The fine print

Terms of service

Last updated 14 May 2026 中文版本

Welcome to Pond. Pond is a small social app for sharing short video and photo "drops" with the people you choose. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, please do not use Pond.

1. Who we are

Pond is built and operated by the Pond team ("we", "us"). The app is published under the developer account the-wolves-of-the-west on TestFlight and the Apple App Store / Google Play. The fastest way to reach us is via the in-app Send feedback form in Profile, which opens an issue in a private GitHub repository the team reads.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use Pond, and old enough to form a binding contract in your country. If you are under the age of majority, you may only use Pond with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. Some regions set a higher digital age of consent (for example, parts of the EEA require parental consent below age 16) — you must meet your local minimum age, or have parental consent, to use Pond. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we will delete it.

3. Your account

• You sign in with email and password, or with Sign in with Apple. You are responsible for keeping your credentials secret and for activity on your account.
• You agree to give accurate information when signing up (a real email you control, a display name, a username) and to keep your profile reasonably up to date.
• Usernames are how other Pond users find and recognize you. We don't currently enforce uniqueness, but we may reclaim or rename a username that is inactive, impersonates someone else, or violates these Terms.

4. What you can do on Pond

Pond lets you record short video clips ("drops") and photos, post them to private groups ("pools"), chat in pools, react with emoji, and see a personal "My pond" timeline of everything you've recorded. You can also export a day from your My pond as a single stitched-together video ("vlog") to save or share. Group owners can rename their pool, share an invite code, and remove members.

5. Your content

You keep ownership of the drops, photos, captions, and messages you post ("Your Content"). You grant Pond a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, transmit, transcode, cache, and display Your Content for the sole purpose of operating the app for you and the pools you've shared it with. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies that are still propagating through caches or backups (typically up to 30 days).

You promise that Your Content does not violate anyone else's rights (privacy, copyright, publicity, etc.) and that you have permission from anyone clearly recognizable in your drops to share them with the people in your pools.

6. Things you can't do

Pond has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive behavior. Posts that violate this section will be removed, and accounts that produce them may be suspended or terminated. You agree not to use Pond to:

• Post content that is illegal, hateful, harassing, defamatory, or sexually explicit, or that depicts minors in a sexual or harmful context.
• Post content that violates someone's privacy, including non-consensual intimate imagery or recordings of people who have asked you to stop.
• Impersonate another person, brand, or service, or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.
• Spam, phish, distribute malware, or scrape, automate, or reverse engineer the service.
• Probe, attack, or interfere with our infrastructure, our rate limits, or our security controls.
• Use Pond to develop a competing product, or resell access to the service.

7. Reporting and blocking

Every drop, message, and pool member has a Report action you can use to flag objectionable content or abusive behavior — long-press a drop or message to open the menu, or open a pool's members screen to report a member. We review reports as they come in and aim to act on valid ones — typically by removing the content and, where warranted, ejecting the user — within 24 hours.

You can also block another Pond user from the same pool members screen. Blocking hides that user's drops, messages, and reactions from you across the app, and prevents them from interacting with yours. You can review and unblock anyone at any time from Profile → Blocked users.

8. Content filtering

Pond runs an automated text filter on captions and messages before they are posted. Text that matches a short list of prohibited patterns (slurs, self-harm directives, and CSAM-related terms in English and Chinese) is rejected at the source. The filter is a backstop, not a substitute for the rules in §6 — please don't try to work around it. Repeated attempts to bypass the filter may result in account suspension.

9. Copyright and takedown

We respect copyright. If you believe content posted to Pond infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to act for, send us a takedown notice through the in-app Send feedback form (Profile → Send feedback). Include:

• A description of the copyrighted work you're claiming.
• Enough information for us to find the post in the app (pool name or invite code, drop or message timestamp, a screenshot if you have one).
• Your contact information (the email you registered with is fine).
• A good-faith statement that the use is not authorized, and a statement that the information you've given is accurate and that you are the rights holder or are authorized to act for them.

We review takedown requests on the same path and timeline as moderation reports above. If a takedown applies to your own content, you can also delete it yourself from within the app.

10. Pools, invitations, and shared content

Pools are private by invite code. When you share a pool's invite code, anyone with the code can join. Drops you post into a pool are visible to every current member of that pool, and members may continue to see them after they leave the pool only via cached copies on their device. We do not control what other members do with your content once they see it.

11. Caps and rate limits

We apply caps on things like drops per day, drops per pool per day, members per pool, recording duration, caption and message length, and feedback submissions per user per day. The current numbers are enforced on our servers and may change as the app evolves. If you hit a cap we'll tell you in the app.

12. Notifications

If you opt in, we send push notifications when someone posts a new drop in one of your pools, replies to one of your messages or drops, or reacts to one of your messages or drops with an emoji. You can turn each of these off at any time from the Profile screen or from your device's system settings.

13. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access if you break these Terms, if keeping your account active poses a risk to other users or to us, or if we are required to by law. You can delete your own account at any time from the Profile screen. Deleting your account also deletes every pool you created — every member of those pools loses access at the same time, so consider warning them first if a pool matters to them. See the Privacy Policy for what happens to your data on deletion.

14. Changes to the service

Pond is a small product under active development. Features may be added, changed, paused, or removed. When a change materially affects you, we'll do our best to announce it in the app or on this page before the change takes effect.

15. Disclaimer of warranties

Pond is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that drops will be preserved without loss.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pond and its operators are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenues, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of the service. Our total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the service is limited to USD 50, or the amount you've paid us in the 12 months before the claim, whichever is greater. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limits; in those places, our liability is limited to the smallest amount permitted by law.

17. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of Your Content, your use of Pond, or your violation of these Terms.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. We'll try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally first — please reach us through the in-app feedback form. If we can't resolve it informally, the dispute will be brought exclusively in the courts located in Toronto, Ontario, unless your local consumer-protection law gives you a different forum or requires otherwise.

19. Apple App Store

The following applies if you downloaded Pond from the Apple App Store:

• These Terms are concluded between you and Pond only, not with Apple Inc. ("Apple"). Apple is not responsible for Pond or its content.
• Apple has no obligation whatsoever to provide any maintenance or support services with respect to Pond.
• To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple makes no warranty whatsoever with respect to Pond. In the event of any failure of Pond to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any). Apple has no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to Pond.
• Apple is not responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to Pond or your possession and use of it, including product-liability claims, claims that Pond fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, claims arising under consumer-protection or similar legislation, and intellectual-property claims.
• You represent that 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 that you are not listed on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and 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.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the current version. Material changes will be announced in the app or by email. Continued use of Pond after the change takes effect means you accept the new Terms.

21. Contact

Questions, takedown requests, or accessibility concerns: open the Profile tab and tap Send feedback, or email us at pond-eng@googlegroups.com.