DRAFT — a design text, not legal advice. Awaiting approval by a lawyer; items marked TBC are still open.
1. Who we are and what these terms cover
1.1 TripSnail is operated by Polski Vanlife LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16379430), Unit 82A James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE, United Kingdom, e-mail info@tripsnail.com (“we”, “us”).
1.2 These terms are the agreement between you and us for the TripSnail app for Android and iPhone and its web version at www.tripsnail.com, including all their features: the map, conversations, groups and Friends.
1.3 The Community Rules form part of these terms. If the Community Rules and these terms differ, these terms apply.
1.4 The Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data. It is information for you, not part of this agreement, and you are not asked to accept it.
1.5 You accept these terms when you create an account. We record which version you accepted and when. You can read the current version at any time in the app and on our website.
1.6 If you downloaded the app from the Apple App Store, Apple’s standard licence terms for apps also apply to your use of the app. TBC: Apple’s standard licence or Apple’s minimum terms added here (counsel).
2. Who may use TripSnail
2.1 TripSnail is offered to people in the United Kingdom and in Europe (EU/EEA). It is not offered in the United States. You can keep using TripSnail while you travel outside these countries. TBC: wording and effect for people who live elsewhere (counsel).
2.2 You must be at least 18 years old. You confirm this by giving your full date of birth when you create an account. We do not check identity documents.
2.3 If we have reason to believe that an account belongs to someone under 18, for example after a report, a moderator reviews it. If the moderator concludes that the person is under 18, we remove the account. You can appeal this decision like any other (section 8).
2.4 One account per confirmed e-mail address. Do not use more than one account to get around a block, a suspension or a limit, or to work out where someone is.
2.5 Give true information about yourself. Do not pretend to be another person, a moderator or TripSnail.
2.6 Keep your password and your e-mail account safe, and tell us at info@tripsnail.com if you think someone else is using your account.
3. What TripSnail is — and is not
3.1 TripSnail shows people on the road who are near you and lets you contact them. It does not check anyone’s identity, criminal record, character or intentions, and it does not arrange, take part in or supervise meetings. Whether, where and when you meet someone, and what you share, is your decision. Read the Safety rules in the app before you meet anyone.
3.2 TripSnail is not an emergency service. If you or someone else is in danger, call the local emergency number (112 in Europe, 999 in the United Kingdom).
3.3 This section does not reduce our own duties under these terms and the law: to provide TripSnail with reasonable care and skill, to protect your data, and to deal with reports and illegal content as described in sections 8 and 9.
4. Your account
4.1 You can hide yourself from the map at any time (offline mode), take a break from the app, or delete your account in the app (Settings → Account and privacy → Delete account and data).
4.2 When you delete your account, from that moment you disappear from the map and from lists, you are signed out on all devices, and your last position is deleted. For 30 days you can sign in and get your account back in full. After that we permanently delete your account, profile, photos and messages; copies in our backups expire within 7 days.
4.3 Some information is kept for longer for a separate reason, as set out in the Privacy Policy: report files concerning your account (366 days (1 year)), a copy of a photo removed by moderation, for a possible appeal (30 days), and material passed to the authorities (at least 366 days (1 year)). Conversation content is kept for these purposes only if it was attached to a report.
4.4 Deleting your account in the app does not limit your rights under data protection law. If you write to info@tripsnail.com to exercise those rights, including the right to erasure, we answer within 25 days.
5. Location and visibility
5.1 You decide whether you are visible on the map and how precisely. Your position is used only while you are visible and only with the location permission you give on your phone. The web version never sends or stores your position.
5.2 By default other people see a blurred pin within a zone, not your exact position. The blur does not change from one request to the next, so it cannot be averaged out.
5.3 Your exact position is shown only:
- to a person you choose with “Show my location” in a conversation. This ends when either of you closes the conversation, when either of you blocks the other, after 30 days without any message, or when you switch it off. Writing a new message does not switch it back on;
- to members of a group you have joined, on that group’s map. You can hide yourself in any group (you then also stop seeing the other members’ positions in that group), and leaving the group ends it;
- to your Friends, if you choose “Friends see my exact spot”;
- to anyone you send a location link to, for the time you choose, up to 8 hours.
5.4 Offline mode hides you everywhere, including in your groups, and deletes your last position from our server.
5.5 We keep only your last position, overwritten each time. We do not keep a history of where you have been.
5.6 Anyone who can see your position can note it or take a screenshot outside TripSnail, and we cannot prevent that. Share your exact location only with people you trust.
6. Your content
6.1 “Your content” means your profile, photos, messages, group messages and anything else you add.
6.2 Your content stays yours. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, copy, resize, convert, back up and display your content, only to run TripSnail: to show it to the people your settings and choices allow, to let moderators review it when it is reported, and to keep it for the periods set out in section 4 and in the Privacy Policy. Our hosting and other service providers may handle it on our behalf only for these purposes.
6.3 We do not use your content for advertising, we do not sell it, and we do not license it to anyone else. The licence ends when the content is deleted, except for the copies and periods described in section 4.3.
6.4 Messages you send in a group can be seen by its members. If the group’s administrator allows it, people who join later can also see earlier messages.
6.5 We do not read or scan your conversations. A moderator sees messages only when a participant attaches them to a report, or when a group message is reported. We give stored messages to an authority only when the law requires us to, and only what is required.
6.6 You are responsible for your content. Post only photos of yourself or of things you have the right to post. A photo showing another person needs that person’s consent to being shown in TripSnail.
6.7 Do not post anything that breaks the Community Rules or the law.
7. Zero tolerance
7.1 We do not tolerate objectionable content or abusive behaviour. This includes nudity and sexual content; anything involving minors; harassment and stalking; threats; sharing intimate images of someone without their consent, or threatening to; hate; violence; scams; spam; impersonation; and sharing another person’s private information or location without their consent. The full list is in the Community Rules.
7.2 What we do depends on how serious the breach is, whether it was repeated, and its effect on others: no action, a warning, hiding or removing content, limiting features, a suspension, or removal of the account. Serious breaches — for example anything involving minors, threats of violence, or intimate images shared without consent — can lead to suspension or removal without a prior warning.
8. Reporting, blocking and moderation
8.1 You can report a person, a photo or a message in a group from inside the app, and you can block any person. Blocking takes effect at once: the blocked person no longer sees you on the map or in lists and cannot write to you. In a group you both belong to, they no longer see you or your messages, and you see them without their position and with their messages collapsed. If you block the administrator of a group you are in, you leave that group.
8.2 A block applies to that account. If you think someone is getting around a block, for example with a new account, report it: that breaks the Community Rules.
8.3 An automated check may only reject a photo at upload or hide a reported photo temporarily. Every decision that leaves a mark on an account (removal of content, a warning, a suspension, removal of the account) is taken by a person.
8.4 We decide on a report about a photo within 12 hours and on a report about a person within 24 hours. Reports involving a child are handled first. If something outside our control, such as a technical failure, prevents this, we decide as soon as we can.
8.5 We tell the person affected, and the person who reported, by e-mail what we decided, why, on what basis, and how to appeal, unless the law or an order from an authority prevents us.
8.6 You can appeal for 366 days (1 year) from the decision, from the app or by e-mail. The appeal is decided by a different person from the one who took the first decision, within 7 days. If the appeal succeeds, we reverse the effects of the decision. You can also take the matter to an out-of-court dispute settlement body or to court; appealing to us does not prevent this.
8.7 Misusing reports (false or repeated reports to harm someone) can lead to limits on your ability to report. A person looks at the circumstances before such a limit is applied.
8.8 If you believe an intimate image of you has been posted without your consent, report the photo under the category “Someone in the photo didn’t agree to it”. It is reviewed as a priority. TBC: whether further wording is required for the Online Safety Act (counsel).
9. Illegal content, complaints and the authorities
9.1 When we become aware of illegal content in TripSnail, we remove it or disable access to it promptly and take action against the account as described in section 7.
9.2 A person assesses every report against the law and these terms. Not every report leads to removal; we always tell you the outcome and the reasons.
9.3 If we become aware of information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to someone’s life or safety has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, we inform the competent authorities. We report child sexual abuse material to the competent authorities. TBC: the reporting channel (counsel, question 4).
9.4 We give information to authorities only where there is a valid legal basis, and only what is required. Material passed to the authorities is kept for at least 366 days (1 year). TBC: counsel, question 4.
9.5 Complaints. You can complain to us about content you believe is illegal, about our use of automated checks on photos, or that we are not meeting our duties under these terms or online safety law. Use “Report” in the app, or write to info@tripsnail.com with “Complaint” in the subject line. A person handles every complaint. We reply within 7 days and tell you what we did. Complaints about a moderation decision are handled as appeals (section 8.6). TBC: wording against the Online Safety Act codes (counsel).
10. Suspension and ending the agreement
10.1 We may warn you, limit features, suspend your account for 7 days or remove it if you break these terms or the Community Rules, or if the law requires it. A person takes this decision, and we tell you at the time what we decided, why, and how to appeal (section 8).
10.2 During a suspension you are not visible to others on the map or in lists. Your data, photos and conversations are kept, and the account returns by itself when the suspension ends. If you are the administrator of a group, the role passes to another member and does not return automatically.
10.3 You can stop using TripSnail and delete your account at any time, without giving a reason (section 4). Before you do, you can download your data in the app.
11. Our responsibility
11.1 We provide TripSnail with reasonable care and skill. We are responsible for what is on our side: TripSnail working as described in these terms, the security of your data, and dealing with reports and illegal content as described in sections 8 and 9.
11.2 TripSnail is free of charge. We do not promise that it will always be available or free of errors, or that you will find or meet anyone through it.
11.3 We are not responsible for what other users say or do, in TripSnail or at meetings, except where the loss is caused by our own breach of these terms or of the law, for example if we fail to deal with a report as described in section 8.
11.4 We are not responsible for loss that neither you nor we could foresee when you accepted these terms, or for business losses: TripSnail is for private use.
11.5 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for loss caused intentionally or by gross negligence, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law, and nothing affects your statutory rights as a consumer. If you live in the EU/EEA, the mandatory rules on liability of the country where you live also apply. TBC: final wording (counsel, questions 18–19; align with the Safety rules, point 4).
12. Changes to these terms
12.1 We change these terms only for a valid reason: to reflect a change in the law or in a regulator’s guidance, to respond to a safety or security risk, to describe a new or changed feature, or to make them clearer.
12.2 We tell you about a change by e-mail and in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect, and we explain what is changing. A change that only adds something for you, or that the law requires to take effect sooner, can take effect earlier; we still tell you.
12.3 If a change significantly affects your rights, we ask you to accept the new version in the app. Continuing to use TripSnail does not by itself count as accepting such a change.
12.4 If you do not agree with a change, you can delete your account free of charge at any time, before or after the change takes effect.
12.5 We record which version you accepted and when. This information is included in your data download.
13. Governing law and disputes
13.1 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
13.2 If you live in the EU/EEA, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of the country where you live. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the same applies to the mandatory provisions of Scots or Northern Irish law.
13.3 You can bring proceedings against us in the courts of England and Wales or in the courts of the country (or, within the United Kingdom, the part of it) where you live. We will bring proceedings against you only in the courts of the place where you live.
13.4 TBC (counsel): which language version prevails and whether that clause is effective against consumers; out-of-court dispute settlement for users in the United Kingdom; enforcement of judgments between the United Kingdom and the EU.
14. Contact
Polski Vanlife LTD · Unit 82A James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE, United Kingdom · info@tripsnail.com
This address is our single point of contact for users and for authorities in the United Kingdom and the EU. A person reads and answers every message. Languages in which you can write to us: TBC (Art. 11(3) DSA). Legal representative in the EU under the Digital Services Act: TBC.
15. General
If a court decides that part of these terms is invalid, the rest of the terms continue to apply.
Polski Vanlife LTD · Companies House 16379430 · info@tripsnail.com