Terms of Service

Welcome. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the Belong Journal website (belongjournal.ai) and the Belong Journal iOS app (bundle ID: ai.belongjournal.app), operated by Matthew Esposito as a sole operator ("we," "us," "our").

By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the service.

We tried to write these in plain language. If something here is unclear, email us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com and we’ll explain.

Beta period acknowledgement

Belong Journal is currently in a pre-launch beta period. That means: features may change, get added, or get removed; bugs are likely; and the in-app feedback tool exists for a reason — please use it. Anything you submit through the feedback tool is handled per our Privacy Policy.

The service

Belong Journal is an AI-powered voice-first journaling app for iOS. With it you can:

• Record voice journal entries across multiple entry types (journal, prayer, brain dump, dream, gratitude, challenge, check-in)
• Receive AI-generated daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reflections
• Listen to audio versions of your reflections
• Chat with an AI about your journal history and patterns
• Build a personal memory bank that gives the AI context over time
• Track streaks and journaling habits

Your content

You own your content. Every journal entry, voice recording, and transcript you create belongs to you. We don’t claim ownership of anything you submit.

By using the service, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to process your content solely to deliver the service to you — transcribing recordings, generating reflections and reports, extracting memories, producing audio, and powering chat. We do not use your content to train AI models and we don’t use it for any purpose beyond delivering the service.

You can export or delete your content at any time. To export, use the in-app export features where available, or email us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com and we’ll send you a complete copy of your data within 30 days. To delete, use the “Delete account” option in More → Data, or email us. Deletion runs the process described in our Privacy Policy.

Account responsibilities

• You must be at least 13 years old to use the service.
• You’re responsible for keeping your account secure (which mostly means keeping your Apple ID or Google account secure).
• You’re responsible for activity under your account.
• The information you give us at sign-up should be accurate.
• One account per person, please.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the service for any unlawful purpose.
• Attempt unauthorized access to our systems or other people’s accounts.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or overload the service or its infrastructure.
• Use the service to harass, threaten, or harm anyone.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract our source code.
• Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to access the service without our written permission.
• Try to circumvent usage limits, rate limits, or paywalls.
• Submit content that is illegal, infringes someone else’s rights, or violates someone else’s privacy.

AI-generated content

Belong Journal uses AI to generate reflections, reports, insights, and chat responses based on your journal entries. A few important things to understand:

• Not professional advice. AI reflections are not therapy, medical advice, counseling, legal advice, financial advice, or any form of professional guidance.
• AI can be wrong. Large language models occasionally produce confident-sounding statements that are factually inaccurate — sometimes called “hallucinations.” Treat reflections as prompts for your own thinking, not as records of fact about your life.
• AI’s view of you is partial. What the AI knows about you is built from what you’ve journaled. It will miss things, get things wrong, and occasionally surface old patterns you’ve already moved past. The Refresh feature lets you correct it.
• Personal reflection tool, not a clinician. The service is a journaling aid, not a substitute for professional help.
• Crisis situations. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact a mental health professional, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US), or go to your nearest emergency room. Belong is not a crisis service.

You acknowledge that you use AI-generated features at your own discretion, and that we’re not responsible for actions you take based on AI-generated content.

Subscriptions and payments

Plans

Belong Journal offers a free tier with unlimited voice journal entries, 3 AI reflections each month, and 10 reflection chat replies per day. Paid tiers unlock higher limits and additional features. Current pricing is shown on our pricing page and in the App Store at the time of purchase.

Free trial

Some plans include a 7-day free trial. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, your subscription will automatically convert to the App Store price shown at checkout and Apple will charge your payment method.

Billing and renewal

Paid subscriptions are billed through the Apple App Store as auto-renewing subscriptions. By subscribing, you authorize Apple to charge your payment method on a recurring basis (monthly or annually, depending on your plan). Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date.

Cancellation and refunds

You can cancel anytime from your Apple ID account settings (Settings → your name → Subscriptions). Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period — you keep paid features until then. Refunds are handled by Apple under their refund policy.

Price changes

We may change subscription prices from time to time. Price changes apply to billing periods that begin after we’ve given you reasonable notice. If you don’t want to pay the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect.

Service availability and changes

We work hard to keep Belong Journal available and reliable, but we don’t guarantee uninterrupted access. We may temporarily suspend the service for maintenance, updates, or circumstances beyond our control.

We may also discontinue features. If we sunset a meaningful feature, we’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice and a way to export the affected data before it goes away.

Force majeure

We’re not liable for failures or delays caused by events outside our reasonable control — including outages or changes at our infrastructure providers (Apple, Supabase, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, RevenueCat, Vercel, Resend, APNs), internet routing failures, natural disasters, government actions, or any other force majeure event.

Intellectual property

The Belong Journal name, logo, brand, website design, app design, source code, and underlying technology are our intellectual property. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from our intellectual property without our written permission.

As stated above, you retain full ownership of your journal content. We claim no intellectual property rights over your entries, recordings, or transcripts.

Copyright infringement (DMCA)

If you believe content on Belong Journal infringes your copyright, send a notice to matthewericesposito@gmail.com with the subject line “DMCA Takedown.” Your notice should include:

• Your physical or electronic signature.
• Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed.
• Identification of the material on the service that you claim is infringing, with enough detail for us to find it.
• Your contact information (address, telephone number, email).
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• 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 the owner’s behalf.

We’ll respond as the DMCA requires. Counter-notices follow the same address and the same format requirements set out in the DMCA.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Belong Journal and its operator shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service, including:

• Loss of data or content.
• Service interruptions or downtime.
• Reliance on AI-generated content.
• Unauthorized access to your account due to a failure to maintain account security.

Our total liability for any claim arising from or related to the service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or US$50, whichever is greater. We built this with care, but we can’t guarantee it will work perfectly for every person in every situation.

The service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Belong Journal and its operator from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your violation of these Terms or your misuse of the service.

Account termination

By you

You can delete your account anytime through the app. Upon deletion, we remove your personal data, journal entries, recordings, memories, and AI-generated content as described in our Privacy Policy. If you have an active subscription, cancel it through Apple before deleting your account so you aren’t charged again.

By us

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, engage in activity that harms the service or other users, or if we’re required to by law. We’ll make reasonable efforts to notify you before termination unless immediate action is necessary. If we terminate your account for cause, you can request an export of your data within 30 days before final deletion by emailing us.

Dispute resolution

Talk to us first

Most things can be resolved by talking. If you have a dispute, email us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com. We’ll work in good faith to resolve it informally. Both sides agree to do this for at least 30 days before starting any formal proceeding.

Binding arbitration

If we can’t resolve the dispute informally within 30 days, you and we agree to resolve any remaining dispute through binding individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules & Procedures. The arbitration shall be seated in Miami, Florida, conducted in English, and decided by a single arbitrator. Judgment on the arbitrator’s award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class action waiver

You and we each waive the right to participate in any class, collective, or representative action against the other. All disputes must be brought in each party’s individual capacity, not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding.

Carve-outs

This arbitration agreement does not apply to:

• Disputes that qualify for small-claims court (you may bring those instead of arbitration).
• Either party’s right to seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for intellectual property infringement or unauthorized access.
• Your right to bring complaints to government agencies (including the Federal Trade Commission, your state attorney general, or any equivalent body).

30-day arbitration opt-out

You can opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out” within 30 days of first accepting these Terms (or within 30 days of an update to this section that materially changes it). Your opt-out doesn’t affect any other part of these Terms.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. For any matter not subject to arbitration, the state and federal courts located in Miami-Dade County, Florida will have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to that jurisdiction.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We’ll update the effective date at the top of this page when we do. If the change materially reduces your rights, we’ll require you to re-accept the updated Terms in-app before continuing to use the service. For minor changes, continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach us at matthewericesposito@gmail.com.