Nowby

Terms of Service

Last updated: July 30, 2026

These Terms govern your use of Nowby. By checking "I agree" during sign-up, you accept everything below. Please read it in full before continuing.

1. What Nowby Is

Nowby is a real-world social discovery app — it helps you find other people who are currently nearby and open to interacting, based on present-moment presence, not a permanent profile. Nowby is NOT a dating app, NOT a general chat app, NOT a social network, and NOT an events app.

2. Age Requirement

You must be at least 18 years old to use Nowby. This is self-declared at sign-up — providing a false age declaration violates these Terms and may result in a permanent account ban once detected, without prior notice.

3. Account & Registration

Registration and sign-in use Sign in with Google — we never see or store your Google account password. You're responsible for keeping the Google account you sign in with secure — any activity through your account is treated as performed by you. Your Nowby display name is chosen separately from your Google account name, and can only be changed once every 30 days and is subject to automatic moderation.

4. Location & Privacy

Your precise location coordinates are NEVER shown to other users in any form. Distance to other users is only ever shown as a range (e.g. "500m–1km"), never as a precise distance or coordinates. Location is only accessed while you have an active Session — the app never requests or uses background location access. You're only visible to other users while your Session is active; once it ends, you no longer appear on anyone's Radar.

5. Consent Before Conversation

There is no direct-chat path on Nowby. Every conversation starts with an Ice Breaker — a short request the recipient can accept or decline entirely at their discretion, with no obligation to explain why. Declines are silent (the sender is never notified of a decline). Repeatedly sending Ice Breakers to the same person after 2 consecutive declines/expirations is automatically blocked by the system.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You may not: impersonate another person or entity (fake profiles); upload inappropriate or illegal content; harass others or use abusive language; send spam; arrange meetups with intent to harm another person; use the platform if you are under 18; or misuse the platform for solicitation (offering commercial goods/services/sexual services) outside what is explicitly permitted.

7. Reporting & Moderation

You can report users or activities that violate these Terms directly via the report button in the Chat header, a user's Profile, or activity details. Submitted reports enter an investigation queue and do not immediately affect the reported user's account or reputation, protecting against false or retaliatory reports. Reports are reviewed by human moderators based on urgency SLA (ranging from up to 4 hours for physical safety emergencies to 48 hours for standard violations). Violations confirmed valid by moderation may result in an official warning, reputation penalties, temporary suspension (7 days), or permanent ban, depending on severity and violation history. If moderation action is taken on your account, you have the right to appeal within 14 days via the in-app appeal form.

8. Blocking

You can block another user at any time. Once blocked, neither of you will ever appear to the other on Radar again, and any ongoing conversation is automatically closed. Blocking cannot be fully undone — unblocking later does not restore a closed conversation.

9. Reputation System

After meaningful interaction (at least 10 two-way messages or becoming Connections), users can rate each other across 8 positive character endorsement categories (e.g. Friendly, Respectful, Trustworthy). Ratings are optional, blind mutual (neither party sees the other's rating before submitting), and weighted by the rater's trust tier. Accumulated points form public reputation badges on Radar and Profiles once reaching at least 5 points. Newly submitted or false reports DO NOT affect reputation. However, reports confirmed valid by human moderators apply a reputation penalty (-2.0 points per affected category), which may remove active badges. All reputation penalties are 100% reversed and badges fully restored if your Appeal is upheld.

10. Data Retention & Deletion

You can delete your account at any time from the Profile page. After deletion, your Chat and Connection history is permanently deleted within 30 days — this window gives you a chance to reverse the deletion (by contacting support) if it was unintentional. Precise location data is never retained longer than needed for an active Session. Data tied to active reports/moderation may be retained longer as needed for investigation, kept separate from general account data.

11. Changes to These Terms

These Terms may be updated from time to time. Significant changes will be announced in the app. Continuing to use Nowby after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms, or requests related to your account or data, can be submitted through in-app support.