Terms of Service & End-User License Agreement

Effective 2026-05-30 · Last updated 2026-05-30

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you ("you," "your") and EchoPersona ("Carets," "we," "us," "our"), the operator of Carets, based in New Mexico (United States). They govern your access to and use of the Carets mobile application (the "App") and the website at carets.app (the "Site"), together the "Services."

By installing, downloading, accessing, or using the Services, you accept these Terms. If you do not agree, do not install the App or use the Site. These Terms include an Apple-specific section (clause 14), a Google Play-specific section (clause 15), statutory consumer protections that cannot be waived (clause 22), and an arbitration agreement and class-action waiver for United-States residents (clause 24), which you may opt out of as described therein. Read them carefully.

1. Definitions

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum age of digital consent in your country, whichever is higher) to use the Services. If you are using the Services on behalf of a company or organization, you represent and warrant that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms, and "you" includes that entity. We do not knowingly contract with anyone under the applicable age of consent.

3. Your account, identity, and authentication

The App is designed to be usable with no account. The free experience never asks you to sign in. The optional Pro cloud sync uses Sign in with Apple (iOS) or Google Sign-In (Android) only to access your own iCloud or Google Drive container. Opening an External File from Google Drive on Android also invokes Google Sign-In, narrowly scoped to per-file access (drive.file). We do not operate user accounts or hold credentials on our servers.

You are responsible for the security of your device, your Apple ID, and your Google account, including the use of a passcode or biometric lock. Loss or compromise of the device may expose Your Content; we are not liable for unauthorized access resulting from a compromised device or account.

4. License to the App

Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, EchoPersona grants you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to install and use the App in object-code form on a mobile device that you own or control, for your personal, non-commercial use. The App is licensed, not sold. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by EchoPersona and its licensors.

5. Your Content

You retain all rights you had in Your Content before importing it (for Internal Notes you write) or before opening it (for External Files you edit). Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of Your Content to EchoPersona.

You grant us a limited, royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive licence to process Your Content on your device solely to provide the App's features (rendering, syntax-highlighting, indexing, searching, exporting, and — at your election — copying your Internal Notes to your own iCloud or Drive container). For External Files, this licence is further limited to the security-scoped permission the OS grants the App for the specific file URI you opened; we use it only to read the file and to save your edits back to the same URI. This licence ends when you delete the Internal Note from the App, when you stop editing the External File, or when the OS security scope expires; it never includes the right to publicly display, publish, or commercially exploit Your Content. We do not host Your Content on our servers, and we do not claim any further rights to it.

You represent and warrant that Your Content does not infringe any copyright, trademark, trade-secret, privacy, publicity, moral, or other right of any third party, and that you have the lawful right to write it (Internal Notes) or edit it (External Files). The App is a personal editor, not a publishing platform, marketplace, library, or redistribution channel.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to permit or enable anyone else to:

We may suspend or terminate access to the Services (in addition to any other remedies) if you engage in any of the above.

7. Notice of copyright infringement (DMCA and equivalents)

We respect intellectual-property rights. Because we do not host Your Content, takedown notices ordinarily do not apply to us — the appropriate target is whoever is hosting the material. If you nonetheless believe that material accessible via something we do control on the Services infringes your copyright, send a notice to support@carets.app with the elements required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3): identification of the work, the allegedly infringing material with enough detail for us to locate it, your contact details, your good-faith statement, a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorized to act on their behalf, and your physical or electronic signature. We may forward complete notices to the alleged infringer.

8. Purchases

8.1 Free tier

The App is free to install and use, with the editor surface (syntax highlighting, line numbers, find & replace with regex, go-to-line, command palette, multi-cursor, Markdown preview), full-text search, folders/tags, and the Light and Dark themes available in full. The free tier limits Internal Notes to 30 per install. Editing External Files is unlimited and free on every tier, including the free tier — it is a core editor function, not a stored note. The free Internal-Note cap is a product setting and may be adjusted in future versions; any change will not retroactively remove notes you have already created.

8.2 Carets Pro (one-time purchase)

Pro is a single one-time, non-consumable in-app purchase of $5.99, product identifier carets_pro. There is no subscription and nothing auto-renews — you pay once and the Pro entitlement is yours. Pro unlocks unlimited Internal Notes, cloud sync of Internal Notes to your own iCloud (iOS) or Google Drive (Android), all themes and fonts, and export to Markdown, PDF, and plain text.

Prices are exclusive of taxes where applicable and are displayed inclusive of VAT in jurisdictions where the Stores require that. Apple and Google may adjust local prices without notice based on currency or tax changes. We may set a different price for new purchasers in the future; this does not affect a purchase you have already made. "One-time" means the operational life of the App on the Stores; if the App is permanently discontinued, we will use reasonable efforts to provide either an export of Your Content or comparable functionality for a transitional period. The Pro purchase does not entitle you to features of any successor product released by us under a different name.

8.3 Family Sharing / Google Play Family Library

Sharing of in-app purchases via Apple Family Sharing or Google Play Family Library is offered only to the extent we have enabled it for a given product. Where enabled, family members granted Pro by the purchaser may use the paid features under these Terms, including the cancellation, refund, and storage clauses.

8.4 Refunds and statutory withdrawal rights

All payments are processed by Apple or Google, not by us. Refund requests are therefore handled by them under their published policies:

Where mandatory consumer law grants you a statutory right of withdrawal or refund — for example, the 14-day cooling-off period under EU Directive 2011/83/EU and the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 — that right applies and is not affected by these Terms. Note that by asking to use a Pro feature during the withdrawal period you expressly consent to immediate performance and acknowledge that, where applicable law permits, you may lose the right of withdrawal once the service has been fully provided. We will draw your attention to this at the point of purchase where the law requires.

8.5 Promotional codes and gift purchases

Where we issue promotional codes, they are non-transferable, may be limited to one per Store account, cannot be redeemed for cash, and expire on the date stated. Codes obtained through unauthorized channels are void.

8.6 Restore Purchases

If you reinstall the App or use a new device with the same Store account, the paywall provides a Restore Purchases control that re-attaches your Pro entitlement. We are required by the Stores to make this control available and you are required to use it (rather than re-purchasing) when your Pro entitlement was already bought.

8.7 Taxes

Stated prices may exclude taxes where the Stores show them separately. Apple and Google handle the calculation, collection, and remittance of applicable consumption taxes (VAT, GST, sales tax). You are responsible for any taxes the Stores do not collect.

9. Cloud sync, your own cloud, and data loss

Pro cloud sync writes a copy of your Internal Notes into your own iCloud container (iOS) or Google Drive appDataFolder (Android). External Files are not synced by us — they already live in your own cloud (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Files), and we only edit them in place. Consequently:

The App offers a Delete all data control. If you use it, both the local notes database and (if cloud sync was on) the cloud copy are deleted. External Files in your own cloud are not affected — delete them in iCloud Drive / Google Drive / Files yourself. The Delete all data action is irreversible.

10. Updates, changes, and discontinuation of the Services

We may release updates that add, modify, or remove features. We may discontinue or materially change features that have become unsustainable, unsafe, or non-compliant. We will not remove a paid Pro feature you have purchased without offering comparable functionality or, where appropriate, a remedy, except where required by law or to address a critical security risk.

Some updates may be required by Apple, Google, or a security advisory to continue using the Services. We may withdraw older versions to keep all users on a safe baseline.

11. Beta or pre-release features

We may make experimental or "beta" features available, identified as such in-app. Beta features are provided "as-is," may be unstable, may be withdrawn at any time, and may collect additional diagnostic information described at the point of opt-in. Your use of a beta feature is at your own risk; the warranty and liability limitations in clauses 19 and 20 apply with particular force to beta features.

12. Feedback

We welcome feedback. If you send us suggestions, ideas, bug reports, or comments about the Services ("Feedback"), you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to use that Feedback for any purpose, without obligation to you. You waive any moral rights in the Feedback to the extent waivable. You agree that Feedback is not your confidential information and you do not expect a payment, credit, or reciprocal disclosure.

13. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Services, with or without notice, if (a) you materially breach these Terms, (b) we reasonably believe you have engaged in fraud, abuse, or illegal conduct, (c) we are required to do so by law, court order, or a Store policy, or (d) we discontinue the Services generally.

Termination of access does not automatically refund amounts already paid unless required by law. Because Pro is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, there is nothing to cancel; if we terminate without cause or discontinue the Services entirely shortly after your purchase, we will seek a fair remedy where Apple or Google policy and applicable law permit. You may stop using the Services at any time by uninstalling the App.

14. Apple App Store — additional terms

If you obtained the App from Apple's App Store, the following additional terms apply, and Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the "Standard EULA," available at apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula) is incorporated by reference. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and the Standard EULA, these Terms control to the extent permitted by the Standard EULA.

15. Google Play — additional terms

If you obtained the App from Google Play, your use of the App is also subject to the Google Play Terms of Service. You acknowledge that Google is not a party to these Terms and is not responsible for the App or its content.

16. Third-party services and content

The Services rely on third-party platforms including Apple Inc., Google LLC, RevenueCat Inc., Vercel Inc., and the operators of the iCloud and Google Drive services, as further described in our Privacy Policy. Your use of those services is subject to the third party's own terms and privacy notices. We are not responsible for, do not endorse, and do not control any third-party service, even where it is linked from the Services.

External Files you open and edit may contain third-party content. We do not review, validate, or endorse that content; you are responsible for evaluating it.

17. Intellectual property

The Services, including all software, design, text, graphics, logos, trademarks, sound, audio, video, and trade dress used in the App and Site (other than Your Content and clearly identified third-party materials), are owned by EchoPersona or its licensors and are protected by the intellectual property and other laws of United States and other jurisdictions. "Carets", the Carets logo, and related marks are trademarks of EchoPersona. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use those marks without our prior written permission.

18. Open-source notices

The App incorporates open-source software, including but not limited to React Native, Expo, CodeMirror, and the other libraries credited in the App's Settings → Acknowledgements screen. Those components are licensed under their own terms, which apply notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms. To the extent a mandatory open-source licence (for example, the LGPL) guarantees you a right that these Terms purport to restrict, that right is preserved.

19. Disclaimers

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT:

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on statutory consumer rights; in those jurisdictions, the above exclusions apply only to the extent permitted, and your statutory rights remain unaffected.

20. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL ECHOPERSONA, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES, REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL THEORY (CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE) AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US (OR PAID THROUGH THE STORES FOR PRO) IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, AND (B) USD $50.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law, including liability for fraud, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or rights you have under mandatory consumer-protection laws.

21. Indemnification

You agree, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless EchoPersona and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, contractors, and agents from any claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to (a) Your Content, (b) your breach of these Terms, (c) your violation of any third-party right (including intellectual-property, privacy, and publicity rights), or (d) your violation of any applicable law. We will promptly notify you of any such claim and give you reasonable cooperation, at your expense, in its defence. You may not settle a claim without our prior written consent if the settlement imposes any obligation on us.

22. Mandatory consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms is intended to override mandatory consumer-protection rights in your country of residence. In particular:

23. Informal dispute resolution

Before filing a formal claim, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at support@carets.app. We will try to resolve the dispute by contacting you at the email you used. If we are unable to resolve the dispute within 60 days, either of us may proceed under clause 24. This informal step does not toll statutes of limitations or apply where prohibited.

24. Governing law and disputes

These Terms and any non-contractual obligation arising out of them are governed by the laws of New Mexico (United States) (and, where relevant, United States), excluding its conflict-of-laws rules. Mandatory consumer-protection rights of your country of residence remain unaffected. The competent courts of New Mexico (United States) have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to your right (if you are a consumer) to bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence where required by law.

24.1 Arbitration agreement and class-action waiver (United States residents)

If you reside in the United States, you and EchoPersona agree to resolve disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services through binding individual arbitration administered by AAA under its then-current rules, except: (a) you may bring qualifying claims in small-claims court instead; and (b) either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or violation of intellectual-property rights. The arbitration will be conducted in English. The arbitrator's award is final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class-action waiver. You and EchoPersona agree that any dispute will be resolved only on an individual basis and not as a class, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing support@carets.app with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out," your name, and the email used to purchase Pro (if any), within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.

25. Force majeure

Neither party is liable for failure or delay in performance caused by events outside its reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, riots, embargoes, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods, accidents, network infrastructure failures, strikes, or shortages of transportation, facilities, fuel, energy, labour, or materials. Affected obligations are suspended for the duration of the event; either party may terminate if the event continues for more than 90 days.

26. Export controls and sanctions

The Services are subject to U.S. and other applicable export-control and sanctions laws. You may not access, download, use, or export the Services in violation of those laws. You represent that you are not located in, ordinarily resident in, or a national of any country that is subject to a comprehensive sanctions programme of the U.S. government, and that you are not listed on any restricted-party list maintained by the U.S. government or the European Union.

27. U.S. Government users

The App is "commercial computer software" and the Site is "commercial computer software documentation" within the meaning of 48 C.F.R. § 2.101. Use by U.S. Government end users is subject to these Terms and only those rights provided to all other end users under these Terms. Any use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to 48 C.F.R. §§ 12.212 and 227.7202-1 through -4.

28. Privacy and security

Your privacy is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Our use of cookies on the Site is described in the Cookie Policy. To request deletion of Your Content or any associated records we hold, see Delete my data. Security issues should be sent to contact@carets.app with the subject line "SECURITY"; we will acknowledge within 72 hours.

29. Notices and electronic communications

You consent to receive communications from us electronically, including via the App and the email address you provide (if any). Legal notices we send you may be delivered through the App or to that email; you should keep your contact details current. Notices to us must be sent to support@carets.app (addressed to EchoPersona).

30. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms when the Services change in material ways. Material changes will be highlighted in the App or on the Site at least 30 days before they take effect (or such longer period as the law requires); the "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the Services after the effective date constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not accept a material change, your remedy is to stop using the Services and uninstall the App.

31. Assignment

You may not assign, transfer, or sublicense these Terms or any of your rights or obligations under them, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. We may freely assign or transfer these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, financing, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or to an affiliate. Any prohibited assignment is void.

32. Severability and waiver

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable or, if that is not possible, severed; the remaining provisions remain in effect. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision; a waiver is effective only if in writing and signed by an authorized representative.

33. No third-party beneficiaries (except Apple)

Except as set out in clause 14 (Apple as a third-party beneficiary), these Terms do not confer any rights or remedies upon any third party.

34. Headings and interpretation

Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation. "Including" means "including without limitation." References to laws or regulations include any amendment or replacement. Singular includes plural and vice versa.

35. Survival

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including clauses 5 (Your Content licence to the extent already exercised), 7 (DMCA), 12 (Feedback), 17 (Intellectual property), 19 (Disclaimers), 20 (Limitation of liability), 21 (Indemnification), 22–24 (Consumer rights, informal dispute, governing law / arbitration), 28 (Privacy), 29 (Notices), 31–34, and this clause 35 — will survive termination of these Terms.

36. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, and any Apple, Google, or third-party terms incorporated above, constitute the entire agreement between you and EchoPersona regarding the Services and supersede any prior agreement on the same subject. No representation, statement, inducement, oral or written, not contained in these Terms forms part of this agreement.

37. Contact

EchoPersona — operator of Carets (New Mexico (United States))
Support: support@carets.app
Privacy: contact@carets.app
Security: contact@carets.app