Terms of Service & Platform Use Agreement

VibeNMeet Mobile Application

Ref: VNM-LEGAL-TOS-2026-V1.1.2 Effective Date: October 8, 2026 Last Revised: October 8, 2026

PREAMBLE & STATUTORY ENACTMENT

This Terms of Service and Platform Use Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Terms", "Agreement", or "User Agreement") constitutes a formal, electronic, and legally binding contract executed pursuant to Section 10A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act No. 21 of 2000) between You (hereinafter referred to as the "User", "You", or "Your") and VibeNMeet (hereinafter referred to as the "Company", "Platform", "We", "Us", or "Our").

This Agreement is published and enforced in strict accordance with:

  1. Rule 3(1)(a) and Rule 3(1)(b) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 [hereinafter "IT Intermediary Rules 2021"];
  2. Section 43A, Section 69, Section 72A, and Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000;
  3. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (Act No. 22 of 2023) [hereinafter "DPDPA 2023"];
  4. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 promulgated under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019; and
  5. The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (Act No. 9 of 1872).
PLEASE CAREFULLY EXAMINE THIS DOCUMENT. BY ACCESSING, DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT WITH, OR USING THE VIBENMEET APPLICATION (THE "APP") OR ANY ASSOCIATED SERVICES, FEATURES, AND SUBSCRIPTIONS (COLLECTIVELY, THE "SERVICES"), YOU UNEQUIVOCALLY ACCEDE TO AND ARE LEGALLY BOUND BY ALL TERMS CONTAINED HEREIN. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEDE TO THESE TERMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY DISCONTINUE ALL USE OF THE APPLICATION AND DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT.

CLAUSE 1: ELIGIBILITY & CAPACITY TO CONTRACT (STRICT 18+ MANDATE)

1.1. Competence to Contract: Pursuant to Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, You represent and warrant that You are of sound mind, have attained the age of majority under Applicable Law, and possess the full legal capacity to enter into a valid, enforceable contract.

1.2. Absolute Prohibition of Minor Usage (Strict 18+ Threshold):

  • Access to and use of the Services is restricted strictly and exclusively to natural persons who have attained eighteen (18) years of age.
  • STATUTORY DECLARATION: BY DOWNLOADING, REGISTERING, OR USING THE APPLICATION, YOU AFFIRMATIVELY AND STATUTORILY DECLARE THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE.
  • Any registration, access, or utilization of the Services by an individual under eighteen (18) years of age is strictly prohibited and constitutes a material breach of this Agreement.
  • In accordance with Section 9 of the DPDPA 2023, the Company does not knowingly permit minor registration or process minor data. Any minor account identified shall be terminated and purged within forty-eight (48) hours.

CLAUSE 2: DEFINITIONS & INTERPRETATION

2.1. Definitions: In this Agreement, unless the context otherwise specifies:

  • "Account" means the unique digital identity, cryptographic access record, and authentication profile registered to the User within the Application.
  • "Applicable Law" means any statute, law, regulation, ordinance, notification, decree, rule, or binding judicial precedent issued by any authority in India.
  • "Content" means all text, messages, photographs, voice recordings, event postings, local notices, answers, comments, reactions, links, and graphic media transmitted, posted, or displayed through the Services.
  • "Digital Billing Systems" means native payment frameworks provided exclusively by Apple Inc. (StoreKit 2) and Google LLC (Google Play Billing).
  • "Familiar Faces" means the automated, bidirectional in-app soft notification indicator surfaced between eligible users who cross 3 mutual platform interactions.
  • "In-App Purchases (IAP)" means digital goods, consumable balances, passes, listing quotas, and auto-renewing subscriptions made available within the Application.
  • "New Happenings" means the localized, verified event, cultural gathering, workshop, and business announcement publication directory operated within the Application.
  • "Women Circle" means the gender-gated social sanctuary within the Local module, where write privileges are reserved exclusively to female and non-binary individuals.

CLAUSE 3: ACCOUNT REGISTRATION, AUTHENTICATION & PROFILE INTEGRITY

3.1. Authentication Gateways: Registration is conducted through OAuth integrations (Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple). For SMS OTP accounts, mandatory OAuth linking preserves Your unique identifier (UID), chats, and badges. Minimal scopes (email, profile) are requested.

3.2. Truthfulness and Representations: Users covenant to provide accurate First Name, Verified Age (18+), Self-Declared Gender, Profession, Bio, State and Municipal Locality (selected via cascading selector covering all 28 Indian States and 8 Union Territories), and Genuine Likeness Portrait.

3.3. Strict Gender Immutability & Gender Gate Protection: Gender is selected during onboarding and is permanently locked. Gender controls write access to the Women Circle. Falsely declaring gender (e.g. male declaring "Female" or "Other" to access Women Circle) is an egregious breach resulting in immediate, permanent termination and hardware-level ban.

3.4. Mobile Phone Rate-Limiting: Number modifications in Edit Profile are rate-limited to a maximum of two (2) changes per rolling 24-hour window.

3.5. Prohibited Practices: Bot accounts, multi-accounting, impersonation, credential selling, or leasing are strictly barred.

CLAUSE 4: CODE OF CONDUCT & STATUTORY RESTRICTIONS (RULE 3(1)(b) IT RULES 2021)

4.1. Mandatory Statutory Prohibitions: Users shall NOT host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, or share any information that is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, pedophilic, invasive of privacy, insulting or harassing on gender, racially objectionable, infringing proprietary rights, threatening sovereignty/integrity of India, containing malware, or patently false/misleading.

4.2. Automated Content Filters: Automated regex validators (ContentSafetyValidator) automatically block phone numbers, off-platform handles, external hyperlinks, UPI IDs, payment barcodes, and vulgarity in public posts and comments.

4.3. Zero Tolerance for Objectionable Content & 24-Hour Moderation SLA:

  • Zero Tolerance Covenant: VibeNMeet maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy for objectionable content, harassment, abuse, vulgarity, hate speech, defamation, or predatory behavior across all user-generated surfaces (Local Vibe posts, Women Circle sanctuary posts and comments, Daily Spark answers, New Happenings, Public Profiles, direct messages, and chat communications).
  • In-App Reporting & Immediate Hiding (0-Second SLA): Users may flag objectionable content or block abusive users at any time using the in-app reporting mechanisms available on every post, comment, happening, message request (via 3-dot 'Report & Block' menu), individual chat message bubble (via long-press contextual action card 'Report Message'), and user profile. Reporting content or blocking a user immediately removes or hides the offending content from the reporting user's viewport (0-second SLA) and dispatches a high-priority moderation ticket to our administrative team.
  • 24-Hour Action SLA: VibeNMeet statutorily commits to reviewing and acting upon all user reports within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt. Content confirmed to be objectionable or in violation of these Terms shall be permanently expunged, and the offending user shall be summarily and permanently ejected from the Platform with account termination.
  • Reporter Intimation & Status Tracking: Reporting users receive automated notification updates via push notifications and persistent in-app notifications upon ticket resolution, and can track the live status of filed reports via Settings → Track My Reports. Direct safety escalation is available at safety@vibenmeet.com.

CLAUSE 5: IN-APP PURCHASES, DIGITAL BILLING & NON-REFUNDABLE TERMS

5.1. Digital Product Catalog & Membership Tiers:

  • Free Vibe Plan (₹0 / Free Forever): Default membership granting full access to browse nearby local vibes, 3 message requests per 10 days, 3 VibePass QR scans per 7 days, standard 10km discovery radius, and dual-skip onboarding ingress.
  • Trust Score Pass (com.vibenmeet.app.trust_pass): Non-consumable lifetime credential (₹29 one-time payment) awarding verified green tick badge, expanded 50km discovery radius, and elevated quotas.
  • Max Vibe Plan (com.vibenmeet.app.sub.max_monthly): Auto-renewable monthly subscription (₹49/month) granting 100% unlimited rolling message requests, posts, and feeds.
  • Local Vibe Combo (com.vibenmeet.app.topup.local_vibe_combo): Consumable top-up (+2 posts, +5 requests).
  • W-Circle Message Pack (com.vibenmeet.app.topup.wcircle_pack): Consumable top-up (+5 Women Circle requests).
  • Happening Publish Fee (com.vibenmeet.app.happening.publish_fee): ₹199 listing fee for publishing events from post #3 onwards.

5.2. Exclusive Store Billing: Transactions are handled exclusively via StoreKit 2 and Google Play Billing. No banking or card credentials are stored by the Company.

5.3. Statutory Non-Refundable Covenant: ALL MONETARY DISBURSEMENTS, IN-APP PURCHASES, CONSUMABLE TOP-UPS, EVENT LISTING FEES, AND SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES CONSTITUTE CONSIDERATION FOR IMMEDIATELY PROVISIONED DIGITAL SERVICES AND ARE STRICTLY FINAL AND NON-REFUNDABLE ONCE PAID. REFUND DISPUTES REMAIN SUBJECT EXCLUSIVELY TO APPLE INC. OR GOOGLE LLC DISCRETION.

5.4. Subscriptions, Cancellation & Restore Purchases: Auto-renewable subscriptions renew automatically at monthly intervals unless canceled by the user at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the end of the active billing period via Apple App Store or Google Play account settings. 1-tap "Restore Purchases" button in the app immediately synchronizes all active entitlements across devices.

5.5. De-Gamification: Women Circle and Daily Spark rewards possess zero monetary value and cannot be redeemed for legal tender.

CLAUSE 6: NEW HAPPENINGS: SUBMISSION, REVIEW & 72-HOUR STATUTORY COVENANT

6.1. Administrative Review: Submissions enter a mandatory verification queue (status: 'submitted') reviewed within a targeted 24-hour SLA.

6.2. 72-Hour Live Covenant: Approved posts with listing fee fulfilled or free launch quota redeemed are guaranteed to remain active, searchable, and discoverable in the public directory for EXACTLY SEVENTY-TWO (72) CONSECUTIVE HOURS (3 CALENDAR DAYS), after which an automated sweep marks them expired.

6.3. Launch Promotion: First two (2) approved New Happening posts are 100% free for registered organizer accounts.

6.4. Pinned Posts: Pinned apex placement is strictly editorial at administrator discretion; users cannot pay or bid to pin posts.

CLAUSE 7: WOMEN CIRCLE: REASONABLE CLASSIFICATION & GENDER GATING

7.1. Differential Access: Write access is restricted strictly to users self-declared as "Female" or "Other". Self-declared "Male" users have read-only discovery.

7.2. Quotas & Lifecycle: 3 posts per 24 hours (resetting at 5:00 AM IST); posts expire after 24 hours.

7.3. Threaded Discussions & Author Removal: 200-character plain text comments. Post authors possess unilateral authority to remove comments from their posts (deletedByPostAuthor).

7.4. Author-Exclusive DMs: Only post authors configured with Option B may initiate DMs to commenters.

7.5. Velocity Shield: 5 unique reports from established accounts auto-hide a post pending admin review; 3 reports escalate comments.

CLAUSE 8: DAILY SPARK & SOCIAL GAMIFICATION

8.1. Cycle: Daily Spark operates on a 24-hour cycle anchored to 5:00 AM IST with 1 answer and Same Vibe reactions.

8.2. Status Metrics: Streaks, XP, and Levels represent engagement only, not character or safety verification.

8.3. Segregation: Spark metrics are strictly segregated from Women Circle. Hearts on Women Circle do not award XP.

CLAUSE 9: REAL-TIME COMMUNICATIONS, CHATS & TRIAL CLEANUP

9.1. Features: Text, push-to-talk voice recordings (RECORD_AUDIO), ephemeral messages, and read receipts.

9.2. Automated Trial Chat Cleanup: Concluded or inactive trial chats are permanently purged from database storage.

9.3. Non-E2EE Processing: Communications are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Communications are processed on cloud infrastructure to enable automated safety filtering, harassment report investigation, electronic evidence export, and statutory law enforcement compliance.

9.4. Law Enforcement Protocol: Data furnished strictly upon receipt of lawful summons under Section 94 BNSS 2023 / Section 69 IT Act.

CLAUSE 10: VIBEPASS & COMPREHENSIVE REAL-WORLD DISCLAIMER

10.1. Optical Scanning: VibePass QR scanning executes in volatile RAM on-device; video streams are never recorded or stored.

10.2. WAIVER OF LIABILITY: VibeNMeet is an electronic intermediary. The Company DOES NOT organize, supervise, background-check, or guarantee any in-person meetings. Verified badges or Trust Scores DO NOT GUARANTEE REAL-WORLD SAFETY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COMPANY DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR PERSONAL INJURY, BODILY HARM, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR THEFT RESULTING FROM OFFLINE MEETUPS.

CLAUSE 11: CAFÉ DIRECTORY & VENUE-ONLY RATINGS GOVERNANCE

11.1. Commercial Venue Disclaimer: Listed cafés are independent commercial establishments; proximity is computed via foreground coordinates.

11.2. Strict Non-Rating of Individuals: ALL POST-MEETUP STAR RATINGS EVALUATE EXCLUSIVELY THE COMMERCIAL VENUE (AMBIENCE, COMFORT, SERVICE). THE COMPANY ENFORCES AN ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION AGAINST PERSONAL GRADING OR SUBJECTIVE SCORING OF NATURAL PERSONS.

11.3. No Social Credit: The platform operates zero social credit scoring or punitive behavioral ranking systems.

CLAUSE 12: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

12.1. User Content: You retain ownership of your content, granting VibeNMeet a worldwide, royalty-free license to host, format, moderate, and preserve content for operating the platform.

12.2. Platform IP: All trademarks, logos, algorithms, and source code are exclusive property of VIBENMEET LLP under Copyright Act 1957 and Trade Marks Act 1999.

CLAUSE 13: ENFORCEMENT, SANCTIONS & ANTI-CIRCUMVENTION

13.1. Sanctions: Warnings, content removal, feature bans (womenCircleBanned), suspensions (isSuspended), or permanent bans (isBanned).

13.2. Due Process: Sanctioned users can submit appeals through the in-app BanScreen.

13.3. Device Fingerprint Ledger: Cryptographic hashes of banned hardware IDs, phone numbers, and IP blocks prevent recidivism in the banned_identifiers ledger.

CLAUSE 14: ACCOUNT DEACTIVATION, PERMANENT DELETION & 180-DAY STATUTORY RETENTION (APPLE GUIDELINE 5.1.1(v) & IT RULES 2021)

14.1. Temporary Account Deactivation: Users wishing to take a temporary break from the platform may choose Settings → Deactivate Account. Deactivation immediately sets accountStatus: 'deactivated', hiding the user's profile, feed postings, and active chats from public discovery. Users may reactivate their account at any time simply by logging in again and tapping "Reactivate Account" on the authentication gate.

14.2. Dual-Path Account Deletion (Apple Guideline 5.1.1(v)): In compliance with Apple App Store Review Guideline 5.1.1(v), VibeNMeet provides an easily accessible in-app account deletion mechanism under Settings → Delete Account, offering two explicit options:

  • Option A: Schedule Deletion (30-Day Cooling-Off Window): Profile and active chats are immediately hidden from public view, and the account enters pending_deletion status for 30 calendar days. If the User changes their mind, logging back in within the 30-day window allows one-tap cancellation to restore their account. Following 30 days, account records are purged.
  • Option B: Delete Immediately (Permanent Wipe): The User may elect to execute immediate, irreversible account termination. Protected by an uppercase "DELETE" confirmation phrase, this immediately triggers a secure backend Cloud Function (deleteUserAccount) utilizing the Firebase Admin SDK. The function permanently deletes the Firebase Authentication user record via getAuth().deleteUser(uid), expunges user media from Cloud Storage buckets, marks active chats, and deletes the Firestore user document with zero delay.
14.3. Mandatory 180-Day Statutory Record Retention (Rule 3(1)(h) IT Rules 2021): Notwithstanding account deactivation or immediate deletion requests, pursuant to Rule 3(1)(h) of the IT Intermediary Rules 2021, the Company is legally obligated to preserve user registration information, authentication records, verified Google email addresses (auth.getUser(uid).email), declared phone numbers, and transactional audit snapshots in an isolated, encrypted collection (/user_identity_snapshots) for a mandatory statutory duration of ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY (180) DAYS following account cancellation. This archived data is strictly quarantined, inaccessible to regular platform users, and maintained solely to assist competent law enforcement authorities in cyber-incident investigations upon formal judicial summons.

CLAUSES 15–19: LEGAL LIABILITY, GRIEVANCE & JURISDICTION

15. Limitation of Liability: Services provided "AS IS". Maximum aggregate liability is capped at actual consideration paid in the preceding 3 months or INR 5,000, whichever is less.

16. Indemnification: User covenants to indemnify VibeNMeet against claims arising from User Content, age/gender misrepresentation, or Terms violations.

17. Statutory Grievance Redressal & Safety Contact (Rule 3(2) IT Rules 2021):

  • Officer: Grievance Redressal Officer, Legal & Compliance
  • Email: support@vibenmeet.social
  • Direct Safety & Moderation Escalation: safety@vibenmeet.com
  • Subject Syntax: [LEGAL GRIEVANCE / TERMS INQUIRY] - UID: <Your UID>
  • SLAs: Acknowledgment within 24 hours; disposal within 15 calendar days.

18. Governing Law & Jurisdiction: Governed exclusively by the substantive Laws of India. Competent courts in Hyderabad, Telangana, India possess exclusive territorial jurisdiction.

19. Severability: If any clause is held unenforceable, remaining terms remain in full force.

CLAUSE 20: TERMS OF USE FOR LISTED CAFÉS & VENUES

If you represent, own, manage, or submit a request to list a café or physical venue on the VibeNMeet platform, the following statutory terms and disclaimers apply strictly and unconditionally:

20.1. Intermediary Status: VibeNMeet operates exclusively as a technology and discovery intermediary under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Displaying a café or venue on the platform merely indicates its availability as a physical location suggestion for user meetups.

20.2. ZERO GUARANTEE OF CUSTOMER FOOTFALL OR REVENUE: Listing a café on VibeNMeet does not constitute any guarantee, promise, warranty, or representation—express or implied—regarding customer footfall, table reservations, proposal acceptance rates, meetup completion, product sales, or commercial revenue.

20.3. ABSOLUTE DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY FOR USER & CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR: VibeNMeet, its owners, directors, officers, agents, and VIBENMEET LLP assume ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY WHATSOEVER for the actions, omissions, conduct, behavior, statements, disputes, cancellations, non-payments, property damage, illegal acts, or personal safety of any platform users, customers, or third parties visiting, congregating at, or ordering from your establishment.

20.4. Sole Responsibility of Venue Management: The café management and owners retain 100% sole responsibility for: (a) maintaining premise security and public safety; (b) managing table allocation and consumer orders; (c) collecting food and beverage payments; (d) enforcing their establishment's independent house rules; and (e) complying with all local municipal, health, safety, and commercial licenses.

20.5. Independent Relationship: Listing a venue does not establish any joint venture, principal-agent, franchise, partnership, fiduciary, or employment relationship between the venue and VibeNMeet / VIBENMEET LLP.

20.6. Listing Discretion & Delisting: VibeNMeet reserves the unencumbered right to approve, reject, modify, pause, or delist any venue at any time at its sole discretion without prior notice or commercial liability.

Executed by Order of the Management & Legal Directorate
VibeNMeet / VIBENMEET LLP
General Inquiries: support@vibenmeet.social • Safety & Moderation: safety@vibenmeet.com