This is a translation; the German version is legally binding.
(1) These Terms of Use govern the use of the "Friens" app for iOS and Android and the related services at friens.app (together "Friens") between you and the provider named in section 2.
(2) Friens is free of charge. With Friens you can connect with friends, plan and join meetups, use the group feed, live location, trip home and kitty in groups, discover events, meet people nearby and in Neighbours (your neighbourhood), send hellos, check in and verify yourself.
(3) The Community Guidelines (https://friens.app/en/community-guidelines) also apply and form part of these Terms. How we handle your data is described in the Privacy Policy (https://friens.app/en/datenschutz).
(4) Conflicting terms of yours do not apply.
(1) The provider is: Leonardo Antonio Carta, c/o Emperon Studio GmbH, Sachsenring 51a, 50677 Köln (Cologne), Germany. Email: leonardo@friens.app, phone: +49 221 27645575. Further details in the legal notice (https://friens.app/en/impressum).
(2) Single point of contact under Art. 11 and Art. 12 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for authorities, the European Commission, the European Board for Digital Services and for users: leonardo@friens.app. We communicate in German and English. You will reach a human there, not just an automated system.
(3) You can report content in the app (see section 10) or by email to leonardo@friens.app, also without an account.
(1) You need an account to use Friens. You register with an email address and password or with "Sign in with Apple". Apple's terms also apply to that sign-in.
(2) As long as Friens is invite-only, you need a valid Friend Code from someone who is already a member to register. A Friend Code can be used once. There is no right to a code or to admission.
(3) The contract of use is concluded when you complete the registration (tapping "Sign up" or completing the sign-in with Apple) and we create your account. Before that we point you to these Terms and the Privacy Policy. The language of the contract is German.
(4) We do not store the contract text separately for you. The current version is always available at https://friens.app/en/terms and in the app under Me → Legal. We store which version you accepted and when.
(5) One account per person. Your details must be true; a nickname is fine as long as you do not pretend to be someone else. Your account is not transferable.
(6) Keep your password secret and tell us if you suspect misuse of your account. You can sign out all sessions in the app.
(1) You must be at least 16 years old to use Friens. By registering you confirm this.
(2) If you are under 18, you need the consent of your parents or legal guardians. By registering you confirm that you have it.
(3) We may ask for proof of age and suspend or delete accounts if there are reasonable doubts that the minimum age is met.
(4) Friens is not directed at children. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 16, we delete it.
(1) Some features (Nearby, Neighbours, neighbourhood posts, hellos, meetups "verified only") require you to be verified. You can use Face Scan or, as a second option, World ID.
(2) Face Scan: a liveness check on your iPhone using the TrueDepth camera. It only checks whether a real, living person is in front of the device. There is no facial recognition; the camera image never leaves your device. Only the result is sent to us, secured with Apple App Attest. Face Scan is not available on every device.
(3) World ID: a service of Tools for Humanity. Its own terms and privacy notices also apply. One World ID can verify exactly one Friens account.
(4) "Verified" only means that a human completed the check on a device. It does not confirm a person's identity, name, age, intentions or reliability. Do not rely on it alone when meeting people.
(5) You can remove your verification in the app at any time. If you bypass or manipulate verification (for example with photos, masks, other people's devices or on behalf of others), we may remove it and suspend your account.
(1) Comply with the law, these Terms and the Community Guidelines. Respect others, even if you do not know them.
(2) In particular, the following are prohibited:
(3) Technically prohibited are: automated access (bots, scraping), circumventing blocks, limits, visibility or location protection, reading other people's tokens, attacks on servers or security features, and decompiling the app unless the law expressly permits it.
(4) You organise and attend meetups in real life, including with people from Nearby or Neighbours, at your own responsibility. Friens does not check participants, places or what happens. Safety tips are in the Community Guidelines.
(5) Courage mode, challenges and the Vibe Score are playful suggestions without monetary value. Do not take on a challenge that puts you or others at risk or breaks the law.
(1) Content you post (for example name, avatar, meetups with title and description, neighbourhood posts, hellos, feed entries, kitty entries, reports) remains yours. You are responsible for it.
(2) So that Friens works, you grant us a simple (non-exclusive), free, non-transferable right to store, reproduce, technically adapt (for example size, format) and display this content to the people you have shared it with. The right is limited to operating and improving Friens and ends when you delete the content or your account. Copies in backups are overwritten on the usual schedule; statutory retention obligations remain unaffected.
(3) You confirm that you hold the necessary rights to your content and that it does not infringe the rights of third parties.
(4) You decide who sees your content through group type, sharing settings and visibility in the app. Content in groups is visible to the members of that meetup.
(1) We provide Friens free of charge with its current range of features. There is no right to particular features or to constant availability. We aim for stable operation but cannot rule out outages due to maintenance, faults, third-party outages (for example networks, Apple and Google push services, map services) or force majeure.
(2) We develop Friens further and may change, add or discontinue features where this is reasonable for you, in particular for technical, legal or security reasons. If essential features are removed, we will inform you in advance; you can then terminate at any time.
(3) Some features depend on your device and permissions (location, Bluetooth, notifications, camera). Without these permissions they do not work or only partly.
(4) If updates are needed for the security or functionality of the app, we provide them via the app stores. If you do not install them, Friens may stop working properly.
(1) Friens is not an emergency service and does not replace an emergency call. In an emergency, always call 112 (ambulance, fire service) or 110 (police in Germany).
(2) The emergency alarm notifies the members of your meetup by push notification and in the group feed, with your location if you choose. With the trip home you let them know you are on your way; if you do not mark yourself as arrived by the time you chose, the members are notified. Friens itself does not alert rescue services, the police or anyone else, and does not monitor alarms or trips home.
(3) We cannot guarantee that a notification arrives or is read in time. This depends, among other things, on network, battery, location accuracy, permissions, push services and whether others are using their phones. Other members are not obliged to respond.
(4) The "Call 112" button only opens your device's phone app.
(5) Use the alarm, trip home and live location only in earnest and only with people you trust.
(1) Anyone can report content or accounts they consider illegal or in breach of these Terms: in the app via "Report" (on profiles, neighbourhood posts, hellos, meetups and events) or by email to leonardo@friens.app, also without an account.
(2) A report by email should include: an explanation of why the content is illegal or not allowed; as precise an indication as possible of where it can be found (for example the person's name, meetup, link, time); your name and email address, except for reports concerning child sexual abuse material; and a statement that you believe in good faith that the information is accurate and complete.
(3) If you report a person in the app, they are also blocked for you: you no longer see each other, a friendship ends and pending requests between you are closed. The reported person is not told who reported them. You can also block without reporting and unblock at any time under Me → Account.
(4) We confirm receipt of reports that include contact details, review them promptly, diligently, objectively and non-arbitrarily by a human, and inform the reporting person of our decision. We do not use automated content detection. Only technical safeguards work automatically, for example limits on hellos, reports, sign-in attempts and Friend Codes, and minimum group sizes in Neighbours.
(5) Depending on the severity of a violation we may: give a notice or warning, remove content or restrict its visibility, restrict individual features (for example Nearby, Neighbours, hellos), remove the verification, suspend the account temporarily or terminate the contract under section 11. We take into account the circumstances, severity, frequency and the legitimate interests of everyone involved, in particular freedom of expression.
(6) If we restrict your content or account, we inform you no later than when the restriction takes effect, with a clear statement of reasons: which measure, on what basis (law or a rule in these Terms), which facts and circumstances, whether automated means were used, and which remedies are available to you. Except in urgent cases (for example danger to others, serious crimes) we hear you before suspending your account or terminating. This does not apply where an authority orders otherwise or for deceptive high-volume content such as spam.
(7) You can appeal a decision (including the rejection of a report) by email to leonardo@friens.app within six months. A human who, where possible, did not take the first decision reviews it again and informs you of the outcome with reasons. Your right to go to court or to an out-of-court dispute settlement body certified under Art. 21 DSA remains unaffected; we are not obliged to take part in such proceedings.
(8) Anyone who frequently submits manifestly unfounded reports or appeals, or frequently provides manifestly illegal content, may be suspended for a reasonable period after a prior warning.
(9) If we become aware of information giving rise to a suspicion of a criminal offence threatening the life or safety of persons, we inform the competent law enforcement authorities (Art. 18 DSA). We comply with orders from authorities and courts within the legal framework.
(1) The contract runs for an indefinite period.
(2) You can terminate at any time without notice by deleting your account in the app under Me → Delete account or by emailing us. Your profile, friendships, meetups, check-ins and group posts are then deleted. Reports are kept without reference to you as described in the Privacy Policy.
(3) We can terminate with four weeks' notice by email or in the app, for example if we discontinue Friens.
(4) The right of both parties to terminate for good cause remains unaffected. Good cause for us includes in particular serious or repeated violations of these Terms, criminal offences via Friens, endangering other users, not meeting the minimum age, or registering again despite a suspension. Depending on the case we first suspend or warn (section 10).
(5) After termination by us for good cause you may not register again without our consent.
(1) Events in Friens come from open data sources (for example cities, tourism organisations and ticket providers) and may in future also be posted by organisers. You can see the source and, where available, the licence on each event.
(2) We do not check this information in detail and give no guarantee that it is correct, complete or up to date (for example times, places, prices, cancellations). The organiser's information prevails.
(3) You buy tickets directly from the organiser or ticket provider. The contract is concluded only with them, not with us. The organiser is responsible for running the event, its safety and content.
(4) Links to third-party websites lead to content we have no control over. Third-party services (Apple, Google, World ID, maps, app stores) are subject to their own terms.
(1) The kitty is only a note-taking feature: members of a meetup record who paid for what, and Friens suggests who pays back how much to whom.
(2) No money flows through Friens. We do not process payments, hold money or take part in settlements between you. "Settled" only records that you have sorted it out between yourselves.
(3) The entries are not receipts and not an acknowledgement of debt. The members are responsible for their accuracy; amounts may be rounded to the cent.
(1) We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and to the extent of any guarantee given.
(2) In case of slight negligence we are only liable for breach of an essential contractual obligation, meaning an obligation whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose fulfilment you may regularly rely. In that case liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract.
(3) Otherwise liability is excluded. These limitations also apply to our agents.
(4) We are not responsible for the content and conduct of other users or for meetups, events and encounters outside the app; this does not apply where we are liable under paragraph 1 or under the statutory rules for hosting services, for example if we fail to remove illegal content despite knowing about it.
(1) We may change these Terms with effect for the future if there is a valid reason, for example new features, changes in law or case law, regulatory requirements or security reasons.
(2) Changes that only benefit you or are purely editorial apply from publication. We inform you of other changes at least four weeks before they take effect, in the app or by email, and show you what changes.
(3) Material changes, for example to services, obligations or liability, only apply if you accept them in the app. If you do not accept them, the previous version continues to apply and either party may terminate the contract; you may then no longer be able to use features that depend on the change.
How we process personal data, for example for location, Nearby, Neighbours, Face Scan, World ID, push notifications and reports, is explained in the Privacy Policy: https://friens.app/en/datenschutz
(1) German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another country, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of that country remain unaffected.
(2) If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Cologne. For consumers, the statutory places of jurisdiction apply.
We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board (§ 36 VSBG). If you have questions or problems, just write to us at leonardo@friens.app.
(1) If any provision of these Terms is invalid, the rest of the contract remains valid. The statutory provisions take the place of the invalid provision.
(2) This translation is for information only. The German version is legally binding.
Last updated: Oct 21, 2026