Terms of use

Who can use Waypals

You must be 18 or over, and give your real birthday. One account per person.

Your account

• Keep your password to yourself. You're responsible for what happens in your account.
• Pick a username that isn't pretending to be someone else, and isn't offensive.

Be decent

Don't use Waypals to:

• harass, threaten, or stalk anyone, or try to work out where someone lives or is right now;
• suggest private homes or addresses as places;
• post anything illegal, hateful, or sexual, or anything you don't have the right to share;
• break, overload, or get around the app's privacy and safety protections, or collect other people's data.

We may remove content or close accounts that break these rules. To keep people safe, we may also pause an account's friend features (finding, adding, and seeing friends) while we look into it.

What you share

You own what you add, like postcards, photos, place suggestions, and feedback. You let us store and show it as needed to run Waypals (for example, showing your postcards to the friends you chose), and use suggestions and feedback to improve it. Who sees your stamps and postcards is up to you; see the privacy policy.

What you can't post

In postcards, reviews, comments and profile photos, don't post:

• anything that shows or gives away where someone lives, like a home, a house number, a street sign outside a home, or a car's number plate;
• photos of other people who haven't agreed to it, or anything about someone under 18;
• nudity, sexual content, violence, or hate;
• photos you didn't take or don't have the right to share.

Anyone who sees a postcard, review or comment can report it. We may hide postcards, reviews and comments and remove profile photos that break these rules, and close accounts that keep doing it. Something reported by 3 or more different members with Plus who are 18+ checked is hidden automatically until we review it.

A public profile is optional and only for members with Waypals Plus and the 18+ check. What you make public follows these rules too. Trusted local editors give us advice on suggested places in their region; they must give honest views, keep what they see to themselves, and can lose the role at any time.

Pals, Pen Pal and community rules

Pals and Pen Pal aren't open yet. When they open, they'll come with Waypals Plus and need a one-time 18+ check of your ID. When you use them:

• Be respectful. No harassment, insults, hate, threats, or pressure. If someone declines, unmatches or stops replying, let it go.
• No selling or scams. Don't advertise, recruit, sell, or ask anyone for money, gift cards, crypto, investments or financial details.
• Nothing sexual. Pals and Pen Pal are for friendship and travel. Don't send or ask for sexual messages or photos.
• Be yourself. Use your real first name and age. One account per person. Don't pretend to be someone else.
• Meet in public, if you decide to meet: a busy public place, your own way there and back, and tell a friend your plan. You're responsible for your own safety when meeting anyone; see the safety tips in the Safety Center.
• Report anything that feels wrong, and block anyone you don't want to hear from. Reports go to the Waypals team with a copy of the conversation.

To keep things safe, first messages wait until they're accepted, there are daily limits (10 new conversations and 200 messages), contact details can't be sent in a conversation's first 3 messages, and some words are never allowed. Messages are private, but the Waypals team reads the ones that are reported. We may end conversations, turn off Pals and Pen Pal for an account, or close accounts that break these rules. The 18+ check confirms age only, not who someone is.

Messages between friends follow the same rules of respect, and the same words are never allowed. There's a daily limit of 500 messages, and a reported conversation is reviewed the same way. Group messages and meetups follow them too: invite only friends you know, there's a daily limit of 300 group messages, and meetups are only at public places. Meeting in person is your own choice and responsibility; read the meeting safety tips in the Safety Center first.

Businesses

If you ask to manage a place's page, you must work for that business and be allowed to speak for it. We check each request and may turn it down or remove you later. A page can have up to 3 managers. What you post (a note, hours, a website, offers and events, replies to reviews) must be true, follow the rules above, and not include contact details outside the website box. Businesses can reply to reviews and report them, but can never delete or hide them. Business pages are free while Waypals is in early access; we'll tell you well before that changes, and never charge without your agreement.

Places and photos

Place details are for inspiration, not safety advice. Conditions, hours, and access change; check before you go, and look after yourself outdoors. Some place photos and descriptions come from Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia and are shown under their authors' licenses, credited on each place. The passport globe's coastlines, borders, lakes and rivers come from Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), which is in the public domain.

Waypals Plus

• Waypals is free to use. Plus is an optional paid extra: $4.99 a month, $24.99 a year, or $59 once as a founding member (lifetime Plus, for the first 500 people only). Prices are in US dollars, plus any tax that applies.
• Payments are handled by Stripe. Waypals never sees your card number.
• Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically and are charged up front until you cancel. You can switch plans, change your card, or cancel at any time on the Plus page (Manage billing). When you cancel, you keep Plus until the end of the period you've paid for, and you aren't charged again.
• Free trial: the first time you take the yearly plan, if you've never had Plus in any form, it starts with a 14-day free trial (one per account). You give your card when the trial starts. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, it is charged $24.99 when the trial ends and then every year until you cancel. Cancel any time before then in Settings → Waypals Plus (Manage billing) and you won't be charged. The Plus page shows the day your trial ends.
• Gifts: any member can buy a year of Plus as a gift for $24.99, paid once. You get a link with a gift code to send. The code works once, for one account, for 24 months from when it was bought; after that it expires. Using it gives that account a year of Plus from the day it's used (added to the end of any gift of Plus already running), which never renews. A gift code has no cash value and can't be exchanged for money. A gift can be refunded on request (hello@waypals.app) until it's used; a refunded code stops working. Anyone with the link can use it, so share it only with the person it's for. Buying and using gifts may be switched off where payments aren't open.
• "Lifetime" means for as long as Waypals runs and your account is open. Founding memberships can be refunded on request: write to hello@waypals.app.
• Once Pals and Pen Pal open, Plus will include them, with a one-time 18+ check of your ID handled by Stripe. If the check can't confirm you're 18 or over, Pals and Pen Pal stay off; the rest of Plus still works.
• What Plus includes is listed on the Plus page and may change as Waypals grows. If we take away something you've paid for, we'll tell you first.
• Travel Buddies: every 3 friends who join with your invite link and collect 3 stamps each give you a free month of Plus, up to 12 months in any 12 months. Only new, real accounts of people 18 or over count, each one once. Free months have no cash value, run alongside any Plus you pay for, and are taken back if they were earned with made-up or shared accounts.
• Deleting your account ends Plus and stops any subscription.

Early access

Waypals is new and still being tested. Features may change, break, or go away. We work hard to keep your data safe, but the app is provided as it is, without guarantees, and to the extent the law allows, Waypals isn't liable for indirect losses from using it.

Leaving

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. We may close accounts that break these terms.

Changes and law

If these terms change in a way that matters, we'll tell you in the app first. These terms are governed by the laws of Washington State.

Contact

Email hello@waypals.app, or use Send feedback in Settings.