Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account or using MatchyWorld (the "Service"), you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date above and, where you have provided an email address, by sending you a notification. Your continued use of the Service after such changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

For service provider information, please see our Impressum.

2. Age Requirement

You must be at least 18 years old to use MatchyWorld. By creating an account, you confirm under your own responsibility that you are at least 18 years of age. We collect your date of birth during registration to verify this. To preserve the integrity of the platform, your date of birth cannot be changed from within the app once it is set; if you believe you entered it incorrectly, please contact us at team@matchyworld.net so we can correct it. Accounts found to belong to users under 18 will be terminated.

3. Your Account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information about yourself, and not to share your account with others or operate more than one account.

You may delete your account at any time from within the app under Settings > Delete Account, or by contacting us at team@matchyworld.net. Deletion is subject to the data retention provisions of our Privacy Policy.

4. The Service

MatchyWorld is a free social matching application. We do not currently charge for the Service. If we introduce paid features in the future, separate terms will apply and will be communicated before they take effect.

We may limit the number of matches, messages, or other interactions per user per day. We may also modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice.

AI-assisted features. Part of the Service is "Blob," an in-app AI chat that helps you describe what you are looking for in a match. Messages you send to Blob are processed by our AI provider (Anthropic) to generate replies, to moderate the conversation for hate speech, and to extract structured preference signals that improve your matchmaking results. Blob is not a human, does not give professional advice (medical, legal, psychological, or otherwise), and may occasionally produce inaccurate or inappropriate responses despite our safeguards. You should not rely on Blob for any decision of consequence outside the Service. Matchmaking itself is performed by a separate automated system when you tap "Match me"; Blob does not select matches. For details on what AI receives and how long it is retained, see our Privacy Policy.

5. User Conduct

You agree not to:

• Harass, abuse, threaten, stalk, or harm other users
• Post false, misleading, deceptive, or illegal content
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose
• Impersonate any person or misrepresent your identity, age, or affiliation
• Spam, solicit money, or use automated systems (bots, scrapers, etc.)
• Attempt to access, hack, disrupt, or reverse-engineer the Service
• Collect or harvest information about other users
• Circumvent any limits, security measures, or content moderation systems

We may remove content, restrict access to features, or suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

6. Prohibited Content and Conduct — Zero-Tolerance Policy

MatchyWorld does not tolerate, and you must not post, send, share, request, or solicit:

• Nudity or sexually explicit content of any kind, including photographs, illustrations, videos, or text describing sexual acts or genitalia
• Intimate or "intimate-style" photographs (lingerie, underwear, suggestive poses), regardless of consent
• Sexual solicitation, including offers, requests, or arrangements for sexual activity, paid or otherwise
• Sexual harassment, including unwanted advances, persistent unwanted contact, or comments about another user's body or sexuality
• Non-consensual sexual messages, including any sexual content sent to a user who has not affirmatively consented to receive it
• Content depicting minors in any sexual or suggestive context, which will be reported to the appropriate authorities
• Threats, hate speech, harassment, doxxing, or any incitement to violence
• Content that infringes the intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties

7. Reporting and Blocking

MatchyWorld provides every user with tools to maintain their own safety:

• Block: You may block any user from your match list or chat. Blocked users cannot see your profile or contact you, and any existing match between you is removed.
• Report: You may report any user or message via the in-app "Report" button. Reports are reviewed without undue delay, typically within 24 hours. All reports are confidential.

You agree to use these tools responsibly and not to submit false or malicious reports.

8. Enforcement and Termination

We may take action against accounts that violate these Terms, including:

• Warning: A notification of policy violation
• Content removal: Removal of the offending content
• Temporary suspension: Restricted access during investigation
• Permanent termination: Permanent removal of the account, without notice

Confirmed violations of Section 6 (Prohibited Content) result in immediate removal of the offending content and permanent termination of the offending account, and may be referred to law enforcement where applicable.

We reserve the right to terminate or refuse service to any user, at our discretion, where we reasonably believe their conduct violates these Terms or harms the Service or other users.

9. Your Content and License

You retain ownership of the content you upload to MatchyWorld (photos, messages, blog posts, test responses, profile information — collectively, "Your Content").

By uploading Your Content, you grant MatchyWorld a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and transmit Your Content solely as necessary to operate and provide the Service to you and to other users with whom you have chosen to share it (e.g., your matches). This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except where retention is required for legal or safety purposes as described in our Privacy Policy.

You are solely responsible for Your Content and represent that you have all rights necessary to upload it and that it does not violate these Terms or any third-party rights.

10. Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. We process your data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable German data protection laws (including the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG). For details, see our Privacy Policy.

11. Service Disclaimer

MatchyWorld is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not guarantee that:

• You will receive matches or compatible matches
• Any interaction or relationship will lead to a particular outcome
• The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times
• The information provided by other users is accurate or true

We are not responsible for user content or for interactions between users that occur on or off the Service. You use the Service at your own risk.

12. Limitation of Liability

Under the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, "DSA") and the German Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG), MatchyWorld is a hosting service provider. We are responsible for content we create ourselves, but we are not obligated to actively monitor user-generated content for illegality. Upon becoming aware of illegal content (including through a user report), we will act expeditiously to remove or disable access to it.

To the extent permitted by applicable law:

• We are not liable for damages arising from your use of the Service, including damages from interactions or relationships with other users
• We are not liable for the conduct, content, or omissions of other users
• Our total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service is limited to the amount you have paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. Because the Service is currently free, this amount may be zero.

These limitations do not exclude or limit liability where such exclusion or limitation is not permitted by applicable law, including liability for intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will:

• Post the updated Terms with a new "Last updated" date
• Where you have provided an email address, send you a notification for material changes

Your continued use of the Service after the updated Terms take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you should stop using the Service and delete your account.

14. Applicable Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The mandatory consumer-protection laws of your country of residence remain unaffected.

If a dispute arises, please contact us first at team@matchyworld.net so we can attempt to resolve it directly. If we are unable to resolve the dispute, the courts of competent jurisdiction in Germany have jurisdiction, subject to mandatory consumer-protection rules of your residence.

We are not obligated to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board ("Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle") and do not currently do so.

15. Apple App Store and Google Play Terms

If you downloaded MatchyWorld from the Apple App Store, the following additional terms apply between you and Apple Inc. ("Apple"). You acknowledge that these Terms are concluded between you and us only, and not with Apple, and that we (not Apple) are solely responsible for the Service and its content.

• Scope of License: The licence granted to you for the App is limited to a non-transferable licence to use the App on any Apple-branded device that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules set out in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
• Maintenance and Support: We, not Apple, are solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support services with respect to the App.
• Warranty: We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the App. In the event of any failure of the App to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the App to you (if any); to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App.
• Product Claims: We, not Apple, are responsible for any claims relating to the App, including (i) product liability claims, (ii) any claim that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (iii) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation.
• Intellectual Property: In the event of any third-party claim that the App or your possession and use of the App infringes that third party's intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, will be solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement, and discharge of any such claim, to the extent required by these Terms.
• Legal Compliance: You represent and warrant that (a) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country; and (b) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Third-Party Beneficiary: You acknowledge that Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and that, upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

If you downloaded MatchyWorld from the Google Play Store, you agree to comply with the Google Play Terms of Service, and you acknowledge that Google is not a party to these Terms and has no obligations with respect to the App or the Service.

16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect, and the invalid provision will be replaced with a valid provision that most closely reflects the intent of the original.

17. Contact

For questions or concerns about these Terms, please contact us at team@matchyworld.net.

For service provider information, please see our Impressum. For data practices, please see our Privacy Policy.