Ephyre Terms of Use

Last updated 21 October 2026

These terms are the agreement between you and the operator of Ephyre, named below, when you use the Ephyre app. You accept them by ticking the box at sign-up and creating an account. Please read them together with the Ephyre Privacy Policy and the Ephyre Child Safety Standards.

Please read these points first

These points limit our responsibility or place risk on you, so we show them here before you sign up.

• We do not run criminal background checks or identity checks on anyone who uses Ephyre. We cannot promise that people are who they say they are.
• You meet people at your own risk. You are responsible for your own safety and behaviour when you meet someone, on the app or in person.
• Ephyre and its owner are not responsible for how other people use or misuse the app, and our liability to you is limited. If your misuse of the app or breach of these terms leads to a claim against us, you must cover our losses (an indemnity). Both are set out in "The legal part" below. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under consumer protection law.
• Chats are permanently deleted when they fade. Neither you nor we can recover them, except messages included in a report you or the other person makes.
• Tokens you use cannot be refunded, except where the law or the app store's refund policy says otherwise.

Who runs Ephyre

In these terms, "Ephyre", "we" and "us" mean the operator above, and "you" means the person using the app.

Who can use Ephyre

• You must be 18 or older, or older still where the age of adulthood in your country or state is higher. We delete the account of anyone younger as soon as we learn of it.
• Where an app store tells us your age category, we use it to check you are an adult, as some laws require.
• One person, one account. Do not create an account for someone else or share yours.
• Your profile must be you: your own photos, your real first name and your real date of birth.
• You are responsible for what happens on your account, so keep your email account and your password secure.
• You may not use Ephyre if a court has ordered you not to, if you are a registered sex offender, or if we closed an earlier account of yours for breaking these terms.
• You must not use Ephyre from a country under a United States government embargo, or if you are on a United States government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

How Ephyre works

• Active Zones are public places such as bars, restaurants, cafés, clubs, malls and landmarks. You can only see and meet people while you are checked in to the same zone.
• Check-in uses your phone's location to confirm you are inside a zone. Do not fake your location or check in somewhere you are not.
• Chats fade. When you leave a zone, its chats end about five minutes later and their messages are permanently deleted. They cannot be recovered by you or by us. The only exception is a report: when someone reports a chat, a copy of its recent messages is kept with the report so we can review it (see the Privacy Policy).
• Second Chance. For 24 hours after a chat fades you can send that person one ping, using a token.
• Distances to other people are shown as a rough range, never an exact figure or a point on a map.
• Ephyre may change, add or remove features as the app develops. If a change takes away something you paid for, we will tell you and give you a fair remedy.

Community rules

Ephyre is for meeting people in the room with you, kindly and safely. Do not:

1. Harass, threaten, stalk, bully or intimidate anyone, on the app or in person.
2. Send or show nudity, sexual content or violent content.
3. Sexualise, groom, exploit or endanger a child in any way. This includes sharing, asking for or linking to child sexual abuse material, and using Ephyre to contact or meet anyone under 18. We remove this content, ban the account permanently and report it to the police and child-protection authorities, as set out in our Child Safety Standards.
4. Use hate speech or attack people for their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or similar.
5. Pretend to be someone else, use other people's photos, or create fake or duplicate accounts.
6. Sell, advertise, recruit, ask for money, or send spam or scams.
7. Share someone's private information, photos or messages without their permission, including screenshots of other people's photos or chats.
8. Use Ephyre for anything illegal, including offering or buying drugs or sexual services.
9. Fake your location, use bots, scrape the app, or try to break, copy or get around its security.

Breaking these rules can lead to warnings, removal of content, suspension or a permanent ban. Where the law requires it, or someone's safety is at risk, we may share information with the police or other authorities.

Your safety

Ephyre does not conduct criminal background screenings or identity checks on its members. Ephyre introduces you to people nearby. We cannot promise that people are who they say they are, or that they are safe to meet.

You are responsible for how you behave with the people you meet, on the app and in person.

Safety tips

These tips are also shown in the app when you sign up.

• Stay in the venue. Ephyre is built for meeting in public places. Keep first meetings there, and do not go somewhere private with someone you have just met.
• Tell a friend. Let someone you trust know where you are, who you are meeting, and when you expect to leave.
• Watch your drink. Never leave it unattended, and do not accept a drink you did not see being poured.
• Get yourself home. Arrange your own transport, and do not share your home address until you trust someone.
• Protect your money and details. Never send money, gift cards or your banking details to someone you met on Ephyre.
• Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, leave. You do not owe anyone your time.
• Block and report. Block and report anyone who makes you uncomfortable, from their profile or the chat.
• In an emergency, contact local emergency services or the venue's staff first.

Your content

• You keep ownership of your photos, profile text and messages.
• You give Ephyre a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, copy, resize and show that content in the app, only as needed to run Ephyre. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, apart from copies kept in a report or that we must keep by law.
• Only post content you have the right to post. Do not post other people's photos or anything that breaks these rules.
• We may remove content that breaks these terms, without notice.
• The Ephyre name, logo, app and design belong to Ephyre. Ephyre gives you a personal, non-transferable licence to use the app on devices you own or control, for as long as you have an account. You may not copy, sell or reuse the app or its design.

Sparks, tokens and purchases

• You get one free Spark a day. It comes back at midnight in your time zone and does not build up. You cannot Spark the same person twice within 24 hours.
• Tokens buy extra Sparks and Second Chance pings: one token for one Spark or one ping. The full price, including any taxes, is shown in the app store before you pay.
• You buy tokens through the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, and their payment terms apply. We never see your card or bank details. Your receipts stay available in your app store account.
• Tokens are a prepaid licence to use a feature in the app. They have no cash value and cannot be sold, transferred or exchanged for money.
• Unused tokens you paid for stay valid for at least three years from the date you bought them. We will not close your account for inactivity while you hold paid tokens that are less than three years old.
• If you delete your account yourself, the app warns you first that any unused tokens will be lost. If we close your account because you broke these terms, unused tokens are lost, unless the law requires otherwise.
• Tokens are added to your account as soon as you pay. By completing the purchase, you ask us to start supplying the service straight away. For that reason the seven-day cooling-off right in section 44 of South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act does not apply to tokens (section 42(2)(d) of that Act).
• Purchases are otherwise final, except where the law or the app store's refund policy says otherwise. Refunds are requested through the store you paid in. If tokens you paid for do not arrive, contact us and we will fix it.
• If we stop running Ephyre, we will give you at least 30 days' notice and refund the price of your unused paid tokens.
• A Spark or ping tells the other person you are interested. It does not guarantee a reply or a connection.

Reports, suspensions and closing your account

• You can report a person from their profile or a chat. Reports are confidential: the person is not told who reported them.
• When you report a chat, a copy of its recent messages is saved with the report so we can review it. The other person's report of a chat with you works the same way.
• We review reports and may warn, suspend or permanently ban an account, or remove content. We aim to act on reports about child safety or immediate danger first. Where possible we tell you why and how to ask us to look again.
• You can delete your account at any time from the Profile tab, or at ephyre.app/delete-account without the app. See the Privacy Policy for what is deleted, what is kept and for how long.
• We may close an account that breaks these terms or puts others at risk. We may also close an account that has not been signed in to for 24 months, after emailing you at least 30 days before, and subject to the token rule above.
• When an account is closed, the licence to use the app ends. The parts of these terms that by their nature should continue, such as "The legal part", still apply.

The legal part

• No guarantees. Ephyre is provided as it is. We work to keep it running and accurate, but we do not promise it will always be available, error-free, or that zones and locations are always exact.
• Liability. Ephyre only introduces people who are in the same place. To the fullest extent the law allows, Ephyre and its owner, directors, employees and contractors are not liable for: the conduct of any user, on the app or in person; any misuse of the app by anyone; content other users post or send; anything that happens when you meet someone; or indirect, consequential or special losses, or lost profits. If we are found liable despite this, our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose. This does not limit liability for our own gross negligence, fraud or intentional wrongdoing, or any liability that cannot be limited by law.
• Indemnity. You indemnify Ephyre and its owner, directors, employees and contractors against any claim, loss, damage or cost, including reasonable legal fees, that arises from your misuse of the app, your breach of these terms or the law, your content, or how you treat other people. This does not apply to the extent the loss was caused by our own gross negligence, fraud or intentional wrongdoing.
• Disputes between members. A dispute you have with another member is between you and them. We may help, for example by acting on a report, but we have no duty to take part, and you may not hold Ephyre or its owner responsible for what another member did.
• Your consumer rights. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer protection law, including South Africa's Consumer Protection Act and Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, and the consumer protection laws of the US state or other country where you live.
• Changes. We may update these terms. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email at least 30 days before it takes effect. If you do not agree, you can delete your account before then. Using Ephyre after the change takes effect means you accept the new terms.
• Electronic notices. You agree that notices, agreements and other messages we send you by email or in the app satisfy any legal requirement that they be in writing.
• Complaints and disputes. Please contact us first at hello@ephyre.app; we reply within 10 business days and aim to resolve complaints within 30 days. If we cannot resolve it, you can go to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud or the National Consumer Commission in South Africa, the consumer protection authority where you live, or a court.
• Law. These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa. If you live elsewhere, including the United States or the European Union, you also keep any rights your local law gives you that cannot be waived, and you can bring a claim in the courts where you live where that law allows it.
• Transfer. We may transfer these terms to a company that takes over running Ephyre. We will tell you if this happens, and it will not reduce your rights.
• If a part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. These terms, the Privacy Policy and the Child Safety Standards are the whole agreement between you and Ephyre about the app.

App stores

You must also follow the terms of the app store you downloaded Ephyre from, and of your mobile carrier, when you use the app.

Google Play. Google is not a party to these terms and is not responsible for Ephyre.

Apple App Store. If you downloaded Ephyre from the Apple App Store, you and we agree that:

1. These terms are between you and Ephyre only, not Apple. Ephyre, not Apple, is solely responsible for the app and its content.
2. Your licence to use the app is non-transferable and limited to Apple-branded products you own or control, as the App Store's Usage Rules allow, including Family Sharing where it applies.
3. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
4. If the app fails to meet any warranty that applies, you may tell Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. To the extent the law allows, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app. Ephyre is responsible for any other claims, losses or costs from a failure to meet a warranty.
5. Ephyre, not Apple, is responsible for handling claims by you or anyone else about the app, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer protection or privacy claims.
6. If anyone claims the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property, Ephyre, not Apple, is responsible for investigating, defending, settling and discharging that claim.
7. You confirm you are not in a country under a United States government embargo or designated as supporting terrorism, and you are not on a United States government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
8. Questions, complaints or claims about the app go to Ephyre, using the details in "Who runs Ephyre" above.
9. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms. Once you accept them, Apple has the right, and is deemed to have accepted the right, to enforce them against you.

Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@ephyre.app, or Send feedback in Settings. Child safety concerns: childsafety@ephyre.app. Our full contact details are in "Who runs Ephyre" above.