Terms of Use

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and COMMONGROUND PARENTING LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17058823), registered office First Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW, United Kingdom ("CommonGround", "we", "us"). By creating an account or using the CommonGround app, you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.

Our Privacy Policy (https://www.commongroundparenting.co.uk/privacy) explains how we handle your personal data.

2. What CommonGround is, and is not

CommonGround helps separated and co-parenting families communicate, plan and keep an organised record in a shared family space.

• We are not a law firm. We do not give legal advice, and nothing in the app is legal advice. Speak to a solicitor or mediator about your situation.
• We are not a party to your family arrangements or any proceedings. We do not take sides or decide disputes.
• We are not an emergency service. If anyone is in danger, call 999. Do not rely on the app to report an emergency or a safeguarding concern.

3. Who can use CommonGround

You must be 18 or over to create an account. You must give accurate information and keep your sign-in details secure. You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us straight away at support@commongroundparenting.co.uk if you think someone else has accessed it.

4. Family spaces

A family space is shared between its members. The person who creates it, and any member given management rights, can invite and remove members and set what each member can do.

When you post in a family space, every member with access can see it. Messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent, and documents cannot be unshared once shared. This is deliberate: it is what makes the record reliable.

5. Professionals

A family can invite a professional, such as a mediator or solicitor, to see parts of its record for a limited period. Their access is read-only and limited to the areas the invitation allows. A family manager can remove it at any time.

Professionals who use CommonGround must keep to their own professional and regulatory duties. We do not check their qualifications or supervise their work.

6. Your content

You own the content you create. You give us a non-exclusive licence to store, copy, display and transmit it, only as needed to provide the app to you and the people you share it with. This licence ends when the content is deleted, except for copies in backups, which are overwritten within 90 days.

Content you share into a family space remains available to the other members after you delete your account, because it is part of their record too.

You must have the right to share everything you upload. Please share only what you need, especially about your children.

7. Community standards: zero tolerance

We have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive behaviour. You must not use CommonGround to:

• harass, threaten, intimidate or abuse anyone
• post content that is hateful, sexually explicit, violent or otherwise objectionable
• breach a court order, non-molestation order or other protective order, for example by contacting someone you are ordered not to contact
• share another person's private information without a lawful reason
• impersonate anyone, or create a false or misleading record
• upload malware, or try to access accounts, data or systems you are not authorised to access

To report content or a user, email support@commongroundparenting.co.uk with the family space and approximate date. We review reports within 24 hours. We may remove content, restrict features, or suspend or close the account of anyone who breaks these standards. Because the record may matter to others, we may preserve content we remove from view.

8. The record and evidence exports

The app keeps a record of messages, events, documents and key actions, and lets you export it as a PDF with checksums.

• Checksums help show whether a copy of an export or document has been altered since it was produced. They are not a certification of the content.
• We do not promise that any record or export will be accepted as evidence. Whether a court admits or relies on it is for the court to decide.
• An export reflects what you can access when it is generated. A starred-messages export is a selection, not the complete conversation.
• We may have to disclose records if a court order or the law requires it.

9. Subscriptions

Some features need a CommonGround Pro subscription. The app shows what is included, the price and the billing period before you buy.

• Payment. Subscriptions are bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play and charged to your store account when you confirm the purchase.
• Automatic renewal. A subscription renews automatically at the end of each period, at the then-current price, unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends.
• Free trials. If a free trial is offered, it converts to a paid subscription when it ends unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it ends. Any unused part of a trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription.
• Managing and cancelling. Manage or cancel in your App Store or Google Play account settings. Cancelling stops future renewals; you keep access until the end of the period you have paid for. Deleting your account or the app does not cancel a subscription.
• Refunds. Refunds are handled by Apple or Google under their policies. This does not affect your statutory rights.
• Family coverage. Where a plan covers other members of your family space, the app explains which members and features are included.

10. Availability and changes to the app

We work to keep CommonGround available and secure, but we cannot guarantee it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. We may change or withdraw features. If we withdraw a paid feature you rely on, we will tell you in advance.

Keep your own copies of anything critical, for example by exporting your record before an important deadline.

11. Our responsibility to you

If you use CommonGround as a consumer, you have legal rights under UK law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015, that these terms do not affect.

We do not exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

Otherwise, we are responsible only for loss or damage that is a foreseeable result of our breach of these terms or our negligence. We are not responsible for:

• the content other users post, or what they do with records they export
• the outcome of any dispute, mediation or legal proceedings
• loss caused by events outside our reasonable control
• business losses, if you use the app for business purposes

Our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid for CommonGround in the 12 months before the claim, or £100 if greater.

12. Suspension and closing your account

You can delete your account at any time in the app under Settings > Account and security > Delete account.

We may suspend or close your account if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if the law requires it, or to protect other users. Where reasonable, we will tell you first and explain why. If we close your account without good reason, we will refund any prepaid subscription period you have not used.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example to reflect changes to the app or the law. We will post the new version on this page. If a change significantly affects you, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

14. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. You can bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

15. Apple App Store terms

If you downloaded CommonGround from the Apple App Store:

• These terms are between you and CommonGround only, not Apple. CommonGround, not Apple, is solely responsible for the app and its content.
• Your licence to use the app is non-transferable and limited to Apple-branded devices you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any) for the app. To the extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app.
• CommonGround, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the app, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer protection or privacy claims.
• If anyone claims the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, CommonGround, not Apple, is responsible for investigating, defending, settling and discharging that claim.
• You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a UK or US government embargo, or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any UK or US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• You must comply with applicable third-party terms when using the app, for example your mobile network's terms.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and may enforce them against you.

16. Contact

COMMONGROUND PARENTING LTD, First Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JW, United Kingdom. Email: support@commongroundparenting.co.uk.