beates — Terms of Service

Version 1.0 — Effective September 9, 2026 Status: LIVE — published for launch. Not yet reviewed by a lawyer; see note below.

A note on where things stand. beates is launching before formal company registration — registration is planned for if/when beates proves successful (jurisdiction not yet decided), not before. Until then, beates is operated by its founder as an individual, not a registered company, and these Terms are written on that basis. That's a deliberate, informed choice to launch now rather than wait, not an oversight — but it also means these Terms have not yet been reviewed by a lawyer. Get that review when practical, especially before any monetization/payout feature goes live (see Section 11).

1. Who this agreement is with

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legal agreement between you and the individual currently operating beates (reachable at hello@beates.app), an individual operating beates from Pakistan ("beates," "we," "us"), governing your access to and use of the beates mobile application and related services (together, the "Service"). If beates is later incorporated as a company (in Pakistan or elsewhere), that entity will take over this agreement and users will be notified per Section 18.

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Who can use beates

• You must be at least 13 years old to use beates. If the minimum age in your country is higher (for example, some countries set 16 as the age of consent for online services), you must meet that higher age instead.
• You must be able to form a legally binding contract in your jurisdiction.
• You must not be barred from using the Service under the laws of Pakistan or any other applicable country, including export control and sanctions laws.
• You may not create an account if we have previously terminated your account for violating these Terms, unless we give you written permission to return.

3. Your account

• beates accounts are created and verified using your phone number. You're responsible for keeping your device and verification method secure, and for all activity that happens under your account.
• You agree to provide accurate information (your name, profile details) and to keep it up to date.
• You may not share your account, let someone else use it, or transfer it to another person.
• Tell us immediately if you believe your account has been compromised.

4. What beates is

beates is a social platform where you can:

• Chat — send text, photo, video, and voice messages to people you're connected with.
• Status — share photos/videos that are visible to your contacts for 24 hours before automatically disappearing.
• Status+ — share permanent posts visible to your followers and, if you haven't been followed yet by the viewer, in a public Discover feed.
• Collab Studio — create split-screen duet videos jointly with another user, where both participants review raw footage, agree on trimming, audio, layout, and positioning, and jointly approve the final post before it's published to both accounts.
• Follow other users, like, comment on, save, and repost content, and receive notifications about activity relevant to you.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. We'll try to give notice of material changes where reasonably possible, but the Service is provided on an evolving basis and earlier feature descriptions don't guarantee they'll remain unchanged.

5. Content you post

You own your content. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your photos, videos, messages, or other content ("Your Content") to beates.

The license you give us. To operate the Service, you grant beates a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for example, to generate thumbnails, apply filters you select, or produce a Collab Studio composite), distribute, and display Your Content solely to operate, provide, promote, and improve the Service. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except:

• where copies have been shared by you with others (e.g. sent in chat, or already posted publicly) and reasonably remain with them,
• where retention is required for legal, safety, dispute-resolution, or backup purposes for a limited period, or
• for a Collab Studio post specifically, both participants must jointly approve the final composed video before it's published — once published, each participant's original license grant above applies to their respective contribution, and either participant deleting their own account does not automatically remove the other participant's copy of the jointly published post unless our systems are technically able to separate the two and legally required to do so on request.

Your responsibility for Your Content. You're solely responsible for what you post. You represent that you own it or have all rights and permissions needed to post it, including music, likenesses of other people, and any copyrighted material captured in the background of photos or videos.

6. Rules for using beates

You agree not to:

1. Post or send content that is illegal, defamatory, obscene, or that infringes anyone's intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights.
2. Post child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or content that sexualizes minors in any way — this is a zero-tolerance violation and will be reported to the relevant authorities and organizations (e.g. NCMEC) where legally required.
3. Harass, bully, threaten, stalk, or incite violence against any person or group.
4. Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with someone.
5. Upload commercially copyrighted music, video, or other material you don't have rights to, whether directly or captured in the background of your own recordings.
6. Use the Service to spam, phish, distribute malware, or scrape/harvest data about other users beyond what the Service itself displays to you.
7. Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or interfere with the Service's normal operation, or bypass any access or rate limits.
8. Use the Service if you're under the applicable minimum age, or to facilitate anyone else's violation of these Terms.

7. Reporting content and copyright complaints

If you believe content on beates violates these Terms, infringes your copyright, or should otherwise be removed, contact us at hello@beates.app with:

• A description and link/identifier of the content,
• Why you believe it violates these Terms or infringes your rights, and
• Your contact information.

See our Community Guidelines & Reporting for the full reporting process, including what happens after you report something.

For copyright complaints specifically, we will remove or disable access to content upon receiving a good-faith notice that reasonably identifies the infringing material, and we may terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. We have not yet registered a formal DMCA agent with the U.S. Copyright Office — we intend to once beates has meaningful U.S. usage, at which point this section will name that agent and reference 17 U.S.C. § 512 directly. Until then, we still act on good-faith notices as described above.

8. Collab Studio — additional terms

Because a Collab Studio post is created jointly by two people, some extra rules apply:

• Either participant can decline to approve a draft; nothing is published until both participants have approved the final trim, audio choice, and layout.
• Once published, the post is treated as a single piece of joint content for the purposes of likes, comments, and reposts, but each participant remains responsible only for their own portion under Section 5 and Section 6 above.
• If one participant later deletes their own account, the other participant's account and any already-published joint post are not automatically affected, except as required by applicable law or upon a valid takedown request.

9. The "algorithm" and personalization

Some parts of the Service (currently, Status+ full-screen viewing) let you turn on an optional ranking feature ("Power" toggle) that reorders what's shown next based on your activity (likes, saves, comments, follows, watch history) and any interests you've selected. This is off by default each time you open the viewer, and you can change your selected interests at any time in Settings. Turning it on or off, or changing your interests, doesn't change what these Terms otherwise permit us to do with Your Content or your account data — see our Privacy Policy for how that data is used.

10. Notifications

By using the Service you consent to receive push notifications (for example, new messages, likes, comments, follows, and Collab Studio activity) and, where applicable, in-app sounds for these events. You can control notification types in your device settings and, where offered, in-app notification preferences. You can also mute individual chats.

11. Future features, including monetization

We may, in the future, introduce additional features such as a referral program or creator monetization/payouts. No such program exists yet. If and when we launch one, it will be governed by separate terms presented to you at that time (which may include eligibility criteria, identity verification requirements, and payout mechanics), and your continued use of any such feature after those terms are presented constitutes acceptance of them. Nothing in these Terms should be read as a current promise of payment, revenue share, or a specific eligibility timeline.

12. Intellectual property of the Service itself

The beates name, logo, app design, and underlying software are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. The curated in-app sound/music library is licensed for use within the Service only, as presented to you when you select a track — it is not licensed for you to extract and use outside beates. These Terms don't grant you any rights to our trademarks, branding, or software beyond what's needed to use the Service normally.

13. Termination

• You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Account → Security → Delete account, or by emailing hello@beates.app with your request.
• We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or if we reasonably believe your account poses a risk to beates, other users, or third parties. Where practical, we'll try to give notice and a reason.
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 7, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) continue to apply after your account is terminated or deleted.

14. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT CONTENT POSTED BY OTHER USERS IS ACCURATE, APPROPRIATE, OR LAWFUL.

15. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, BEATES AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE'VE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS (USD 100), OR (B) THE TOTAL AMOUNT, IF ANY, YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE. (This is a standard low baseline chosen because beates currently charges nothing — revisit this figure with counsel once any paid feature or payout program exists.)

Some jurisdictions don't allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold beates harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your violation of these Terms, Your Content, or your misuse of the Service.

17. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, reflecting where beates is currently operated from as an individual. Any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service will be resolved in the courts of Pakistan having jurisdiction over the founder's place of residence, and you consent to that venue. If beates is later incorporated in a different country, this section may be updated to reflect the new entity's jurisdiction, with notice given per Section 18. (Whether arbitration would serve a global consumer app better than litigation is worth deciding with counsel later — not a launch blocker.)

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll provide notice through the Service (for example, an in-app notice) before the change takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

19. General

• If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect.
• Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver of it.
• You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and beates regarding the Service.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms: hello@beates.app (a dedicated support@ address is recommended once beates has its own domain — this is the working contact until then).

Version 1.0. See the notice at the top of this document about legal review status.