Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the Submate mobile app and related services (together, the "Service"), provided by Small Big Brands LLC ("we", "us"). By using the Service you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old (or 16 in the EU) to use the Service. By using it, you confirm you meet that requirement.

2. Your account

You sign in with Google. You're responsible for keeping your Google account secure; we treat anyone with access to your Google account as authorized to act on your Submate account. Tell us right away if you suspect unauthorized access.

3. What the Service does

Submate connects to your YouTube TV session, fetches publicly available captions, and produces bilingual subtitles you read on your phone. You can save individual subtitles as flashcards, which Submate schedules for spaced-repetition review. Submate also offers word definitions and camera-based scanning of TV pairing codes via AI services.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service to violate any law or third-party right (including copyright);
• Attempt to scrape, mass-download, or systematically extract content via Submate;
• Reverse-engineer, probe, or attack the Service or its underlying infrastructure;
• Use the Service in a way that interferes with other users' enjoyment;
• Use automated means (bots, scripts) to interact with the Service without our written consent;
• Submit feedback or content that's illegal, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

5. Subscriptions and payments

The free tier is, well, free. We may offer paid Premium tiers in the future. If you purchase a subscription:

• Payments are processed by Apple's App Store or Google Play and are governed by their terms.
• Your subscription auto-renews unless you cancel through your App Store or Google Play account at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.
• Refunds are handled by Apple / Google per their respective policies. We don't issue refunds directly.
• If we change pricing or features, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice. You can cancel before the change takes effect.

6. Your content

The flashcards, notes, and feedback you save in the Service belong to you. By saving them, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to store, process, and display them solely so we can run the Service for you (sync your decks, schedule reviews, etc.). We don't claim ownership of your content and we don't use it to train models.

7. Third-party content (YouTube)

Submate surfaces publicly available YouTube videos and their captions to help you learn. YouTube videos are owned by their respective creators and governed by YouTube's terms. Use Submate for personal language learning. Don't use it to redistribute copyrighted material.

8. AI-assisted features

Submate uses AI services (currently OpenAI) to translate subtitles, define words, and read pairing codes from camera photos. AI output can be wrong or surprising — treat translations and definitions as guidance, not authoritative. We're not liable for decisions you make based on AI output.

9. Service availability

We try to keep the Service running 24/7 but offer no guarantee. Outages, bugs, breaking changes from third-party services (YouTube, Apple, Google, OpenAI) can interrupt your use. We'll communicate significant disruptions in the app where reasonable.

10. Termination

You can stop using the Service at any time and delete your account from Settings. We may terminate or suspend accounts that violate these Terms or pose risk to other users or the Service. If your account is terminated for cause, paid subscriptions are not refunded.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure. Your language learning progress is your responsibility — Submate is a tool, not a teacher.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) $100 USD or (b) the amount you've paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim. We aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, profits, or goodwill.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising out of your misuse of the Service or violation of these Terms.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If a change is material, we'll update the date at the top and notify you in the app or by email. Continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

15. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions. Any dispute that isn't resolved informally will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Delaware.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms: email any address ending in @submate.app — every address on the domain forwards to the same human-monitored inbox. (We don't publish a single address here because it would be scraped instantly.)