Vortie Terms of Service

Effective date: 1 August 2026 Last updated: 1 August 2026

1. Introduction and Acceptance

Welcome to Vortie. These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Sait Ergün, an individual operating Vortie ("Vortie", "we", "us"), located at Balat Mah., Nilüfer, Bursa, Türkiye (contact: vortieapp@gmail.com).

By creating an account, or by accessing or using the Vortie mobile apps (iOS and Android) or our website at vortie.app (together, the "Service"), you confirm that you have read, understood and accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. If you do not accept them, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility — You Must Be 18+

Vortie is for adults only. You may use the Service only if you:

• are at least 18 years old (we do not permit anyone under 18 on the Service under any circumstances);
• have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract;
• have not been convicted of, or are not required to register for, any offence involving violence or sexual misconduct, and are not a registered sex offender; and
• are not barred from using the Service under the laws that apply to you, and are not located in a country subject to a U.S. embargo or listed on a U.S. or applicable prohibited-parties list.

You represent and warrant that all of the above is true. If we learn that a user is under 18 or otherwise ineligible, we will remove the account and its data.

3. Definitions

• "Content" — anything you create, upload, post, or send on the Service: your profile and photos, thought cards, votes, comments, reactions, profile questions and answers, messages, and any other material.
• "Thought card" — a statement you post for other users to agree or disagree with, which feeds Vortie's compatibility scoring.
• "Compatibility score" — an automated 0–100 measure of how similarly you and another user have voted on the same thought cards.
• "Other users" — other people who use the Service.

4. Your Account

• Sign-in. You create an account by signing in with Google or Apple. You are responsible for keeping access to your sign-in method secure and for all activity under your account.
• One account, and it's yours alone. You may hold only one account, you may not share it, and you may not use anyone else's. Your account and your licence to use the Service are personal to you and are not transferable.
• Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate information about yourself (including your date of birth) and to keep your profile truthful. Impersonating anyone, or misrepresenting your identity or age, is prohibited.

5. The Service — What Vortie Does

Vortie is a social discovery and dating app. You post and vote on thought cards; we automatically compute a compatibility score between you and other users from how similarly you voted; and the Service uses those scores, your preferences and your general location to suggest people, gate messaging, and unlock certain photos. Core features include: profiles and photo galleries (some photos can be locked until a viewer reaches a compatibility threshold or becomes a match), thought cards (which you may post anonymously to other users), votes, comments and reactions, anonymous profile questions, a discover deck, periodic suggestions, chat requests and messaging, and notifications.

We may change the Service. We are continually developing Vortie and may add, change, suspend or remove features at any time.

No guarantees. We do not guarantee that you will receive any matches, messages, or particular results; that any compatibility score reflects real-world compatibility; or that any profile or user is genuine, accurate, or safe. Compatibility scores and suggestions are provided on an "as is" basis as an aid, not a promise.

6. Licence to Use Vortie

We grant you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable, non-exclusive licence to access and use the Service as intended by these Terms and applicable law. This licence ends automatically if you breach these Terms.

You may not, and may not help anyone else: copy, modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, or create derivative works from the Service; frame or mirror it; use robots, scrapers, crawlers, or other automated means to access or collect data from it; use it to build or train any dataset, product, or machine-learning / AI system without our written consent; interfere with or probe its security; or use it for any unlawful or prohibited purpose. Vortie's name, logo, software, and all other Service materials are our property or that of our licensors; nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership of them to you.

7. Your Content and the Licence You Give Us

You own your Content. You keep all rights you have in the Content you create.

Licence to us. So that we can operate and promote the Service, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable, non-exclusive licence to host, store, use, copy, reproduce, adapt, edit, translate, reformat, publish, publicly display and distribute the Content that you post or make available on the Service (for example your profile, photos, thought cards, comments and answers), including for the promotion and marketing of Vortie. This licence lasts for as long as your Content is on the Service and for a reasonable period afterwards to complete removal from backups and systems; it survives to the extent other users have interacted with your Content (for example a thought card you posted that others have voted on) as described in the Privacy Policy.

Two limits on that licence, on purpose. (1) We do not use the content of your private messages or chat requests for promotion or marketing. (2) Our handling of any personal data in your Content is governed by the Privacy Policy, including the separate consent we ask for special-category data.

Your promises about your Content. You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to your Content and to grant this licence; that your Content does not infringe anyone's rights or violate any law or these Terms; and that you are solely responsible for your Content. You authorise us to send copyright takedown notices on your behalf if others infringe Content you own.

Other users' Content. Content posted by other users belongs to them and is licensed to you only for your personal, non-commercial use within the Service. Do not copy, collect, or redistribute it.

8. Feedback

If you send us ideas, suggestions or feedback about the Service, you agree that we may use them without any obligation or payment to you.

9. Acceptable Use — Community Rules

You agree not to use the Service to do, post, or facilitate any of the following. You will not:

• harass, bully, stalk, intimidate, threaten, defame, or otherwise mistreat any person, on or off the Service;
• post content that is hateful, discriminatory, or that promotes violence, terrorism, self-harm, or human trafficking;
• post sexual content involving minors of any kind (see Section 10), non-consensual intimate imagery, or pornographic content;
• impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your identity, age, or affiliation;
• solicit money or anything of value from other users, or run scams, fraud, "sugar" arrangements, sex work, pyramid or "get-rich" schemes (see also the romance-scam warning in Section 11);
• use the Service for advertising, commercial solicitation, or spam, or post links or content to drive users off the platform for those purposes;
• request or collect other users' passwords or personal information for unlawful or commercial purposes;
• upload viruses or malicious code, or interfere with, disrupt, or place undue load on the Service, its servers, or networks;
• use bots, scrapers, or automated tools, or access the Service through unauthorised means;
• share other people's private information without consent (doxxing); or
• submit false or bad-faith reports, or abuse the reporting or appeal tools.

We may (but are not obliged to) review Content and conduct, and we may remove Content and restrict, suspend, or terminate accounts that we reasonably believe break these rules.

10. Zero Tolerance for Child Sexual Abuse

We have a zero-tolerance policy toward child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Any content that sexualises a minor is strictly prohibited and will be removed and reported to the relevant authorities (including the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) where applicable, and the competent authorities in Türkiye), and the responsible account will be terminated and referred to law enforcement. If you encounter such content, report it in the app immediately or contact vortieapp@gmail.com.

11. Safety, Assumption of Risk, and No Background Checks

We do not screen users. We do not conduct criminal background checks or verify the identity of any user, and we make no representation about any user's identity, background, character, conduct, or intentions. Photos and profiles are provided by users.

You interact with others at your own risk. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users, whether online or in person. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you assume all risk arising from those interactions and release us from any claims, demands, and damages arising out of them.

Safety. Please use good judgment: get to know people online before meeting; meet in public places; tell a friend where you are going; and never send money or financial information to anyone you meet on the Service. Romance scams are real — scammers use attractive fake profiles and emotional stories to ask for money. We are not responsible for any loss you suffer from a scam or from any user's conduct. Report suspicious behaviour in the app or to vortieapp@gmail.com.

12. Reporting, Moderation, Suspension, and Termination

Reporting and blocking. You can report any user, thought card, comment, or question in the app (for reasons including spam, harassment, hate, sexual content, misleading content, impersonation, underage use, and other concerns), and you can block any user; blocking hides you and the blocked user from each other and ends any match between you.

Our enforcement. We may, at our discretion, remove Content, and warn, restrict, suspend, or terminate any account that breaches these Terms or that we reasonably consider harmful to other users or to Vortie. We keep records of banned accounts to prevent banned users from returning.

Your termination. You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time in the app (Settings → Delete My Account) or by request at vortie.app/delete-account. Deletion is permanent; what is erased, anonymised, and retained is described in the Privacy Policy.

Effect of termination. When your account ends, your licence to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 7, 11, 13, 15–18, and 20–23) continue to apply.

13. Copyright Complaints and Notice-and-Takedown

We respect intellectual property rights and expect you to do the same.

Unlawful content (Türkiye — 5651). As a hosting provider, we are not required to monitor content in advance, but we will remove or disable access to unlawful content when we receive a valid notice from a rights-holder, court, or competent authority. Send notices to vortieapp@gmail.com with enough detail to identify the content and the legal basis for removal.

Copyright (DMCA). If you believe Content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to vortieapp@gmail.com including: your contact details; identification of the copyrighted work; identification of the infringing material and where it is on the Service; a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act; and your signature. We will act on valid notices and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances. If your Content is removed and you believe this was a mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notice to the same address including your contact details, identification of the removed material and where it appeared, and a statement, under penalty of perjury, of your good-faith belief that the removal was in error; absent a court action, we may restore the material within a reasonable period (typically 10–14 business days).

14. Third-Party Services and Links

The Service relies on and may link to third-party services (for example Apple and Google sign-in, the app stores, and the infrastructure providers listed in our Privacy Policy). We are not responsible for third-party services or content, and your use of them is governed by their terms. When you use the Service you must also comply with any applicable third-party terms (for example your mobile carrier's terms).

15. Payments and Subscriptions

The Service is currently free. There are no paid features at this time. We may introduce paid features in the future (for example subscriptions, one-time purchases, or virtual items). If and when we do, the following applies, and we will make any additional required terms available at the point of purchase.

• Billing through the app stores. Purchases are processed by the Apple App Store or Google Play using the payment method on your store account, and are also subject to that store's terms. We do not receive or store your card details.
• Auto-renewing subscriptions. Subscriptions renew automatically for the same period at the then-current price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You manage and cancel subscriptions in your App Store or Google Play account settings; deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.
• Prices and changes. Prices are shown before purchase and may include taxes. We may change prices for future periods; we will give notice as required by law, and price changes do not affect the period you have already paid for.
• Refunds. Refunds are handled by Apple or Google under their policies. Except where a refund is required by law, payments are non-refundable.
• Virtual items. Any virtual items are licensed to you, not sold; they have no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for cash, are non-transferable, and may expire or be forfeited if your account is terminated, except where the law requires otherwise.
• Consumers in Türkiye. Before any paid purchase we will provide the pre-contractual information required by Turkish consumer law and a distance-sales contract. For digital content supplied immediately, your 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply once you expressly consent to immediate performance and acknowledge that you lose the withdrawal right — as you will be asked to confirm at purchase. Your non-waivable consumer rights are reserved.
• Consumers elsewhere. Your local mandatory consumer and cancellation rights (including any auto-renewal disclosures and cancellation rights under U.S. state law) are reserved and unaffected by this section.

16. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, 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, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that compatibility scores or suggestions are accurate, or that any user or Content is genuine or lawful.

You, not we, are responsible for the Content you post, and each user is responsible for their own Content and conduct. We are not responsible for Content or conduct of users, and, consistent with applicable law (including Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act), we act only as a host of user-generated content and may moderate in good faith without becoming responsible for it.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law that applies to you, including a consumer's mandatory rights.

17. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we (and Sait Ergün personally) will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or for the conduct of any user or third party, arising out of or relating to the Service. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or USD 100 (or its equivalent). These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, including a consumer's mandatory rights, gross negligence, or wilful misconduct.

18. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, losses, and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) arising out of your Content, your use of the Service, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of any law or of anyone's rights. We do not require this from consumers beyond what the applicable law allows.

19. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will give reasonable notice — for example by posting the updated Terms with a new "last updated" date and, where appropriate, notifying you in the app — before the change takes effect, and for changes that materially reduce your rights or increase your obligations we will ask you to accept the updated Terms in the app. If you continue to use the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms; if you do not agree, you should stop using the Service and may delete your account.

20. App Store and Platform Terms

This Section applies when you use Vortie through the Apple App Store or Google Play and, for those users, controls over anything in these Terms that conflicts with a platform's required terms.

Apple. These Terms are between you and us only, not with Apple; Apple is not responsible for the app or its content. The app is licensed, not sold, to you under these Terms; to the extent these Terms do not meet Apple's minimum terms for licensed applications, Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement applies. We (not Apple) are solely responsible for the app, its maintenance and support, any product warranties, and for addressing any claims relating to the app (including product-liability, legal-compliance, and third-party intellectual-property claims). If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple may refund the purchase price (if any); Apple has no other warranty obligation. You represent that you are not located in a U.S.-embargoed or terrorist-supporting country and are not on a U.S. prohibited-parties list. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

Google. Google is not a party to these Terms and has no liability under them. You must also comply with Google Play's applicable policies. We represent that we hold the intellectual-property rights necessary to provide the app and its content. Google may remove or disable the app in accordance with its policies.

21. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Türkiye, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The courts of Türkiye have jurisdiction over disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service.

• Consumers in Türkiye keep their non-waivable rights, including the right to apply to the consumer arbitration committees (tüketici hakem heyetleri) and consumer courts at their own place of residence.
• Consumers in the United States, the EEA/UK, and elsewhere keep any mandatory rights and protections available to them under the law of their home jurisdiction; nothing here removes those rights.

We would rather resolve problems informally first — please contact vortieapp@gmail.com before starting any formal proceeding, and we will try to resolve it.

22. Language

These Terms are published in English and Turkish. For users in Türkiye, the Turkish version governs. For users elsewhere, the English version governs. We aim to keep the two versions substantively identical.

23. General

• Severability. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
• No waiver. If we do not enforce a right, that is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or transfer of the Service, without reducing your rights.
• Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and replace any earlier agreement on that subject.

24. Privacy

Your privacy matters. How we collect, use, and protect your personal data is explained in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

25. Contact

Sait Ergün (operator of Vortie) Balat Mah., Nilüfer, Bursa, Türkiye Email: vortieapp@gmail.com