Terms of Use

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Nordighund LLC ("Nordighund LLC", "we", "us"), the developer of ShatChat, and govern your access to and use of the ShatChat app and the services it connects to (together, the "Service"). You agree to these Terms by checking the agreement box on the welcome screen when you first open ShatChat, and by using the Service. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

ShatChat gates entry to a chat room behind a short ritual: you photograph a toilet, photograph the view in front of you (your "loo view"), and re-photograph that same view every few minutes to stay in. Both photos are analyzed entirely on your device and are never uploaded to us — see the Privacy Policy for exactly what that means. Your handle is derived from something you say you ate yesterday and changes every time you sign in.

Eligibility

ShatChat is rated 17+ on the App Store because it contains unfiltered, user-generated chat that we do not pre-screen. You must be at least 17 years old to use ShatChat, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction if that is older. ShatChat is not directed at children, and you may not use it if you are under 13 under any circumstances.

License to Use the App

Subject to your compliance with these Terms and the rules of the app store you got ShatChat from (including Apple's Usage Rules in the App Store Terms of Service), Nordighund LLC grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to download and use ShatChat on devices that you own or control, for your personal, non-commercial use. All rights not expressly granted to you are reserved. You don't own the app — you're licensed to use it.

Accounts, Devices, and Sessions

ShatChat doesn't ask for your email address or phone number. On first launch, the app registers an anonymous device credential with our server; that credential, not any personal information, is how we recognize your device on later visits. You can optionally set an account name, which only your friends see, and optionally connect your Apple account so you can keep your account when you switch phones. You're responsible for keeping your device secure, since anyone with access to it can use ShatChat as you.

A signed-in session lasts up to 15 minutes and requires a fresh loo-view match every 3 minutes to keep posting. Only one session can be live per account at a time. A session ends when its time runs out, when a loo-view check doesn't match, or when you start a new one. Ending a session doesn't delete your account — it just ends your access to the room until you sign in again.

You can delete your account at any time from the account page in the app. Deleting the app does not delete your account. On iPhone, iOS keeps the app's device credential on your phone, so reinstalling on the same phone brings the same account back.

We may suspend or permanently ban an account, at our discretion, for violating these Terms. Creating a new account, reinstalling the app, or using another device to get around a ban is itself a violation of these Terms.

The Verification Ritual Is an Honor System

The toilet and loo-view checks run entirely on your device using on-device image recognition. We never receive the photos and have no way to independently verify that you are, in fact, on a toilet. Presenting a photograph of a toilet, or otherwise circumventing the verification steps, defeats the point of the app and is a violation of these Terms — we reserve the right to ban accounts we determine are doing this.

User Content and Conduct

Messages you post to the chat room are visible to everyone else currently signed in, and to anyone who signs in during the 24 hours a message is retained. Direct messages are visible to everyone in that thread. Your account name is visible to your friends and to anyone who opens an invite link you share. You are solely responsible for what you post, and the rules below apply everywhere you can type something — chat room messages, direct messages, replies, thread names, your account name, and the food word that becomes your handle.

ShatChat has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. You agree not to use the Service to post or transmit content that:

• Is illegal, or promotes or facilitates illegal activity.
• Sexually exploits or endangers anyone, including any content involving minors — this is never tolerated and will be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and/or law enforcement.
• Harasses, threatens, bullies, or incites violence against any person or group.
• Is hateful or discriminatory on the basis of a protected characteristic.
• Impersonates another person or misrepresents your affiliation with anyone.
• Reveals another person's private information without their consent ("doxxing").
• Is spam, or advertises or solicits without our consent.
• Contains malware, phishing links, or other harmful code.
• Infringes anyone's intellectual property or other rights.
• Attempts to evade a ban, or otherwise interferes with the Service's operation, including scraping the chat room or automating posts.

Ephemerality is a feature, not a promise of secrecy: nothing you post to the chat room is private, direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted, and we may retain and review content, including through the reporting process below, as needed to enforce these Terms or comply with the law.

Ownership of Your Content

You retain ownership of the messages you post. By posting content, you grant Nordighund LLC a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to host, store, reproduce, and display that content solely as necessary to operate and provide the Service — for example, delivering your messages to other people in the room or in a thread. This license ends when the content is deleted, subject to report copies and backups kept for the reasons and periods described in the Privacy Policy. When someone replies to your message, their reply shows a short quote of it, and that quote stays with their reply even after your message is gone.

Reporting, Blocking, and Moderation

Tap any message another person wrote, in the chat room or in a direct message thread, to report it and block its author. Reporting sends us a copy of the message, and we review reports and act on violations of these Terms, which may include removing content and banning the account responsible, within 24 hours.

Blocking works in both directions and takes effect immediately: the two of you stop seeing each other's messages in the chat room, any direct message thread you share is hidden from both of you, neither of you can message or notify the other, and you are unfriended. The person you block isn't told. You can see and undo your blocks from the account page. Unblocking doesn't make you friends again.

You can also unfriend anyone from the account page, which removes the two of you from each other's friends lists without blocking. If you need to reach us about abuse for any other reason, email [email protected].

We may remove content or suspend or terminate accounts for violating these Terms, with or without notice, at our sole discretion.

Friends and Invitations

You add a friend by sending them a one-time invite link, which you share yourself through Messages, WhatsApp, or any other app of your choosing — we never see your contacts and never send the link on your behalf. Whoever opens the link first can accept or decline it, and sees your account name, if you've set one, before they decide. Accepting makes the two of you friends of each other. Once a link has been answered it stops working, and an unanswered link expires after one year.

Friends can see each other's account names and, when you choose to be visible for a session, that you're sitting and your handle for that session. You can choose whether to be visible each time you sign in.

Direct Messages

You can start a direct message thread with one or more of your friends. Everyone in a thread can read its messages and give the thread a name, and a name change is announced to everyone in it. Nobody can be added to a thread once it exists. You can't leave a thread, but blocking someone in it hides it from both of you, and deleting your account removes you from all of them. Unlike the chat room, direct messages don't expire; your messages in a thread are kept until you delete your account. The conduct rules above apply to direct messages just as they do to the chat room.

Toilet Map

If you check "track this toilet login" when you sign in and allow location access, ShatChat saves that login's location to a map that only you can see. It's entirely optional, and nothing is saved for a login where you didn't check the box.

Toot Camouflage

Toot Camouflage plays a short sound effect to cover the sound of the room you're actually in. It plays even when your phone is set to silent, since that's the point, so please use it considerately. All four sounds are bundled with the app and free to use — there is nothing to purchase.

No Purchases

ShatChat is entirely free and currently sells nothing. If we introduce a paid feature in the future, it will be offered only through the app store's own in-app purchase system (Apple's In-App Purchase on iPhone), billed and processed by that store, and subject to its terms in addition to these.

The chat room may show a link to tip the developer through Buy Me a Coffee, an independent website. Tips are entirely voluntary, are handled by that site under its own terms, and don't unlock anything in ShatChat.

Push Notifications

ShatChat can notify you when a new message arrives in a direct message thread. Notifications are off for every thread until you turn them on for it, and the app only asks for notification permission when you first do. A notification never includes the text of a message. You can turn notifications off per thread, or at any time in your device's Settings, without affecting the rest of the app.

Termination

You may stop using ShatChat at any time, and you can delete your account from the account page in the app. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, for any reason, including a violation of these Terms or our decision to discontinue the Service. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including content licensing for already-posted content, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and governing law — will survive.

Apple App Store Terms

Because you obtained ShatChat through the Apple App Store, the following additional terms apply. In the event of a conflict between this section and any other part of these Terms, this section controls with respect to Apple.

• This Agreement is between you and Nordighund LLC only, not Apple, and Apple is not responsible for the Service or its content.
• The license above is limited to a non-transferable license to use ShatChat on an Apple-branded product that you own or control, as permitted by the App Store's Usage Rules.
• Nordighund LLC is solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for ShatChat, to the extent required by applicable law. Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance or support.
• ShatChat is provided "AS IS," without warranty of any kind. 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 (if any) for the app to you; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the app.
• Nordighund LLC, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to ShatChat, including product liability claims, claims that ShatChat fails to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation.
• In the event of a third-party claim that ShatChat infringes that party's intellectual property rights, Nordighund LLC, not Apple, is solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of that claim.
• You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• You must comply with any applicable third-party agreement when using ShatChat (for example, your wireless data service agreement).
• Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance, Apple has the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

Nordighund LLC's contact information for these Terms is [email protected].

Disclaimer of Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any verification performed on your device is accurate.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Nordighund LLC will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, arising out of or related to your use of the Service, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Nordighund LLC's total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Service will not exceed the amount you paid us to use ShatChat in the 12 months before the claim arose, which — since ShatChat is free — is zero. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations, so some of them may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold Nordighund LLC harmless from any claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the Service, your content, or your violation of these Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except where Apple's own terms control as described above.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continuing to use ShatChat after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

Contact Us

Questions about these Terms? Email us at [email protected]. See also our Privacy Policy.