Terms of use

The short version

• You must be 16 or older to use OBLIQ.
• Your messages belong to you. We claim no rights over them, and we cannot read them.
• Do not use OBLIQ to break the law or to hurt people.
• If we suspend your account, we tell you why and you can appeal.
• We give you 30 days' notice before any change to these terms that affects you.
• Your password and recovery phrase are your responsibility alone. We never hold them, there is no "forgot my password" function, and we are not responsible if you lose access.
• If we disagree, we first talk. If that fails, an independent arbitrator in Singapore decides, online, under Singapore law. You pay no more toward the arbitration fees than a court filing fee, and we cover the rest.
• Claims are brought individually. Class actions are excluded.

1. Who we are

OBLIQ is provided by ThirdAct Pte. Ltd., a company registered in Singapore (UEN 202508104R), at 68 Circular Road, #02-01, Boat Quay, Singapore 049422 ("ThirdAct", "we", "us"). You can reach us at legal@obliq.cc.

2. Accepting these terms

You accept these terms when you create an OBLIQ account. Read them together with our Privacy Policy, which explains what information we handle and why. If you do not agree, please do not use OBLIQ.

If you use OBLIQ for a business, you confirm that you are allowed to accept these terms for that business. Business plans may also have a separate written agreement. If they conflict, the separate agreement wins for that business.

3. Who can use OBLIQ

You can use OBLIQ if:

• you are at least 16 years old, wherever you live. This applies even if your country allows younger people to use apps like this.
• you are not barred from using it by law, including sanctions laws.
• we have not previously closed your account for a serious breach of these terms, unless we have agreed that you may come back.

4. Your account

• Username and password. You create your account with a username and a password. You do not need to give us your name, phone number or email address.
• Usernames are permanent. You cannot change your username after you create it. Do not choose a username that impersonates someone else or infringes a trademark.
• Your password and recovery phrase are yours alone. Your password never leaves your device, and we never receive or store it, or your recovery phrase, or your private keys.
• There is no "forgot my password" function. OBLIQ is built so that only your password or your recovery phrase can open your account. We do not know who you are, so we have no way to check that a person asking for access is the real owner, and we will not try.
• Losing access is permanent. If you forget or lose your password and your recovery phrase, your account and everything in it cannot be recovered by you, by us or by anyone else. We cannot make exceptions, whatever proof you offer.
• Anything done with your password counts as done by you. If someone else learns your password or recovery phrase, they can use your account. Protect them as you would protect a house key.
• Powerful safety tools. OBLIQ includes tools such as panic wipe, a dead man's switch and disappearing messages. They work as designed and their effects are permanent. Set them up with care.

5. Your content

Your content is yours. "Your content" means everything you send or store with OBLIQ: messages, calls, photos, videos, voice notes, files and your profile.

• Your messages, calls and files are end-to-end encrypted. We cannot see them, and we claim no licence or rights over them.
• Your profile (display name, photo and "About" text) is encrypted on your device. We store and deliver only sealed copies of it, so it can reach the people you choose. You give us permission to store and transmit those sealed copies only to run OBLIQ for you. This permission is free, non-exclusive, ends when you delete the item or your account, and cannot be transferred or sold.
• You are responsible for your content, and you confirm that you have the right to share it.
• When you send a message, the people who receive it have their own copy. Deleting a message "for everyone" removes it from OBLIQ apps that receive the deletion, but we cannot control screenshots, forwarded copies or devices that are offline or modified.

6. Acceptable use

OBLIQ protects private communication. It is not a shield for harming people. You must not use OBLIQ to:

1. share child sexual abuse material, or sexualise, groom or exploit anyone under 18 in any way.
2. threaten, harass, stalk or incite violence against anyone.
3. promote or support terrorism or violent extremism.
4. commit fraud, scams or phishing, or sell illegal goods or services.
5. send spam or bulk unsolicited messages, or run automated accounts without our written permission.
6. impersonate a person or organisation in a way that misleads people.
7. share someone's private information or intimate images without their consent.
8. infringe other people's intellectual property.
9. spread malware, or attack, overload or interfere with OBLIQ or its users.
10. collect usernames or other information about users by automated means.
11. get around our security, or access accounts or data that are not yours.

Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, we cannot see what people send. We act on reports from users, who can choose to send us specific messages, and on information that is not encrypted, such as usernames.

7. Q, the OBLIQ assistant

Q runs on your device and can translate, transcribe, summarise and suggest.

• Q can make mistakes. Check anything important before you rely on it.
• Q does not give professional advice. It is not a doctor, lawyer or financial adviser.
• You decide what Q does. It suggests, and you choose. You can turn it off at any time.

8. The WhatsApp bridge and WhatsApp import

OBLIQ can import chats you export from WhatsApp, and can connect to your WhatsApp account as a linked device so you can use WhatsApp chats inside OBLIQ.

• OBLIQ is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to WhatsApp or Meta. WhatsApp is a trademark of its owner.
• WhatsApp has its own terms. Meta may limit, suspend or ban WhatsApp accounts that use third-party connections. That decision is Meta's alone, and we cannot reverse it. Use the bridge only if you accept that risk.
• Import or connect only chats you have the right to keep, and respect the privacy of the people in them.
• WhatsApp can change or block how the bridge works at any time. We will try to keep it working, but we cannot promise that it always will.

9. Security research

We welcome people who help keep OBLIQ safe. If you find a security problem, report it to security@obliq.cc and give us reasonable time to fix it before you tell anyone else. If you act in good faith, avoid harming users and their data, and do not access more than you need to show the problem, we will not take legal action against you for your research.

10. Our intellectual property

The OBLIQ app, website, name, logo and design belong to ThirdAct or its licensors. We give you a personal, free, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the OBLIQ app for its normal purpose while these terms apply. Some parts of OBLIQ use open-source software under its own licence. Those licences are listed in the app, and they win where they apply.

Please do not copy, modify or resell OBLIQ, or try to extract its source code, except where the law or an open-source licence allows it, or under section 9.

11. Feedback

If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them to improve OBLIQ without paying you. We will never publish your name with your feedback without asking.

12. Paid plans

OBLIQ is free to use at launch. If we introduce paid plans:

• prices, what you get and how billing works will be shown clearly before you pay.
• payments go through the Apple App Store or Google Play, under their payment terms. We never see your card details.
• subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in your App Store or Google Play settings, and the plan stays active until the end of the period you paid for.
• we will tell you at least 30 days before a price increase, and you can cancel before it applies.
• deleting your account does not cancel a subscription bought through Apple or Google. Cancel it there first. We will remind you of this before you delete your account.
• if we end a paid feature, or close your account without a serious breach by you, we refund the unused part of what you paid.
• refunds otherwise follow Apple's or Google's refund rules and your legal rights as a consumer.

13. Suspending or closing accounts

You can leave at any time by deleting your account in the app or at obliq.cc/delete-account.

We may suspend or close an account if it seriously or repeatedly breaks section 6, if the law requires us to, or to protect users from immediate harm. When we do:

• we tell you which rule was broken, unless the law forbids it or telling you would put someone at risk.
• for less serious breaches, we warn you first and give you a chance to fix the problem.
• you can appeal by writing to appeals@obliq.cc within 60 days. A person who was not involved in the original decision reviews the appeal and gives you an answer.

14. Changes to OBLIQ and to these terms

OBLIQ will change as we improve it. We may add, change or remove features.

• Changes to these terms. We will tell you about any change that affects your rights in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect, and explain it in plain words. If you do not agree, you can delete your account before the change applies, and the change will never apply to you. Changes required by law or that only fix errors may take effect sooner, and we will explain why.
• If we ever close OBLIQ, we will give you at least 60 days' notice so you can export your chats, and refund any unused prepaid time.

15. Our promise about the service, and its limits

We work hard to keep OBLIQ running, secure and private. But no software is perfect. OBLIQ is provided as it is and as available. We do not promise that it will always be available, uninterrupted or free of errors. Nothing in this section removes any guarantee that your local consumer law gives you and that cannot be excluded.

16. Responsibility for losses

This section limits what each side can claim. It is written to be fair, and it never removes rights that the law says cannot be removed.

1. What we are always responsible for. Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, for harm we cause on purpose or through gross negligence, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.
2. Lost access is not our responsibility. OBLIQ is built so that we cannot recover accounts. We are not responsible for any loss caused by a forgotten or lost password or recovery phrase, by someone else using your password or recovery phrase, by a lost, stolen or reset device, or by your use of tools that permanently erase data (such as panic wipe, the dead man's switch or disappearing messages). This does not apply if you lost access because of a fault in OBLIQ itself.
3. Losses we are not responsible for. We are not responsible for losses that we could not reasonably have foreseen, for losses caused by things outside our reasonable control, or for losses that happen because you did not follow these terms or keep your password safe. If you use OBLIQ for business, we are not responsible for lost profits, revenue or business opportunity.
4. The maximum amount. Apart from point 1, our total responsibility to you for all claims is limited to the greater of (a) what you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) EUR 100.
5. Your responsibility to us. If you break the law or these terms and that causes someone to bring a claim against us, you are responsible for the reasonable losses that result, but only to the extent the law allows and only for what you actually caused.

17. Disagreements and which law applies

We want disagreements settled fairly, quickly and cheaply, by a neutral decision-maker, without anyone having to travel or spend a fortune on lawyers. This section sets out how.

17.1 Step one: talk to us

Before anything else, send a short written notice to legal@obliq.cc with your username, what happened and what you are asking for. If we have a claim against you, we will send you a notice inside the app. Both sides will try in good faith to settle the matter within 60 days. Neither side may start arbitration before those 60 days are over, except for the urgent matters in 17.6.

During those 60 days, either side may suggest mediation at the Singapore Mediation Centre, held online. Mediation happens only if both sides agree.

17.2 Step two: independent arbitration in Singapore

If the matter is not settled, it will be decided finally by arbitration administered by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) under the SIAC Arbitration Rules in force at the time.

• Where: the legal seat of the arbitration is Singapore.
• How: hearings take place by video, or on written documents alone, so nobody needs to travel to Singapore. Smaller claims use SIAC's faster expedited procedure where it applies.
• Who decides: one independent arbitrator, appointed under the SIAC Rules.
• Language: English.
• Result: the arbitrator's decision is final and binding on both sides, and can be enforced in court.
• Remedies: the arbitrator can award you anything a court could award you on your individual claim.

17.3 Fees: fair to both sides

• If you are an individual, you pay no more toward SIAC's filing, administration and arbitrator fees than the fee to file the same claim in a Singapore court. We pay the rest.
• Each side pays its own lawyers, if it chooses to have any.
• Frivolous claims cost the person who brings them. If the arbitrator finds that a claim or defence was frivolous or made in bad faith, the arbitrator may order that side to pay the other side's reasonable costs. This rule applies equally to you and to us.

17.4 Individual claims only

Claims are brought and decided individually. Neither side may bring a claim as a plaintiff or class member in a class, collective or representative action, and an arbitrator may not combine claims of different users without the consent of both sides.

If 25 or more similar claims are filed against us at about the same time by the same lawyers or organisers, SIAC may decide them in groups, one group after another. Every claim is still heard on its own merits. This stops mass filings designed to pressure a settlement, without denying anyone a hearing.

17.5 Your right to opt out

You can opt out of arbitration and the individual-claims rule by writing to legal@obliq.cc within 30 days of first accepting these terms, with your username and the words "arbitration opt-out". Opting out affects nothing else in these terms. If you opt out, disputes are decided by the courts of Singapore instead.

17.6 Matters that do not need arbitration

Either side may:

• bring an individual claim in the Small Claims Tribunals of Singapore, if the claim qualifies.
• ask the courts of Singapore for urgent interim relief, such as an order to stop an attack on OBLIQ, misuse of an account or infringement of intellectual property, while the arbitration goes ahead.

17.7 Governing law and courts

These terms, and any dispute about them or about OBLIQ, are governed by the laws of Singapore. For anything that is not decided by arbitration, the courts of Singapore have exclusive jurisdiction, and both sides agree to bring proceedings only there.

17.8 Mandatory consumer rights

Some countries, including those in the European Union and the United Kingdom, give consumers rights that no contract can remove, for example the right to rely on the law of their home country or to bring a claim in their home courts. If you live in such a country, those rights still apply to you, but only to the extent that the law of that country requires. Every other part of this section still applies in full.

18. Apple App Store

If you downloaded OBLIQ from the Apple App Store, these extra points apply:

• This agreement is between you and ThirdAct, not Apple. ThirdAct, not Apple, is responsible for OBLIQ and its content.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for OBLIQ.
• If OBLIQ fails to meet a warranty that applies to it, you can tell Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. Apart from that, Apple has no warranty obligation for OBLIQ.
• ThirdAct, not Apple, is responsible for handling any claims about OBLIQ, including product liability claims, claims that it fails to meet legal requirements, and consumer protection claims.
• ThirdAct, not Apple, is responsible for dealing with any claim that OBLIQ infringes someone's intellectual property.
• You confirm that you are not in a country under a US government embargo, and that you are not on a US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.

19. General

• The whole agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about OBLIQ.
• If one part is invalid, the rest still applies.
• If we do not enforce a term straight away, we have not given up the right to enforce it later.
• Transfers. You may not transfer your account or these terms. We may transfer these terms to a company that takes over OBLIQ, but only if your rights stay the same, and we will tell you at least 30 days before.
• Languages. If we translate these terms, the English version applies where the versions differ, except where your local law requires otherwise.

20. Contact