Terms of Service
Last updated: August 11, 2026
Effective August 11, 2026.
1. Who we are
Housemates is a student-run project dedicated to making shared living effortless: splitting expenses, coordinating chores, and keeping one grocery list for the whole house. The app is provided free of charge and maintained by a small independent team.
2. What Housemates does
Housemates lets you join a "house" with your housemates. House members can create expenses and split them equally, by percentage, or by exact amounts; record payments between each other to settle balances; coordinate chores, including rotating them between housemates; and share a grocery list. When someone owes you money or a chore is overdue, you can send them a reminder as a push notification.
3. Eligibility & accounts
- You must provide accurate information (e.g., your name and email).
- You are responsible for your account, your device, and safeguarding your login.
- You may belong to only one house at a time, and a house holds up to 8 members. If you leave, you can join a different house later.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Use the App for unlawful purposes or to harass, spam, or impersonate others.
- Attempt to probe, scan, or test the App or its infrastructure without authorization, or disrupt or overload the service.
- Circumvent or tamper with security controls.
We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.
5. Expenses & payments; no financial advice
Housemates is a coordination tool. We do not move money, process payments, or provide legal, tax, financial, or accounting advice. Payments recorded in the App are a shared record of money that changed hands outside the App, and settlements between users are your responsibility.
Balance reminders are limited to one per 24 hours per housemate, and chore reminders to one per 24 hours per chore per person. You can disable notifications in the App or in your device settings at any time.
6. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share your information. By using the App, you consent to the practices described there.
7. Intellectual property; license to you
We own the App and all related intellectual property. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the App on your personal device.
8. Your content; license to us
You retain rights to the content you submit (e.g., expense titles and descriptions, chore and grocery items, your profile photo). You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, and display your content solely to operate and improve the App.
9. Third-party services
Housemates relies on third-party providers to operate (e.g., authentication, hosting, and push messaging), and offers sign-in through Apple and Google. Your use of those services may be subject to their separate terms and privacy policies.
10. App stores; device requirements
If you download the App from the Apple App Store, you agree to the Apple Media Services Terms and Apple's Standard EULA. Apple and Google are not responsible for providing support for the App. You are responsible for data charges and compatible hardware.
11. Changes to the service
We may add, modify, or remove features, and may suspend or discontinue the App in whole or in part. Where required, we will provide reasonable notice.
12. Termination
You may stop using the App at any time. You may delete your account within the App; deleting your account permanently removes your data as described in our Privacy Policy. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms or we are required to by law. Upon termination, provisions that by their nature should survive (e.g., disclaimers, limitations of liability) will survive.
13. Disclaimers
THE APP IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not guarantee the App will be uninterrupted or error-free. Balances shown in the App are a shared record kept by your house, not an authoritative financial statement.
14. Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, OR REVENUE, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE APP.
15. Indemnity
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Housemates and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents harmless from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your use of the App or your violation of these Terms.
16. Governing law; venue; disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to conflicts of law rules.
17. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. If changes are material, we will provide notice by email, in-app, or by updating the effective date.