Terms of Use

Banterfox — Version 1.0 · Effective 2026-10-19 · Last updated 19 October 2026

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your use of Banterfox, a flirting and conversation coach for adults, operated by Elijah Ross. They form a binding contract between you and the provider named in section 2.

The Privacy Policy sets out what personal data Banterfox stores, why, on what legal basis, where, for how long, and who else receives it. It is published as its own document and is an integral part of these Terms — see section 12.

1. Scope

1.1 These Terms apply to the Banterfox apps for Android and iOS, the Banterfox server they use and every associated service (together, the "Service"). The Banterfox website is informational; using it does not require accepting these Terms.

1.2 You accept these Terms when you create your account, by ticking the checkbox "I accept the Terms of Use and have read the Privacy Policy", which is not ticked in advance and under which both documents are linked. The server records the version you accepted and the time. If you do not accept these Terms, you cannot create an account. The Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and the Impressum can be opened at any time from the Profile screen of the app.

1.3 The Service is offered to consumers for their personal use. Use for commercial purposes — for example offering coaching to others with it, or reselling access — is not permitted.

1.4 The Service is directed at users in the Member States of the European Union and the other states of the European Economic Area. You are responsible for whether your local law permits your use.

1.5 Purchases are made through Google Play or the App Store. The terms of the respective store apply to the purchase in addition to these Terms (section 6.4).

2. Provider

The full statutory disclosure under section 5 ECG, section 14 UGB and section 25 MedienG is published in the Impressum.

3. Definitions

• Account — your Banterfox account. It is identified by a random token that the app stores on your device; there is no email address or password.
• Coach — an AI character that talks with you about your real situations and gives feedback.
• Practice partner — a fictional AI character you practise conversations with in a roleplay scene.
• Chat review — feedback on a conversation or an opener you paste in.
• Pro — the paid subscription.
• One-time purchases — packs of credits (chat reviews, hints, streak freezes) and unlocks (courses, scene packs), bought individually.
• Your Content — everything you write or paste into the Service.
• Consumer — a natural person acting outside their trade, business or profession (section 1(1)(2) KSchG, Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/83/EU).

4. The Service, and what it is not

4.1 What Banterfox does. Banterfox helps adults practise flirting and conversation. You can talk to a coach about real situations, practise conversations with fictional practice partners in different scenes and difficulty levels, ask the coach for a whispered hint, get a scored debrief after a roleplay, follow a 7-day program and paid courses, and have real chats reviewed. The coach can remember things you tell it (long-term memory) — see section 4(d) of the Privacy Policy.

4.2 Practice with AI characters only. All characters in Banterfox are generated by AI. Practice partners are fictional, are not real people and do not represent real people. Banterfox never puts you in contact with other users or with real people, and it does not send messages on your behalf.

4.3 Not therapy, not medical or psychological advice, not relationship counselling. Banterfox is a practice and self-improvement tool. It is not a substitute for a doctor, psychotherapist, psychologist or counsellor, and it cannot help in a crisis. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact the emergency services (112) or a crisis line, for example Telefonseelsorge in Austria at 142.

4.4 No guaranteed results. Banterfox gives feedback on how you communicate. It does not guarantee that you will get a date, a reply, a number, a relationship or any other outcome with anyone. Scores and the practice partner's reactions are a model of how a conversation might go, not a prediction of how a particular person will react.

4.5 Respect is part of the method. Banterfox teaches curiosity, playfulness, showing clear interest and respecting a "no". It does not teach, and will not help with, pressure, manipulation, "negging", deception or sexually explicit content.

4.6 Development stage. The Service is under active development. Features may change, and AI output can be wrong (section 9). This does not limit your statutory rights as a consumer (section 13).

5. Eligibility and account

5.1 Adults only. You must be at least 18 years old. At registration you enter your birthday and confirm that you are 18 or older; the Service refuses younger users. Giving a false birthday to get around this is a breach of these Terms; the provider deletes accounts that turn out to belong to minors.

5.2 One person, one account. Your account is personal. Do not share it or let others use it.

5.3 Your account lives on your device. Banterfox has no email address or password for you. The account is held by a token stored securely on your device. If you sign out, uninstall the app, reset or lose your device without deleting your account first, you lose access to the account and its history, and it cannot be recovered through the app. Subscriptions and unlocks can be restored onto a new account through "Restore purchases" (section 6.6); credits and progress cannot. An account that is not used for 12 months is deleted automatically (section 16.4).

5.4 Security. Keep your device secured. If you believe someone else has access to your account, delete the account or contact the provider.

5.5 Consent to sensitive data. When you create your account, you also give a separate, explicit consent to the processing of what you share about your dating and love life, including your gender and who you want to practise with (Article 9(2)(a) GDPR; section 5 of the Privacy Policy). The Service cannot be provided without it. You withdraw this consent by deleting your account.

6. Free use, Pro and one-time purchases

6.1 Free use. Banterfox can be used free of charge to the extent shown in the app — at present including the first day of the 7-day program, coach conversations, roleplay practice and three hints per day. The scope of the free version may change (section 11.2).

6.2 Pro subscription. Pro unlocks the rest of the program, unlimited chat reviews and unlimited hints, as described in the app at the time of purchase. Courses and scene packs are not included in Pro and are sold separately.

6.3 Free trial. Pro starts with a 7-day free trial where the store offers it. If you do not cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, the subscription converts into a paid subscription at the price shown in the store when you started the trial. Each store decides on eligibility for a trial (usually one per store account).

6.4 The store is the seller. Subscriptions and one-time purchases are sold and billed by Google (Google Play) or Apple (App Store) — not by the provider. The store takes payment, charges any VAT, issues receipts and handles refunds, under its own terms. Prices are those shown in the store at the time of purchase, in your local currency and including the VAT applicable in your country. The provider never receives your payment details.

6.5 Renewal and cancellation. A subscription renews automatically for the same period (monthly or yearly, as chosen) until you cancel it. Cancel in the store: in Google Play under Payments & subscriptions, or in the App Store under your Apple ID's subscriptions. Deleting the app or your Banterfox account does not cancel a subscription. After cancellation, Pro stays active until the end of the paid period.

6.6 One-time purchases. Packs of chat reviews, hints and streak freezes add credits to your account; courses and scene packs unlock content permanently for your account. Credits never expire. Credits bought while you have no Pro remain available and are used again if your Pro ends. Streak freezes are applied automatically when you come back after missed days and have enough freezes to cover them. Unlocks (and subscriptions) can be restored onto a new account with "Restore purchases" using the same store account; credits cannot be restored. If a chat review fails for technical reasons, the credit is returned.

6.7 Refunds. Refunds are handled by the store under its refund rules and the statutory rights in section 7. If a store refunds a one-time purchase, the unlock is removed, and refunded credits are taken back to the extent they have not been used. If a store refunds a subscription, Pro ends.

6.8 Price changes. Prices are set in the store. A price change for a running subscription is made through the store's price-change process, which notifies you in advance and — where the law or the store requires it — asks for your consent; if you do not agree, you can cancel before the new price applies.

7. Right of withdrawal — consumers

7.1 Who you withdraw from

Because the store sells subscriptions and one-time purchases (section 6.4), the purchase contract — and with it the statutory right of withdrawal for the purchase — is concluded with Google or Apple. You exercise it towards the store, using the store's refund or cancellation process or the contact details the store provides. The provider will support any withdrawal you declare and will not obstruct it. You may also send your withdrawal to the provider at the address in section 2; it will be forwarded to the store.

7.2 Notice of the right of withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw from a purchase within fourteen days without giving any reason. The withdrawal period expires fourteen days from the day of the conclusion of the contract. To exercise it, you must inform the seller of your decision by an unequivocal statement (for example via the store's refund form, a letter or an email). You may use the model withdrawal form in section 7.6, but it is not obligatory. To meet the deadline, it is sufficient to send your communication before the withdrawal period has expired.

7.3 Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw, all payments received from you are reimbursed without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen days from the day on which the seller is informed of your decision, using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise; in no event will you be charged fees for the reimbursement.

7.4 Pro subscription (digital service)

The Pro subscription is a digital service. When you start it, you request that the service begins immediately, during the withdrawal period. If you withdraw, you pay an amount in proportion to what was supplied until you informed the seller of your withdrawal, compared with the full coverage of the contract (section 16 FAGG). During the free trial no amount is owed.

You make this request expressly: the Pro paywall shows a checkbox, not ticked in advance, reading "Start Pro (and the free trial) right away." Pro can only be started once it is ticked. By ticking it you accept the consequence set out above: if you withdraw within 14 days, you pay only for the time already used. The app sends your request with the purchase, and the server records when you gave it.

7.5 One-time purchases (digital content)

Packs of credits, courses and scene packs are digital content that is not supplied on a tangible medium and is made available immediately. The right of withdrawal for such a purchase lapses once supply has begun (the content is unlocked or the credits are added) — but only if (a) you have expressly consented to supply beginning before the end of the withdrawal period, (b) you have acknowledged that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal, and (c) you have received a confirmation of this on a durable medium (section 18(1)(11) FAGG). If any of these is missing, your right of withdrawal remains.

In Banterfox this works as follows, before every one-time purchase. When you tap Buy, the app first shows a confirmation with the product and its price and one checkbox, not ticked in advance: "I want this right away and know that I lose my 14-day right of withdrawal once it's provided." The store's purchase dialog only opens once you have ticked it. The app sends your consent with the purchase, and the server records when you gave it. The receipt email the store sends you after the purchase is the confirmation on a durable medium.

7.6 Model withdrawal form

(Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract.)

To: [the store — Google or Apple — via its refund process; or Elijah Ross, Kulmgasse 38/20, 1180 Vienna, Austria, [email protected], for forwarding]

I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the supply of the following digital content / the provision of the following service (*):

Ordered on (*) / received on (*):

Name of consumer(s):

Address of consumer(s):

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper):

Date:

(*) Delete as appropriate.

8. Acceptable use

8.1 You must not use the Service to:

a) write abusive, threatening, hateful or harassing messages, or sexually explicit content; b) practise or plan pressure, coercion, manipulation, deception, stalking or any behaviour that ignores another person's "no"; c) involve minors in any way, including roleplay or content about anyone under 18; d) impersonate real people, or create roleplays about identifiable real people; e) paste content you are not allowed to share, or more information about other people than you need for advice (section 10.3); f) get the AI characters to produce unlawful content, or try to circumvent their safety rules (for example by "jailbreak" prompts); g) circumvent credits, limits, purchase verification or any other technical control, or use automated means to access the Service; h) copy, resell or reverse-engineer the Service, its personas or its program content, or use it to build a competing product.

8.2 The practice partner can end the conversation. Like a real person, a practice partner reacts to how you treat them. After abusive messages, repeated insults, sexually explicit messages or pushing after a "no", the partner ends the conversation, and no further messages are accepted in that roleplay. The coach may also decline requests that go against section 4.5. This is part of the practice, not a sanction against your account.

8.3 Enforcement. Where there is a substantiated suspicion of a serious or repeated breach of section 8.1, the provider may restrict or suspend the affected function or account. The provider will, where possible, inform you of the reason through the app and give you an opportunity to respond. Termination follows section 16.

9. AI characters, output and their limits

9.1 You are interacting with an AI system. The coach, every practice partner, hints, debriefs, reviews and verdicts are generated by AI models. This disclosure is made under Article 50(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act).

9.2 AI can be wrong. AI output can be inaccurate, inappropriate, or not fit your situation, and it can misjudge a pasted chat or what another person meant. Use your own judgement. You alone decide what you say or send to real people.

9.3 AI providers. The Service uses AI models from third-party providers, which are still being evaluated and may change. The current list, and what is sent to them, is in sections 6 to 8 of the Privacy Policy.

9.4 Scores are feedback. Skill scores, levels, stars and the partner's "interest" are automated feedback on your practice. They have no legal or similarly significant effect on you (Article 22 GDPR).

10. Your content

10.1 You keep your rights. You retain all rights in Your Content.

10.2 Licence to operate the Service. You grant the provider a non-exclusive, worldwide licence, limited to the duration of your use and the retention periods in section 10 of the Privacy Policy, to store, process and transmit Your Content — including to the AI providers listed in the Privacy Policy — for the sole purpose of providing the Service to you. The provider does not use Your Content to train AI models and does not use it for marketing — with the one exception of feedback you send, as set out in 10.6.

10.3 Content about other people. When you paste a chat or talk about someone, you are responsible for doing so lawfully and with respect for that person. Share only what you need advice on, and remove surnames, phone numbers, addresses, usernames and other details that identify them (section 9 of the Privacy Policy). Do not paste content that was shared with you in confidence or that you are not allowed to pass on.

10.4 Output. As between you and the provider, you may use the suggestions and texts Banterfox generates for you freely. The provider gives no warranty that output is free of third-party rights or protected by copyright.

10.5 Provider's rights. The Service — software, design, illustrations, coach and partner personas, program, courses and texts — is protected and remains the provider's property. You receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use it for your personal purposes for the duration of the contract.

10.6 Feedback and testimonials. You can rate Banterfox and tell us what it helped you with (in the app: after a passed checkpoint, or Profile → Give feedback). By sending feedback you grant the provider a free, non-exclusive, worldwide licence to publish its text as you wrote it (it may be shortened, never reworded), together with the star rating, the name you entered with it (we recommend a first name or initials) and the profile illustration you chose in the app, on the Banterfox website, in the app stores and in Banterfox's own marketing. Your account, sign-in data and conversations are never published. Before anything is published, an automated check (an AI model, see the Privacy Policy) decides whether the feedback is suitable: positive, about your own experience, without other people's details, contact data or offensive content; the provider may also decide not to publish it, and feedback is only shown publicly once at least ten pieces have been approved. You can delete any feedback at any time in the app (Profile → Give feedback); it is then removed from the website within 24 hours and is not used for new material, which ends the licence. Do not include anything in your feedback that you would not want to be public.

11. Availability, changes to the Service and support

11.1 The provider aims for continuous availability but performs maintenance, deploys changes and depends on hosting and AI providers. No particular availability is warranted beyond the statutory requirements (section 13).

11.2 The provider may change the Service where there is a valid reason — for example a change of AI provider, a safety improvement, or adapting the free version — provided the change is reasonable for you. If a change to a paid feature impairs your access to or use of it more than slightly, you will be informed in the app in good time in advance and may terminate the affected contract free of charge within 30 days of the change (section 27 VGG); paid amounts for the unused period are refunded.

11.3 Support is provided by email at the address in section 2, in English or German.

12. Data protection

12.1 The information required by Articles 12 to 14 GDPR is set out in the Privacy Policy. It is an integral part of these Terms; on questions of data protection it prevails.

12.2 Banterfox processes information about your dating life, which can include special categories of personal data. The Service requires your explicit consent for this (section 5 of the Privacy Policy).

12.3 You can delete individual conversations and memories and your whole account in the app (section 10 of the Privacy Policy).

13. Warranty (statutory conformity)

13.1 The Austrian Consumer Warranty Act (VGG) applies to the supply of digital content and digital services to consumers. The provider owes a service that conforms to the contract for the entire period of supply. Your statutory warranty rights — bringing into conformity, price reduction, termination — are not restricted by these Terms.

13.2 AI output is not warranted to be correct. It is part of the agreed nature of the Service that AI output can be inaccurate (section 9.2). This describes what the Service is; it does not limit the warranty for the Service itself.

14. Liability

14.1 The provider is liable without limitation for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence, for personal injury, and under the Austrian Product Liability Act.

14.2 For slight negligence the provider is liable only for the breach of a material contractual obligation — an obligation whose fulfilment makes proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely — and then limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this kind of contract. Liability for slight negligence in the case of personal injury is not limited.

14.3 The provider is not liable for what happens in your dealings with other people, including decisions you take on the basis of Banterfox's feedback, save within the limits of 14.1 and 14.2.

14.4 Mandatory statutory liability, including under the GDPR, remains unaffected. Nothing in these Terms limits liability where section 6 KSchG prohibits it.

15. Changes to these Terms

15.1 The provider may amend these Terms where an amendment is necessary because of a change in the law or in case law, a change in the technical operation of the Service (for example a new AI provider), or because a new function is added, and where the amendment does not upset the balance of the contract to your disadvantage.

15.2 Because Banterfox has no email address for you, you will be notified of any amendment by a notice in the app at least six weeks before it takes effect. The notice states what changes, when it takes effect, that you may object, and what happens if you do not.

15.3 If you object before the effective date, the contract continues on the existing terms and either party may terminate it in accordance with section 16. If you do not object and continue to use the Service after the effective date, the amended Terms apply. The notice will state this consequence expressly.

15.4 Amendments to essential elements of the contract — the main features of the Service you pay for, the price, the term — require your express consent.

16. Term and termination

16.1 The contract on the use of Banterfox runs for an indefinite period. Subscriptions run for the period chosen in the store (section 6.5).

16.2 Your termination. You may terminate at any time, without notice, by deleting your account in the app (Profile → Delete account) or by notifying the provider. A subscription must be cancelled separately in the store (section 6.5).

16.3 Provider's termination. The provider may terminate the contract on a free account with one month's notice, given in the app. The right to terminate for cause remains unaffected; cause includes in particular a serious or repeated breach of section 8.1, or use by a person under 18. Where the provider terminates without cause while you have a running subscription or unused credits, it refunds the unused part.

16.4 Inactive accounts. An account that has not been used for 12 months — no request from the app in that time — is deleted automatically, together with its conversations, memory, progress and its purchase, entitlement and credit records; the contract ends with the deletion. This rule is also shown in the Profile screen of the app. Purchases remain valid with the store, and a subscription keeps running there until you cancel it in the store (section 6.5). Subscriptions and unlocks can be restored onto a new account with "Restore purchases"; unused credits cannot.

16.5 Effect of termination. When an account is deleted, its data is deleted as described in section 10 of the Privacy Policy, and unused credits are forfeited unless 16.3 sentence 3 applies. Unlocks can be restored onto a new account (section 6.6).

16.6 Discontinuation of the Service. If the provider discontinues the Service, users will be informed in the app at least three months in advance. Amounts paid for periods or content that can no longer be used will be refunded in proportion.

17. Governing law, jurisdiction and dispute resolution

17.1 Governing law. Austrian law applies, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This choice of law does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of habitual residence (Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008).

17.2 Jurisdiction. The statutory rules apply. A consumer domiciled in Austria may only be sued in the court of their domicile, habitual residence or place of employment (section 14 KSchG); a consumer domiciled elsewhere in the EU may bring proceedings, and may only be sued, in accordance with Articles 17 to 19 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012.

17.3 Alternative dispute resolution. The European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform was discontinued on 20 July 2025 and is no longer available. The provider is not obliged and not willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. Consumers may nevertheless contact the Internet Ombudsstelle (www.ombudsstelle.at) or, for cross-border matters within the EU, the European Consumer Centre Austria (www.europakonsument.at), which advise consumers free of charge. Your right to bring court proceedings is unaffected.

18. Final provisions

18.1 Severability. If a provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions is unaffected. The invalid provision is replaced by the statutory rule.

18.2 Assignment. The provider may transfer the contract to a legal successor of the business; you will be informed in the app and may terminate within one month of being notified.

18.3 Form. Text form, including email, is sufficient for notices under these Terms.

18.4 Language. These Terms are published in English and German. The version in the language in which you use the app is the one that applies to you; if you use the app in another language, the English version applies. Translations of the app interface into other languages do not change these Terms.

18.5 Contact. Elijah Ross, Kulmgasse 38/20, 1180 Vienna, Austria, [email protected].

Version 1.0, effective 2026-10-19. Previous versions are available on request.