terms of use

Effective September 10, 2026.

These terms govern wisp.you, its simulated demonstration, and beta access, contributions, and hosting expressly offered by the Wisp project ("Wisp", "we", "us"). They do not replace the open-source licences governing Wisp software or the terms of an independent server operator. Questions and notices: support@wisp.you.

1. agreement and eligibility

We will make these terms available before asking you to agree to them for an account, checkout, or hosted service. Merely visiting the informational website does not waive your statutory rights. A separate written or checkout agreement may add service-specific terms; where it clearly identifies a conflict, those specific terms control for that service, subject to mandatory law and open-source licences.

Use services only if you can lawfully do so and can validly agree to the applicable terms, or have the authorization required from a parent, guardian, or organization. You must have authority to provide any information, make any payment, or administer any group on behalf of another person. A contribution may not be made with a payment method you are not authorized to use.

2. development status and the demo

Wisp is under active development. The website demo is a simulation with fictional users, local messages, and visual voice/camera controls; it does not create a Wisp account, join a real room, or access your microphone or camera. Screenshots, demonstrations, roadmaps, and planned availability describe current work or intentions, not a guarantee of every future release, platform, performance level, or delivery date.

Beta software may contain defects, change substantially, lose data, be interrupted, or require updates. Do not use it for emergency communications, safety-critical operations, or as the sole storage location for important information. Keep your own backups and recovery materials. No statement here removes an express paid commitment or any right the law gives you if an advertised benefit is not delivered.

3. free features and open-source rights

Wisp will never gate a software feature behind a paywall. Optional contributions and hosting support development, closed-beta access where stated, and infrastructure; they do not create premium software feature tiers. Self-hosting the software is free, although hardware, bandwidth, storage, and other provider costs may apply.

Wisp software is licensed under GNU AGPL version 3 only, with applicable third-party notices. Your rights to use, inspect, modify, share, and self-host that software are governed by those licences. These terms do not add restrictions to, revoke, or require a separate payment for rights granted by an open-source licence. Service-access restrictions apply to our hosted resources, not to your lawful use of independently obtained software.

4. accounts, encryption, and your content

Provide accurate information needed for the service and protect your devices, account access, private keys, and recovery materials. Report suspected unauthorized access promptly. We may require reasonable verification for account, payment, or data requests.

You retain rights in your content. To operate a service you request, you permit the processing necessary to receive, store, route, reproduce, and deliver that content in the form provided, including encrypted form, to the intended recipients. This is not permission to use private conversations in advertising, train AI models on them, or claim ownership of them. It does not give us decryption keys that we do not hold. Read the privacy policy for the distinction between encrypted content, metadata, and material voluntarily supplied to support.

Encryption cannot stop a recipient from copying or sharing content, protect an already compromised device, or recover a lost key. We do not guarantee anonymity, absolute security, recovery of encrypted history, or the conduct of other users or independent hosts. You remain responsible for sharing only content you are entitled to share and choosing appropriate recipients and server operators.

5. acceptable use of our services

Do not use our hosted services to break applicable law; distribute child sexual abuse material or other unlawful content; threaten people; exploit or access systems without authorization; distribute malware; commit fraud; infringe others' rights; or deliberately impair the service through spam, abusive automation, or resource exhaustion. Do not misrepresent your affiliation with Wisp or deceive others about payments, invitations, or server ownership.

Good-faith security research must avoid accessing other people's data, disrupting service, or publishing information that exposes users. Coordinate sensitive findings with the project contact. This provision does not restrict rights protected by law or open-source licences.

You are responsible for the content and conduct of accounts or hosted resources you control to the extent provided by law. We are not a party to conversations between users and do not pre-screen end-to-end encrypted content. We may act on reports, observable abuse, legal obligations, and available technical evidence without claiming the ability to read encrypted conversations.

6. closed beta contributions and benefits

Payments are not yet enabled. The amount, currency, recipient, available benefits, and applicable conditions must be shown before a payment is authorized. Contributions are stated in USD unless checkout expressly says otherwise; your bank or payment provider may charge currency-conversion or other fees.

A single completed contribution of $15 USD or more includes a guaranteed closed-beta place for the supporter, places for up to nine friends, and a temporary dedicated Wisp turnkey server for that group during the beta, as described on Support Wisp. Smaller contributions support the project but do not include that package. We do not combine multiple smaller contributions into the threshold unless we expressly offer that option. A payment under review, failed payment, or falsified receipt does not establish eligibility.

This is a closed-beta participation and temporary-hosting benefit, not immediate access, ownership in the project, an investment, permanent hosting, a physical dedicated machine, or a paid software feature. Ongoing hosting after beta is not included. Additional paid hosting requires a separate purchase; we will not automatically convert this temporary benefit into a recurring charge without authorization. Friends must accept applicable participation terms and provide their own information through the chosen invitation process.

Use the checkout email you want associated with the reservation. We may verify payment completion with the provider. A full refund or chargeback normally cancels the associated reservation and unused hosting benefit, subject to applicable law. No provision permits us to keep payment for an express benefit we are legally required to provide or refund.

Contributions are not represented as tax-deductible charitable donations. We do not promise charitable tax receipts, financial returns, or governance rights. Merchandise is a separate future offering; a displayed "coming soon" item is not an available order or a promised part of a contribution.

7. cancellations, refunds, and service changes

Contact the project contact with a transaction reference and checkout email for payment errors, duplicate payments, cancellation, or refund questions. Never include full card details. We will assess requests fairly under the applicable law, the payment terms presented before checkout, and any express commitments made to you. Required refunds and consumer cancellation rights are not limited by calling a payment a donation. If we cancel an undelivered paid benefit and cannot provide an agreed alternative, we will refund the amount attributable to that benefit as required by law.

We may change, limit, pause, or end beta or hosted services for development, security, legal, operational, or funding reasons. We will provide reasonable notice of a material planned change where practicable. Urgent protective action may occur without advance notice. Changes do not retroactively erase a completed purchase obligation or allow a new charge without authorization.

We may suspend access to our hosted resources for a material breach, credible abuse, fraud, or a legal requirement. Where practicable, we will explain the reason and provide a way to raise an error. Suspension does not eliminate rights to refunds, information access, or an independently licensed copy of the software where applicable. You may stop using free services at any time and request account or list removal as described in the privacy policy.

8. providers, independent hosts, and capacity

Payment processors, network providers, independent Wisp server operators, and external sites provide their own services under their own terms. We do not control an independent host merely because it runs Wisp. Our use of a provider does not remove duties we cannot delegate or exclude by law.

File and message features have no fixed application-imposed premium caps, but storage, bandwidth, server settings, retention policies, hardware, and connection limits still apply. Streaming examples are capabilities, not a guarantee for every device or network. Any limits on a hosted plan must be disclosed as infrastructure limits rather than paid feature unlocks.

9. warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, free and beta services are provided "as is" and "as available". We disclaim implied warranties and conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, uninterrupted availability, accuracy, compatibility, and error-free or completely secure operation.

This disclaimer does not exclude an express promise in an agreed paid service, a warranty that applicable law makes mandatory, a statutory standard of reasonable care, or a remedy that cannot lawfully be waived. Open-source warranty provisions apply to the software under its own licence. Wisp is not an emergency service.

10. limits of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Wisp and the people operating or contributing to it are not liable under these service terms for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or loss of profits, revenue, business opportunities, goodwill, or data, arising from use of or inability to use the services, even if advised that such loss could occur.

Where a monetary limit is lawful, our aggregate liability arising from these service terms is limited to the greater of US$100 and the amount you paid us for the affected service in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. The limit applies across related claims, regardless of the legal theory, only to the extent that applying it is lawful and enforceable.

These exclusions and limits do not apply to liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited, including applicable liability for fraud, intentional wrongdoing, gross negligence, personal injury, or non-waivable consumer or privacy rights. They do not excuse required refunds or prevent a regulator from exercising its powers. If the law provides stronger protection, that protection controls. Nothing purports to make us immune from every claim or from our own non-waivable duties.

11. third-party claims

To the extent permitted by law, if you knowingly misuse our hosted services unlawfully or use them on behalf of a business, you must reimburse reasonable amounts we are legally required to pay on a third-party claim to the extent caused by your unlawful conduct or your material breach of these terms. This does not apply to loss caused by our fault or to impose an obligation prohibited by consumer law. We will give reasonable notice, permit appropriate participation in the defence, and not agree to a settlement imposing a non-monetary duty on you without your consent. This clause does not impose additional restrictions on open-source licence rights.

12. disputes and general terms

Contact us first so we can try to resolve an issue. This does not delay a legal deadline, remove your right to approach a regulator, or require arbitration. Applicable Canadian law and the mandatory protections of any other law with jurisdiction apply. We do not require consumers to waive a lawful local forum or statutory remedy, and these terms contain no mandatory class-action waiver.

If a term is unenforceable, it is limited or severed only as permitted by law; the remaining terms continue where they can do so fairly. Failing to enforce a term once is not a permanent waiver. Neither a transfer of the project nor an amendment removes obligations already owed to you.

We may update these terms with a dated version and meaningful notice for material changes. Where renewed agreement is required, we will obtain it before applying the change. Updated terms apply prospectively and do not retroactively remove accrued rights, paid benefits, or open-source permissions. The privacy policy describes information handling; agreeing to these terms is not blanket consent to unrelated data collection or marketing.