Terms of Service

These terms govern your use of privacybench (the "service"), operated by privacybench ("we", "us"). By creating an account or using the service you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

1. The service

privacybench reads the privacy labels that app developers publish on the App Store, scores them with a published formula, and presents rankings, comparisons and change history. Paid plans add programmatic access (the "API"). The service is in preview and features, limits and availability may change.

2. Accounts

• You must be at least 16 years old and able to form a binding contract.
• Give accurate information and keep your credentials secure. You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your API keys secret.
• One person or organisation per account. Do not share an account or key to get around plan limits.
• Tell us promptly at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised use.

3. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• scrape, crawl or bulk-download the site or API other than through an API plan that permits it;
• bypass or attempt to bypass authentication, rate limits or other technical restrictions;
• interfere with the service or probe it for vulnerabilities without our written permission;
• resell or redistribute the data as a competing dataset or API;
• present a score as proof of wrongdoing by a developer, or use the service to harass anyone;
• use the service for anything unlawful.

You may quote scores and link to pages with attribution to privacybench and a link back, and you may embed our badges as documented on each app page.

4. API access

An API key belongs to the account that created it. Each plan has a daily request limit per key, published on the pricing page. We may throttle or suspend a key that exceeds its limit, is shared, or is used in breach of these terms. Only a hash of a key is stored, so a lost key cannot be recovered; revoke it and create a new one.

5. Plans, billing and refunds

• Merchant of record. Payments are processed by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the seller of record, charges applicable sales tax and VAT, and issues invoices. Your purchase is also subject to Lemon Squeezy's terms. We never receive your full card details.
• Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly or yearly, as you chose) until you cancel, at the price shown at checkout.
• Cancelling. Cancel any time from your account (Manage billing). You keep paid access until the end of the period already paid for; nothing further is charged.
• Refunds. If the service did not work as the plan describes, ask within 14 days of your first payment on a plan and we will refund it. Later renewals are not refunded automatically, but write to us if something went wrong. Statutory rights that cannot be waived are not affected.
• Failed payments. If a renewal fails, Lemon Squeezy retries it. If it cannot be collected, the account returns to the free plan.
• Price changes. We may change prices for future periods and will give notice before a change applies to your subscription.

6. About the data

Privacy labels are self-declarations made by developers. They are not verified by Apple and they are not verified by us. A score describes what a label says, not what an app does, and is not evidence of wrongdoing. Data can be out of date, incomplete or wrong, including because a label could not be read. Do not rely on the service as legal, compliance or security advice.

privacybench is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple Inc. or Google LLC. Apple, App Store, Google and Google Play are trademarks of their owners.

7. Ownership and licence

We own the service, its design, code and the compiled dataset and scores. Underlying facts and third-party names and trademarks belong to their owners. Subject to these terms and your plan, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the service and the data it returns for your own internal purposes.

8. No warranty

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose and uninterrupted availability, to the fullest extent permitted by law.

9. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for lost profits, revenue or data. Our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose (or, on the free plan, to EUR 50). Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

10. Ending your use

You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time (see the privacy policy). We may suspend or end access if you breach these terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the service; where you have prepaid for a period we will not deliver, we will refund the unused part.

11. Changes

We may update these terms. Material changes take effect after we post them here with a new "last updated" date, and, for paying customers, after notice by email. Continued use after that means you accept the new terms.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the country where privacybench is established, without depriving you of any mandatory consumer protection of the country where you live.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms: [email protected].