Terms and Conditions

1. Your agreement with Kinship

These Terms form a binding agreement between you and Kinship ("Kinship," "we," "us," or "our"). They apply to our website, text-message onboarding, private circles, and related features, communications, and support (together, the "Service"). By accessing the website or opting in to or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old, live in the United States, and be able to enter a legally binding agreement to use the Service. You may use the Service only for yourself and with a mobile number you are authorized to use. The initial pilot is offered in English.

3. What Kinship is

Kinship helps small circles of people share everyday moments and encouragement by SMS and MMS. Kinship relays messages between members so their phone numbers are not shown to one another. Circles are formed and managed by Kinship, and the Service may place you on a waiting list before a suitable circle is available.

"Private" means that circle content is intended for the members of that circle and authorized Kinship personnel and service providers—not that communications are confidential, encrypted end to end, or legally privileged. Other members receive messages on devices Kinship does not control. Do not share information that you would not want a circle member to see or save.

4. SMS and MMS terms

When you reply YES to Kinship's consent prompt, you expressly agree to receive recurring automated and person-to-person SMS and MMS messages from Kinship at the mobile number you used to opt in. Messages may include onboarding questions, circle messages written by other members, delivery and command notices, participation invitations, circle prompts, and other Service communications. Consent is not a condition of buying any goods or services.

• Frequency varies. It depends on activity in your circle and the Service communications you receive. You may receive multiple messages in a day.
• Message and data rates may apply.
• Reply STOP at any time to opt out. After an opt-out confirmation, we will not send further messages unless you later provide valid consent again, except where a message is required by law.
• Reply HELP for help, or email [email protected].
• You may also reply PAUSE to pause circle messages, RESUME to resume them, or LEAVE and select the leave option to leave a circle.

Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Kinship cannot guarantee that every message will be delivered or arrive in order. You are responsible for charges from your mobile carrier and for keeping your mobile number current.

5. Circle conduct

Kinship is built for kind, low-pressure encouragement. You agree to respect other members' dignity, safety, and privacy. You may not use the Service to:

• harass, threaten, exploit, impersonate, or discriminate against anyone;
• share hateful, sexually exploitative, unlawful, or dangerously instructive content;
• publish another person's private or identifying information without permission;
• send spam, scams, malware, advertising, or unauthorized solicitations;
• interfere with the Service, evade safeguards, or access it by unauthorized means; or
• infringe intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights.

You may not copy, post, forward, or otherwise disclose another member's circle content outside the circle without that member's permission, except when reasonably necessary to report a safety or legal concern.

6. Your content

You keep ownership of content you submit. You give Kinship a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to receive, store, reproduce, review, format, transmit, and otherwise process that content only as reasonably necessary to operate, protect, improve, and support the Service; comply with law; and enforce these Terms. This license ends when the content is deleted from our systems, except for copies that must be retained for legal, safety, backup, or integrity purposes and copies already delivered to other members or telecommunications providers.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit your content and allow Kinship to process and relay it as described here.

7. Safety, reports, and moderation

During the pilot, ordinary circle messages and images are relayed without automated pre-delivery content screening. Harmful content may therefore reach a circle before a member reports it. We may review reports; preserve content; contact, pause, suspend, or remove a member; place an account on internal hold; or limit access when we reasonably believe it is needed to protect people, operate the Service, enforce these Terms, or comply with law. Reporting and human moderation reduce risk but cannot identify or prevent every harmful interaction. Kinship does not endorse or verify member statements.

An active or paused circle member may reply REPORT. Kinship captures up to that member's latest 15 successful deliveries in the current circle for confidential admin review. A report creates no automatic penalty, circle notice, or outcome message, and the pilot sends no real-time operator alert. If you believe someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Do not rely on REPORT or a Kinship message for an emergency response.

9. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose personal information. Although Kinship keeps phone numbers hidden from other circle members, your username, messages, images, and other content you choose to share may be seen by them.

10. Kinship's Service and materials

Kinship and its licensors own the Service, including its design, software, branding, and materials other than member content. Subject to these Terms, Kinship gives you a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose. No other rights are granted.

11. Changes, suspension, and termination

You may stop using Kinship at any time by replying STOP. You may leave a circle by replying LEAVE and selecting the leave option. We may change, pause, or discontinue all or part of the Service, and we may suspend or end access when reasonably necessary for safety, legal compliance, security, operations, or a violation of these Terms. Where appropriate, we will try to provide notice. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, and dispute terms.

12. Third-party services

The Service depends on mobile carriers and providers of messaging, cloud hosting, and storage. Their systems and terms may affect the Service. Kinship is not responsible for third-party networks, devices, services, or content that we do not control.

13. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available." Kinship disclaims all express or implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, availability, security, and that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some of these terms may not apply to you.

14. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Kinship and its owners, personnel, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, goodwill, or opportunities, arising from or related to the Service. Kinship's total liability for all claims arising from or related to the Service will not exceed the greater of $100 or the amount you paid Kinship, if any, during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim. These limits do not apply where prohibited by law.

15. Governing law and disputes

California law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms or the Service must be brought in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, and you and Kinship consent to their jurisdiction. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you cannot waive under applicable law.

16. Updates to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Service changes. We will post the revised version here and update the effective date. If a change materially affects current members, we will provide additional notice, such as by text message, before the change takes effect when required by law. Your continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

17. General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and Kinship about the Service. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be modified only as needed and the remaining provisions will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent; Kinship may transfer them as part of a merger, financing, reorganization, or sale of all or part of its business.