terms of service

Welcome to Sparks.

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Sparks mobile application, website, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

Sparks is currently operated by Ilo Shire, operating as Sparks (“Sparks,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By creating an account, accessing, or using Sparks, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Community Guidelines.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use Sparks.

1. Who Can Use Sparks

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or use Sparks.

By creating an account or using the Service, you represent that:

• you are at least 18 years old;
• you have the legal capacity to agree to these Terms; and
• your use of Sparks is permitted under the laws that apply to you.

Being 18 or older does not mean cannabis possession or use is legal where you are. Cannabis laws vary between countries, states, cities, properties, and other jurisdictions.

You are responsible for understanding and following the laws applicable to you.

If we determine that an account belongs to someone under 18, we may restrict or terminate the account.

2. What Sparks Is

Sparks is a social and location-based platform designed to help adults discover and share Spots, connect with friends, plan sessions, and share experiences with the community.

Features may include:

• discovering and creating Spots;
• viewing information about Spots;
• identifying locations that users consider smoke-friendly;
• reviews and community feedback;
• following users and connecting with friends;
• Ready to Spark status;
• invites and session planning;
• invite-based messaging;
• session posts, photos, likes, and comments;
• saves and helpful votes;
• Sparks and ranks;
• reporting, blocking, muting, and other safety features.

Not every feature will always be available, and we may add, change, restrict, or remove features over time.

The current implementation includes these general social, Spot, session, UGC and safety features.

3. Sparks Is Not a Cannabis Marketplace

Sparks does not sell cannabis or other controlled substances.

You may not use Sparks to buy, sell, deliver, exchange, advertise for sale, arrange payment for, or otherwise facilitate transactions involving cannabis or other controlled substances.

Sparks does not currently provide cannabis checkout, delivery, product catalogues, retailer links, dispensary ordering, or cannabis payment functionality.

Sparks is intended as a social, community, and location-discovery service.

Nothing on Sparks constitutes authorization or encouragement to possess, purchase, consume, distribute, or otherwise engage with cannabis contrary to applicable law.

4. Cannabis and Local Laws

Cannabis laws differ significantly by jurisdiction.

You are solely responsible for determining whether your activities are lawful in your location.

A Spot, review, smoke-friendly label, session, comment, invite, or other content appearing on Sparks does not mean that:

• cannabis use is legal at that location;
• smoking is permitted there;
• the property owner has granted permission;
• entering the location is lawful;
• the location is safe;
• the information remains current; or
• Sparks has inspected, approved, or verified the location.

You must comply with applicable laws, property rules, posted restrictions, and instructions from property owners or authorities.

5. Spots and “Smoke-Friendly” Information

Sparks allows users to create and share locations known as Spots.

Spot information may include a name, description, category, photographs, address information, coordinates, reviews, and information about whether users consider the Spot smoke-friendly. The current system stores exact coordinates for Spots rather than deliberately reducing their precision.

You are responsible for the information you submit about a Spot.

Do not intentionally:

• create fake Spots;
• provide false location information;
• encourage trespassing;
• direct users toward dangerous locations;
• misrepresent private property as publicly accessible;
• falsely represent smoking as permitted; or
• create misleading or malicious location information.

Smoke-friendly labels

A “smoke-friendly” designation represents information or opinions contributed by Sparks users.

It is not a legal determination, guarantee, certification, or endorsement by Sparks.

Community smoke-friendly information is currently calculated using creator input and community reviews rather than verification by Sparks staff or legal authorities.

Always verify conditions and rules yourself before visiting or using a Spot.

6. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your Sparks account and credentials.

You agree to provide accurate information and not intentionally impersonate another person or organization.

You may not:

• sell or transfer your account;
• obtain unauthorized access to another account;
• share credentials for abusive or fraudulent purposes;
• create accounts to evade restrictions or enforcement; or
• use automated systems to create or control accounts without our permission.

You are responsible for activity conducted through your account unless applicable law provides otherwise.

If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us as soon as reasonably possible.

7. Friends, Following, and Social Features

Sparks allows users to follow other users.

Where two users have the required mutual relationship within the Service, Sparks may present them as friends.

Friends may receive access to features or content that are unavailable to other users, depending on the user's privacy and visibility settings.

Your relationships and visibility can change if you follow, unfollow, block, or otherwise restrict another user.

Some account and content visibility can also depend on whether an account is private.

8. Ready to Spark

Sparks may allow you to indicate that you are Ready to Spark.

This may include an active status, optional status text, audience selection, and expiration time.

You control whether you activate this feature and should consider what information you share through it.

Do not use Ready to Spark to advertise illegal transactions or engage in conduct prohibited by these Terms or the Community Guidelines.

9. Invites, Sessions, and Messaging

Sparks allows eligible users to invite friends to sessions associated with Spots.

Invites may include information such as:

• a Spot;
• date and time;
• attendees;
• an optional note; and
• invite responses.

Completed invites may create shared session content involving participating users.

Messaging

Sparks currently provides messaging associated with invites rather than general-purpose direct messaging.

Invite participants may exchange messages, reactions, and read-state information subject to the invite's access rules.

You may not use invites or messaging to harass, threaten, scam, spam, pressure, or otherwise abuse another user.

You should not assume messages are temporary simply because an invite or session has ended.

10. Your Content

Sparks allows users to submit content (“User Content”), which may include:

• profile information;
• bios and vibes;
• avatars and banners;
• Spots;
• Spot photographs;
• reviews;
• review photographs;
• invite notes and messages;
• session captions and photographs;
• comments;
• Ready to Spark status text; and
• reports or other submissions.

The app currently stores these types of user-generated content across profiles, Spots, reviews, sessions, invite messaging, and moderation systems.

You keep ownership of your content

As between you and Sparks, you retain ownership of User Content you create and own.

However, you grant Sparks a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, process, adapt as technically necessary, and distribute your User Content as needed to operate, maintain, secure, improve, and provide the Service.

For example, we need permission to display a Spot photo to users who are permitted to view that Spot.

This license does not transfer ownership of your content to Sparks.

You represent that you have the rights necessary to upload and share your User Content.

11. Content Belonging to Other People

Do not upload content that violates another person's:

• copyright;
• trademark;
• privacy rights;
• publicity rights;
• contractual rights; or
• other intellectual-property or legal rights.

You should only upload photos and other content you created yourself or otherwise have permission to use.

Apple similarly requires developers to have the necessary rights for third-party content used in apps.

We may remove or restrict content in response to valid intellectual-property complaints or other legal requirements.

A dedicated intellectual-property/contact procedure may be provided through Sparks or our website.

12. Content and Conduct Rules

Your use of Sparks must comply with our Community Guidelines.

Among other things, you may not use Sparks to:

• harass, bully, stalk, threaten, or intimidate others;
• promote hatred or discriminatory abuse;
• post unlawful or seriously harmful content;
• scam or defraud users;
• impersonate others deceptively;
• spam users;
• disclose another person's private information without authorization;
• manipulate engagement or Sparks;
• create intentionally dangerous or deceptive Spots;
• facilitate prohibited controlled-substance transactions;
• infringe intellectual-property rights;
• abuse reporting systems; or
• attempt to bypass account restrictions.

Our Community Guidelines form part of these Terms.

13. Sparks and Ranks

Sparks may maintain a reputation system represented by Sparks.

Your Sparks may increase or otherwise change based on qualifying activity within the Service.

Sparks may be used to determine ranks or other reputation features.

Sparks have no monetary value.

They are not currency, cryptocurrency, stored value, property, or a financial account. They cannot be redeemed for cash and may not be sold or transferred unless Sparks explicitly introduces such functionality.

We may adjust, reverse, withhold, or change Sparks where reasonably necessary to correct errors, prevent abuse, enforce these Terms, or modify the reputation system.

We may also change rank requirements and the activities that contribute to Sparks as the Service evolves.

14. Location Information

Sparks uses location functionality to provide features such as nearby Spot discovery and distance information.

The current application requests foreground device location rather than background location. Current device coordinates are generally used locally for distance calculations and are not stored as a continuous user-location history.

However, if you use your current location to create a Spot, those coordinates may become the stored location of that Spot.

Spot coordinates may be precise and can be visible to users authorized to view the Spot.

You should therefore avoid creating Spots that expose sensitive private locations where doing so could put you or another person at risk.

More information about location information and how Sparks handles it will be provided in our Privacy Policy.

15. Safety

You are responsible for your decisions and interactions on and through Sparks.

Use reasonable judgment before:

• meeting another person;
• visiting an unfamiliar Spot;
• entering private or restricted property;
• sharing your location;
• participating in a session; or
• relying on information provided by another user.

Never drive or operate machinery while impaired.

Sparks does not conduct physical inspections of Spots and cannot guarantee the identity, intentions, behavior, reliability, or safety of users or locations.

If you believe there is an immediate threat to someone's safety, contact the appropriate local emergency services rather than relying solely on Sparks' reporting tools.

16. Reporting, Blocking, and Moderation

Sparks provides safety tools that may include reporting, blocking, muting, and hiding content.

The current reporting system supports reports concerning users and content including Spots, sessions, reviews, comments, and photos.

We may investigate suspected violations of these Terms or the Community Guidelines and may take appropriate action, which may include:

• restricting content;
• removing content;
• limiting features;
• restricting an account;
• suspending an account; or
• terminating an account.

We are not obligated to publicly disclose moderation decisions or information that could compromise another user's privacy, security, or an investigation.

Apple requires social/UGC apps to provide objectionable-content filtering, reporting, blocking, and published contact information, and places responsibility on the developer for removing content that violates its terms or community standards.

Implementation note before launch: some of these enforcement actions still need to be implemented technically. Your current moderation backend can process reports and record moderator actions, but warnings, suspensions, bans, and moderator-driven content removal were not found in the audited V1.

17. Privacy

Your use of Sparks is also governed by our Privacy Policy.

The Privacy Policy explains what information Sparks collects, why it is used, how it is shared, how long it may be retained, and the choices and rights available to users.

You should review the Privacy Policy before using Sparks.

18. Third-Party Services

Sparks relies on or interacts with third-party services.

These may include infrastructure, mapping, geolocation, notifications, navigation, and other technology providers.

The audited implementation currently uses services including Supabase, Expo, native location/geocoding functionality, React Native Maps, Mapbox Search, Expo Push services, and external navigation through services such as Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze.

Third-party services may be governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

Sparks is not responsible for third-party services to the extent permitted by applicable law.

19. Sparks' Intellectual Property

Except for User Content and third-party materials, Sparks and its associated software, design, branding, logos, graphics, interfaces, features, and other materials are owned by or licensed to Sparks and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.

These Terms do not transfer ownership of Sparks or its intellectual property to you.

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for its intended purpose.

You may not, except where applicable law expressly permits otherwise:

• copy or redistribute Sparks;
• sell or sublicense access to Sparks;
• reverse-engineer or attempt to extract its source code;
• circumvent security or access controls;
• use Sparks' branding in a misleading way; or
• use the Service to create an unauthorized competing copy.

20. Service Availability and Changes

Sparks is an evolving service.

We do not guarantee that every feature will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

We may:

• modify features;
• introduce new features;
• discontinue features;
• perform maintenance;
• impose reasonable usage limits; or
• temporarily suspend parts of the Service.

Where reasonably appropriate, we may provide notice of significant changes.

21. Account Suspension and Termination

You may stop using Sparks at any time.

We may restrict, suspend, or terminate access where reasonably necessary, including when we believe you:

• materially or repeatedly violate these Terms;
• violate our Community Guidelines;
• create a safety risk;
• engage in fraud or abuse;
• use Sparks for prohibited transactions;
• attempt to compromise the Service; or
• expose Sparks or others to legal or security risk.

Where appropriate, we may remove or restrict associated content.

Account deletion

Sparks intends to provide users with a way to request deletion of their account and associated personal information, subject to information we may lawfully or legitimately retain (for example, certain security, legal, fraud-prevention, or moderation records).

The details will be explained in our Privacy Policy.

Implementation note before launch: the current account-deletion screen is not functional, despite currently describing deletion as permanent. This needs to be fixed before we make the above feature available to users.

22. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Sparks is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, legality, safety, availability, or reliability of:

• User Content;
• Spots;
• reviews;
• smoke-friendly information;
• location information;
• session information;
• statements made by users; or
• third-party services.

User-generated information may be inaccurate, outdated, misleading, or incomplete.

Nothing provided through Sparks constitutes legal, medical, safety, or professional advice.

Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

23. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Sparks and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use of the Service.

This may include losses arising from:

• reliance on User Content;
• interactions with other users;
• visiting Spots;
• sessions or meetups;
• inaccurate location information;
• third-party services; or
• unauthorized access to your account.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability where doing so would be unlawful, including any liability that applicable consumer law does not permit us to exclude.

24. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as Sparks evolves.

If we make material changes, we may provide notice through the Service, website, email, or another reasonable method.

The “Last Updated” date at the top will indicate when these Terms were most recently revised.

Where required by law, we will request your consent before new terms take effect.

25. Governing Law and Disputes

[TO BE FINALIZED BEFORE PUBLIC LAUNCH]

The governing law and dispute-resolution provisions will be added once the legal jurisdiction and business entity operating Sparks have been finalized.

Nothing in the eventual provision will remove consumer rights that cannot legally be waived under the laws applicable to a user.

26. Apple App Store Users

If you download Sparks through Apple's App Store, your use of the application is also subject to applicable App Store terms.

Any agreement governing Sparks is between you and Sparks, not Apple, and Sparks is responsible for the application and its content.

Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for Sparks except where applicable law or Apple's terms provide otherwise.

You must comply with applicable third-party terms when using Sparks.

To the extent required by Apple's applicable terms, Apple and its subsidiaries may be third-party beneficiaries of applicable end-user license provisions.

Apple publishes minimum provisions developers must include when using a custom EULA; these cover matters such as responsibility for the app, licensing, support, claims, intellectual property, legal compliance, contact information, third-party terms, and Apple's third-party-beneficiary status.

Apple also provides a standard EULA if you don't provide your own custom one through App Store Connect.

27. Contact Us

Questions, complaints, reports, or legal notices relating to Sparks can be directed to:

Sparks