Terms of Use

Last updated: October 7, 2026

1. Scope and provider

These Terms of Use govern your use of the ScrollTide iPhone app (“ScrollTide”). ScrollTide is provided by Adrian Neithert (“we”, “us”). Contact: contact@scrolltide.app.

By continuing past the start screen of the app, you agree to these terms. Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies to your license to use the app; if it conflicts with these terms, these terms prevail to the extent permitted. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data.

2. What ScrollTide does

ScrollTide helps you spend less time in apps you choose. You and your friends form a “shoal” and share a daily time budget. Selected apps stay locked until someone in the shoal unlocks time, which is deducted from the shared budget. The budget refills once a day.

Locks rely on Apple’s Screen Time features on your iPhone. You can remove the Screen Time permission or the app at any time, and iOS may delay or interrupt locks, for example after a restart, without network access or after a system update. ScrollTide is a tool to support your own habits. It is not a parental control, a medical or therapeutic product, and we do not guarantee a particular result.

3. Your account

When you start the app, an account is created without an email address or password. It is linked to your iPhone. If you lose your iPhone or delete the app, you can only restore the account if you linked it to your Apple Account in your profile beforehand. Only one iPhone can be active per account at a time.

Choose a display name that does not violate the rights of others and is not offensive. You are responsible for the use of your account.

4. Shoals

• You can create a shoal or join one with an invitation code. Share codes only with people you want in your shoal. Members see each other’s activity in the shoal as described in the Privacy Policy.
• Membership ends when you leave; other members cannot remove you.
• Time already used is not credited back, including when a member leaves or deletes their account.
• When the last member leaves, the shoal is closed permanently.

5. Subscriptions

1. One subscription per shoal. Unlocking time requires an active subscription for your shoal. One member buys it, and it covers every member of that shoal. Other members do not need to buy anything.
2. Purchase through Apple. Subscriptions are purchased through the App Store and charged to your Apple Account. Apple processes the payment; Apple’s terms apply to the purchase. Price, term (for example weekly or yearly) and any offers are shown in the app before you buy.
3. Automatic renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically for the same term and price unless you turn off auto-renewal at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple Account is charged within 24 hours before the end of the period.
4. Cancellation. You can cancel at any time in your Apple Account settings on your iPhone. Cancelling stops the next renewal; the shoal remains covered until the end of the paid period. Deleting the app or your ScrollTide account does not cancel the subscription.
5. Refunds and withdrawal. Refunds and any statutory right of withdrawal are handled by Apple under Apple’s terms. Please request refunds from Apple.
6. The subscription stays with the shoal. A subscription covers the shoal it was bought for. It is not transferred when the buyer leaves or joins another shoal. The buyer can only leave the shoal after turning off auto-renewal; the shoal stays covered until the end of the paid period.
7. When a subscription ends, the shoal becomes inactive: apps are no longer locked by ScrollTide and no time can be unlocked. The shoal and its members are kept and can be reactivated by a new subscription.
8. Price changes are communicated by Apple according to its rules; where your consent is required, the subscription only continues at the new price if you agree.

6. Feedback board

You can submit ideas to the in-app feedback board. Posts are published without your name and only after our review. We may shorten, edit or decline posts, and remove published posts. By submitting a post, you allow us to publish it in the app and to use your idea to improve ScrollTide, free of charge. Do not post anything unlawful, offensive, discriminatory or advertising, and do not post personal information about yourself or others. You can report posts from the app; we review reports promptly.

7. Acceptable use

You may not misuse ScrollTide, in particular by interfering with its operation, accessing data of other users, circumventing subscription checks, automating requests, or using ScrollTide to monitor or control another adult’s device without their knowledge. We may restrict or suspend accounts that seriously or repeatedly breach these terms, taking your legitimate interests into account.

8. Availability and changes

We work to keep ScrollTide available but cannot guarantee uninterrupted operation, for example during maintenance or outages of Apple or our service providers. We may develop ScrollTide further and change features if the change is reasonable for you and the core function of a paid subscription is preserved.

9. Liability

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and where we have given a guarantee. For slight negligence we are only liable for breach of an obligation essential to the contract, and limited to the damage typical and foreseeable at the time of the contract. Otherwise, our liability is excluded.

If you live outside the European Union, and to the extent permitted by the law that applies to you, ScrollTide is provided “as is” and “as available”, and our total liability is limited to the amount you paid for ScrollTide in the twelve months before the claim arose.

10. Termination and account deletion

You can stop using ScrollTide at any time and delete your account in the app under Profile. What happens to your data is described in the Privacy Policy. A running App Store subscription must be cancelled separately with Apple. We may end free use of ScrollTide with reasonable notice; the right of either party to terminate for good cause remains unaffected.

11. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms for valid reasons, such as changes in the law or new features. We will inform you in the app in good time before a change. If you do not agree, you can stop using ScrollTide and delete your account; changes to the price of an existing subscription require your consent as described in Section 5.

12. Governing law and disputes

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, this choice of law does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory provisions of the law of the country where you have your habitual residence.

We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.