Terms & Conditions

Last updated: March 2, 2026 · Effective: March 2, 2026

1. About These Terms

These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Trail service, which includes:

• The Trail website at trail.services.kibotu.net (the "Website")
• The Trail Android app (the "App")
• The Trail API (the "API")

Together, these are referred to as the "Service." The Service is operated by Jan Rabe ("we," "us," "our"). By accessing 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.

The Service is a micro-blogging platform that allows users to post short text entries, share links, upload images, and interact with other users' content.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years of age to create an account and use the Service. This age requirement is based on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its German implementation regarding consent for data processing in information society services.

If you are between 16 and 18 years of age, you represent that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agrees to these Terms on your behalf.

By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you meet the eligibility requirements and that all information you provide is accurate and truthful.

3. Account Registration

To use certain features of the Service, you must create an account. Account registration is currently available via Google OAuth 2.0. By signing in, you authorize us to access basic profile information from your Google account (name, email address, profile photo) as described in our Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the security of your account and authentication credentials
• All activity that occurs under your account
• Promptly notifying us at contact@kibotu.net if you suspect unauthorized use of your account

You may not create accounts for the purpose of impersonating another person, entity, or brand, or in a way that is misleading to others.

4. Your Content

4.1 Ownership

You retain ownership of all content you create and post through the Service ("Your Content"), including text entries, comments, images, and other media. We do not claim ownership of Your Content.

4.2 License Grant

By posting Your Content on the Service, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify (e.g., format or resize images), display, distribute, and make available Your Content in connection with operating and providing the Service. This includes:

• Displaying Your Content on the Website, in the App, and via the API
• Making Your Content available via RSS feeds
• Allowing third parties to embed Your Content via the embedding feature
• Creating link preview cards from URLs you share
• Optimizing images (e.g., converting to WebP format, resizing)

This license continues until you delete Your Content or your account, after which we will remove it within a reasonable time, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate backup purposes.

4.3 Representations

By posting Your Content, you represent and warrant that:

• You own or have the necessary rights, licenses, and permissions to post the content
• Your Content does not infringe the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any third party
• Your Content complies with these Terms and all applicable laws

5. Content Standards and Prohibited Content

You agree not to post or transmit any content that:

1. Is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, or tortious
2. Constitutes hate speech or incites violence, discrimination, or hostility against any individual or group based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age
3. Contains sexually explicit or pornographic material, or depicts the sexual exploitation of minors
4. Infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property right of any party
5. Contains viruses, malware, or any other harmful code or technologies
6. Constitutes spam, unsolicited advertising, or unauthorized commercial solicitation
7. Impersonates any person or entity, or falsely states or misrepresents your affiliation with any person or entity
8. Violates the privacy rights of others, including posting personal information of third parties without their consent
9. Is designed to interfere with, disrupt, or place an undue burden on the Service or its infrastructure
10. Violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law or regulation

We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to remove any content that violates these standards or that we find objectionable, at our sole discretion.

6. Public Nature of Content

Do not post sensitive personal information, confidential data, or anything you do not want to be publicly accessible. You are solely responsible for the content you post.

Notifications (such as claps, @mentions, and comments on your entries) are private and visible only to you.

7. Content Moderation

We provide tools for users to manage their experience:

• Reporting: You can report content or users that you believe violate these Terms. We will review reports and take appropriate action, which may include removing content or suspending accounts.
• Muting: You can mute other users so their content no longer appears in your feed.

We aim to review reported content promptly. We may take any action we deem appropriate in response to violations, including but not limited to: issuing warnings, removing content, temporarily suspending accounts, or permanently terminating accounts.

In compliance with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), we provide a transparent mechanism for users to flag potentially illegal content. If you believe content on the Service is illegal under applicable law, please report it through the in-app reporting feature or by contacting us at contact@kibotu.net with a description of the content, its location, and the legal basis for your claim.

7.1 Copyright and Intellectual Property Claims

If you believe that content on the Service infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please contact us at contact@kibotu.net with the following information:

• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed
• Identification of the allegedly infringing content and its location on the Service
• Your contact information (name, address, email, phone number)
• A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on their behalf
• Your physical or electronic signature

We will respond to valid copyright notices and may remove infringing content and/or disable the accounts of repeat infringers.

8. Intellectual Property

The Service itself — including its design, features, code, trademarks, and documentation — is owned by us and/or licensed under the Apache License 2.0 as open-source software.

The open-source license applies to the Trail source code. It does not grant any rights to user-generated content posted on the Service, our trademarks, or branding elements beyond what the Apache 2.0 license expressly provides.

9. Third-Party Services and Links

The Service integrates with or links to third-party services, including:

• Google Play Services — App distribution and authentication
• Google Analytics for Firebase — Usage analytics
• Firebase Crashlytics — Crash reporting
• Iframely — URL preview card generation

Users may also post links to external websites. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any third-party services or websites. Access to third-party content is at your own risk.

10. API and Embedding

We provide an API for programmatic access and an embedding feature for displaying content on third-party websites. Use of the API is subject to these Terms. By using the API, you additionally agree to:

• Not use the API to scrape, collect, or harvest user data for purposes unrelated to the Service
• Not use the API to create competing services
• Not exceed the applicable rate limits (the Service uses IP-based rate limiting for spam and abuse protection) or otherwise abuse the API
• Respect the privacy and content rights of users whose data you access through the API

We may revoke API access at any time for violations of these Terms or for any other reason.

11. Open Source and Self-Hosting

The Trail source code is available under the Apache License 2.0 at github.com/kibotu/trail. These Terms apply specifically to our hosted instance at trail.services.kibotu.net and the Trail Android app distributed through official channels.

If you self-host Trail, you are solely responsible for your own instance, including compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws, content moderation, and any terms of service you may establish. We bear no responsibility for third-party hosted instances of Trail.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or availability.

We do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free
• Any content posted by users is accurate, reliable, or complete
• Defects in the Service will be corrected
• The Service or its servers are free of viruses or other harmful components

User-generated content reflects the views of the posting user, not our views. We do not endorse any user content.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• We shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of data, profits, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or related to your use of or inability to use the Service.
• Our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the amount you have paid us (if any) in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including mandatory provisions of German civil law (BGB).

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Jan Rabe and any affiliates from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your use of the Service
• Your Content
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any rights of a third party

This indemnification obligation does not apply to the extent the claim results from our own intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

15. Termination

15.1 By You

You may stop using the Service at any time. You can delete your account directly from your profile page using the "Delete My Account" button. Upon requesting deletion, your content will be immediately hidden from public view. Your account and data will be permanently deleted after a 14-day grace period. During this period, you may contact us at contact@kibotu.net to reverse the deletion. You can also download a copy of all your data before deleting your account using the "Download My Data" button on your profile page.

15.2 By Us

We may suspend or terminate your account and access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, including but not limited to violations of these Terms. Where reasonably possible, we will provide notice and an explanation. In cases of severe violations (e.g., posting illegal content, abuse, or security threats), we may act immediately without prior notice.

15.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination:

• Your right to access and use the Service ceases immediately
• We may delete your account data and content in accordance with our Privacy Policy
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including: Your Content (license grant for content posted before termination that was shared or embedded by third parties), Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, and Governing Law

16. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. The provisions of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) are excluded.

If you are a consumer within the EU, you also benefit from any mandatory provisions of the consumer protection laws of your country of residence. Nothing in these Terms affects your rights as a consumer under applicable mandatory law.

For disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms:

• If you are a consumer, you may bring proceedings in the courts of your place of domicile or in the courts competent for our place of business in Germany.
• If you are a business user, the exclusive place of jurisdiction is Germany.

The European Commission provides an online dispute resolution (ODR) platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. We are not obligated to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board, but may choose to do so.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• Where possible, notify you through the Service or via email

Your continued use of the Service after the updated Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service.

18. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid while preserving the original intent.

19. Contact

If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about these Terms, please contact: