Terms of Service

1. Agreement and eligibility

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Alongside, the operator of the Alongside mobile application, website, and related services (the “Service”). By creating an account, accepting an invitation, purchasing a subscription, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and acknowledge the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

You must be at least 18 years old or the age of legal majority where you live and able to enter a binding agreement. If you use Alongside for an organization or another legal person, you represent that you have authority to bind it. Consumer rights that cannot lawfully be waived remain unaffected.

2. What Alongside provides

Alongside is a shared operational record for family caregiving. It can organize care recipients, members, medications, tasks, appointments, schedules, observations, comments, assignments, completion history, reminders, notifications, exports, and handoffs. The specific features and usage limits available to you depend on your plan, device, region, and current Service configuration.

The Service is a coordination tool only. It does not independently verify the accuracy, completeness, clinical appropriateness, dosage, interaction, urgency, or safety of information entered by users.

3. Accounts and Care Circles

• Provide accurate account information and keep it current.
• Keep your password, email account, device, verification codes, and sign-in credentials secure. Do not share an account.
• Notify us promptly of suspected unauthorized access.
• Use invitations only for intended recipients and review Care Circle membership and roles regularly.
• Organizers are responsible for choosing members, assigning roles, managing access, transferring ownership, exports, and deletion requests.

A person may have different roles in different Care Circles. Access is governed by active membership and server-enforced permissions. Removing a member stops future access but does not erase accurate historical attribution for actions already performed.

4. Information you provide

“User Content” means information you or another member enters or uploads, including names, photos, care information, medications, instructions, schedules, notes, comments, attachments, and appointment details. You retain any rights you hold in User Content.

You grant Alongside a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, copy, process, transmit, display, and create technical backups of User Content only as needed to operate, secure, support, and improve the Service, comply with law, and carry out your instructions. This license ends when the information is deleted from active systems, subject to lawful retention, protected backup cycles, and historical records that must remain explainable.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to provide User Content, including information about a care recipient or another person. Do not upload information you are prohibited from sharing. You are responsible for reviewing the accuracy of care information and correcting errors promptly.

5. Acceptable use

You may not use the Service to:

• violate law, another person's rights, privacy, confidentiality, or contractual duties;
• impersonate someone, misrepresent authority, or obtain access to a Care Circle without permission;
• harass, threaten, exploit, or harm a care recipient, member, or other person;
• upload malware or attempt to disrupt, overload, probe, reverse engineer, or bypass security or rate limits, except to the extent applicable law expressly permits security research;
• scrape, resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or other users' information;
• use the Service to make automated clinical decisions, provide emergency dispatch, or represent that Alongside validated a medical instruction; or
• enter false completion records or intentionally corrupt the shared history of care.

We may investigate violations and preserve or disclose evidence when legally permitted or required.

6. Subscriptions and billing

Alongside may offer Free and Plus plans. The app displays the current localized price, billing period, trial or introductory offer, renewal terms, and available packages supplied by Apple App Store or Google Play. Storefront information controls if it conflicts with marketing copy outside the purchase screen.

A subscription is processed by the app store, automatically renews unless cancelled at least as required by that store, and is managed through the store account used to purchase it. You can view status, restore eligible purchases, and open store subscription management from the app. Cancellation normally stops renewal but does not end access before the paid period expires. Refund eligibility and processing are governed by the applicable store's rules and mandatory law.

Prices, taxes, plan limits, and features may change prospectively. We will provide notice required by the store or applicable law. If Plus expires, Alongside may enforce Free-plan limits prospectively while retaining existing Care Circles, recipients, and history as described in the app. We do not accept client-side claims as proof of entitlement.

7. Medical and emergency disclaimer

Alongside is not a healthcare provider, emergency service, pharmacy, insurer, medical device, diagnostic tool, or substitute for professional medical advice.

• Do not rely on Alongside to diagnose, treat, prevent, or monitor a medical condition.
• Do not use an app status, reminder, notification, handoff, or completion record as proof that care is medically correct or sufficient.
• Confirm medications, doses, interactions, and care instructions with a qualified professional.
• Notifications may be delayed, blocked, duplicated, or not delivered because of network, device, provider, permission, or service conditions.
• For an emergency or immediate risk, contact local emergency services or an appropriate healthcare professional. Do not wait for an Alongside response.

8. Service availability

We work to keep Alongside available and accurate, but the Service may be interrupted for maintenance, upgrades, provider outages, security events, or circumstances beyond our control. Realtime and offline features can temporarily show pending or stale information. High-consequence actions are not final until confirmed by the server. Maintain appropriate independent procedures for essential care and emergencies.

We may add, change, or retire features. We will use reasonable notice when a change materially reduces a paid feature or requires users to export important information, subject to urgent security, legal, or reliability needs.

9. Ownership and feedback

Alongside and its licensors own the Service, software, design, branding, documentation, and related intellectual property, excluding User Content. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a personal, limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose on devices you own or control.

If you send suggestions or feedback, you permit us to use them without restriction or payment, but we do not obtain ownership of confidential User Content merely because it is submitted through the Service.

10. Third-party services

The Service depends on or links to services operated by others, including Apple, Google, RevenueCat, PostHog, authentication providers, notification networks, email delivery, hosting, and backup providers. Their services may have separate terms, privacy notices, availability, and eligibility rules. Alongside is not responsible for third-party services outside our control, but this does not limit responsibility we cannot lawfully exclude for our selection or use of providers.

11. Suspension and termination

You may stop using Alongside at any time. Account deletion requires transferring or requesting deletion of every Care Circle you own. A Circle deletion immediately stops future care and member access, then enters the configured recovery period before permanent deletion. Export important information first.

We may restrict or suspend access when reasonably necessary to protect users or the Service, investigate abuse, comply with law, address nonpayment, or enforce these Terms. We will provide notice and an opportunity to respond when practical and legally permitted. We may terminate an account for a material or repeated breach. The following provisions will survive termination when applicable: ownership, payment obligations, disclaimers, liability limits, dispute terms, and lawful retention.

12. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” Alongside disclaims implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, uninterrupted availability, and error-free operation. We do not warrant that User Content is accurate, that a member will perform an assigned action, or that a reminder or notification will arrive. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so they apply only to the extent lawful.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Alongside will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business interruption arising from the Service, even if advised of the possibility. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability for claims relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid to Alongside through the applicable app store during the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim or US$100.

These limits do not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence where applicable, or death or personal injury caused by negligence where law prohibits exclusion. Mandatory consumer remedies remain available.

14. Disputes and applicable law

Before filing a claim, please contact support@alongsidefamily.comand describe the issue so we can try to resolve it informally. These Terms are governed by the laws that apply to the Service operator and your use of the Service, without overriding mandatory consumer protections or rights you have in your place of residence. Any claim must be brought in a court that has lawful jurisdiction. These Terms do not require private arbitration and do not waive a right to participate in a class action where that right exists under applicable law.

15. Apple and Google terms

Apple App Store

If you downloaded Alongside from Apple, these Terms are between you and Alongside, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support. If the app fails an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple may refund the purchase price, if any, as required by its rules; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation. Alongside, not Apple, is responsible for the app and for addressing claims relating to it, including product, legal-compliance, consumer-protection, and intellectual-property claims. You represent that you are not located in a U.S.-embargoed country or on a U.S. government prohibited-party list. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce the Apple-specific provisions. Your license is limited to use on Apple-branded products you own or control as allowed by Apple's Usage Rules, including permitted Family Sharing.

Google Play

If you downloaded Alongside from Google Play, your use is also subject to the Google Play Terms of Service. Google is not responsible for Alongside's maintenance or support except as required by Google Play rules or applicable law. Billing, cancellation, and refunds are administered under Google Play policies and mandatory law.

16. Changes

We may update these Terms for changes to the Service, law, security, or business practices. The effective date identifies the current version. We will provide advance notice of a material change when required. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance only to the extent permitted by law; if you do not agree, stop using the Service and follow the available export and deletion steps.

If any provision is unenforceable, it will be limited to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions continue. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement about the Service, except for app-store or plan terms that expressly supplement them.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@alongsidefamily.comor through the contact page. This inbox is not monitored as an emergency service. Do not send urgent requests, passwords, authentication codes, or detailed medical information.