The ground rules, in plain language.

By creating an account or using Circlo, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with them, do not use the service. If you are using Circlo on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these terms for it.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data and forms part of this agreement. Where these terms and the Privacy Policy appear to conflict about data handling, the Privacy Policy governs.

Circlo is a private messaging service: one-to-one conversations, group chats, communities and channels, voice notes, photo and file sharing, status updates, reactions, replies, read receipts, pinned and starred messages, disappearing messages, and scheduled messages. Chat content is end-to-end encrypted by default, as described in section 4.

You need an account to use it. You are responsible for the device and network you use to reach the service, and for anyone you allow to use a device where you are signed in.

• Age. You must be at least 13 years old, or older where local law sets a higher minimum age. Circlo is not for children below that age.
• Accurate details. Register with information that is yours and correct, and keep it current.
• One account each. Do not create multiple accounts to work around a ban, a limit, or another person's block.
• Verify your email. New password accounts stay limited until the email address is verified. Verification also protects the account from someone registering in your name.
• Protect your credentials. Keep your password and any second factor private. Turn on two-factor authentication and review your trusted devices; you can revoke a device at any time.
• Tell us about misuse. If you believe someone else has access to your account, change your password and revoke the session immediately.

Circlo encrypts chat content on your device before it is uploaded. Our servers store ciphertext and the public keys needed to route messages; they never hold a key that can open your conversations. That is what makes your chats private, and it also places responsibilities on you.

• Only approved devices get keys. A new browser or phone must be approved by a device you already trust, by proving possession of its private key. Someone holding your signed-in session cannot silently start reading your conversations.
• You control your devices. Approve only devices you recognise, compare key fingerprints when asked, and revoke anything you do not. Revoking removes that device's trust immediately.
• Keep your recovery material safe. Your recovery phrase or key, and the secret that unlocks the encrypted backup of your device key, are what let you restore access after a reinstall or a cleared browser.
• There is no backdoor. We cannot read your messages, cannot recover your history for you, and cannot reset your encryption trust on your behalf if you lose every trusted device and your recovery material. In that situation, earlier conversations stay unreadable, including to you.
• Encryption has limits. It protects content in transit and at rest, not a compromised device, a malicious app on your side, or someone reading over your shoulder. It also does not hide the metadata described in our Privacy Policy.
• Do not weaken it. Do not try to extract, share, or publish other people's keys, and do not use the service to distribute tools intended to break its encryption.

You own the content you create and send. We claim no ownership over it. To operate the service we need a limited licence: to store, transmit and deliver your content to the recipients you choose, and to display what you publish, such as your profile and status updates, to the audience your settings allow. That licence exists only to run the service, and it ends when the content is deleted.

You are responsible for what you send: that you have the right to share it, and that it does not break these terms or anyone else's rights. Because message content is encrypted, we cannot review it in advance.

Circlo is for genuine conversation. You agree not to do any of the following:

• Sending spam, unsolicited bulk messages, or automated promotions.
• Harassing, threatening, bullying, or intimidating anyone.
• Posting hate speech, discriminatory content, or content that promotes violence.
• Sharing sexual content involving minors, or any content that sexualises children. This is reported to the relevant authorities.
• Sharing explicit or obscene content where it is unwanted.
• Impersonating a person, brand, or organisation.
• Running scams, phishing, or financial fraud.
• Attempting to access accounts, devices, or systems that are not yours.
• Scraping, crawling, or automating the service without our written permission.
• Uploading malware, or content designed to damage a device or network.
• Evading rate limits, bans, or safety controls, including by creating additional accounts.
• Using the service for anything unlawful, or to infringe another person's rights.

• We can act on readable content. Profile details, avatars, group and community names, and status updates are stored in a readable form, so we can review reports about them and remove what breaks these terms.
• We cannot read encrypted content. If you report a message, a screenshot or a forward is usually the only way for us to see what you saw, because message content is encrypted to you and your recipients and we hold no key for it.
• Metadata supports abuse prevention. Sending rates, duplicate sends, reports, blocks and account history inform enforcement. We cannot and do not scan encrypted message bodies.
• We keep a record. Moderation and trust decisions are written to an audit trail, so enforcement stays accountable and reviewable.

Depending on the situation, enforcement can include one or more of the following:

• Removing readable content that breaks these terms.
• Restricting a feature, such as messaging, uploading, or status sharing.
• Issuing a warning, or temporarily suspending an account.
• Permanently closing an account, and blocking new accounts from the same person.
• Reporting illegal content or activity to the relevant authorities.

To appeal, or to ask why an action was taken, contact us through the support and report options in your profile. We keep enforcement records so decisions can be reviewed.

If we receive a valid legal request, we can provide account records, metadata and stored ciphertext. We cannot provide readable message content, because we do not hold the keys, and we will not weaken encryption for any request.

Circlo is currently free to use and we do not collect payment details. If we introduce paid features, we will explain what they cost and what they include before anything is charged, and the existing free service will not quietly become a paid one. You can stop using a paid feature at any time.

• No uptime guarantee. We work to keep Circlo running, but we do not promise uninterrupted service. Hosting capacity, maintenance, upstream provider limits, and network problems can all cause downtime or delay message delivery.
• Features can change. We may add, change, pause, or retire features. Some capabilities are operated as limited or experimental and can be paused, including optional sign-in methods and device provisioning.
• Provided as is. Circlo is provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, to the fullest extent the law allows.
• Local law still applies. Nothing here excludes warranties or rights that cannot legally be excluded where you live.

• No indirect liability. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost data, lost profits, or business interruption.
• Ceiling on liability. Our total liability for any claim relating to Circlo is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the service in the twelve months before the claim, or the minimum the law requires. Circlo is currently provided free of charge.
• What cannot be limited. Nothing in these terms limits liability that the law does not allow us to limit, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.
• Back up what matters. Encrypted history depends on keys you hold, so keep your recovery material safe and do not rely on Circlo as the only copy of anything irreplaceable.

You can stop using Circlo at any time, and you can delete your account from your profile. Deleting an account requires a typed confirmation and fresh authentication, and it removes your account data, the messages you sent, and the encryption keys registered to you, as described in our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, that creates risk for other people or for the service, or where the law requires it. Where we can, we will say why and give you a chance to respond. Ending your access does not delete content that other people have already received, and it cannot remove a copy another participant's device has already decrypted and stored.

These terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the operator of Circlo is established, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and the courts of that place have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute that cannot be resolved informally.

Before starting formal proceedings, please raise the issue with us through the in-app support options so we can try to resolve it directly. If you are a consumer, nothing in these terms removes protections that are mandatory in your country of residence, including your right to bring proceedings locally.

We may update these terms as the service evolves. When we do, we revise the date at the top of this page, and for a material change we will tell you in the app before it takes effect. If you keep using Circlo after a change takes effect, you accept the updated terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the service and delete your account.

Questions about these terms, an enforcement decision, or a legal request can be sent from inside Circlo through the support and report options in your profile, and you will get a recorded answer. Our Privacy Policy explains how to reach us about a data protection request.