Terms of Service
1. Who We Are
Ping the World is operated by PTW SIA, a company registered in Latvia (EU). We can be reached at [email protected].
2. Accepting These Terms
By creating an account or using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.
If you are under 18 years old, you may only use the Service with the verifiable consent of a parent or legal guardian, who by permitting your use also agrees to these Terms on your behalf. Users must be at least 16 years old.
3. The Service
Ping the World allows you to send a single anonymous text message to a randomly selected user anywhere in the world. The recipient may reply once. No further exchange is possible. No profiles, social graphs, or ongoing conversations exist on the Service.
All messages are reviewed by automated moderation before delivery. Messages that do not pass moderation are not delivered and the sender is notified.
Messages may be automatically translated into the recipient's preferred language to facilitate cross-language exchange. The original message is retained.
4. Account Registration
To use the Service, you must register with a valid email address and create a password. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and for all activity that occurs under it.
You must provide accurate information at registration. You may not impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
You must not create more than one account. Duplicate accounts may be suspended without notice.
5. Subscriptions and Payments
The Service offers a free tier and a paid subscription tier:
- Free tier: one (1) outbound message per calendar month. Receiving messages is free.
- Paid subscription (currently EUR 3.99/month): increased sending frequency as specified in the app at time of purchase. Billed monthly via the payment method you provide.
All payments are processed by our third-party payment processor (Stripe). By subscribing, you authorise recurring charges. You may cancel at any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. No refunds are issued for partial billing periods.
We reserve the right to change subscription pricing with 30 days' notice. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the new pricing.
6. Acceptable Use
You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in a manner consistent with our Community Guidelines. You must not use the Service to:
- Send content that is abusive, threatening, harassing, hateful, discriminatory, or violent
- Share personal contact information, links, or any means of identifying yourself or others
- Promote products, services, organisations, ideologies, or political positions
- Send spam, chain messages, or any automated or bulk communications
- Attempt to circumvent the anonymous nature of the Service
- Access the Service using automated means without our written permission
- Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or interfere with the Service
7. Content and Moderation
All messages are subject to automated moderation prior to delivery. We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to review, reject, or remove any content at our sole discretion.
Rejected messages are not delivered. The sender receives a notification indicating the reason for rejection. You may not appeal a moderation decision, though you may contact us at [email protected] for clarification.
We are not responsible for any content sent by users. You retain ownership of your message content, but by submitting a message, you grant us a limited, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, process, transmit, translate, and moderate it for the sole purpose of providing the Service.
8. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal data. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy.
The Service is designed to be anonymous between senders and recipients. We do not share any identifying information about a sender with a recipient or vice versa. However, we retain account information as described in the Privacy Policy, and may disclose it to law enforcement authorities when required by law.
9. Termination
We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated these Terms or the Community Guidelines, or that your use of the Service poses a risk to other users or to the Service itself.
You may delete your account at any time via the Settings screen. Upon deletion, your personal data is processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law.
10. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, PTW SIA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.
Our total liability to you for any claims arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or EUR 50, whichever is greater.
Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.
11. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Latvia. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Riga, Latvia, unless mandatory consumer protection law in your country of residence requires otherwise.
If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, you also have the right to use the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.
12. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you via the app or by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.
13. Contact
For questions about these Terms or the service itself, please contact us at [email protected].