Terms and Conditions - JOURNAL, Personal Diary

Last updated: 03/05/2026

These Terms govern your use of the JOURNAL, Personal Diary mobile application ("the App"). By installing or using the App you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the App.

Provider: Carry Studios - contact: carrystudios@gmail.com

1. Use of the App

The App is a personal journaling tool that lets you record your thoughts, photos, voice memos and reflections. The App can be used fully offline and does not require an account.

2. Optional Account, Subscription and Cloud Sync

You may optionally create an account (email/password or Google Sign-In). Sign-in is free and on its own enables only:

• The optional, free App-Settings Backup (theme, font, language, notification preferences, onboarding flags, etc.) - opt-in per device.
• The ability to subscribe to Premium (monthly, yearly or lifetime), which unlocks Cloud Sync for your diary content as well as the App's extended features.

Cloud Sync of diary content (entries, photos, voice memos, mood, tags, purchase history, thought-points ledger) is gated behind an active premium subscription. Without an active subscription, signing in does not upload any diary content; only Authentication, App-Settings Backup (if you opted in) and a small subscription audit record involve our backend.

Cloud Sync is provided "as is" on a best-effort basis. We process your data as described in our Privacy Policy.

By signing in you confirm that:

• You are the lawful holder of the email address or Google account used.
• The content you upload does not violate any law or third-party right.
• You understand that Cloud Sync runs in standard mode by default - data is encrypted in transit and at rest, but it is not end-to-end encrypted and the App developer has technical access to it for the purpose of operating the service. You may instead enable optional client-side end-to-end encryption from Settings → Account, in which case diary body text and media bytes are encrypted on your device before upload and we cannot read them. If standard mode is unacceptable to you and you do not wish to use end-to-end encryption, do not enable Cloud Sync.

3. User Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.
• If you enable client-side end-to-end encryption, safekeeping your encryption passphrase: we never receive it and we cannot recover it for you. Forgetting it requires wiping the encrypted cloud copy.
• The content you record or upload through the App.
• Using the App in a way that does not infringe the rights of others or violate any applicable law.
• Keeping your own backups. While we make reasonable efforts to preserve your data, we strongly recommend that you periodically export your diary (Settings → Backup) to a location you control.

4. Local Data and Backups

All your diary content is stored on your device. You may also:

• Take a manual backup to your own Google Drive (using the drive.file scope, which only grants access to files the App itself creates). Drive Backup is automatically disabled while you are signed in to a cloud account, to avoid two competing backup mechanisms.
• Enable optional Cloud Sync (see section 2), which requires an active premium subscription.
• Enable optional App-Settings Backup (free, see section 2) to mirror your UI preferences across devices.

We do not access your Google Drive content beyond what the App itself created.

5. Premium Features, Subscription and In-App Purchases

The App offers premium functionality via three coexisting paths:

• One-time in-app purchases (per feature, permanent), processed by Google Play Billing.
• Thought points earned in-app (and, optionally, by watching rewarded ads) which can be spent to unlock individual features.
• Premium subscription (Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime tier), processed by Google Play Billing and managed via RevenueCat, which unlocks the App's extended features and is required to enable Cloud Sync of your diary content.

Common rules:

• All purchases are final and non-refundable except where required by applicable consumer-protection law (in the EU/EEA: the 14-day right of withdrawal under Directive 2011/83/EU may apply; refund procedures are handled by Google Play).
• Restoring purchases / subscription: signing in with the same Google account on a new device or reinstall will restore your entitlements.
• Subscription billing, renewal, cancellation and refunds are handled by Google Play. Cancelling a subscription stops future renewals; access to subscription-only features (including Cloud Sync) ends at the end of the current paid period.
• Cancelling a subscription does not by itself delete data already in the cloud. To remove cloud-side data, use Settings → Account → Delete account, or use "Replace cloud with this device" to overwrite it.
• Thought points have no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for cash, and may be removed if obtained through abuse, automation or other violations of these Terms.
• Ads, when displayed, are served by Google AdMob and are limited to the rewarded "watch ad to earn thought points" flow that you initiate manually.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the App for any illegal purpose, or to record content that violates the law (e.g. CSAM, threats, defamation).
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the App except as expressly permitted by law.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or circumvent any security features of the App or our backend (for example by tampering with App Check tokens, abusing Cloud Sync quotas, or scripting account creation).
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to other users' data.

7. Intellectual Property

The App, its source code (where not open-sourced), assets and trademarks are the property of Carry Studios. You retain all ownership rights in the content you create with the App. By enabling Cloud Sync, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive licence to host, store, transmit and reproduce your content for the sole purpose of providing the sync service to you. We do not claim any ownership of your diary content.

8. Service Availability

The App is provided "as is" and "as available". Cloud features rely on third-party services (Firebase, RevenueCat, AdMob, Google Play) that may experience outages outside our control. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• The App developer is not responsible for any loss, corruption, or unauthorised access to your data, including your local database, Cloud Sync data, App-Settings Backup or Google Drive backups.
• The App developer is not responsible for the loss of access to end-to-end-encrypted cloud data caused by a forgotten passphrase, since the passphrase and derived key never leave your device.
• We shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your use of the App.
• Nothing in these Terms limits liability for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or any other liability that cannot be limited under applicable law (including, in the EU, statutory consumer-protection rights).

10. Termination

You may stop using the App at any time and delete your data:

• Local data: uninstall the App or use Settings to clear it.
• Subscription: cancel via Google Play (or via the in-app Customer Center where available); access to Cloud Sync and other subscription-only features ends at the end of the current paid period.
• Cloud account and synced data: Settings → Account → Delete account performs a full deletion across all cloud collections, storage blobs, sync metadata, the app-settings backup document and the subscription state record.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate the App, or your access to the Cloud Sync backend, at any time and for any reason - including violations of these Terms or operational, legal or commercial reasons. Where reasonably possible we will give you advance notice and an opportunity to export your data.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be highlighted in the App and the "Last updated" date above will reflect the change. Continuing to use the App after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

12. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Italy, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence (in the EU/EEA: Regulation (EU) 593/2008, "Rome I") continue to apply where applicable. Any dispute will be brought before the competent court of the consumer's place of residence where mandatory law so requires; otherwise, the courts of Italy shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

13. Contact

For questions about these Terms:

Email: carrystudios@gmail.com