Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of KochiKochi (kochikochi.app), a language exchange platform operated by [Your Legal Entity Name] (“we”, “us”, “our”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms in full. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

KochiKochi provides random video matching for language exchange between English and Japanese speakers, AI-powered conversation practice, live captions, and real-time translation.

You must be at least 18 years of age to use KochiKochi. By creating an account, you confirm that you are 18 or older. We require your date of birth during registration and reserve the right to verify your age at any time.

If we have reason to believe you are under 18, your account will be immediately suspended pending review. Providing a false date of birth is a violation of these Terms and grounds for permanent account termination.

To use KochiKochi, you must sign in using a Google account. You agree to:

• Provide accurate and truthful information during registration, including your display name, date of birth, gender, and country
• Maintain only one account per person
• Not share your account with anyone else
• Not create a new account if your previous account was suspended or banned

Your account may be created only after completing the onboarding process and accepting these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

KochiKochi offers the following features:

Free tier:

• Random video matching with native speakers of your target language
• Text chat during calls
• Same-gender matching preference
• Limited number of calls per day with a maximum duration per call

Premium tier (paid subscription):

• Live closed captions powered by speech-to-text technology
• Tap-to-translate powered by AI translation
• Priority matching
• Extended call limits
• Access to the AI Practice Partner (subject to usage limits)
• Session notes

Feature availability, usage limits, and pricing may change at our discretion. We will notify active subscribers of material changes to premium features.

You agree to use KochiKochi for its intended purpose: practising languages through respectful conversation with other users. You must not:

• Use the Service if you are under 18 years of age
• Engage in any sexually explicit, suggestive, or inappropriate behaviour during calls
• Display nudity or sexually explicit material via your camera
• Harass, threaten, intimidate, or abuse other users
• Use hate speech, slurs, or discriminatory language based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic
• Attempt to solicit personal information from other users (phone numbers, addresses, financial details)
• Record, screenshot, or capture any part of a call without the other participant's explicit consent
• Use virtual cameras, deepfakes, pre-recorded video, or any technology to misrepresent your identity or appearance
• Share illegal content or use the Service to facilitate illegal activity
• Spam, advertise, or solicit other users for commercial purposes
• Attempt to circumvent bans, suspensions, or usage limits through new accounts, VPNs, or other means
• Interfere with the operation of the Service, including attempting to access systems or data you are not authorised to access

Violation of these rules may result in warnings, temporary suspension, or permanent ban at our sole discretion.

We employ automated and manual moderation systems to maintain a safe environment:

Automated moderation:

• Video frames from calls are periodically captured and analysed by third-party content moderation services to detect nudity and other inappropriate visual content. If inappropriate content is detected, the call may be automatically ended and your account may be suspended.
• For premium users with captions enabled, transcribed speech may be analysed for toxicity, threats, hate speech, and other harmful language. Severe violations may result in automatic call termination.

User reporting:

• Users may report others during or after a call for: Inappropriate content, Harassment, Spam, Suspected underage user, or Other reasons.
• Reports of suspected underage users are treated with the highest priority and result in immediate account suspension pending review.

Consequences:

• First offence (minor): Warning
• Repeated or serious offences: Temporary suspension (24 hours to 30 days)
• Severe or repeated serious offences: Permanent ban
• Suspected underage users: Immediate suspension pending verification

We reserve the right to take any action we deem necessary to protect users, including but not limited to ending calls, suspending accounts, banning users, and reporting illegal activity to the relevant authorities.

After each call, you may be asked to rate your conversation partner. These ratings contribute to an internal honour score used to improve matching quality. You agree not to abuse the rating system by providing false or malicious ratings. Persistent abuse of the rating system may result in account suspension.

Billing:

Premium subscriptions are billed monthly at the rate displayed at the time of purchase, processed through Stripe. Your subscription automatically renews each billing period unless cancelled.

Cancellation:

You may cancel your subscription at any time through the Settings page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You will retain premium access until that date.

Refunds:

We do not offer refunds for partial billing periods. If you cancel mid-month, you retain access until the end of that month. Exceptions may be made at our sole discretion for billing errors or service outages.

Usage limits:

Premium accounts include a monthly allowance of captioned call hours. Once the allowance is reached, calls continue but captions and translation features are disabled until the next billing period. The specific allowance is displayed on the pricing page and may be adjusted.

Price changes:

We may change subscription pricing with 30 days’ notice to active subscribers. Continued use after the price change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new pricing.

All content, design, code, trademarks, and other intellectual property associated with KochiKochi are owned by us or our licensors. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or reverse-engineer any part of the Service.

You retain ownership of any content you create or share during calls (messages, text chat). However, by using the Service, you grant us a limited licence to process this content as necessary to provide the Service (e.g., for moderation, captions, and translation).

Your use of KochiKochi is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and protect your data. Key points include:

• We collect and store your IP address and device fingerprint on each sign-in for moderation and security purposes
• During calls, audio from both participants may be processed by third-party speech-to-text services for live captioning, even if only one participant has captions enabled. Audio is processed in real time and is not stored by us.
• Video frames are periodically captured during calls and analysed by third-party moderation services. Frames are not stored unless a moderation violation is detected.
• Captions sent for translation are processed in real time and not stored.

By using the Service, you acknowledge and consent to these data practices as described in full in our Privacy Policy.

KochiKochi uses third-party services to provide its features, including but not limited to:

• Google (authentication)
• Supabase (database and user management)
• LiveKit (video and audio communication)
• Deepgram (speech-to-text)
• Anthropic / Claude (translation and AI conversation)
• ElevenLabs (AI voice synthesis)
• Sightengine (content moderation)
• Stripe (payment processing)
• FingerprintJS (device identification)

Your use of the Service may be subject to the terms and policies of these third-party providers. We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or conduct of third-party services.

You must not record, capture, screenshot, or otherwise reproduce any part of a video or audio call without the explicit consent of the other participant. Violation of this rule is a serious offence and may result in permanent ban and, where applicable, referral to law enforcement.

We do not record calls. Automated moderation systems process video frames and audio in real time but do not store recordings of calls.

KochiKochi is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee:

• That the Service will be available at all times or free from errors
• The quality, accuracy, or reliability of speech-to-text, translation, or moderation features
• The conduct, identity, age, or intentions of other users
• That a suitable conversation partner will be available at any given time

You use the Service at your own risk. We are not a party to conversations between users and bear no responsibility for the content or conduct of those conversations.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use of the Service, including but not limited to:

• Loss of data, profits, or goodwill
• Damages arising from the conduct of other users
• Service interruptions or technical failures
• Unauthorised access to your account

Our total liability for any claim arising from these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or £100, whichever is greater.

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including legal fees) arising from:

• Your violation of these Terms
• Your conduct on the platform
• Your violation of any third party's rights
• Any content you share through the Service

By you:

You may delete your account at any time through the Settings page. Upon deletion, your profile data will be removed. Some data may be retained as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., moderation records, ban records).

By us:

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for any violation of these Terms or for any other reason we deem necessary to protect the Service or its users. Banned users may not create new accounts.

If our automated or manual moderation systems detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any content that suggests the exploitation or abuse of a minor, we are legally obligated to report this to the relevant authorities, including the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the United Kingdom and/or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to registered users via email or an in-app notification. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the Service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

If you have questions about these Terms, contact us at: