Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legal agreement between you and Tessa Labs ("we," "us"), the maker of the SoulNear mobile app ("the Service"). By installing or using SoulNear, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

2. Who can use SoulNear

You must be at least 13 years old to use SoulNear. If you are between 13 and 18 (or the age of majority where you live), you must have permission from a parent or guardian who has read these Terms.

You can use SoulNear as a guest, or you can create an account. You're responsible for keeping your login credentials safe and for everything that happens under your account.

3. What SoulNear is, and isn't

SoulNear is a companion app. Soul, the presence you talk to, is powered by AI infrastructure that lets her converse with you in a warm, supportive way, remember context you've shared, suggest reflections, and check in with you proactively. As a matter of design, we never name specific underlying providers inside the experience itself. Soul is the presence, the rest is plumbing.

SoulNear is not:

• A licensed therapist, psychiatrist, counsellor, or psychologist.
• A medical, legal, financial, or other professional service.
• An emergency service. If you are in crisis, please contact a qualified person or service in your country.
• A religious authority. Soul never claims to be a deity, prophet, saint, guru, or any divine voice.

Soul's responses are generated by AI and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of step with your situation. Use your own judgement, and please consult appropriate professionals for important decisions.

4. Your content

"Your Content" means everything you put into SoulNear: your messages, voice recordings, journal entries, profile preferences, and so on.

You own Your Content. By using the Service, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to store, process, and display Your Content solely for the purpose of running the Service for you: generating Soul's replies, remembering context, keeping your conversation history, and operating the features you've enabled.

We will not use Your Content to train any AI model that is exposed to other users or third parties, and we will not sell it. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to use SoulNear to:

• Try to extract, copy, or reverse-engineer the underlying AI model or our systems.
• Submit content that is illegal, sexually explicit (especially involving minors), or designed to harm someone.
• Impersonate another person or pretend to be a clinician, authority, or organisation in a way meant to mislead.
• Probe, abuse, or attempt to overwhelm the Service (rate-limit evasion, denial-of-service attempts, scraping at scale).
• Resell, redistribute, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service without our written permission.
• Use the Service for automated decision-making that materially affects another person's rights (employment, credit, insurance, etc.).

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules, with or without notice depending on the severity. Where reasonably possible, we will tell you what happened and give you a chance to fix it.

6. Free tier and Pro subscription

SoulNear has a free tier with generous monthly limits on messages, voice time, saved moments, and memory retention. You can use it indefinitely for free.

SoulNear Pro is a paid subscription that unlocks higher limits and additional features. Pricing and feature lists are shown in the app at the time of purchase.

• Subscriptions are billed through Apple (App Store) or Google (Play Billing). Payment, currency conversion, and refunds are handled under their terms.
• Subscriptions auto-renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before renewal. You can cancel at any time in your device's subscription settings.
• Cancelling stops future charges; it does not refund the current period. You keep Pro access until the end of the period you paid for.
• If you signed up via a free trial, the trial converts to a paid subscription automatically unless you cancel before it ends.
• Lifetime or one-time upgrades, where offered, are tied to the purchasing account on the relevant store.

7. Refunds

Because subscriptions are billed by Apple and Google, refund requests generally go through them:

• App Store: reportaproblem.apple.com
• Google Play: Play Store → Order History → Request Refund

If you believe you've been charged in error or that something is seriously wrong, please also write to support@soulnear.tessalabs.in. We'll help where we can.

8. Beta and early-access features

Some features may be labelled "beta," "early access," or similar. These may change, break, or be removed without notice. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

9. Service changes and availability

We're a small team. We'll do our best to keep SoulNear running, but we can't guarantee 100% uptime. We may need to take the Service down for maintenance, upgrades, or in response to security incidents.

We may change features, add new ones, or retire old ones. If we make a material change that hurts your existing paid plan, we'll give you reasonable notice (typically 30 days) and a fair option to cancel.

10. Termination

You can stop using SoulNear and delete your account at any time by emailing support@soulnear.tessalabs.in. We can terminate or suspend your access for material breaches of these Terms, fraud, or as required by law. On termination, your access ends and we delete your data in line with our retention rules (see the Privacy Policy).

11. Crisis

SoulNear is not a substitute for emergency or clinical care. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact local emergency services or a crisis line:

• India: Tele-MANAS: 14416 · iCall: 9152987821 · Vandrevala: 1860-2662-345
• US: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• UK: Samaritans: 116 123
• International: findahelpline.com

12. Intellectual property

SoulNear, the SoulNear name and logo, the underlying software, and all original content we produce remain the property of Tessa Labs. You're granted a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app for your own personal purposes under these Terms.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that Soul's responses will be accurate.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither Tessa Labs nor anyone working with us will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Service.

Our total liability to you in connection with the Service in any 12-month period will not exceed the greater of (a) what you paid us in that period or (b) ₹1,000 INR.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations; if you live in one, these limits apply only to the extent permitted.

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and expenses arising out of your misuse of the Service, your Content, or your breach of these Terms.

16. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Kerala, India, unless a mandatory local consumer-protection law in your country provides otherwise.

17. Changes

We may update these Terms over time. If we make a material change, we'll notify you in the app and (if you have an account) by email at least 14 days before it takes effect. Continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

18. Contact

Tessa Labs · India
Email: support@soulnear.tessalabs.in