Terms of Use

By creating an account, browsing profiles or using any part of Smooch, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which forms part of them. If you use Smooch on behalf of an organisation, you accept these Terms for that organisation. If you do not agree, do not use Smooch.

You must be at least 18 years old to use Smooch, and old enough to form a binding contract where you live.

You must be 21 in the US states of Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska and Wyoming, and you must have reached the age of majority anywhere else where it is not 18. Nobody under that age may use Smooch.

You can join Smooch for free as a member. Free members can use some, but not all, of Smooch. To use more of it, including some ways of messaging other members, you need a paid membership (a "subscription") at the price shown on the payment page when you buy it. In these Terms, "members" means free and paying members alike.

When you buy a subscription you agree to pay the price of the plan you chose. You allow us and our payment partners to keep your payment details and to charge your chosen payment method. Card payments are taken on a secure checkout run by our payments partner, whose name is shown on the checkout page.

Subscriptions renew automatically at the same price, using the same payment method, until you cancel. We only take a renewal payment when your current period ends, never before. Trials and discounted offers renew at the standard price shown when you bought them, unless you cancel before the trial or offer period ends.

You must give us accurate, up-to-date billing information and keep it current. You are responsible for all payments made with your account details until you tell us of any unauthorised use. If you pay through a third-party payment provider (for example PayPal), their terms also apply.

One-off purchases, such as a 24 Hour Pass, Boosts, Priority Messages or an ID check, do not renew.

These Terms apply while you use Smooch or have an account. You can cancel your subscription at any time: log in, open You, then Membership and billing, and follow the cancellation steps. The link in any payment receipt or renewal email takes you to the same place. You will see a confirmation when it is done.

• You keep your paid benefits until the end of the period you have paid for. After that they stop.
• Refunds, where available, follow our refund policy (section 25).
• Cancelling does not delete your account. You stay a free member and your profile stays visible.
• To delete your profile and account, log in and open You, then Account and login.

We may suspend or end your membership or subscription at any time, with or without notice, including if you break these Terms. Abusive, threatening, fraudulent, obscene or illegal behaviour, or behaviour that spoils Smooch for other members, may lead to this. We may report fraud or illegal activity to the police. These Terms continue to apply after your membership ends.

Member participation. You have "participated" if, since your subscription started, you have uploaded photos or other content, sent or read messages, written anything on Smooch, or liked or matched with other members.

Smooch is part of a wider dating network that works with partner services. When you join, what you share on your profile may be seen and searched by people using other services in the network, and the people you talk to may have joined through one of them.

We use classifications and filters across the network to manage who can see and contact whom. By creating an account you agree to us applying them to your profile. They can affect who sees your profile, whose profiles you see and how you can contact each other.

Take care when you share personal information and when you meet people. Smooch does not run criminal background checks on its members and does not check everything members say about themselves. People can give misleading information, and not all criminal records are available online. Be careful in every conversation and meeting. Our safety guide has practical advice.

Keep your password private. You are responsible for everything done with your account, so log out on shared devices. If you think someone else is using your account, tell us straight away at support@smooch.com and follow our instructions to secure it.

Use Smooch lawfully and respectfully. In particular, you must not:

• post or engage with content that breaks the rules in section 9;
• ask other members for money or other financial help;
• harass or stalk anyone, or give anyone unwanted attention;
• pretend to be someone else or misrepresent who you are;
• promote a business or another service, or send advertising, spam or any other solicitation;
• introduce viruses, bots, worms or any other code that could harm Smooch or other people's devices;
• use bots, spiders, scrapers or any other automated tool to access, collect or change anything on Smooch without our permission;
• mine or harvest members' information or content.

Breaking these rules may lead to your account being suspended or closed.

You are responsible for everything you post or send, including messages, photos and your profile. You confirm that you own it or have the right to use it, that it is not defamatory and does not invade anyone's privacy or break anyone's intellectual property rights, and that it is for personal, non-commercial use. We may review and remove anything we think breaks these Terms, is offensive or unlawful, puts members at risk, infringes anyone's rights or harms Smooch.

When you post content, you give us and our related companies a permanent, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide licence to use, copy, change, distribute, display and make new works from it, including using your username, photos and profile details to promote Smooch.

Do not post anything that:

• discriminates against or stirs up hatred of any person or group;
• harasses, annoys or is meant to harm others;
• spreads false information or impersonates someone;
• promotes or shows illegal activity;
• contains explicit sexual content or nudity;
• breaks anyone's intellectual property rights;
• shows anyone without their consent, or anyone under 18;
• advertises, promotes or asks for personal information for unlawful or commercial purposes;
• exploits anyone in any way.

For your safety, keep personal contact details off your profile, including your surname, address, phone number and social media accounts. If your content shows other people, you confirm that they agreed to it being shown publicly and were 18 or over when it was made.

Smooch is for individuals looking to meet people. Organisations and businesses may not register or use Smooch for commercial purposes, and you may not post content for commercial gain. You must not copy, distribute, change, scrape, gather or otherwise commercially use anything you get from Smooch, or collect members' details (such as usernames or email addresses) to send unsolicited messages, or link to or frame Smooch without permission. We will investigate and take legal action where needed.

We may suspend or close your account and stop your access straight away, without notice or liability, for any reason, including a breach of these Terms.

We do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability or integrity of anything members post or send, and we are not liable for how any member behaves, online or offline. Although these Terms require members to be adults, we cannot guarantee that nobody under age uses Smooch. Other people, including people without permission and hackers, might access and misuse personal information you share, and we are not responsible for that.

We are not responsible for interruptions, delays, technical faults or unauthorised access to communications, or for problems caused by networks, software, hardware, email or internet congestion. Anything you download from Smooch is at your own risk.

Content and advice on Smooch are for information and entertainment only, not professional advice. Smooch is provided without warranties of any kind, including merchantability, quality, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement, and we do not promise any particular result. This section continues after these Terms end.

Smooch and its owners, directors, shareholders, employees, affiliates, suppliers, agents, lawyers and their successors are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or punitive damages (including emotional distress, personal injury or death) arising from your use of Smooch, including anything other members do on or off Smooch. In any case, our total liability to you for any reason is limited to the subscription fees you actually paid us in the previous twelve months. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

We own Smooch and all rights in it, which are protected by intellectual property and other laws. You may not copy, change, build on, distribute, publish, store or sell any of it without our written permission, except material that is in the public domain or that you have express permission to use.

The laws of the place where we are established govern these Terms and any dispute about your use of Smooch. Disputes will be settled only by binding arbitration or mediation, not in court, on these terms:

• we choose the arbitration or mediation body;
• it takes place where we are established, before a single arbitrator or mediator, in English;
• the law of the place where we are established applies;
• the decision is final and cannot be appealed.

By using Smooch you agree that arbitration or mediation is the only way to resolve disputes with us, you accept the place, jurisdiction and terms above, you give up the right to sue us in court (except in a small claims court where allowed), and you give up the right to take part in a class action or any other collective claim against us.

You alone are responsible for your dealings with other members, and we are not liable for them. We may, but do not have to, look into disagreements between members. If you have a complaint or legal issue with another member, you agree to resolve it with them directly and you release us from any claims or damages arising from it.

You agree to protect Smooch and its owners, directors, shareholders, employees, affiliates, suppliers, agents, lawyers and their successors from any liabilities, losses, demands or claims arising from content, information, messages or communications you come across or take part in on Smooch, including those from other members.

We handle your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. By accepting these Terms you agree to that, and you confirm that the information you give us is accurate. We work hard to protect your data, but nothing sent over the internet or by email can be guaranteed to be secure, and we are not liable for how third parties handle your information.

We aim to follow the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including its notice and takedown process. Do not upload or share copyrighted material, trade marks or other protected material without the owner's permission. We close the accounts of members who repeatedly infringe others' rights.

If you believe your copyright has been infringed on Smooch, send us:

• a physical or electronic signature of the person authorised to act for the copyright owner;
• a description of the copyrighted work;
• where on Smooch the material is;
• a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you believe in good faith the use is not authorised by the owner;
• a statement that your notice is accurate and that you are authorised to act for the owner;
• your name, address, telephone number and email address.

Making a false claim of infringement can make you liable for damages, including costs and legal fees.

If our company merges, is acquired or reorganised, or sells some of its assets, we may transfer your personal information to the other party without telling you first. They will have to respect these Terms in how they handle it.

We make reasonable efforts to keep Smooch running, but we may change, pause or stop all or part of it, temporarily or permanently, with or without notice. We are not responsible for any inconvenience or loss this causes you or anyone else.

When you join, you agree to receive emails from us about your account, updates to Smooch and administrative notices, and, unless you tell us otherwise, promotional emails from us or selected partners. You can change your email choices at any time (see our Privacy Policy).

Not every profile you see may belong to a member: we may use staff profiles, run by our employees, to test and improve how Smooch works.

Smooch offers optional tools that suggest messages, an "about me" and feedback on your photos. Suggestions are produced by an AI service (see our Privacy Policy). They are only suggestions: you choose whether to use them, and you are responsible for any message you send, whoever or whatever helped you write it.

A message written with the helper may be shown to the person who receives it as written with help. Use of the tools may be limited each day.

We are not liable for interruptions to Smooch, or for failing to meet our obligations, because of events beyond our control, including natural disasters, strikes, power cuts, terrorism, embargoes, war, fire or other unforeseen events.

We may change or replace these Terms at any time. We will post the new version here and update the date at the top of this page.

These Terms, our Privacy Policy and the prices shown on the payment page are the whole agreement between you and us about your use of Smooch.

If any part of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce part of these Terms, we have not given up our right to. These Terms are personal to you: you may not transfer them to anyone else without our written consent.

We consider refunds for unused subscription time case by case, taking into account member participation (see section 5). Our refund team assesses each request individually. An administrative fee applies to all refunds.

Purchases made through a third-party payment provider are subject to that provider's terms. For payment or billing problems with a third-party provider, contact them directly.

To ask about a refund, email support@smooch.com.