Terms of Service

Effective Date: April 22, 2026  •  Last Updated: April 23, 2026

1. Agreement to Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you ("you" or "user") and TasteBud ("TasteBud," "we," "us," or "our"), operated by Matt Miles in Yuba City, California, USA. By downloading, installing, accessing, or using the TasteBud mobile app or website at mytastebudapp.com, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the app.

2. Who Can Use TasteBud

You must be at least 13 years old to use TasteBud. If you are between 13 and 17, you represent that you have permission from a parent or legal guardian to use the app. You are responsible for making sure your use of TasteBud complies with any laws that apply to you.

3. Your Account

You may use TasteBud as a guest, in which case your data is stored only on your device. Or you may create an account using an email and password. When you create an account:

• You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for any activity under your account.
• You must provide accurate information and keep it current.
• You may not share your account with others, create accounts using false information, or create accounts on behalf of other people without permission.
• You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Account → Delete Account, or by emailing us at hello@mytastebudapp.com.
• We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

4. What TasteBud Does

TasteBud is an AI-powered recommendation app for movies, TV shows, books, music, and games. It learns your preferences from your ratings, favorites, watchlist, and conversations with our AI companion ("Bud") to suggest content you'll likely enjoy. Features include the Taste DNA profile, Palate Cleanser, Speedrun calibration, Pick for Me, Taste Friends, and community integration with our optional Discord server.

Recommendations are suggestions based on algorithms and AI — they are not guarantees. Your enjoyment of any recommended item is subjective and outside our control.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use TasteBud for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law.
• Post or submit content that is harassing, hateful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, or infringes anyone's rights.
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation.
• Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of the app except to the extent allowed by law.
• Scrape, crawl, bulk-download, or otherwise harvest data from TasteBud without written permission.
• Use TasteBud to train competing AI models, recommendation systems, or datasets.
• Bypass rate limits, usage limits, or access restrictions.
• Interfere with or disrupt the app's servers, networks, or security features.
• Submit spam, malware, or malicious code through the app, including in chat messages or community posts.
• Use automated tools, bots, or scripts to interact with the app without our permission.

We may remove content or suspend accounts that violate these rules.

6. User Content

"User Content" means anything you submit to TasteBud — including ratings, reviews, comments, tags, watchlists, favorites, imported music lists, chat messages to Bud, and any posts in community features.

• You own your User Content. You keep all rights to the ratings, reviews, and other content you create.
• You grant us a license to use it. By submitting User Content, you grant TasteBud a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, process, display, and use your User Content solely to operate, improve, and promote the app — including generating personalized recommendations for you and aggregated, de-identified insights about overall usage.
• You are responsible for your content. You represent that your User Content does not violate any third party's rights and complies with these Terms.
• We do not pre-screen User Content, but we may remove content that we believe violates these Terms.

7. AI-Generated Recommendations and Responses

TasteBud uses artificial intelligence, including large language models provided by third parties (such as Anthropic and Google), to generate recommendations, descriptions, personality analyses, and conversational responses. You understand and agree that:

• AI-generated output may be inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent, and should not be treated as professional advice of any kind.
• Recommendations are opinions generated by software based on available data — enjoyment is subjective.
• The AI companion ("Bud") is not a human, not a licensed counselor, and not a substitute for professional advice in any field.
• You should independently verify any factual claims the AI makes, especially for content ratings, age appropriateness, or sensitive content warnings.

8. Free and Premium Features

TasteBud is currently offered free of charge. Some features may have daily usage limits (for example, limits on AI companion messages) to manage operating costs.

In the future, TasteBud will offer optional Premium subscriptions that unlock additional features. If you join the Premium waitlist through the app, we will contact you at the email you provided when Premium becomes available. Any paid subscriptions will be billed through the Google Play Store and governed by Google Play's terms, including Google's refund policies. Subscription prices, features, and terms will be disclosed in the app before any purchase.

We reserve the right to add, remove, or modify free and premium features over time.

9. Third-Party Content and Services

TasteBud displays metadata, cover art, and descriptions from third-party services including The Movie Database (TMDB), Open Library, Google Books, RAWG, and Deezer. All third-party content is the property of its respective owners, used here under their respective terms of use.

TasteBud may also include "Watch Now," "Read Now," or "Play Now" links that direct you to third-party platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, Steam, Kindle, and others. We do not control these platforms, do not endorse their content, and are not responsible for their availability, pricing, terms, or privacy practices. Your use of any third-party platform is governed entirely by that platform's own terms.

Our optional Discord community is hosted by Discord Inc. and is governed by Discord's own Terms of Service and Community Guidelines in addition to ours.

10. Intellectual Property

TasteBud — including its name, logo, design, features, algorithms, code, and original content — is owned by Matt Miles and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the app without our written permission, except as expressly allowed by these Terms or by law.

These Terms do not grant you any rights to our trademarks, logos, or branding.

11. Feedback

If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas for improving TasteBud, you grant us the right to use that feedback without restriction or compensation. We are not obligated to act on or credit any feedback you provide.

12. Copyright Complaints

If you believe content on TasteBud infringes your copyright, please email hello@mytastebudapp.com with:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim is being infringed,
• The location of the allegedly infringing material on TasteBud,
• Your contact information,
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized,
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner,
• Your physical or electronic signature.

13. Termination

You can stop using TasteBud and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, misuse the app, or if we are required to do so by law. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including User Content license, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and dispute resolution — will remain in effect after termination.

14. Disclaimers

Tastebud is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

We do not warrant that the app will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that recommendations will meet your expectations. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any content, including third-party metadata or AI-generated output.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, tastebud and its operator will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost data, loss of goodwill, or any other intangible losses, arising out of or related to your use of the app, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of or related to these terms or the app will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you have paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) twenty U.S. dollars ($20).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless TasteBud and its operator from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: (a) your use of the app, (b) your violation of these Terms, (c) your violation of any third party's rights, or (d) your User Content.

17. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You and TasteBud agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the app will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Sutter County, California, and you consent to personal jurisdiction there. You waive any objection to venue in those courts.

Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

18. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you through the app or by email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of TasteBud after changes become effective means you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you should stop using the app.

19. Miscellaneous

• Entire agreement: These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and TasteBud regarding the app.
• Severability: If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest will remain in effect.
• No waiver: Our failure to enforce any part of these Terms is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
• Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• No agency: Nothing in these Terms creates any partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship.

20. Contact Us

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