Terms of Use (T&Cs) – “Journory”

Last updated: 24 August 2026
Scope: iOS/Android app and connected web services, worldwide (esp. EU/EEA, UK, CH)

1) Provider & Contact

Service provider: Journory GmbH
Address: Kirchstraße 15c, 37081 Göttingen, Germany
Email: contact@journory.com
Legal notice (Imprint): https://journory.com/imprint
Our Privacy Policy also applies (available in-app/on the website).
Languages & governing version. These Terms are drafted in German; translations are provided for convenience only. In case of discrepancies, the German version shall prevail.

2) Subject Matter of the Agreement

The app enables, among other things, creating/managing trips & stops, journal entries (incl. media), map and weather features, adding friends and sharing trips/stops, push notifications, and optional advertising and in-app purchases/subscriptions (plan tiers: Lite, Gold, Platinum).
Note: The app is not an emergency/rescue system.

3) Account, Age, Contract Formation

• • Registration: via email login or OAuth (Google/Apple). Login credentials must be kept confidential.
• • Minimum age: Standard 16 years (EU online services). For in-app purchases/subscriptions: 18+ or consent of a legal guardian. (In countries with different age limits, mandatory consumer protection law applies; see Section 19.)
• • Click-wrap: Before using/purchasing, you actively accept the Terms & Privacy Policy; we log the time and version of your acceptance.

3a) Guest Mode (use without an account)

Journory can be used as a guest, without registering. In that case:

• • Your journeys, stops, images and diary entries are stored exclusively on your device. No transfer to our servers takes place.
• • There is therefore no backup, no synchronisation and no recovery. If the device is lost, damaged or reset, if the app is uninstalled, or if its storage is cleared, the data is irretrievably lost. We cannot restore it.
• • Features requiring an account — in particular friends, feed, comments, leaderboards and purchases — are unavailable in guest mode.
• • If you register later, you may transfer locally stored data into your account where the app offers this. There is no entitlement to a complete or lossless transfer.

Use in guest mode is accordingly at your own risk. Our liability for the loss of purely local data is limited in accordance with Section 15; backing up such data is your responsibility.

4) Third-Party Platforms

We integrate, among others, Google (Auth, Maps/Places, AdMob/UMP), Apple (Sign in, billing), and OpenWeather (weather API). Their terms (app store rules, API/advertising standards) also apply. Violations may result in suspension.

5) Service Description & Changes

Service description: Features and scope of services follow the service description shown in the app/website at the time the contract is concluded (including plan tier). We may adjust features, test beta features, or discontinue features (security/compatibility updates). Continuous, uninterrupted availability is not guaranteed.

Updates (especially for consumers): Where required by law, we provide updates necessary to maintain conformity and IT security of the digital services (e.g., security updates) for the legally required or otherwise appropriate period. You are required to install provided updates promptly; failure to do so may affect your statutory rights insofar as a defect is solely attributable to the missing update.

Changes to the service: We may change the service or adjust features if (i) there is a legitimate reason (e.g., legal/security requirements, abuse prevention, technical development, third-party changes), (ii) no additional costs arise for you, and (iii) the change is reasonable for you. We will inform you in advance in text form (e.g., in-app/email) about material changes, including timing, content, and effects.

Changes to these Terms: We may change these Terms if there is a legitimate reason and the changes are reasonable for you. We will inform you at least 6 weeks before they take effect in text form (in-app/email), describing the changes. You may object until the effective date. If you object, we may terminate the contract effective on the date the changes would take effect if continuation without the changes is unreasonable for us. We will specifically point out your right to object, the deadline, and the consequences in the change notice. Changes required by mandatory law or changes that are solely to your benefit may be implemented on shorter notice.

Special termination right: If changes materially disadvantage you (e.g., noticeable limitation of key features in a paid plan tier), you may terminate the affected paid contract extraordinarily from the time of notice until the change takes effect (or within a reasonable period thereafter if the notice is sent later).

5a) Statutory Consumer Rights (Digital Services)

For consumers, statutory rules apply to contracts for digital services. Statutory remedies for defects (e.g., cure/remedy, price reduction, termination/cancellation and, where applicable, damages) are not limited by these Terms.

6) Permissions & Consents

Certain features may require system permissions (location – including in the background, motion/activity, photos/media, notifications). You can change permissions in the OS; features may then be limited. Details: Privacy Policy.

7) In-App Purchases/Subscriptions, Plan Tiers, Regional Pricing & Withdrawal

Plan tiers & scope:

• • Lite (free): up to 500 stops and 100 images, ads enabled, one design, basic statistics.
• • Gold (subscription): up to 5,000 stops and 1,000 images, ad-free, all designs, extended statistics.
• • Platinum (subscription): up to 50,000 stops and 10,000 images, ad-free, all designs, full statistics, reconstruction of past journeys from your photo gallery.

These limits are technical quotas, not a promise of unlimited use. We reserve the right to adjust quotas with reasonable prior notice (at least 30 days, by in-app notice or email); where a change results in a not insignificant impairment, you may terminate the agreement with effect from the date the change takes effect.

Processing via Apple/Google stores; their payment/refund rules apply. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled in time in the store.
Regional prices & taxes: prices may vary by region and include applicable sales/consumption taxes; billing is in the store currency.
Prune policy (stop archiving): If a Gold or Platinum subscription ends and the number of stops exceeds the quota of the new tier (e.g., Lite: 500 stops, 100 images), excess stops will be archived (not deleted) after prior in-app notice. Archived stops remain available to you but may not be actively visible/editable in the lower tier. Upon upgrading again, archived stops are restored as long as you have not deleted them.
Withdrawal information: see Annex.

7a) Planting Trees (partner service, Tree-Nation)

Within the app you may, for a fee, arrange for a tree to be planted — for yourself or as a gift to another user. In addition:

• • Provider of the service: planting, allocation and issuance of the certificate are carried out by our partner Tree-Nation (tree-nation.com), not by us. We arrange the order and provide the presentation within the app.
• • Processing: the purchase is a one-off in-app purchase through the App Store or Google Play; their payment and refund terms apply. It is not a subscription.
• • Availability: trees are available only in limited numbers and depend on our partner's projects. If no tree is available, no contract is formed; any amount already charged is refunded through the relevant store.
• • Data sharing: to issue the certificate, your name — and, when gifting, the name of the recipient — is transmitted to Tree-Nation. This happens only with your express consent, obtained in the app before purchase. Without that consent the service cannot be performed. Details in the privacy policy.
• • What you receive: you acquire neither ownership nor possession nor any other proprietary right in a tree, a planting or a plot of land. The certificate documents the allocation within our partner's system and establishes no rights beyond that. Location, species and timing of planting depend on our partner's projects and may vary.
• • Withdrawal: you have the statutory right of withdrawal (see annex). Where a planting is commissioned, that right expires once we have fully performed the service and you have expressly consented, before the contract was concluded, to performance beginning before the withdrawal period expires, and have acknowledged that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal upon full performance.
• • Liability: we are not liable for the continued existence, growth or survival of individual trees, nor for acts of our partner; our liability is governed by Section 15. Should the partner service cease permanently, we will inform you and refund amounts already paid for services not yet rendered.

8) Advertising (optional)

If enabled (Lite plan), we show (non-)personalized ads (e.g., Google AdMob). Personalized ads and ad IDs require consent (CMP/consent banner). Consent can be withdrawn at any time – thereafter only non-personalized ads may be shown. Gold and Platinum subscribers do not see ads.

8a) Games, Waypoints, Companion and Leaderboards

Games. The app includes small games (among them flag and photo quizzes and a flight game). They are a free additional feature and not part of the core service owed. We may change, pause or discontinue individual games at any time; there is no entitlement to their continued availability. No fee is charged for taking part, and no money can be staked.

Not gambling. The games require no monetary stake and offer no prospect of winning money or anything of monetary value. They constitute neither gambling nor a prize competition in the legal sense.

Waypoints (◈) — legal nature. Playing the games and using the app lets you collect "waypoints". Waypoints are a purely virtual, functional unit of account within the app. Expressly:

• • Waypoints are not legal tender, not electronic money within the meaning of the German ZAG or the E-Money Directive, not a payment service, not a cryptocurrency and not a tradeable asset.
• • Waypoints cannot be purchased with real money. They are granted solely through use of the app.
• • Waypoints are not redeemable for cash, not refundable, not exchangeable for money or goods, and not transferable — neither to other accounts nor to third parties, whether for consideration or free of charge.
• • You acquire no ownership of and no entitlement to the continued existence of waypoints, but a simple, non-transferable right of use within the app, tied to your account.
• • Waypoints serve solely to unlock cosmetic content for the companion and its studio. They unlock no paid features and do not replace a subscription.

Balance, correction and abuse. The balance held on our servers is authoritative. We may correct waypoint balances that arose from technical faults, outages or erroneous credits. In cases of manipulation — in particular through modified app versions, automation, exploitation of programming errors or multiple accounts — we may reset waypoints and results, withdraw unlocked content and suspend the account in accordance with Section 17. We may change earning and pricing rates with effect for the future; material changes will be announced in the app.

End of the account. On deletion or termination of your account, waypoints and any cosmetic content unlocked with them lapse without replacement. No compensation in money or otherwise is provided. As waypoints cannot be purchased, no financial loss arises to you.

Companion and studio. The companion ("Birdy") and the furnishing of its studio are purely visual additional features. Unlocked items, colours and equipment are tied to your account, are non-transferable, and establish no rights in the underlying graphics, animations or trade marks. Premium content depends on the subscription then active and is no longer available once it ends.

Leaderboards. If you achieve a game result while signed in, it may be included in leaderboards. There, your user name and your result are visible to other users — depending on the view selected, within your circle of friends or globally. No results are transmitted in guest mode. You may change your user name in the settings; as to your right to object to this processing, see the privacy policy. There is no entitlement to a particular ranking, to inclusion, or to the continued availability of leaderboards; we may reset, restructure or discontinue them. Where manipulation is reasonably suspected, we may remove entries.

Collections and progress. Collections ("cabinet of curiosities"), passport stamps, achievements and statistics are derived from your travel data and publicly available geographic data. They are determined automatically; we give no warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of the allocation.

9) User Content (UGC) & License

• • Ownership: Your content (texts, photos, routes, comments) remains your property.
• • License to us: For the term of the contract, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store (incl. backups/caches), technically reproduce/process, display, and transmit your content to persons selected by you, as required to provide the app.
• • Third-party rights: You represent that you respect third-party copyright, trademark, and personality rights.

10) Community Rules (esp. text & images) – DSA-compliant (EU)

Prohibited, among others, are:

1. Illegal content (incitement to hatred, glorification of violence, terrorist/extremist propaganda, Holocaust denial, symbols of unconstitutional organizations, child/juvenile pornography, calls to commit crimes).
2. Hate speech/discrimination, threats, stalking/doxxing, bullying/harassment.
3. Sexually explicit content without age gating, non-consensual depictions, exploitation; deepfake abuse.
4. Insults, defamation, reputation-damaging false statements.
5. Endangerment (instructions for self-harm, drug/weapon misuse).
6. Malware, spam, automated mass use, circumvention of security mechanisms, scraping (to the extent not permitted by law).
7. Violations of app store/ad/API policies (e.g., Apple/Google/AdMob/Maps).

Reporting & enforcement (notice-and-action, EU DSA):

• • Report unlawful content to abuse@journory.com or via the in-app report feature.
• • We review reports promptly and may remove/block content and warn, temporarily suspend, or terminate accounts (consequence ladder). We act proportionately, taking into account severity, frequency, and context.
• • Reasons / “statement of reasons”: Where required under the EU DSA, we will provide you with the main reasons for moderation decisions, the scope of the measure, and available remedies in text form.
• • Complaint/appeal: Internal complaint body for appeals against moderation decisions. Appeals are possible within 6 months (in-app or by email).
• • Out-of-court dispute settlement: Independently, you may – where available – use a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under the EU DSA and/or seek judicial remedies.
• • Authority contact point (EU DSA): legal@journory.com. (For UK/CH/RoW we apply these principles accordingly.)

11) Conduct Obligations

Use the app only as intended; do not use it while driving contrary to applicable law; do not share access credentials; no commercial use without prior written consent (unless expressly permitted).

12) Open Source & WebView Content

We use open-source components (e.g., React, React-Native, Expo modules). The relevant OSS licenses are disclosed in-app/on the website; in case of conflict, specific OSS license terms prevail. Content of external websites displayed in WebViews is subject to their terms; those third parties are solely responsible for such content.

13) Data Security, Backups & Disaster Recovery

• • TOMs: Appropriate technical/organizational measures (TLS, access controls, monitoring) and regular backups.
• • No custody agreement. No archiving obligation beyond the contractual provision; no special custodial/trustee duty.
• • Restoration: In a disaster (e.g., data center outage, fire) we restore from the last successful backup; intermediate states may be lost.
• • Data export: You may request a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format (e.g., JSON): contact@journory.com.
• • RPO/RTO: Internal targets RPO 24h, RTO 48h (no guarantees; contingency planning).

14) Force Majeure

No liability for outages/delays caused by events beyond our control (force majeure), e.g., natural disasters, war, governmental orders, power/network outages, major cloud disruptions, labor disputes, pandemics.

15) Liability

(a) Mandatory liability
Limitations of liability do not apply in cases of legally mandatory liability, in particular intent, gross negligence, injury to life, body, or health, fraudulent concealment, assumed guarantees, and under the Product Liability Act.

(b) Simple negligence – paid services
For paid services, in cases of simple negligence we are liable only for breach of essential contractual duties (cardinal duties); in that case limited to the foreseeable, typical contractual damage.

(c) Simple negligence – free services
For free services (e.g., Lite plan/beta), we are not liable for simple negligence; (a) remains unaffected.

(d) Data loss
In cases of simple negligence, liability for data loss is limited to the effort required for restoration that would have been necessary with proper, regular data backups.

(e) Consequential/indirect damages
To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect damages, lost profits, production/use downtime, data corruption or loss; (a) remains unaffected.

(f) Liability cap
To the extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability arising out of and in connection with paid services is limited to the lower of:
(i) the total fees paid by you in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or
(ii) €1,000 per calendar year. (a) remains unaffected.

(g) Vicarious agents / (h) burden of proof
These provisions apply accordingly to our legal representatives and vicarious agents. No change to statutory rules on the burden of proof is intended.

16) Indemnification

You indemnify us against third-party claims arising from unlawful content or use of your account (including reasonable legal defense costs), to the extent you are responsible.

17) Term, Suspension & Termination

Indefinite term; you can delete/terminate your account at any time. Subscriptions are canceled in the relevant store (Apple/Google). In case of violations, we may suspend accounts or terminate for cause. Data processing and deletion follow the Privacy Policy.

18) Export Controls, Sanctions & Geo-Use

You may not use the app if prohibited under applicable export, sanctions, or embargo laws or in geographically restricted regions (e.g., due to app store policies). You represent that you are not listed on applicable sanctions lists.

19) Governing Law, Jurisdiction & Consumer Rights (worldwide)

German law applies (excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods). Mandatory consumer protection provisions of your habitual residence remain unaffected.
Jurisdiction for merchants etc.: Göttingen; otherwise the statutory places of jurisdiction apply.
Information on consumer dispute resolution: We are not obliged and not generally willing to participate in consumer dispute resolution proceedings.
Regional specifics (transparency notice):
• EU/EEA (incl. DSA): Section 10 (notice/appeal procedure) and consumer rights apply in accordance with EU rules.
• UK/CH: These Terms apply accordingly; mandatory UK/CH consumer protection provisions remain unaffected.
• Rest of world: Mandatory local consumer rights may apply; these remain unaffected.

20) Final Provisions

Severability; contract language German; notices by email/in-app; no assignment of your rights/obligations without our consent. We may transfer rights/obligations to affiliated companies provided your legitimate interests are not unreasonably impaired.

Annex – Withdrawal Information (digital content/services)

Right of withdrawal (EU/UK/CH – where applicable)

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period is 14 days from conclusion of the contract (purchase/subscription start in the app store).

How to exercise

Send your withdrawal to contact@journory.com or use the store procedures (Apple/Google). Timely dispatch is sufficient to meet the deadline.

Consequences

We will refund all payments without undue delay and no later than 14 days after we receive your withdrawal, using the same means of payment as the original transaction unless otherwise agreed. Where payment was processed via the store, the refund may be carried out technically via the store (under its rules).

Expiry of the right of withdrawal

Your right of withdrawal expires (even before the end of the period) if we have begun performance after you
(a) expressly consented to us beginning performance before the end of the withdrawal period, and
(b) confirmed your acknowledgement that you lose your right of withdrawal by giving this consent.

Regional deviations: Statutory withdrawal/termination rights that differ in your country of residence remain unaffected; the app stores provide corresponding regional information.