmit, and display Your Content solely to operate, maintain, secure, and provide the Service to you — including sending it to our AI provider to generate responses. This license exists only so the app can function; it ends for stored content when you delete that content or your account (subject to normal backup cycles and legal retention, described in the Privacy Policy).

We do not use Your Content to train AI models, and we do not sell Your Content. We do not routinely read your entries or conversations; we access them only where reasonably necessary for legal reasons, to resolve a dispute, to enforce these Terms, to address a security or technical problem, or as described in our Privacy Policy.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, royalty-free license to use them without obligation to you.

8. Subscriptions, tiers, and billing

Phill offers a free tier and paid subscriptions, billed through our payment processor, Stripe. Current plans:

(Council unlocks at the $9.99 tier and above. Daily limits and features may change; see Section 12.)

By subscribing, you authorize us and Stripe to charge your payment method the applicable fee plus any taxes, on a recurring basis, until you cancel. You're responsible for keeping a valid payment method on file. We don't store your full card details — Stripe does.

9. Automatic renewal — please read

Your paid subscription automatically renews. When you subscribe:

• Your plan renews automatically at the end of each billing period (weekly plans renew weekly; monthly plans renew monthly) at the then-current price for your plan, and your payment method will be charged automatically, until you cancel.
• You will be told the price, billing frequency, and renewal terms clearly before you subscribe, and you must affirmatively agree to them.
• You can cancel anytime in your account settings (Account → Subscription) or by contacting [SUPPORT EMAIL]. Cancellation stops future renewals; it takes effect at the end of your current paid period, and you keep access until then.
• If we're required to send a renewal reminder (for example, after a free trial), we will.

If you don't want to be charged again, cancel before your next renewal date.

10. Free trial ($9.99 tier)

We may offer a 3-day free trial of the Monthly ($9.99) plan. Trial terms:

• A valid payment method is required to start the trial.
• One free trial per user. We may refuse a trial to anyone who has already had one, or where we detect abuse.
• Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your trial automatically converts to a paid Monthly subscription and your payment method is charged $9.99, then monthly thereafter until you cancel.
• Cancel anytime during the trial in your account settings to avoid being charged. We'll aim to remind you before the trial converts, but it's your responsibility to cancel in time.

11. Refunds

All sales are final, and payments are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law. This includes partial billing periods after cancellation — canceling stops future charges but does not refund the current period.

Discretionary exceptions. In limited, exceptional cases, we may — entirely at our sole discretion — choose to issue a refund or credit, for example where there is a verified unauthorized charge (such as a minor using a parent's or guardian's payment method, confirmed by the cardholder or their bank). Any such refund is a one-time courtesy decided case-by-case. This is not a right you can demand, and choosing to issue one refund does not obligate us to issue any other. To request consideration, contact [SUPPORT EMAIL] with details.

12. Changes to the Service, features, and pricing

We're an evolving product. We may add, change, limit, or discontinue features (including daily limits, tiers, or AI models) at any time. We may change subscription prices; if we change the price of a plan you're on, we will give you advance notice, and the new price will apply to your next renewal after the notice period — giving you a chance to cancel before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept them.

13. Availability — "AS-IS"

We work hard to keep Phill running, but the Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE." We do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that any content or AI response will be available, accurate, or preserved. We may perform maintenance, experience downtime, or suspend or discontinue all or part of the Service at any time.

14. Suspension and termination

You may stop using Phill and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your account or access, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, misuse the Service, create legal risk for us, or as otherwise reasonably necessary. On termination, your right to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should survive (including content license for already-processed data, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) survive termination. If we terminate your paid plan without cause and not due to your violation, we may, at our discretion, refund any prepaid, unused portion.

15. Disclaimer of warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service and all content and AI outputs are provided without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, or that the Service will meet your needs or be error-free. Some jurisdictions don't allow certain warranty exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

16. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, goodwill, or reputation, arising from or related to your use of (or inability to use) the Service or any AI output — even if we've been advised such damages are possible.
• Our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the total amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) US $100.
• Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law. Because some jurisdictions don't allow certain limitations, parts of this section may not apply to you.

You acknowledge that the AI accuracy disclaimer (Section 4) and the Not-Therapy Disclaimer are essential parts of the basis of our bargain, and that we would not provide the Service without these limitations.

17. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the sole proprietor and their employees and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use or misuse of the Service; (b) Your Content; (c) your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right; or (d) anything you do through your account.

18. Dispute resolution — arbitration and class-action waiver

Please read this section carefully — it affects your legal rights.

(a) Informal resolution first. Before starting arbitration, you agree to first contact us at [legal@DOMAIN] and give us 30 days to resolve the dispute informally and in good faith.

(b) Binding arbitration. If we can't resolve it, you and the sole proprietor agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by final and binding arbitration, administered by JAMS under its consumer arbitration rules, rather than in court — except as stated in (d). The arbitration will be conducted in English, and may be held remotely or in the state of your residence.

(c) Class-action and jury-trial waiver. You and the sole proprietor agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, or representative action. You and the sole proprietor waive any right to a jury trial. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims.

(d) Exceptions. Either party may (i) bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, and (ii) seek injunctive or other relief in court for actual or threatened infringement or misuse of intellectual property or unauthorized access to the Service.

(e) 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing [legal@DOMAIN] within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name and that you opt out of arbitration. If you opt out, disputes go to the courts described in Section 19. Opting out of arbitration does not affect any other part of these Terms.

19. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute are governed by the laws of the State of Nevada, USA, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. For any matter not subject to arbitration, you and the sole proprietor consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Nevada.

20. Intellectual property

The Service — including our software, design, branding, character prompts and profiles, and all related IP — belongs to the sole proprietor or our licensors and is protected by law. We grant you a limited, personal, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial reflection. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. "Phill" and our logos are our marks; don't use them without permission.

21. Copyright complaints (DMCA)

See our Copyright / Infringement Reporting page. To report content you believe infringes your copyright, contact [legal@DOMAIN].

22. Third-party services

Phill relies on third parties — including Anthropic (AI), Supabase (database/authentication/storage), Stripe (payments), Vercel (hosting), and PostHog (analytics). Your use of the Service may also be subject to their terms, and we're not responsible for their acts or omissions. We are not affiliated with them beyond using their services.

23. General

• Changes to these Terms. We may update these Terms. If we make material changes, we'll take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, by email or in-app). Changes take effect when posted with an updated effective date; continued use means acceptance. If you don't agree, stop using the Service.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and the unenforceable part is limited to the minimum extent necessary.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Force majeure. We're not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Not-Therapy Disclaimer, and any other policies referenced here, are the entire agreement between you and the sole proprietor about the Service and supersede any prior agreements.
• Notices. We may give notices by email or in-app. Send legal notices to [legal@DOMAIN].

24. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [legal@DOMAIN] · Support: [SUPPORT EMAIL] · the sole proprietor, phill.chat.