Terms of Use

1. Who we are

Unbound is provided by Bastian Matzen, Alma Softwareentwicklung (sole proprietorship), Kienitzer Str. 113, 12049 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: legal@unbound.guide ("we"). Further details are in the imprint.

2. What Unbound is

Unbound is an audio travel guide: while you are out, the app tells you stories about places near you. The texts are written with the help of artificial intelligence from open sources such as Wikipedia and Wikidata and are read by a synthetic voice.

We take care that the stories are right. Even so they may contain mistakes or inaccuracies. They are meant to entertain and inform, not as reliable advice for important decisions.

You can ask your guide questions. Answers are generated automatically, for practical questions also with a web search, and may be wrong, incomplete or out of date, for example opening hours, prices or dates. Check anything important at the source. Unbound is not an emergency service and does not replace medical, legal, financial or safety advice; in an emergency call 112. The number of questions you can ask is limited; the app tells you when they are used up for the moment.

Under "What's on" the app shows festivals, markets and other events from publicly available sources such as event calendars and OpenStreetMap. This information comes from third parties. We do not guarantee that it is correct or that an event takes place as stated; the source is always named.

Unbound is not a navigation device. Directions such as "on your left" are approximate. You decide when to listen to or look at the app and remain responsible for how you behave while out, for example in traffic. Do not enter private property or closed areas just because the app tells you about them.

3. Account

Listening works without an account. For the explorer features (friends, levels and badges, suggesting, rating and commenting on places) you need an account, created with Apple, Google or an e-mail address and password. Accounts are for people aged 16 and over.

Keep your sign-in details secret and do not share your account. You can delete your account at any time in the app under Profile.

By creating an account you accept these terms. How we handle your data is set out in the privacy policy.

4. Trial, passes and subscription

You can try Unbound for free first, to the extent shown in the app. After that you can buy a pass (for example for a weekend or a holiday) or a yearly subscription. What is included and what it costs is shown in the app before you buy.

In the app, purchases are made through Apple's App Store or Google Play; passes as a gift are also available on our website (section 5). For purchases in the app, their terms and processes apply to payment, invoices, refunds and cancellation; refunds are requested there. For purchases in the App Store, Apple's Standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement (EULA) also applies.

Passes end by themselves after their term. The yearly subscription renews automatically for another year unless you cancel it in your app store account settings at least 24 hours before it ends. A period already paid for continues until its end after you cancel.

If the subscription price changes, Apple or Google will tell you beforehand; new prices only apply from the next period and, where required, only with your consent.

5. Gifts, gift codes and recommendations

On our website you can buy passes as a gift. You choose the pass, enter your e-mail address and go to payment. The purchase contract with us is concluded when you complete payment through our payment provider Mollie. The prices shown are final prices; as a small business under § 19 UStG (German VAT law) we do not charge VAT.

After payment you receive a gift code and a receipt by e-mail; the code is also shown on the page after payment. The code unlocks the purchased pass once in the app. It is credited when redeemed and runs from the next tour or, if you wish, at once. No account is needed for it. The code does not expire and may be passed on before it is redeemed. It cannot be paid out in cash or exchanged for anything else. If you lose a code that has not been redeemed, we will help you with the receipt.

Right of withdrawal: as a consumer you generally have the right to withdraw from the purchase within 14 days without giving reasons. Because the code is digital content, we make it at once at your express request. Before payment you agree to this and confirm that you know your right of withdrawal ends with it (§ 356(5) BGB). We confirm this in the receipt. Your statutory rights in case of defects are not affected; if a code does not work, write to us at legal@unbound.guide.

Gift codes may also come from partners or offers. The same applies to them unless the offer says otherwise; there is no right to any offer.

“Give a Trip, Get a Trip”: whoever recommends Unbound with their own link gives a newcomer a pass for 72 hours; the newcomer needs no account for it. Once the newcomer has been on a tour with it, the one who recommended gets 72 hours too; for that they need an account. This applies once per device, for newcomers during their trial or first tours, and not to one's own recommendation. In case of abuse, for example with several accounts or devices, we may take back passes received this way. We may change or end the programme at any time for the future; passes already unlocked remain.

Passes can also be given in the app, through the App Store or Google Play, to a friend or as a code. Their terms apply to the purchase. A pass given cannot be redeemed by the giver. Once it is redeemed, the giver gets 24 hours as a thank-you. Credited passes can also be given on, for example while a pass or subscription is running; passes given on bring no thank-you.

6. Your contributions as an explorer

When you suggest places, upload photos, comment or share tours, you are responsible for that content. Only upload photos you took yourself and in which no people can be recognised, and do not infringe anyone else's rights. Follow our explorer guidelines.

You grant us a simple, worldwide, royalty-free and perpetual right to use your contributions in Unbound, that is to store, adapt (for example shorten or polish the language), read aloud and show them to other users. If you delete your account, places already published remain without your name; everything else is removed.

Suggested places and profile photos are reviewed before publication. Comments appear at once; a person looks at serious breaches. We may reject, shorten or remove contributions that breach these terms, our guidelines or applicable law. For repeated or serious breaches we may restrict features or suspend an account. Reports of illegal content can be made in the app and at legal@unbound.guide.

7. Reports, decisions and contact

The single point of contact for authorities of the Member States, the European Commission and the European Board for Digital Services (Art. 11 of the Digital Services Act, DSA) and for you as a user (Art. 12 DSA) is legal@unbound.guide. You can write to us in German or English; a person will reply.

You can report illegal content and breaches of our guidelines in the app with "Report" or by e-mail to legal@unbound.guide (Art. 16 DSA). Where possible, state which content it is, why it is illegal, your name and e-mail address, and that you make the report in good faith. We confirm receipt where we can reach you, decide carefully, objectively and promptly, and tell you our decision.

If we remove or reject a contribution, restrict its visibility, or pause or suspend an account, we tell you why: what we decided, the facts and the rule or law we rely on, and whether the decision was made or prepared by automated means (Art. 17 DSA). You can object within six months, for places in the app, otherwise by e-mail; a person decides. You may also turn to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body (Art. 21 DSA) or the courts.

For moderation we use an AI service that checks suggested places and profile photos against our guidelines before publication and flags serious breaches in comments to a person. Only a person removes comments or suspends accounts. Anyone who repeatedly posts manifestly illegal content or repeatedly makes manifestly unfounded reports may be suspended for a reasonable time after a prior warning (Art. 23 DSA).

8. Points, levels, badges and discoveries

Points, levels, badges and first discoveries are meant to be fun. They have no monetary value, cannot be transferred or paid out, and we may change the rules for them. You are only named as the discoverer of a story if you have switched on that option; if you switch it off, your discoveries are released.

9. What is not allowed

Do not misuse Unbound: no automated access, no bulk extraction of content, no circumventing of protection measures or the trial, no use that disrupts the service or other users. The stories, voices and the app itself are protected by copyright; you may use them for yourself and share tours with the share feature, but not copy or distribute them otherwise.

10. Availability and changes

We keep developing Unbound. Content, regions and features may change, be added or be removed. We strive for reliable operation but cannot guarantee that the app works at all times and everywhere without interruption, for example without a network or during maintenance.

We provide the updates needed to keep Unbound in conformity with the contract, including security updates (Section 327f BGB). Beyond that we only change Unbound for a valid reason, for example further development, changed data sources, technology or law, or security, and at no extra cost to you. If a change impairs your access to or the use of a paid pass or subscription more than insignificantly, we tell you clearly beforehand; you may then end the contract free of charge within 30 days (Section 327r BGB).

11. Liability

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and where we have given a guarantee.

For slight negligence we are only liable for breach of an obligation whose fulfilment makes proper use possible in the first place and on which you may rely, and then limited to the typical, foreseeable damage. Otherwise our liability is excluded.

Contributions by other users, linked pages and event information are third-party content. Under the statutory rules (Art. 6 DSA) we are only responsible for it once we learn of an infringement; we then remove the content promptly.

12. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms for the future if the app, the law or our offer changes. We will tell you about changes that do not put you at a disadvantage or only cover new features in the app or by e-mail. Other material changes only apply to you if you agree to them, for example in the app. If you do not agree, the previous terms continue to apply to you; we may then terminate the account with four weeks' notice. Rights from passes or subscription periods already paid for are not affected.

13. Termination

You can stop using Unbound at any time and delete your account in the app. A running subscription is cancelled in your app store account. We may terminate an account with four weeks' notice, and immediately for good cause, for example serious breaches.

14. Law and disputes

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, you keep the mandatory protection of the law of the country where you habitually live.

We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. If you have questions or problems, just write to us: legal@unbound.guide.