The terms for using Ward.

Effective [launch date] · Last updated [launch date]

1. Agreeing to these terms
2. Who can use Ward
3. What Ward is, and isn't
4. Your account
5. Free and Premium
6. Billing, cancelling, refunds
7. The commitment features
8. Changes Ward makes to your device
9. Kickstarter
10. Giving
11. Using Ward fairly
12. Ownership and your licence
13. No guarantees
14. Limits on liability
15. Disputes and the law
16. Ending, changes, contact

1. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and [legal company name] ("Ward", "we", "us"). By downloading, installing or using Ward, or by using this website, you agree to them and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use Ward.

2. Who can use Ward

You must be at least [13: Reed & Colton to decide; see build notes] to use Ward. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to these terms for you. If you use Ward for an organization, you agree on its behalf and confirm you're allowed to.

3. What Ward is, and isn't

Ward is software that blocks websites you choose, on the devices where you install it. It's a tool for keeping a boundary you set yourself.

• Not treatment. Ward isn't medical, psychological or addiction treatment, and it doesn't replace professional help.
• Not a crisis service. Ward shows hotline numbers as a courtesy. The hotlines are run by independent organizations, and we aren't responsible for them. If you're in danger, call 911 or your local emergency number.
• Not unbreakable. Ward protects the device it's installed on. A person with administrator access who is determined to get around it can. Ward makes the hard moment slower; it doesn't promise that nothing will ever get through, or that nothing you need will ever be blocked.

4. Your account

Ward needs a Ward account (your email address and a password), including on Free. It's how your streak syncs across your devices, how we email you a PIN reset, and how Premium and giving work. Give us accurate details, keep your sign-in safe, and tell us at [support email] if you think someone else has used your account. You're responsible for what happens under your account.

5. Free and Premium

Free is a full version of Ward with no time limit. Premium adds features and comes in three plans: Monthly ($10), Yearly ($85) and Lifetime ($295, paid once), as described on our product page. The price is the same whether you choose to give to charity or not. We may change, add or remove features over time. If we take away something you're paying for, we'll tell you before it happens, and you can cancel.

6. Billing, cancelling and refunds

These terms apply to Premium bought on this website once it opens here. Premium bought through Kickstarter is covered in section 9, and Premium bought through the App Store or Google Play follows that store's rules for billing and refunds.

• Renewal. Monthly and Yearly Premium are billed in advance and renew automatically each month or each year until you cancel. Lifetime is one payment and doesn't renew. Payments are processed by Stripe.
• Cancelling. Cancel anytime from Billing in your Ward account on this website. Premium stays on until the end of the period you've paid for, then your account moves to Free. Moving to Free removes all the sites you added; you can then add one site of your own again. Premium's schedule and extra exceptions stop too.
• Switching plans. A switch between Premium plans takes effect at your next renewal. Switching to Lifetime starts right away, and unused time on your old plan isn't credited.
• Lifetime. Lifetime is a one-time payment for Premium, with no renewals. It lasts for the life of the product: for as long as Ward is offered and supported. If Ward is ever discontinued, the plan ends.
• Refunds. Every charge on every paid plan (Monthly, Yearly and Lifetime), the first purchase and every renewal, has a 14-day refund guarantee: ask within 14 days of the charge and we'll refund it in full. To ask for a refund, write to [support email]. Refunds take the usual processing time for your card or bank.
• Price changes. If the price changes, we'll tell you at least 30 days before it applies to you, and you can cancel before then.
• Taxes. Prices may not include taxes that apply where you live.

Cancelling Premium doesn't end any hard block that's already running. It runs to its end unless you end it early, which waits 24 hours like any other loosening.

7. The commitment features

Ward is designed to be hard to switch off in a weak moment. You choose these features yourself, on a good day, and you agree that they work as described:

• The 24-hour wait. Turning Ward off, or loosening anything (turning a category off, removing a site, allowing an exception, turning off or shortening a blocking schedule, adding a time that opens something, ending a hard block early), waits 24 hours. When the wait is over, Ward asks if you're sure before the change takes effect. Ward keeps protecting you while you wait, and you can cancel the change at any time.
• Hard block (Premium). A hard block lasts the length you choose, up to 7 days. You can end it early, which waits 24 hours like any other loosening. While it runs, every other loosening is refused, though you can still end the hard block early or delete your account, and sites you've already allowed stay allowed. We can't end it for you, including if you contact support or cancel Premium.
• Blocking schedule (Premium). A schedule blocks and opens things at the times you set. Where times overlap, blocking wins. Anything that adds blocking takes effect at once; anything that opens something up waits 24 hours like any other loosening.
• Exceptions. An exception allows one whole site inside a category you've blocked. Adding one waits 24 hours; removing one is immediate.
• The wall. Opening a blocked site means waiting a minute first.

Because of this, there may be times you can't reach something you've blocked when you want to. That's the purpose of the feature, and we aren't responsible for it. If Ward breaks your internet connection altogether, Ward's emergency recovery can restore it. [CONFIRM with Colton: what emergency recovery does, and whether it is available during a hard block]

8. Changes Ward makes to your device

To work, Ward installs a background service and, on a computer, its own security certificate, and changes how your device's connections are handled. You agree to these changes when you install Ward. The supported way to remove them is to turn Ward off and then uninstall it, which removes the certificate from the places Ward installed it. Other software, such as some VPNs, security tools or work devices, may not work alongside Ward.

9. Kickstarter

If you back Ward on Kickstarter, your pledge is made through Kickstarter and is governed by Kickstarter's terms of use. Rewards, including any Premium time, are described on our campaign page. We'll deliver them to the Ward account that uses the email address you backed with, or another one you tell us. Once delivered, using Ward is covered by these terms. Refunds of pledges are governed by Kickstarter's rules and our campaign page, not by the 14-day guarantee in section 6.

10. Giving

While you have Premium, Ward gives to the registered charity you choose: $2 of every month on Monthly, $15 a year on Yearly, or $50 once on Lifetime. The price is the same whether you give or not, and you can turn giving on or off at any time. We pool these gifts and make them quarterly, on every plan. The $15 from a Yearly plan and the $50 from Lifetime are given in the next quarterly round after you buy. The gift is made by Ward, not by you, so it isn't tax-deductible for you. You can change your charity at any time, and a change applies from the next payout. If a charity can no longer accept gifts, we'll ask you to choose another.

11. Using Ward fairly

Don't use Ward to break the law or to harm anyone. In particular, don't:

• install Ward on a device you don't own or aren't allowed to manage, or use it to watch or control another adult without their knowledge;
• copy, resell or reverse-engineer Ward, except where the law allows;
• interfere with our servers, or try to get into accounts or data that aren't yours;
• misuse features meant to report a wrongly blocked site, or other parts of the service.

12. Ownership and your licence

Ward, its name, its artwork and its software belong to us or our licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to install and use Ward on devices you own or control, for as long as you follow these terms. Your data stays yours; you give us permission to store and process it only to run Ward for you, as the Privacy Policy describes. If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them without owing you anything.

13. No guarantees

We work hard to make Ward reliable, but it's provided "as is" and "as available". As far as the law allows, we make no promises beyond those in these terms, including that Ward will block everything you want blocked, never block something you need, work with every device, browser, network or other app, or run without interruption.

14. Limits on liability

As far as the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, or for lost data, profits or opportunities, arising from your use of Ward. Our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the greater of what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and US $50. Some places don't allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law.

If someone brings a claim against us because you broke these terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of it.

15. Disputes and the law

If you have a problem, write to us first at [support email]; most things can be sorted out that way. These terms are governed by the laws of [state], USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, and disputes will be heard in the courts of [county, state], unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring a claim there. [Lawyer: arbitration and class-action waiver, yes or no]

16. Ending, changes and contact

You can stop using Ward and delete your account at any time. In Settings, "Delete my account" removes your email, your synced streak and any Premium plan; like other loosening actions it waits 24 hours, then Ward asks "Are you sure?". We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms, and we'll tell you why unless the law prevents it. Sections that by their nature should continue (such as 12 to 15) survive.

If we change these terms, we'll update the date above, and if a change is significant we'll tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect. Using Ward after a change takes effect means you accept it.

If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. These terms, with the Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between us about Ward.

Questions: [support email] · [mailing address]