Terms of use

1. What Surf OCD is (and is not)

Surf is a self-help companion app for people dealing with OCD, built on evidence-based techniques such as exposure and response prevention and urge surfing. Surf is not a medical device, does not provide medical or psychological diagnosis or treatment, and is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. No doctor-patient or therapist-client relationship is created by using Surf.

2. Emergencies

Surf is not a crisis service. If you are in danger of harming yourself or someone else, or are in any medical emergency, call your local emergency number or find a crisis line at findahelpline.com. Do not rely on Surf in an emergency. How Surf responds when someone may be at risk is described on our safety page.

3. Who can use Surf OCD

You must be at least 13 years old to use Surf. If you are under the age of majority where you live, you may use Surf only with the consent of a parent or guardian, who must also agree to these terms and to any purchase, and ideally with a trusted adult or clinician who knows you are using it. Surf AI isn't right for every young person, so if you're under 18, please use Surf with a parent or guardian's support.

4. The AI companion

Surf AI, the companion in the app, uses artificial intelligence. It is designed with care - including its refusal to give reassurance - but AI can be wrong, incomplete, or a poor fit for your situation. Use your judgment, and treat its suggestions as support for self-help practice, never as professional advice.

5. Your content is yours

What you write in Surf is stored on your device and belongs to you. We claim no ownership of it. When you use Surf AI, you let us pass what that reply needs to our AI provider, only to generate the reply. See the privacy policy for exactly what leaves your phone and why. You are responsible for any backup files you export and where you keep them. If you send us feedback or ideas, we may use them to improve Surf without owing you anything.

6. Surf Plus subscriptions

• Parts of Surf are free, including urge surfing. Surf Plus is an optional subscription billed through the Apple App Store or Google Play, and payment is charged to your store account.
• Free trials. If your plan starts with a free trial, it turns into a paid subscription when the trial ends, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it ends.
• Renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically unless you cancel in your store account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. If you cancel, you keep Surf Plus until the period ends.
• Price changes. If we change the price, your app store tells you before it applies to you, following its own rules.
• Deleting doesn't cancel. Deleting the app, or using Delete All My Data, does not cancel Surf Plus. Cancel in your App Store or Google Play settings.
• Refunds are handled by the app stores under their policies.

7. Fair use

Please do not abuse the service: no attempting to break, overload, or reverse-engineer the app or its backend, no using it to build competing datasets, and no automated abuse of the AI features. Daily usage limits exist to keep Surf affordable and available for everyone. We may limit or block access from a device that abuses Surf.

8. Intellectual property

Surf's app, site, lessons, illustrations, mascot, and branding are ours (or licensed to us) and protected by law. You may use them within the app as intended; you may not copy, resell, or redistribute them. If you downloaded Surf from the App Store, Apple's standard license agreement also applies to your use of the app.

9. No warranties

Surf is provided "as is" and "as available". We work hard to make it helpful and reliable, but we cannot promise it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or right for your specific situation, and we make no guarantees about outcomes.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Surf and its makers are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the app or site. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.

11. Changes

We may update these terms as Surf evolves. For material changes, we will post the new terms here and, where we can, tell you in the app, at least 30 days before they take effect. Continuing to use Surf after changes take effect means you accept them. If you don't agree, stop using Surf and cancel any subscription.

12. Who we are, and which law applies

Surf OCD is made and published by Playcake Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 09700207), with its registered office at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom. These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and any dispute will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales, except as section 13 says for users in the United States. If you live somewhere else, nothing here takes away consumer rights that the law where you live gives you and that cannot be excluded.

13. Disputes for users in the United States

If you live in the United States, this section applies instead of the court clause in section 12. It affects your rights, so please read it.

What it covers. Any dispute between you and Playcake Ltd, or its directors or staff, about Surf, these terms, or your data, including privacy claims and claims that arose before you agreed to these terms.

Talk to us first. Before starting a claim, send a written notice to hello@surfocd.com, personally signed by you, with your Support ID (Settings, then Your Data), what went wrong, and what you want. If either of us asks, we will also talk it through by phone or video, and you must take part personally (your lawyer may join). We both agree to try to resolve the dispute this way for 60 days before starting arbitration.

Small claims court is always an option. Either of us may take an individual claim to small claims court in your county instead.

Otherwise, arbitration. Any other dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, not in court: a neutral arbitrator decides, with no judge or jury. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) runs it under its Consumer Arbitration Rules and, where they apply, its Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules. There is one arbitrator, and the hearing is by video, phone, or written submissions, or in person in your home county if you prefer. The arbitrator decides whether a dispute must be arbitrated, except that a court decides whether the "One at a time" paragraph is valid. The arbitrator can award you the same individual relief a court could, and the award binds only you and us. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.

Costs. Your share of AAA fees is limited to what its Consumer Rules allow (currently a filing fee of up to $225). We pay the rest, including the arbitrator. Each side pays its own lawyers unless the law or the arbitrator says otherwise.

One at a time. Claims may only be brought individually, not as part of a class, collective, or representative action. If this waiver can't be enforced for a particular claim, that claim goes to court, not to class arbitration. Claims for public injunctive relief that the law doesn't allow to be waived are decided by a court after any individual arbitration.

What stays in court. Either of us may go to court, without arbitrating first, to stop misuse of intellectual property or abuse of the service, such as hacking.

You can opt out. Email hello@surfocd.com within 30 days of first agreeing to these terms, with your Support ID and the words "opt out of arbitration". Your disputes then go to the courts in section 12, and where the law allows, both of us give up a jury trial.

Changes to this section won't apply to a dispute you've already told us about, and you can reject a change by emailing us within 30 days.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@surfocd.com.