Terms of Service
These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legal agreement between you and Hotline Inc, a Delaware corporation ("Hotline," "we," "us," or "our"), governing your access to and use of the Hotline mobile application, any related websites, and any associated services (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, downloading the app, or using the Service in any way, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
1.Eligibility
You must be at least 13 years old to create a Hotline account. If you are between 13 and 18 (or the age of majority where you live, whichever is higher), you may only use the Service with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian. By using the Service you represent that you meet these requirements, that you have the legal capacity to enter these Terms, and that you are not barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction.
2.Your account
You are responsible for providing accurate registration information, for keeping your password confidential, and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us at help@cookhotline.com immediately if you suspect unauthorized access. You may not share your account, sell it, or transfer it. We may suspend or terminate any account that we believe has been compromised, used to violate these Terms, or used in a way that creates risk for Hotline or other users.
3.The Service, in plain terms
Hotline is an AI-assisted cooking, meal-planning, and grocery-cart application. The Service includes:
The AI cooking companion known as Friday, which answers cooking questions in chat, suggests recipes based on context you provide (pantry, dietary preferences, household, history), helps build meal plans, and parses recipes from photos and URLs.
A pantry capture feature that uses computer vision to identify food items in photos you take.
Integrations with third-party grocery retailers (such as H-E-B and Kroger), which let you send a Hotline-built cart to that retailer's site for checkout.
A separate coaching product ("Coach") that connects households with independent professionals such as registered dietitians or trainers.
Social features for friends and followers when you initiate those connections.
We may add, remove, or change features at any time. We will give reasonable notice for material changes that affect paid features.
4.License to use the Service
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to download and use the Service on devices you own or control, for your own personal, non-commercial purposes.
You may not, and may not allow anyone else to: (a) copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Service or its content; (b) reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service, except where this restriction is prohibited by applicable law; (c) use the Service to build or train any competing product or any general-purpose AI model; (d) scrape, harvest, or systematically extract data from the Service; (e) circumvent any security or rate-limiting measure; or (f) use the Service in a way that violates these Terms or any law.
5.AI features and their limits
Friday, Coach AI assistance, recipe parsing, and pantry capture rely on large language models and computer vision models provided by us and by third parties such as Anthropic and OpenAI. These systems generate output by predicting likely responses, not by retrieving verified facts. The output can be wrong, incomplete, out of date, or inconsistent. You agree to use judgment whenever you rely on AI-generated content, especially for any decision that affects health, safety, allergens, food handling, cooking temperatures, or dietary intake.
Specifically, Friday is not a substitute for:
A medical professional. Nothing Friday or Coach AI says is medical, nutritional, or dietary advice, even when it is framed as a suggestion. If you have allergies, intolerances, diabetes, pregnancy considerations, or any other medical condition, consult a qualified professional before changing what you eat.
A food safety authority. Friday's cooking instructions are guidance, not certified safe-handling procedures. Internal temperature, cooking time, ingredient freshness, and cross-contamination are your responsibility. When in doubt, follow USDA or equivalent food-safety guidance.
A label or packaging. Pantry capture and recipe parsing make best-effort identifications and may mis-identify items, miss allergens, or mis-read ingredient lists. Always read the actual label on a product before consuming it, especially if you have an allergy.
You acknowledge that AI output is probabilistic. We do not warrant that any specific AI response will be accurate, complete, safe, or fit for any particular purpose.
6.Your content
The Service lets you create, upload, or send content, including chat messages, photos (pantry, fridge, recipes), notes, ratings, recipe imports, profile information, and social posts ("User Content").
You retain ownership of your User Content. By submitting User Content to the Service, you grant Hotline a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, modify (for example, to resize an image or extract text from a recipe), display, and use that content solely for the purpose of operating, providing, improving, and supporting the Service for you and, where you have chosen to share with another person, for that person.
We do not use your private User Content (chat history, pantry photos, recipes you've saved for yourself, notes) to train general-purpose AI models. Where we use User Content to improve internal product features, we do so in aggregate or de-identified form unless you have explicitly opted in.
You represent that you have all rights necessary to submit your User Content and that doing so does not violate any law or any third party's rights. We may remove any User Content we believe violates these Terms, our community standards, or applicable law.
7.Retailers and the grocery cart
When you connect a retailer (such as H-E-B or Kroger), you authorize Hotline to use that retailer's API on your behalf to add items to a cart in your retailer account. Hotline is not the merchant of record. We do not sell groceries, we do not handle payment, we do not set retailer prices, and we do not control retailer inventory, substitutions, delivery, pickup, or refunds. Your purchase relationship is with the retailer, governed entirely by that retailer's own terms and privacy policy. Any dispute about a charge, a missing item, a substitution, a price difference, an allergen mishap on the retailer side, or a delivery problem must be resolved with the retailer.
You may disconnect a retailer at any time from the Settings screen, which will revoke the authorization token Hotline holds. Retailers may also revoke access on their side without notice to us.
8.Coach product
If you use the Coach product to work with an independent professional (such as a registered dietitian, trainer, or coach), you understand that the professional is an independent third party, not an employee or agent of Hotline. Hotline provides the platform that connects you, but the coaching relationship is between you and the professional. The professional is responsible for their own credentialing, licensure, scope of practice, and any clinical or professional advice they give you. Hotline is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or quality of the coach's advice, and does not provide medical or nutritional services.
9.Notifications
If you opt in to push notifications, we may send you alerts you have enabled (such as deal alerts, meal reminders, coach messages, or Friday messages). You can turn off any category from inside the app or from iOS Settings. You may also unsubscribe from any email category from the email itself or by emailing help@cookhotline.com. We may always send you transactional messages (password reset, security alerts, material changes to these Terms) so long as your account is active.
10.Prohibited conduct
You agree not to:
Use the Service to violate any law or to facilitate the violation of any law.
Use the Service to harass, threaten, defame, impersonate, or harm another person.
Upload content that is illegal, infringing, fraudulent, deceptive, sexually explicit, hateful, or that exploits or endangers a minor.
Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network associated with the Service, or breach any security or authentication measure.
Submit prompts intended to extract Hotline's prompts, system instructions, model weights, or any other confidential or proprietary information.
Use the Service or Friday to generate content for unlawful purposes, to provide medical or legal advice to others, or to misrepresent the source of AI-generated output.
Use any automated means (bots, scrapers, headless browsers) to access the Service in a way that interferes with the Service's normal operation or that exceeds reasonable use.
Submit content that infringes copyright, trademark, trade secret, publicity, privacy, or any other right of any third party.
11.Intellectual property
The Service, including the Hotline name and logo, the Friday name and persona, the app's interface, code, content (other than User Content), data models, prompts, and design system, is owned by Hotline or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership right to you. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
12.Feedback
If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Service, you grant Hotline a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that feedback for any purpose, without any obligation of compensation or attribution.
13.Third-party services
The Service includes or links to third-party services (AI providers, retailers, hosting providers, recipe sources, etc.). Hotline is not responsible for the availability, content, accuracy, security, or practices of those third parties. Your use of any third-party service is governed by that party's own terms and privacy policy.
14.Disclaimers
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HOTLINE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, HOTLINE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; THAT AI OUTPUT WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SAFE; THAT RECIPE OR ALLERGEN INFORMATION WILL BE COMPLETE OR CORRECT; THAT RETAILER PRICES, AVAILABILITY, OR FULFILLMENT WILL BE ACCURATE; OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties. In those jurisdictions, the above exclusions apply to the maximum extent permitted by law.
15.Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, HOTLINE AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AFFILIATES, AND LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE, INCLUDING DAMAGES ARISING FROM AI-GENERATED CONTENT, RECIPE OR ALLERGEN INFORMATION, RETAILER INTEGRATIONS, OR ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE.
OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID HOTLINE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation of liability for personal injury or for certain damages. In those jurisdictions, the above limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted by law. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
16.Arbitration agreement and class action waiver
You and Hotline agree to resolve any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service through binding individual arbitration, not in court, except as set out below. Arbitration will be administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures (for claims up to and including $250,000) or its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures (for larger claims), and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. The arbitration will be conducted in the English language, in Wilmington, Delaware, or another mutually agreed location, or by video conference at the arbitrator's discretion.
Class action waiver. You and Hotline each agree that any dispute will be brought in an individual capacity only, not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.
Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual action in small claims court for any qualifying claim. Either party may also seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property rights or to address actual or threatened security breaches.
Opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending written notice to legal@cookhotline.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your name, the email address on your Hotline account, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration. Opting out has no other effect on your use of the Service.
Survival. This section survives termination of these Terms.
17.Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Subject to the arbitration agreement above, the state and federal courts located in Wilmington, Delaware have exclusive jurisdiction over any matter not subject to arbitration.
18.Termination
You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete your account from the Profile screen or by emailing help@cookhotline.com. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time if we reasonably believe you have violated these Terms, if your account is creating risk to Hotline or other users, if we are required to do so by law, or if we discontinue the Service. Cancelling a paid subscription does not, by itself, delete your account; see Section 19. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21) will survive.
19.Subscriptions and auto-renewal
Hotline is a subscription service. Most app features require an active subscription after the trial period ends.
Plans and price. We currently offer two plans, with prices charged in U.S. dollars unless your App Store account is set to another currency:
- Monthly: $6.99 per month, with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers.
- Annual: $69.99 per year, billed once at the start of each annual term.
Free trial. The 7-day free trial on the Monthly plan is available once per Apple ID. If you have previously had a Hotline subscription on the same Apple ID, you are not eligible for the trial again. The trial converts automatically to a paid Monthly subscription at the end of the trial period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. If you cancel during the trial, you keep access through the end of the trial period and are not charged.
Billing and auto-renewal. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically at the then-current price for the same plan unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple ID account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal at any time in the iOS Settings app under your name → Subscriptions, or from the in-app Profile screen under "The Membership."
Refunds. All subscription purchases are processed by Apple. Hotline cannot directly issue refunds for App Store purchases. Refund requests must be submitted to Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple may, in its discretion, grant or deny refund requests according to its policies. To the extent permitted by applicable law, subscription fees are non-refundable and your subscription is not cancellable mid-period for a partial refund. If you are an EU, UK, or Swiss resident with a statutory right of withdrawal, you may exercise it within the time and on the conditions required by your local law; by starting your trial or paid period and using the Service during that time, you may forfeit the right of withdrawal for digital content under applicable law.
Price changes. If we change the price or terms of your subscription, we will provide notice through the app, by email, or as required by Apple before the change takes effect. Apple will notify you of any price increase and, in many cases, will require your consent before charging the new price. If you do not agree to a price change, you may cancel your subscription before it renews. Continued use of the Service after the price change takes effect constitutes acceptance.
Restoring purchases. If you reinstall the app, switch devices, or sign in with the same Apple ID on another iPhone, your active subscription can be restored from the paywall or from the Profile screen under "The Membership" by tapping "Restore Purchases."
Account vs. subscription. Cancelling your subscription stops future billing but does not delete your account. To delete your account permanently, see Section 18.
20.Apple-specific terms
If you accessed the Service through the Apple App Store, the following terms also apply. To the extent these conflict with anything else in these Terms, the following control with respect to your use of the iOS app:
(a) These Terms are between you and Hotline only, not with Apple. Hotline is solely responsible for the iOS app and its content.
(b) Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the iOS app.
(c) If the iOS app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the iOS app.
(d) Hotline, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim relating to the iOS app, including product liability claims, any claim that the iOS app fails to conform to any applicable legal requirement, and consumer-protection or similar claims.
(e) Hotline, not Apple, is responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any third-party intellectual property infringement claim relating to the iOS app.
(f) You represent that you are not located in any country subject to a U.S. government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
(g) Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms with respect to the iOS app and, upon your acceptance, will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.
21.Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hotline and its officers, directors, employees, agents, affiliates, and licensors from and against any claim, liability, damage, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to (a) your use of the Service, (b) your User Content, (c) your violation of these Terms, (d) your violation of any law or any third party's rights, or (e) any decision you make based on AI-generated output. We may assume exclusive control of any matter subject to indemnification, in which case you will cooperate with our defense.
22.Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the app, by email, or by updating the "Effective date" above before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and delete your account.
23.Miscellaneous
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Hotline about the Service and supersede any prior agreements. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Section headings are for convenience only. Nothing in these Terms creates an agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship between you and Hotline.
24.Contact
Questions about these Terms: