Terms and Conditions

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These terms are the agreement between you and the person who runs Brainmute. They tell you what Brainmute does, what it cannot promise, what a subscription costs you and how to end it. Please read them before you start. If you do not agree with them, do not use Brainmute.

1. Who you are dealing with

In these terms, we and us mean Luis Kleemann, and you mean the person using Brainmute. The terms cover the Brainmute Android app, the website brainmute.app and any account you create with us.

How we handle personal data is not in this document. That is explained in our Privacy Policy.

These terms are available in English and German. For consumers in Germany, the German version applies. For consumers elsewhere, the English version applies unless mandatory local law requires otherwise.

2. Who can use Brainmute

• You need to be 16 or older. The app asks for your age and does not let you continue if you enter less than 16.
• If you are under 18, your parent or legal guardian must approve these terms and, where required by law, the purchase.
• One person, one account. Please give correct details when you sign up.

3. Your account

You sign up with an email address and a password, or with your Google account. Keep your password to yourself. Anything that happens through your account is treated as done by you, so tell us at [email protected] as soon as you suspect that somebody else has got in.

You pick a display name. It is only shown to you in the app. Other users cannot see it or search for it.

You can delete your account at any time, free of charge. How to do it is explained on Delete your account.

4. What Brainmute does

Brainmute is an app that helps you spend less time on your phone.

• You choose which apps to lock. When you open a locked app, Brainmute shows its own lock screen and sends you back to your home screen.
• You earn unlocked time by finishing missions, for example reading, meditating, walking, a workout or a block of focused work.
• A sleep window locks your phone between the two times you set.
• If you agree to it during setup, Brainmute also shows you a one-time report of your screen time from the last 30 days. It stays on your phone.

For this, Brainmute needs several Android permissions. Each one is explained in the app before you switch it on, and you can take any of them away again in your Android settings at any time. If you do, the parts of the app that depend on them stop working.

What is never locked

Your phone has to stay usable and emergency calls always have to work. These stay open at all times, whether your app lock, a mission or your sleep window is running: emergency calls, phone and contacts, your alarm clock, Android settings, permissions and uninstalling, the lock screen, status bar and fingerprint unlock, official emergency alerts and emergency SOS, your camera, your keyboard, your home screen, and Brainmute itself.

5. What Brainmute cannot promise

Brainmute is a self-control tool. It is not a security product, not parental control software and not a way to stop somebody else from using their phone.

Android limits what any app is allowed to do, and phone makers stop background apps in their own ways. Because of that:

• We cannot promise that a lock always starts on time, always holds, or that a locked app can never be reached.
• Anyone who can unlock your phone can uninstall Brainmute or take a permission away.
• Screen time numbers come from Android and can be incomplete.
• We do not promise that the app is free of faults or available without interruption.

None of this affects the rights you have by law if the app is faulty.

6. Health and safety

Brainmute is not medical, psychological or therapeutic advice. It does not diagnose, treat or prevent anything. If you are worried about your sleep, your mood or your phone use, please talk to a doctor.

Some missions involve physical activity, for example walking, running, swimming, yoga or a workout. Take part only if you are healthy enough for it. Go at your own pace, stop if you feel unwell, and check with a doctor first if you are unsure or have a medical condition.

Never use the app while driving, while cycling or anywhere it would put you or anyone else at risk. Brainmute never blocks emergency calls, but if something serious happens, put the phone to its normal use and get help.

7. Subscription and payment

Brainmute is a paid app. You need an active subscription to use it.

• What it costs, how long the billing period is, and whether there is a free period at the start, is shown in the app and in Google Play before you confirm. Nothing is charged before that.
• The subscription is bought through Google Play and paid with the payment method in your Google account. Google Play takes the payment and renews the subscription automatically at the end of every period, until you cancel.
• Any tax that applies where you live is shown with the price in Google Play before you confirm.
• If the price changes, Google Play tells you in advance and you can cancel before the change takes effect.

Who you are buying from

This depends on where you live. For users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and a number of other territories, Google is the merchant of record, which means the purchase contract for the subscription is between you and Google. Everywhere else, the purchase contract is between you and us, and Google acts as our agent. The list of those territories is published by Google and is part of the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement.

8. Cancelling and refunds

• You can cancel at any time in Google Play under Subscriptions. Cancelling stops the next renewal. Your subscription continues until the end of the period already paid for.
• Cancelling is not the same as deleting your account, and deleting your account does not cancel the subscription. If you want both, do both, otherwise Google Play keeps charging you.
• Refunds are handled through Google Play under Google's refund rules, and we have agreed that Google may grant refunds on our behalf. We cannot reverse a payment that Google has taken. If something went wrong, write to [email protected] anyway and we will help as far as we can.
• Consumers in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom have a statutory right to withdraw from a purchase of digital content. Where Google is the merchant of record, that right is against Google, and Google Play's terms explain how to use it.

9. Rules of use

Please do not:

• use Brainmute for anything unlawful, or in a way that harms other people;
• get around the paywall or use the app without a valid subscription;
• automate, fake or manipulate missions, steps, streaks or your time balance;
• copy, sell, rent, lend or sublicense the app or your access to it;
• decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer the app, except where applicable law expressly permits this, including the rights under Section 69e of the German Copyright Act;
• try to get into other people's accounts, or collect data from the service in bulk;
• upload harmful code, or attack or overload our systems;
• use Brainmute to lock, monitor or control another person's phone without them knowing and agreeing.

Nothing in this section limits rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Complaints

You can complain to us about anything to do with this service. That includes anything you believe is unlawful or breaks these terms, a decision we made about your account, and the way we apply these terms in general. You do not have to be a Brainmute user to complain to us.

Use contact us on your profile in the app (tap your profile picture at the top right). It opens an email to [email protected] in your own email program. You can also write to that address directly, or by post to the address in section 1. We read every message that arrives there and we tell you what we decided.

10. Content and rights

For as long as your subscription runs, you get a personal, limited licence to use Brainmute on devices you control. It cannot be transferred to anyone else. Everything else stays with us: the app, its name and logo, its design, its texts and its code.

What you write in the app stays yours, for example your display name and the names of missions you create yourself. You allow us to store your display name as far as we need to in order to run the service.

If you send us feedback or an idea, we may use it to improve Brainmute without owing you anything for it.

11. Changes to the app

We may update Brainmute to fix errors, improve security, comply with the law, keep it compatible or improve the service. We may also change or remove features where there is a valid reason and the change does not unfairly disadvantage you.

Where the law requires notice, we will tell you clearly and in advance. If a change materially reduces your access to or use of the service and the law gives you a right to end the contract, you may use that right.

12. Ending this agreement

You can end it at any time: cancel the subscription in Google Play, delete your account on your profile in the app, and uninstall the app.

We may suspend or end an account if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if we reasonably need to do so for security or legal reasons, or if continuing to provide the service becomes unlawful. Where reasonably possible, we tell you what happened and give you a chance to put the problem right. When we suspend or close an account, we tell you by email what we did, why we did it, and how you can object.

Ending your Brainmute account does not cancel a Google Play subscription. You have to cancel the subscription separately.

13. Liability

We are liable without limitation where liability is mandatory by law, including for intent, gross negligence, injury to life, body or health, and liability under applicable product liability law.

For ordinary negligence, we are liable only for the breach of duties that are essential for the agreement to work and on which you may reasonably rely. In that case, liability is limited to foreseeable and typical damage.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits rights or remedies that cannot legally be excluded or limited.

14. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms when there is a valid reason, including changes in the law, security requirements, technology or the service. If the change is more than editorial, we will tell you in the app or by email at least 30 days before it takes effect, and we will say what is changing. A change that affects your rights or obligations only applies if you agree to it, for example by confirming it in the app. If you do not agree, the current terms continue to apply, and you can cancel your subscription at any time.

15. Governing law and disputes

German law applies, except that consumers keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where they habitually live.

A consumer may bring a claim before the courts that have jurisdiction under mandatory consumer law. We do not require consumers to use arbitration or a consumer dispute resolution body before bringing a claim.

We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms, about your subscription or about your account go to [email protected]. The full provider details are in our Legal Notice.