Agreeing to these terms
By texting our service number, joining a group, or otherwise using GroupItUp (“the service”), you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the service — reply STOP to any message and you will not hear from us again.
Who can use it
You must be at least 13 years old to use the service, and at least 18 to create a group or manage one as an admin. The service currently supports United States phone numbers.
You are responsible for the phone number you use. If you give up a phone number, please text LEAVE first, so that whoever gets the number next does not receive your group’s messages.
What the service does
Each group is given its own phone number. A message texted to that number by a member is delivered to the other members of that group. Members can also call the number, which rings the other members.
- The service is free to use. We pay for the phone numbers and the messages we send.
- Your own carrier may charge you for the texts you send and receive, under your own phone plan. Those charges are yours, not ours.
- You may be in one group at a time. Every group’s messages arrive in the same inbox, so we keep this to one to avoid confusion. Text LEAVE before joining another.
- Group admins can add and remove members, rename the group, make another member an admin, and close the group. If the last admin leaves, the longest-standing remaining member automatically becomes admin so the group is never left without one.
How you agree to use it
You agree that you will:
- Only add people you know and who are willing to receive the group’s messages.
- Remove people promptly if they ask to be removed.
- Not use the service for advertising, promotions, political campaign messaging, fundraising appeals to strangers, or any bulk messaging.
- Not send unlawful, threatening, harassing or abusive content, or anything you do not have the right to send.
- Not attempt to work around the service’s limits, our phone carrier’s rules, or the phone networks’ filtering — for example by creating multiple groups to send more messages.
- Not attempt to disrupt the service or gain access to parts of it you are not entitled to.
Messaging people who have not agreed to hear from you is not just against these terms — in the United States it may break the law.
Your messages
Your messages remain yours. By sending them through the service you give us permission to store, transmit and display them only as needed to run the service — that is, to deliver them to your group and to help you if something goes wrong.
We do not monitor messages routinely. We may look at specific messages when investigating a report of abuse, resolving a support request, or where required by law.
You are responsible for what you send. Remember that every message goes to every member of your group.
Availability, changes and phone numbers
The service is provided as it is, without any promise that it will always be available. Message delivery depends on phone carriers we do not control, and messages can be delayed, filtered or lost by them. Do not rely on the service for emergencies or for anything time-critical or safety-critical. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
We may, at any time and without notice:
- change, suspend or discontinue any part of the service;
- set or change limits such as group size or how many messages can be sent;
- reclaim a group’s phone number if the group is closed or inactive. A reclaimed number goes back to the phone network and may later be given to someone else.
If we discontinue the service entirely, we will make a reasonable effort to tell active groups by text message beforehand.
Suspending or ending access
You can stop at any time: text LEAVE to leave your group, or STOP to stop receiving anything from us at all.
We may suspend or remove any person or group, without notice, where we reasonably believe these terms have been broken, where required by a phone carrier or by law, or where continued use would put the service or its other users at risk.
No warranties
The service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, or that any message will be delivered.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or for any messages that are delayed, undelivered or delivered to the wrong person, arising out of or relating to your use of the service.
Because the service is provided free of charge, our total liability to you for any claim relating to the service is limited to one hundred United States dollars (US$100).
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
Your responsibility to us
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] from any claim, demand, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the service, the messages you send, the people you add, or your breach of these terms.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page shows when they last changed. If a change is significant we will tell group members by text message. Continuing to use the service after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of [STATE], United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be brought in the courts located there, and you and [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] each consent to their jurisdiction.