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Terms of Service

Effective date: August 1, 2026

Last updated: August 1, 2026

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and Matthew Riese, operating Bearing Time Management (“Bearing,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern your access to and use of Bearing’s websites, mobile applications, browser and other software extensions, accountable browser, and related services (collectively, the “Services”).

Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, clicking to accept these Terms, or accessing or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services. If you use the Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization, and “you” includes that organization.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. Additional terms shown when you enable a feature—such as a financial-stake authorization—also apply to that feature. If feature-specific terms conflict with these Terms, the feature-specific terms control for that feature.

Eligibility

The general Services are not intended for children under 13. You may use them only if you are at least 13, are legally permitted to use them where you live, and can form a binding agreement or have any authorization that applicable law requires. If the law where you live requires a higher minimum age or parental authorization, that requirement applies.

Financial-stake and payment features are available only to people who are at least 18, can form a binding contract, are legally permitted to use those features where they live, and use a payment method they are authorized to use. Bearing may limit or disable payment or stake features by location, currency, account, payment status, or other eligibility criteria.

Bearing does not offer parent-managed child accounts, and parents or guardians should not create Bearing accounts for children.

Your account

You must provide accurate account information and keep it reasonably current. You are responsible for safeguarding your credentials, devices, and account and for activity performed through your account. Notify us promptly at matt@deloreanhovercraft.com if you believe your account or payment method has been used without authorization.

You may not share an account in a way that defeats security, eligibility, payment authorization, or feature limits. Bearing is currently designed for individual self-management; it is not designed for one person to secretly monitor or control another person’s device or activity.

The Services

Bearing provides tools for tasks, routines, journals, planning, calendars, time tracking, commitments, screentime management, accountable browsing, fitness tracking, notifications, financial stakes, and optional AI assistance. Some features require a compatible device, operating-system capability, browser extension, third-party account, internet connection, payment method, or permission.

The Services are evolving. We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue a feature. We will try to give reasonable notice when a change materially reduces a paid or actively used feature, but we may act without advance notice when reasonably necessary for security, legal compliance, provider availability, or preventing harm. We do not guarantee that every feature will be available on every device, platform, browser, or location.

Bearing may offer beta, preview, or experimental features. Those features may be incomplete, change materially, lose data, or stop working and are provided for evaluation unless we say otherwise.

Commitments and automated evaluation

You choose your commitments, rules, evidence sources, thresholds, schedules, and consequences. Bearing uses automated, rules-based processing to evaluate the information available to it. An evaluation may mark a commitment fulfilled, failed, forgiven, or otherwise resolved; apply or release a screentime block; affect a financial stake; or trigger a notification.

Results depend on the rules and evidence you configure and on data received from your device, operating system, browser, connected service, or your own entries. Delayed synchronization, missing permissions, device restrictions, clock or time-zone differences, connectivity failures, third-party outages, sensor limitations, software defects, or incorrect input can produce a delayed or incorrect result.

Review material commitment settings before relying on them. You remain responsible for your decisions, deadlines, conduct, and compliance with obligations outside Bearing. Contact us promptly if you believe a material evaluation or related charge is incorrect.

Financial stakes and payments

Financial stakes are optional self-accountability features. They are not intended as gambling, an investment, a stored-value account, a prize, a wager against Bearing or another user, or a promise that you will achieve a goal.

When you authorize a stake, you authorize Bearing and its payment processor, Stripe, to save the selected payment method and charge the displayed amount if the commitment fails and remains failed after the displayed grace period. The current standard grace period is 24 hours. The authorization screen may include additional material terms, including the amount and currency, evidence and failure rule, whether free passes are available, recurring behavior, and maximum weekly exposure. Review that screen before authorizing.

A stake charge is an off-session charge, which means it may occur when you are not actively using the Services. Bearing does not hold the authorized amount in escrow or as a user balance before a charge. Stripe processes payment credentials and may apply its own security, fraud-prevention, and legal requirements.

For recurring commitments, a recurring-stake authorization permits Bearing to create a stake for each future occurrence under the schedule and amount you approved. Pausing or ending the recurring commitment stops stakes for future occurrences as described in the Services, but does not cancel a stake already created or a charge already validly incurred. If the amount, frequency, maximum exposure, or other material recurring term changes, Bearing will request a new authorization before applying that change.

A free pass prevents or reverses a stake charge only when the Services show that the commitment is eligible and the pass is successfully applied. Some commitments can be designated binding and cannot be forgiven with a free pass. Do not assume that a pass, edit, archive action, permission change, account deletion request, or payment-method removal has canceled a pending stake unless the Services confirm the cancellation.

If a payment fails, Bearing may mark the stake as failed, ask you to update the payment method, or restrict future stake use. We will not retry or add a fee unless the Services disclose that behavior. You are responsible for any taxes or payment-provider charges that applicable law or your own provider imposes.

Except where the Services expressly provide a free-pass refund, Bearing corrects an error, or applicable law requires otherwise, captured stakes are final. To question an outcome, duplicate charge, unauthorized charge, or refund, contact matt@deloreanhovercraft.com promptly with enough information to identify the transaction. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you cannot waive under applicable law.

Screentime and accountable browsing

Screentime and accountable-browsing features may observe apps or websites you select, measure sessions or threshold events, block or redirect access, and use those results to evaluate commitments or stakes. They require permissions and can be disabled or bypassed through device, browser, or operating-system behavior.

Bearing does not guarantee that blocking will be uninterrupted, impossible to bypass, or identical across platforms. Tracking can miss or misclassify activity, and system updates or permission changes can disable a feature. Do not use Bearing as a safety control, parental-control substitute, employee-surveillance system, emergency safeguard, or sole means of preventing access to dangerous or unlawful content.

You may use these features only on accounts, browsers, and devices that you own or are authorized to manage, and only in compliance with applicable law. Do not use them to monitor or control another adult without that person’s knowledge and legally valid authorization.

Health and fitness features

Bearing may read step and heart-rate information, receive data from supported health platforms or sensors, and estimate heart rate using a device camera. These features are intended for personal fitness and commitment tracking—not diagnosis, treatment, medical monitoring, or emergency use.

Bearing is not a healthcare provider, and the Services do not provide medical advice. Camera-based and wearable measurements may be inaccurate or unavailable. Do not disregard professional advice, delay seeking care, or make a medical decision because of Bearing. If you may be experiencing a medical emergency, contact local emergency services.

You choose whether to use health information for a commitment or financial stake and accept the risk that delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate data can affect the result. Review your device permissions, sync status, and recorded evidence before relying on a health-based outcome.

AI features

AI features are optional. They may generate text, recommendations, searches, task changes, or images using third-party AI and media providers identified in the Privacy Policy or the relevant feature notice.

AI output can be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, offensive, or unsuitable. It may resemble third-party material. Review output before relying on, publishing, or acting on it. AI output is not medical, legal, financial, mental-health, or other professional advice. You are responsible for decisions and content you create, approve, or use.

As between you and Bearing, Bearing does not claim ownership of AI output generated specifically for you. Subject to applicable law and provider terms, you may use that output for lawful purposes. AI output may not be unique, and Bearing does not guarantee that it is protectable, non-infringing, or available for exclusive use.

You may not use Bearing’s AI features to violate law, infringe rights, create malware, facilitate abuse, or evade safeguards. Bearing may limit or suspend AI access to protect users, providers, or the Services.

Your content

“Your Content” means tasks, journals, templates, notes, prompts, photos, messages, settings, and other material you submit to the Services. As between you and Bearing, you retain ownership of Your Content.

You grant Bearing a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, process, transmit, format, and display Your Content only as reasonably necessary to provide, secure, maintain, support, and improve the technical operation of the Services; follow your instructions; comply with law; and enforce these Terms. This license does not permit Bearing to sell Your Content or use it to train a third-party AI model except with a separate disclosure and any permission required by law. The license ends when Your Content is deleted from our systems, subject to reasonable technical delays and the retention described in the Privacy Policy.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit Your Content and allow Bearing to process it. Do not submit content that is unlawful, infringing, deceptive, malicious, or that violates another person’s privacy or other rights. You are responsible for keeping copies of content you cannot afford to lose.

The Services may display images, videos, links, search results, or generated material from third parties. Bearing does not claim ownership of third-party material and cannot guarantee that it is accurate, available, or licensed for every use you may make of it.

Acceptable use

You may not:

  • use the Services unlawfully or violate another person’s rights;
  • access another person’s account, data, device, calendar, or payment method without authorization;
  • upload malware or interfere with, overload, probe, or disrupt the Services or their providers;
  • bypass access controls or technical limits except as applicable law expressly permits;
  • scrape, resell, or commercially exploit the Services or their data without written permission;
  • reverse engineer or copy non-public parts of the Services except where applicable law permits it;
  • manipulate commitment evidence, payment events, refunds, or disputes fraudulently;
  • use the Services to surveil, threaten, harass, discriminate against, or harm another person; or
  • misrepresent that Bearing, an app store, or a provider endorses you or your content.

Reasonable security research performed in good faith and reported privately is not prohibited when it avoids privacy violations, disruption, and exploitation beyond what is necessary to demonstrate the issue.

Third-party services and app stores

The Services integrate with third parties such as Apple, Google, Stripe, calendar providers, health platforms, AI providers, notification providers, and hosting or synchronization services. Your use of a third-party product or account is also governed by that provider’s terms. Bearing is not responsible for a third party’s independent services, content, availability, or account decisions.

If you download a Bearing app through Apple, Google, Microsoft, or another distributor, that distributor’s applicable terms and license rules also apply. These Terms govern Bearing’s Services and your relationship with Bearing. Unless Bearing submits a custom license agreement for a platform, the platform’s standard end-user license agreement governs the license to the downloaded app where applicable.

Apple is not responsible for maintaining or supporting Bearing or for claims concerning the Services, except to the extent its applicable terms require. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms for an Apple-distributed app and may enforce the provisions applicable to them.

Bearing intellectual property

The Services—including their software, design, branding, documentation, and content supplied by Bearing—are owned by Bearing or its licensors and protected by intellectual-property laws. Subject to these Terms, Bearing grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Services for their intended purpose.

These Terms do not grant you rights to Bearing’s trademarks, logos, source code, or other intellectual property except for the limited right to use the Services. Any rights not expressly granted are reserved.

If you send suggestions or feedback, you grant Bearing a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free right to use and incorporate it without restriction or compensation. This does not give Bearing ownership of unrelated personal information or Your Content.

Privacy and communications

The Privacy Policy describes Bearing’s collection, use, disclosure, retention, and deletion of personal information.

You agree that Bearing may send authentication, security, stake, transaction, policy, and other service-related communications electronically. You can control optional notifications and daily summaries as described in the Services. Any future marketing communications will have the choices required by applicable law.

Suspension, termination, and account deletion

You may stop using the Services at any time and may request account deletion through the available in-app or web process.

Bearing may restrict, suspend, or terminate access if we reasonably believe you violated these Terms, created risk or legal exposure, used a feature fraudulently, failed eligibility requirements, or threatened the security or operation of the Services. When reasonably practicable, we will provide notice and an opportunity to contact us. We may act immediately when necessary to prevent harm, fraud, unauthorized access, or legal violations.

Account deletion or termination stops future use but does not automatically reverse completed transactions or eliminate obligations or records that must reasonably be retained for security, fraud prevention, accounting, disputes, legal compliance, or enforcement. Pending stakes and payment issues must be handled as described in the Services and these Terms. The Privacy Policy explains current deletion behavior and retention limitations.

Provisions that by their nature should survive termination—including ownership, payment obligations already incurred, disclaimers, liability limitations, dispute terms, and general provisions—will survive.

Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Services are provided “as is” and “as available.” Bearing disclaims implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

Bearing does not warrant that the Services will always be available, secure, accurate, error-free, or compatible with every device; that data will never be lost; that a block or notification will occur; that a commitment will be evaluated correctly; that AI or health output will be accurate; or that using Bearing will cause you to achieve a goal.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers. In those jurisdictions, the disclaimers apply only to the extent permitted, and you retain any non-waivable consumer rights.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Bearing and its service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, opportunities, goodwill, use, or data, arising from or relating to the Services or these Terms.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Bearing’s total liability for all claims arising from or relating to the Services or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid directly to Bearing for use of the Services during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, excluding financial-stake amounts and refunded transactions, or (b) US $100.

This section does not limit Bearing’s obligation to correct or refund an erroneous or unauthorized stake charge where these Terms or applicable law requires it, and it does not limit liability that cannot legally be limited, such as liability for intentional misconduct where applicable law so provides.

Resolving disputes

Contact matt@deloreanhovercraft.com first so we can try to resolve a concern informally. Please describe the issue and the outcome you are seeking. We will try to respond within a reasonable time. Nothing here prevents either party from seeking urgent relief or using a qualifying small-claims process.

These Terms are governed by California law, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except to the extent the law where you live gives you non-waivable rights. Subject to those rights, disputes that cannot be resolved informally will be brought in a court with jurisdiction over Sonoma County, California, and you and Bearing consent to that venue.

These Terms do not require individual arbitration and do not waive a right to participate in a class action.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the Services or legal obligations change. We will update the date at the top. If a change materially reduces your rights or materially expands your obligations, we intend to notify account holders by email at least 14 days before it takes effect when reasonably practicable. We may give shorter or immediate notice for an urgent security, fraud-prevention, legal, or safety reason.

Changes apply prospectively. We will request new acceptance when applicable law requires it or when a material change requires a new feature authorization. A change to these Terms will not retroactively alter a financial-stake authorization or charge. If you do not agree to revised Terms, you should stop using the Services and may delete your account, subject to obligations already incurred.

General terms

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any feature-specific terms or authorizations are the entire agreement between you and Bearing concerning the Services. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted and the remaining provisions will remain effective. Bearing’s failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.

You may not assign these Terms without Bearing’s written consent. Bearing may assign them in connection with a reorganization, financing, merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or transfer of the Services, subject to applicable law.

Headings are for convenience only. “Including” means “including without limitation.” The English version controls to the extent applicable law permits if a translation conflicts with it.

Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to: