Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Gatchi mobile application and related services (collectively, the "Service"), operated by Gwanghee Jung doing business as Gatchi, a sole proprietorship based in the Republic of Korea.

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

To use Gatchi, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract in your jurisdiction
• Not be prohibited from using the Service under applicable law

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet all of these requirements. We reserve the right to verify your age and to terminate accounts that do not meet the eligibility criteria.

3. Account Registration

3.1 OAuth Sign-In

You register and sign in using your Google or Apple account. You are responsible for the security of your device and the OAuth accounts you use to access Gatchi.

3.2 Accurate Information

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during onboarding and to keep your profile up to date. Misrepresenting your identity, age, gender, or any other information is a violation of these Terms.

3.3 One Account Per Person

Each individual may maintain only one active Gatchi account. Creating duplicate accounts is prohibited.

3.4 Photo Verification

Gatchi does not allow accounts that use someone else's profile photo. Meetings arranged here happen in person, so your profile photos must be photos of you, and we confirm that before an account can reach anyone.

Photo verification asks you to look at your front camera and follow a few on-screen prompts. It captures still images of your face and compares them with your profile photos. What we capture, why we keep it, and how it is protected are set out in Section 3.7 of the Privacy Policy, and you are asked to consent to it separately before the camera opens.

Verification is required to host or join an activity. That is the only thing we withhold for it. Without it you may sign up, complete your profile, browse, open profiles, and send and receive messages and invites as normal. We do not charge you, delete your account, or suspend it for declining.

Separately, every member may choose in Settings to see, and be invited by, verified profiles only. That preference is on by default and belongs to the member who sets it, so an unverified profile will not be shown to, or able to invite, anyone who has left it on. Your verification status is displayed wherever your profile appears, including on your shareable web profile.

When you add or change a profile photo we compare it against the images from your check. If we cannot confirm it is you, your verification lapses and you will be asked to do the check again for the photos you now carry. Repeatedly submitting photos of another person is grounds for termination under Section 9.

Reports can also trigger it.If several different members report your profile photos as someone else's — that report only, not any other kind — we ask you to run the check again, and our review staff may ask for the same directly. Until you do, your photos are hidden from other members and your account is treated as unverified, so the two limits above apply. Passing lifts it at once and closes the reports. You have three days; after that nothing happens by itself — a person reviews the account and either restores it or, where the photos are not yours, suspends or terminates it under Section 9. Writing to [email protected] is a way to answer as good as taking the check.

No automated check is perfect. If ours cannot confirm you after several attempts, a member of our team reviews it, and you may write to [email protected] if you believe a decision about your account is wrong.

3.5 Account Security

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

3.6 Phone Verification and Text Messages

We may ask you to verify a mobile phone number. By entering your number and tapping “Send code”, you agree to receive text messages from Gatchi at that number, limited to:

• One-time verification codes you request
• Account and security alerts, such as a notice that your account was signed in to, changed, restricted, or deleted

We do not send marketing or promotional text messages. Message frequency varies with your account activity. Message and data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, or contact [email protected]. Reply STOP to opt out at any time, and START to opt back in. Opting out also stops verification codes, so you will not be able to verify a number until you opt back in. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. How we handle your phone number is described in Section 3.6.1 of our Privacy Policy.

4. The Service

Gatchi is a social activity platform designed to connect people who want to experience Korea together. The Service includes:

• Discovering other users' profiles and sending activity invites
• Matching with other users through mutual invites
• Joining or creating group activities
• Direct and group messaging
• Planning upcoming activities and reviewing past ones
• A reputation system based on peer reviews

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any feature or aspect of the Service at any time, with or without notice.

5. User Content

5.1 Ownership

You retain ownership of the content you submit to Gatchi, including photos, messages, activity descriptions, and reviews ("User Content").

5.2 License to Gatchi

By submitting User Content, you grant Gatchi a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, display, and distribute your User Content solely to operate and improve the Service. This license ends when you delete the content or your account, subject to our data retention period, except for content you shared with other users in a chat, an activity or the feed: that stays available to them after you delete your account, as described in Section 6 of the Privacy Policy.

5.3 Content Standards

You are solely responsible for your User Content. You must not submit content that:

• Is false, misleading, or impersonates another person — including a profile photo of anyone but you (see Section 3.4)
• Is sexually explicit, violent, or obscene
• Harasses, threatens, or intimidates other users
• Infringes any third party's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights
• Violates any applicable law or regulation

We may remove User Content that violates these standards without notice. Repeated violations may result in account termination.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to:

• Create a false identity or misrepresent your age, gender, nationality, or any other personal information
• Use the Service for commercial solicitation, advertising, or spam
• Scrape, copy, or systematically extract data from the Service by automated means
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise attempt to access the source code of the App
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service or its infrastructure
• Harass, stalk, threaten, or harm any user or third party
• Engage in or facilitate any illegal activity through or in connection with the Service
• Circumvent any safety, moderation, or security feature of the Service

7. Matching, Activities, and Safety

7.1 No Guarantee of Results

Gatchi facilitates connections but does not guarantee that you will match with any particular user or that any match will result in a meeting. Invite requests expire after 24 hours if not accepted or declined.

7.2 Meeting in Person

If you choose to meet another user in person, you do so entirely at your own risk. We strongly recommend:

• Meeting in public places
• Informing a trusted friend or family member of your plans
• Trusting your instincts and leaving any situation in which you feel unsafe

Gatchi does not conduct background checks on its users and makes no representations about the identity, character, or intentions of any user.

7.3 Paid Activities

A host may ask the people who join an activity to pay for it — a share of the costs, or a fee for an activity they run. Any payment is arranged directly between the host and the participants, outside the App. Gatchi is not a party to it, does not collect or hold the money, and is not responsible for refunds or for whether the activity takes place as described. Advertising a business, as opposed to hosting an activity, is not allowed (see Section 6).

7.4 Reporting and Blocking

You can report users, photos, feed posts and comments for spam, inappropriate behavior, child safety concerns, or other violations, and block users to prevent further contact. Someone you block can no longer see your feed posts. We review reports and take appropriate action, which may include content removal, account suspension, or permanent termination.

7.5 Automated Safety Measures

Profiles reported by a significant number of distinct users may have their photos automatically hidden and be temporarily removed from discovery while we review the reports. A child safety report triggers this on its own, from a single reporter.

A photo, feed post or comment reported as sexual content or as a child safety concern is hidden as soon as it is reported, before we review it. A feed post or comment reported by a significant number of distinct users is hidden the same way. A photo reported by someone who appears in it and does not want it shown is hidden while we review the report. If the review finds no violation, the content is shown again.

7.6 Child Safety

Gatchi has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation. Our published Child Safety Standards set out what is prohibited, how we prevent and detect it, how to report it, and the authorities we report it to. Those standards form part of these Terms.

8. Intellectual Property

All rights in the Gatchi App, including its design, code, brand elements, and proprietary content (excluding User Content), are owned by Gatchi or its licensors and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use Gatchi's trademarks, logos, or brand without our prior written consent.

9. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE DO NOT ENDORSE OR VERIFY THE ACCURACY OF USER PROFILES, AND WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE CONDUCT, IDENTITY, OR INTENTIONS OF ANY USER.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, GATCHI AND ITS OWNER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR PERSONAL INJURY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (USD $100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability for certain types of damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

11. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Gatchi and its owner from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to or use of the Service; (b) your User Content; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any rights of a third party.

12. Termination

12.1 Termination by You

You may delete your account at any time through the App's Settings screen. Deletion is subject to our data retention policy: your personal data is deleted 30 days after you delete your account, and a limited safety record (such as a one-way hash of your verified phone number) is kept for 3 years so that a suspended or banned user cannot simply register again. Messages, photos and videos you shared with other users in a chat or an activity, and posts and comments you published to the feed, stay visible to them, shown as from a deleted user. See Section 6 of the Privacy Policy for details.

12.2 Termination by Us

We may suspend or permanently terminate your access to the Service immediately and without prior notice if you: (a) violate these Terms; (b) create risk or potential legal liability for us or other users; (c) act in a manner that is harmful to other users or to the public. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately.

13. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Korea, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service shall first be attempted to be resolved through good-faith negotiation between the parties. If the dispute remains unresolved after 30 days, it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

If you are a consumer resident in the EEA, you may also have the right to bring a dispute before a consumer dispute resolution body in your country of residence.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last Updated" date above and, where appropriate, by in-app or push notification. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

15. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

16. Contact Us

For questions about these Terms, please contact: