Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are entered into between you ("User," "you," or "your") and Viola App ("Viola," "we," "us," or "our"), and govern your access to and use of the Viola mobile application and any associated services (collectively, the "Service").

By downloading, installing, or using the App, or by clicking "I Agree" or any similar acceptance mechanism, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be legally bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.

If you are using the App on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. Eligibility

You must meet the following requirements to use Viola:

• You must be at least 13 years of age (or the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction — which may be higher, such as 16 in certain EEA member states).
• If you are between 13 and 17 years of age (or the local age of majority), your parent or legal guardian must review and accept these Terms on your behalf, and they take responsibility for supervising your use of the App.
• You must have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract under the laws of your jurisdiction.
• You must not be prohibited by applicable law from using the App.
• You must not have had a previous account terminated by Viola for violation of these Terms.

3. Account Registration and Security

3.1 Account Creation

To use the Service, you must create an account using a valid email address and a password. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep your account information up to date.

3.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. You must:

• Choose a strong, unique password and not share it with any third party.
• Notify us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.
• Log out of your account after each session on shared devices.

Viola is not liable for any loss or damage arising from unauthorized use of your account due to your failure to safeguard your credentials. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.

3.3 One Account Per User

Each user may maintain only one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent suspensions or restrictions is prohibited and may result in permanent termination of all associated accounts.

4. The Service

4.1 Description

Viola is a mutual photo-sharing application. The core mechanic requires both parties in a connection to approve a photo exchange before either party receives photos from the other. On-device artificial intelligence proactively identifies photos of you in a friend's camera roll (subject to that friend's consent and App permissions) and queues them for an encrypted exchange.

4.2 Give-to-Get Mechanic

The Service is designed around mutual consent. A photo is delivered to you only after both you and the sender have completed the exchange approval flow. You have a 24-hour review window to approve or decline any queued exchange. Declining does not penalize either party.

4.3 Service Availability

We strive to maintain continuous availability of the Service but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. The Service may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, updates, or technical issues. We will endeavour to provide advance notice of planned downtime where reasonably practicable.

4.4 Service Evolution

Viola reserves the right to modify, add, or remove features of the Service at any time, with or without notice. We will use reasonable efforts to notify users of significant changes that affect core functionality.

5. User Conduct and Acceptable Use

5.1 Permitted Uses

You may use the Service solely for its intended purpose — sharing personal photos with friends and connections in compliance with these Terms.

5.2 Prohibited Conduct

Violation of these prohibitions may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account and may expose you to civil or criminal liability.

6. User Content

6.1 Ownership

You retain all ownership rights to photos and other content you share through the Service ("User Content"). By sharing User Content through Viola, you do not transfer ownership to Viola.

6.2 License to Operate the Service

To the limited extent necessary to provide the Service (i.e., transmitting your encrypted content to the intended recipient), you grant Viola a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable license to process your User Content solely for that technical purpose. Because photos are encrypted on-device before transmission, Viola cannot and does not access the content of your photos.

This license does not grant Viola any right to use, display, reproduce, distribute, or exploit your User Content for any other purpose, including advertising or marketing, without your explicit consent.

6.3 Your Representations

By sharing any User Content, you represent and warrant that:

• You own or have all necessary rights to share the content.
• The content does not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or publicity rights.
• You have the consent of all identifiable individuals depicted in the content to share that content via the Service.
• The content does not violate any applicable law or these Terms.

6.4 Face Enrollment Content

Your enrollment selfie, captured during the face registration flow, is processed entirely on your device. The resulting face embedding is stored locally in your device's secure enclave. The raw selfie image is not stored persistently by the App after embedding generation. If you opt to share your face token with friends (as described in the Privacy Policy), you represent that you consent to that specific, limited disclosure.

6.5 Ephemeral Nature of Shared Photos

Photos exchanged through the Service are designed to be ephemeral. Encrypted photo blobs are automatically deleted from Viola's servers upon confirmed delivery. Viola does not maintain a copy of any photo exchanged through the Service. The recipient's local device may retain the photo after delivery; you acknowledge this when initiating an exchange.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 Viola's Intellectual Property

The App, including its software, design, logos, trademarks, trade names, and all associated intellectual property rights, are owned by or licensed to Viola App. Nothing in these Terms grants you any ownership interest in Viola's intellectual property.

7.2 Limited License to Use the App

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Viola grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use the App on devices you own or control, solely for personal, non-commercial purposes.

7.3 Restrictions

You may not:

• Copy, modify, or create derivative works of the App or any portion thereof.
• Sublicense, sell, rent, lease, or otherwise transfer the App or your license rights.
• Remove or alter any proprietary notices or labels on the App.
• Use Viola's trademarks, logos, or brand elements without our prior written consent.

7.4 Feedback

If you provide suggestions, feedback, or ideas about the Service, you grant Viola a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use and incorporate such feedback into the Service without compensation to you.

8. Privacy

Your use of the Service is subject to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share information about you when you use the Service. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy.

Key privacy features of the Service are described in the Privacy Policy, including our on-device facial recognition architecture, end-to-end encryption of photo transfers, and the optional nature of the face token sharing feature.

9. Encryption and Security

9.1 End-to-End Encryption

Photos shared through Viola are encrypted on your device using X25519 key exchange and XSalsa20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption before they are uploaded to Firebase Storage. Viola does not hold decryption keys and cannot access the content of your encrypted photos.

9.2 Key Management

Your private encryption keys are stored in your device's hardware-backed secure storage (iOS Keychain / Android Keystore). You are responsible for maintaining access to your device. If you lose access to your device and do not have a backup, Viola cannot recover your encryption keys or any encrypted content associated with them.

9.3 Security Responsibility

While Viola implements strong technical security measures, no system is entirely immune to attack. You acknowledge that you assume residual security risks inherent to any networked application. You are responsible for securing your device and account credentials.

9.4 Reporting Security Vulnerabilities

If you discover a security vulnerability in the App or Service, please report it responsibly to [email protected]. Do not publicly disclose vulnerabilities before giving us reasonable time to investigate and remediate. We will acknowledge receipt of responsible disclosures within 5 business days.

10. Content Filtering

The App includes on-device NSFW (not safe for work / sexually explicit) content detection that runs before any photo enters the review queue. This filter is implemented entirely on-device; no image data is sent to Viola's servers for content analysis. Photos that fail the NSFW threshold are blocked from entering the exchange queue and are not transmitted.

You acknowledge that no automated content filter is perfect. On-device filtering is provided as a good-faith safety measure and does not constitute a warranty that all content transmitted through the Service will be appropriate or legal. Users remain solely responsible for the content they initiate for sharing.

Viola reserves the right to investigate and take action on reports of prohibited content, including termination of offending accounts and referral to law enforcement where required by law.

11. Screenshot and Screen Recording Restrictions

To protect the privacy of all users, Viola implements the following technical controls:

• Android: The App applies the OS-level FLAG_SECURE attribute, which prevents the operating system from allowing screenshots or screen recordings of any App screen displaying user photos or sensitive content.
• iOS: The App detects screenshot attempts via Apple's notification framework and immediately blurs or hides sensitive content. Note: Apple does not permit apps to prevent screenshots at the OS level on iOS; detection-and-response is the maximum protection available.

12. Third-Party Services

The Service relies on the following third-party services to function:

Your use of the Service is also subject to Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for Firebase services. Viola is not responsible for the practices or content of third-party services. Use of ML Kit and Apple Vision for on-device processing does not result in biometric data being transmitted to Google or Apple by the Viola App.

The App may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any linked third-party services.

13. Suspension and Termination

13.1 Termination by You

You may terminate your account at any time by selecting "Delete Account" within the App's settings, or by contacting us at [email protected]. Upon account deletion, your personal data will be deleted as described in our Privacy Policy. Deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed.

13.2 Suspension or Termination by Viola

Viola may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that:

• You have violated these Terms or our Privacy Policy.
• Your use of the Service poses a security risk or legal liability to Viola or other users.
• We are required to do so by law or legal process.
• We discontinue the Service (in which case we will provide reasonable advance notice).

We will endeavour to notify you of suspensions and provide an opportunity to appeal, except where prohibited by law or where immediate action is required to protect user safety.

13.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to use the Service immediately ceases. Sections 6.1 (Content Ownership), 7 (Intellectual Property), 14 (Disclaimers), 15 (Limitation of Liability), 16 (Indemnification), 17 (Dispute Resolution), 18 (Governing Law), and 20 (General Provisions) survive termination.

14. Disclaimers of Warranties

15. Limitation of Liability

16. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Viola App and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and service providers from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from or relating to:

• Your use of or inability to use the Service;
• User Content you share through the Service;
• Your violation of these Terms;
• Your violation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or rights of publicity;
• Your violation of any applicable law.

Viola reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with Viola's defense.

17. Dispute Resolution

17.1 Informal Resolution First

Before initiating formal proceedings, you agree to first contact Viola at [email protected] and attempt to resolve the dispute informally. We will use good faith efforts to resolve the dispute within 30 days of receiving your written description of the issue.

17.2 Binding Arbitration (US Users)

If informal resolution fails, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service (a "Dispute") will be resolved by binding individual arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Commercial Arbitration Rules, rather than in court — except as provided in Section 17.4.

• Arbitration will be conducted by a single neutral arbitrator.
• Arbitration will be conducted in English.
• The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.
• Filing fees and arbitration costs will be allocated per the AAA rules; for claims under $10,000, Viola will pay AAA filing fees if you initiate arbitration in good faith.

17.3 Class Action Waiver

YOU AND VIOLA AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of class or representative proceeding.

17.4 Exceptions to Arbitration

Either party may seek relief in court for:

• Claims qualifying for small claims court in the applicable jurisdiction.
• Temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions to prevent irreparable harm (such as intellectual property infringement).

17.5 EEA, UK, and Australian Users

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Australia, the mandatory arbitration and class action waiver provisions above do not apply to you. You may bring disputes before the courts of your country of residence, and you may have additional rights under applicable consumer protection law.

18. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. For users not subject to arbitration (see Section 17), any dispute not resolved informally will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

If you are a consumer residing in the EEA or UK, nothing in these Terms limits your rights under the mandatory consumer protection laws of your country of residence.

19. Changes to These Terms

Viola reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page.
• Provide notice through the App (e.g., in-app notification or banner).
• Where required by law or where changes materially affect your rights, send email notice to the address associated with your account.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of revised Terms constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account.

We will maintain an archive of prior versions of these Terms and make them available upon request.

20. General Provisions

20.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and Viola with respect to the Service and supersede all prior agreements, representations, or understandings.

20.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed if modification is not possible. The remainder of the Terms will remain in full force and effect.

20.3 Waiver

Viola's failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of Viola's right to enforce that provision in the future. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by Viola to be effective.

20.4 Assignment

You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without Viola's prior written consent. Viola may assign its rights under these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets, provided your rights under these Terms are not materially diminished.

20.5 Force Majeure

Viola shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations under these Terms to the extent such delay or failure is caused by circumstances beyond Viola's reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, civil unrest, government action, or internet or telecommunications failures.

20.6 No Third-Party Beneficiaries

These Terms do not create any third-party beneficiary rights. No person other than you and Viola may enforce any provision of these Terms.

20.7 Language

The authoritative version of these Terms is the English-language version. If these Terms are translated into another language and there is a conflict, the English version controls.

20.8 Export Compliance

You represent and warrant that you are not located in, or a national or resident of, any country subject to U.S. embargo, and that you are not listed on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties. You agree to comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations.

21. Contact

For questions about these Terms of Service, account issues, or legal matters, contact us: