Terms of Service

1. Introduction, Acceptance, and Who Is the User?

By accessing or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Services.

Our Privacy Policy, available at https://picobuddy.com/privacy-policy/, explains how we collect and process personal data in connection with the Services and forms part of these Terms.

An Account Holder is the adult user who creates an account and/or purchases a subscription, such as a parent, homeschool educator, or individual teacher. The Account Holder is the contracting party under these Terms.

A Learner is a child or student who accesses learner-facing quizzes, practice links, or similar activity links provided by an Account Holder. Learners do not enter into these Terms directly and do not create independent Picobuddy accounts.

Learners who are under the age of majority may use learner-facing parts of the Services only under the supervision and responsibility of an Account Holder and in accordance with applicable law and any required parental consent.

2. Eligibility and Accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, to create an account or purchase a subscription.
• Picobuddy currently uses third-party sign-in providers, including providers such as Google and Microsoft, for account authentication. Your login credentials, password, and certain account profile details may therefore be managed by those providers rather than directly by Picobuddy.
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account access, devices, and connected sign-in methods.
• You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information where required and to keep it updated.

3. Description of the Services

Picobuddy provides AI-powered educational tools that help users create and use reading passages, quizzes, collections, downloads, and related materials.

The Services are intended for educational and informational purposes only. They are not intended for medical, legal, diagnostic, safety-critical, or other high-stakes use.

Features may vary by subscription tier. Picobuddy may add, remove, improve, or modify features from time to time.

4. Key Definitions

For clarity, Private Mode does not necessarily mean offline storage or deletion. It means the passage is not published to the public Library.

• “Services” means the Picobuddy website, app, Library, passage-generation tools, quiz/practice tools, downloads, collections, and related features.
• “Library” means the public Picobuddy library of passages and related materials that can be used by the community.
• “Input” means the text, prompts, instructions, topics, and selections you submit to the Services.
• “Generated Content” or “Output” means the passages, questions, quizzes, and similar materials generated through the Services.
• “Links” means shareable URLs created through the Services, including passage links and learner practice/quiz links.
• “Anonymous Mode” means an account setting that hides or limits the public display of your profile identity in connection with content.
• “Private Mode” means a paid feature on certain plans that keeps passages unlisted, meaning they are not published to the public Library.

5. AI-Generated Content Disclaimer

Picobuddy uses AI to help generate educational content. AI-generated content may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, outdated, or not appropriate for a particular learner or situation.

You are solely responsible for reviewing and deciding whether any Generated Content is suitable before using it with a child or student.

Picobuddy does not guarantee that Generated Content will be accurate, original, error-free, unique, legally compliant in your specific context, or fit for a particular educational purpose.

Generated Content may be similar or identical to content generated for other users.

Picobuddy may review, edit, unpublish, restrict access to, or remove passages or other content where appropriate, including for quality, safety, moderation, legal, or product reasons.

6. User Responsibilities

You are responsible for your account, your Input, your use of Output, and your sharing of Links.

• you have the necessary rights to submit your Input;
• your Input and use of the Services do not violate applicable law or third-party rights;
• you will use the Services only for lawful and appropriate educational purposes; and
• you will review Generated Content before sharing it with Learners.

7. Learners, Child Data, and Shared Links

Picobuddy is designed for adult Account Holders. Children do not create direct consumer accounts on Picobuddy.

Picobuddy prefers that Learners be identified by nicknames or initials rather than real names.

You must not intentionally submit unnecessary personal information about children in prompts, passage descriptions, learner fields, or other free-text inputs.

If you submit prohibited or inappropriate child personal data, or if Picobuddy reasonably believes content creates legal, privacy, safety, or moderation risk, Picobuddy may edit, unpublish, disable, restrict, or delete the relevant content, links, or associated account access.

• how Links are shared and used;
• choosing what learner information is entered into the Services;
• complying with applicable child privacy and education-related laws;
• obtaining any consent or authorization required for your use case; and
• ensuring that the Services are used under your supervision and responsibility.

8. Public Library, Unlisted Content, and Visibility

If your account is deleted, canceled, or otherwise closed, public Library passages may remain available to the community, attribution to your account may be removed or anonymized, unlisted passages may remain hosted by Picobuddy, and Picobuddy may continue to store, use, maintain, adapt, moderate, and make such hosted content available in accordance with these Terms.

• Unless generated through Private Mode where available, passages created through the Services are published to the Picobuddy Library by default and may be used by the community.
• Where available, you may choose settings that limit whether your name or profile is displayed alongside generated passages. This does not change the public or unlisted status of the passage itself.
• Where offered on a paid plan, Private Mode allows a passage to remain unlisted, meaning it is not published to the public Library.
• Unlisted content may still be hosted online by Picobuddy and may remain accessible through the relevant direct link or internal service functionality.

9. Intellectual Property

The Picobuddy platform, including the website, app, software, systems, workflows, prompt architecture, layout, branding, and related infrastructure, is and remains the exclusive property of Picobuddy or its licensors. These Terms do not transfer ownership of the platform itself to you.

You retain any rights you have in the original Input you submit, subject to the rights you grant under these Terms.

Subject to these Terms and applicable law, you may use Generated Content created through your lawful use of the Services for your personal, classroom, homeschool, and educational purposes.

By using the Services and generating content, you grant Picobuddy a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to host, store, process, reproduce, adapt, format, display, distribute, publish, moderate, analyze, improve, and otherwise use your Input and Generated Content for operating and providing the Services, enabling product functionality, safety and moderation, improving and developing the Services, demonstrating how the Services work, and marketing and promoting Picobuddy.

This may include the use of excerpts, screenshots, sample passages, or similar materials in product examples, help materials, or marketing content. Where reasonably practicable, Picobuddy may anonymize such materials.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, any Generated Content that remains hosted online by Picobuddy after your account ends, including public Library passages and unlisted passages that continue to be hosted, shall belong to Picobuddy from that point onward. If such transfer is not effective under applicable law, you grant Picobuddy an irrevocable, perpetual, exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, host, adapt, publish, distribute, and otherwise exploit that hosted content without further notice or compensation.

You understand that Generated Content may not be unique and that other users may receive similar or identical content.

10. Acceptable Use

Picobuddy may investigate suspected misuse and may suspend, limit, remove, unpublish, or terminate access where appropriate.

• use the Services for unlawful purposes;
• generate or share harmful, abusive, discriminatory, sexually explicit, deceptive, or otherwise inappropriate content;
• input unnecessary child personal data or other sensitive data contrary to these Terms;
• attempt to bypass safety features, usage limits, or access controls;
• scrape, copy at scale, mine, or systematically extract Library content or other service data;
• interfere with the normal functioning or security of the Services; or
• misuse the Services in a way that harms Picobuddy, other users, or Learners.

11. Third-Party Services

Picobuddy may rely on third-party providers for infrastructure, authentication, analytics, billing, email delivery, AI processing, and related services.

Your use of third-party sign-in providers, payment processors, or external services may also be subject to those providers’ own terms and privacy policies.

Picobuddy is not responsible for third-party services except as required by applicable law.

12. Fees, Subscriptions, and Renewal

• Some features require a paid subscription. Current plans may include tiers such as Free, Basic, Pro, and Classroom, or similar successor plans.
• Payments are processed through Stripe or another payment provider we may designate.
• By purchasing a paid plan, you authorize Picobuddy and its payment processor to charge your selected payment method for the applicable fees, including recurring subscription fees where applicable, until canceled.
• Paid subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled before the applicable renewal date.
• If payment fails, we may retry the charge, require an updated payment method, suspend paid access, or downgrade features until payment is resolved.
• The price shown on the Picobuddy website and at checkout is the final price you will pay at checkout. No additional taxes or mandatory fees will be added after checkout.
• Where required by applicable law, taxes such as VAT, sales tax, or similar charges may be calculated based on your billing details and included in the displayed price.
• Fees are non-refundable except where required by applicable law or where Picobuddy expressly states otherwise.

13. Downloads, Features, and Availability

Some features, including download formats, learner links, editing options, privacy settings, and history/tracking tools, may depend on your subscription tier.

Picobuddy does not guarantee uninterrupted availability of any specific feature and may change feature availability, limits, plan structures, or usage caps from time to time.

14. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Services are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE.”

Picobuddy disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and availability.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Picobuddy shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, or business opportunity, arising out of or related to the Services.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Picobuddy’s aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Services shall not exceed the total amount you paid to Picobuddy in the three (3) months before the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Picobuddy, its owners, affiliates, licensors, and service providers from claims, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising out of or related to the items listed above.

• your Input;
• your use of Generated Content;
• your sharing of Links with Learners or others;
• your breach of these Terms; or
• your violation of applicable law or third-party rights.

17. Copyright Complaints

If you believe content on Picobuddy infringes your copyright, please contact legal@picobuddy.com. Where available, you may also use any in-product reporting tool to report a content issue.

Picobuddy may remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material and may take action against repeat infringers where appropriate.

• your name and contact information;
• identification of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed;
• the URL or location of the allegedly infringing content on Picobuddy;
• a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and
• a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner, where applicable.

18. Suspension and Termination

Picobuddy may suspend, restrict, or terminate access to the Services, with or without notice where appropriate.

You may stop using the Services at any time. To avoid future billing, you must cancel your subscription before renewal.

Upon suspension or termination, paid features may end and learner/practice links may be disabled, changed, limited, or removed.

• you violate these Terms;
• you misuse the Services;
• we reasonably believe action is required for legal, safety, moderation, payment, fraud, or security reasons; or
• we discontinue part or all of the Services.

19. Changes to the Services or These Terms

Picobuddy may update the Services and these Terms from time to time.

We will post the updated Terms on the website and update the Last Updated date as appropriate. If we issue a materially revised version intended to replace the prior Terms, we may also update the Effective Date.

If we make a material change, we may provide additional notice, such as by email or in-product notice.

By continuing to use the Services after updated Terms become effective, you agree to the updated Terms.

20. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands, excluding conflict-of-law principles.

For users outside the United States, disputes shall be submitted to the competent courts in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, unless mandatory law requires otherwise.

For users in the United States, any mandatory consumer rights under applicable law remain unaffected. Any separate U.S.-specific dispute resolution process will apply only if expressly stated by Picobuddy in writing.

21. Contact Information

22. Final Provisions