Terms of Use
Terms of Use
This page is a plain-language template provided for convenience. It is not legal advice. Please have it reviewed by a qualified legal professional before launch.
These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and the makers of PlantDex ("we", "us", "our") covering your use of the PlantDex mobile app and the website at plant-journal-3fc95.web.app (together, the "app" or the "service"). PlantDex helps you identify plants and build your own illustrated collection. Please read these Terms together with our Privacy Policy and our Safety information.
1. Accepting these Terms
By downloading, installing, or using PlantDex, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the app. If you are using the app on behalf of someone else, you confirm you are allowed to accept these Terms for them. If you do not meet the age requirements in the "Children" section below, you may not use the app.
2. Your licence to use the app
We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use PlantDex on devices you own or control, for your own personal, non-commercial use of the app itself. This licence covers using the app as intended — identifying plants, keeping a collection, and browsing the catalog.
This personal-use licence is about how you use the app as a product. It is separate from the open-source and open-content licences that the app's code, model, and data are released under, which are described in the "Intellectual property and open licences" section and grant you broader rights over those specific components.
You agree not to:
- copy, sell, rent, sublicense, or commercially redistribute the app as a product, except as expressly permitted by the underlying open licences;
- reverse-engineer, decompile, or tamper with the app except where the law or an applicable open licence allows it;
- remove or obscure any attribution, copyright, or licence notices;
- use the app in any way that breaks the law or these Terms.
3. Identification only — never advice (please read)
This is the most important thing to understand about PlantDex. The app identifies plants and nothing more. It uses an on-device model to suggest what a plant might be, and it always presents several ranked candidates each with a confidence level — never a single, certain, unqualified verdict.
PlantDex does not tell you whether a plant is safe to touch, eat, forage, brew, or use medicinally, and it offers no edibility, foraging, medicinal, or treatment guidance of any kind. An identification can be wrong, and many plants have toxic look-alikes.
Never eat, forage, handle, or use any plant based on the app's identification. Identifications are for general interest and learning only. Do not rely on the app for any decision that could affect your health or safety, or anyone else's. If you have eaten or come into contact with a plant and feel unwell, contact a doctor, poison-control service, or emergency services immediately. For more detail, see our Safety information.
4. The app is provided "as is"
PlantDex is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.
We do not warrant that identifications will be correct or complete, that the app will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that any defects will be fixed. Plant identification is inherently uncertain, and results are best-effort suggestions, not facts. You use the app at your own risk.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits any rights you have under mandatory consumer-protection law.
5. Intellectual property and open licences
PlantDex is an open project. The app's code, the identification model, and the catalog data are released under open licences, which we credit both in the app and on this website:
- App and pipeline code: open-source under the Apache License 2.0.
- Catalog data: openly licensed under CC0 and CC-BY (and CC-BY-SA for some reference text).
- Identification model: shared under CC-BY.
Your use of those components is governed by their respective open licences, which may grant you more rights than the personal-use licence in Section 2. Where a licence requires attribution (such as CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or the Apache NOTICE), those obligations apply, and the app provides the necessary attributions in its settings. The "PlantDex" name, logo, and brand are ours and are not covered by those open licences.
6. Acceptable use
When using PlantDex, you agree not to:
- use the app for any unlawful, harmful, or fraudulent purpose;
- interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the app, its content-distribution hosts, or any related systems;
- use the app in a way that could damage, disable, or overburden it;
- collect plants in protected areas or in violation of local conservation or trespass laws — always respect rules protecting habitats and private property;
- misrepresent the app's identifications as authoritative or as safety advice.
7. Ads
PlantDex is free and supported by ads. Ads appear only after you have completed the in-app consent flow (and, on iOS, Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt). If you decline, the app stays fully functional and shows non-personalized ads instead of personalized ones. Ads never interrupt the identify-and-catch loop, and never overlap the confidence indicator or the safety disclaimer. You can change your consent choices at any time in Settings. How advertising data is handled is described in our Privacy Policy.
8. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising from or related to your use of (or inability to use) PlantDex — including, without limitation, any harm resulting from reliance on an identification, or from touching, foraging, eating, or otherwise using any plant.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the app will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us for the app (which, for a free app, is zero) or the minimum amount required by applicable law.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.
9. Changes to the app and these Terms
We may update, change, or discontinue the app or any part of it at any time. We may also update these Terms from time to time — for example, to reflect new features or legal requirements. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, provide a notice in the app or on this website. Your continued use of PlantDex after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, please stop using the app.
10. Governing law
These Terms, and any dispute arising from them or from your use of PlantDex, are governed by the laws of [TODO: governing-law jurisdiction], without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located there. This does not remove any protection you have under the mandatory consumer law of your own country of residence.
11. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Get in touch at msquaregiza@gmail.com.