Acceptance and eligibility
These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Farrell Bros LLC ("Unplug," "we," "us"), the company that makes the Unplug app. By creating an account, starting a challenge, or otherwise using the app, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Unplug.
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract to use Unplug, with one exception: a person aged 13 or older may use Unplug through a Linked Family Account created with a parent or guardian's invitation and consent, as described in Section 20. Every money feature in the app (forfeits, cards on file, payouts, buying or staking Unplug Points) remains strictly 18 and over; Linked Teen Accounts cannot access them under any circumstances.
Unplug is offered only where it is legal to do so. Some places restrict paid commitment or contest features. You are responsible for whether your use is legal where you live. Where local rules do not allow the forfeit feature, it is simply not available to you, and you can still use Unplug with no money on the line.
What Unplug is
Unplug is a self-accountability tool. You set a screen-time goal for yourself, and you can back that goal with a forfeit that you give up only if you fall short of the goal you chose. What the forfeit is made of depends on your device: on Android it is an amount of your own money, and on iPhone and iPad it is Unplug Points you bought in the app and staked on the challenge (Section 7). It is a commitment contract: you set the goal and the stake in advance and hold yourself to it.
Unplug is not gambling, betting, a wager, a lottery, or a game of chance. You compete only against your own goal. The outcome is decided entirely by your own behavior, not by chance. A challenge has no prize and no pot: you never win another player's money, and the only money at stake is the forfeit you set for yourself, which you pay only if you fall short. The same is true of the Unplug Points you stake on iPhone and iPad: points never move from one user to another, and points you forfeit are retained by Unplug, never handed to another player.
You can also use Unplug without any money on the line, as a plain screen-time tool.
Your account
To use most features you create an account using email, Google, or Apple sign-in (every account also verifies a phone number). You are responsible for keeping your login secure and for everything that happens under your account. Tell us right away at services@unplugmobile.app if you think your account has been used without your permission.
You agree to give accurate information and to keep it current. We may suspend or close accounts that break these Terms, that we reasonably believe are being used to cheat or defraud, or where we are required to by law.
You can delete your account at any time, from the app (Account settings, then Delete account) or by request at services@unplugmobile.app. Deleting your account removes you from every challenge you are in, personal and group. We do not charge a forfeit for those challenges. Any Unplug Points you still hold are extinguished when your account is deleted, and they are not paid out in cash or in any other form (Section 7). We keep limited records afterward, as described in our Privacy Policy.
How challenges and forfeits work
What you put on a challenge depends on your device. On Android you back a challenge with a card, as described in this section and in Section 6. On iPhone and iPad you back it with Unplug Points, described in Section 7. Everything else in this section applies to both.
A challenge is a goal you set: a screen-time limit, the apps or categories it covers, and how long it runs. When you start a challenge you can attach a forfeit, an amount you choose. On Android you link a payment method to back it. On iPhone and iPad you stake Unplug Points you have already bought.
- Stay under your limit and you pay nothing. Hitting your goal is the whole point.
- Fall short and the forfeit you agreed to applies. On Android you are charged the exact amount you chose, never more. On iPhone and iPad exactly the points you staked are forfeited, never more.
- It happens once per challenge. A forfeit is not a recurring charge and it is not a subscription.
- You only ever risk your own money or your own points. Forfeited amounts and forfeited points are retained by Unplug. Within a challenge, you never win or receive another player's forfeited money or points.
A group challenge works the same way for each person. Friends take on a shared set of terms together, but each of you is accountable only for your own goal and your own forfeit. In the challenge itself, no one wins or loses anyone else's money. Unplug may pay the host of a group challenge a reward based on how many people join. We fund those host rewards ourselves; they never come from anyone's forfeit. Host rewards are never paid in Unplug Points, and points can never be earned as a reward.
Referral rewards. If you invite someone who joins Unplug, we may pay you a referral reward. A referral reward is a marketing payment that we fund ourselves. It does not change what you or anyone else pays. Referral rewards are never paid in Unplug Points, and points can never be earned as a reward. What the reward is depends on where you are: for United States accounts it is a cash amount based on the revenue we receive from the people you invite, such as Premium subscriptions, Unplug Points purchases, and forfeits, and for accounts everywhere else it is free time on Unplug Premium. Free Premium time is not transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash. Rewards are earned one referral level deep only: you earn from people you invite directly, never from people they invite. The reward rate, who qualifies, and how long it lasts are set by us and may change at any time; a change applies only to invites you make after it. We may pause, change, or end the referral program, and we may withhold or reverse rewards we believe were earned through fraud, abuse, or fake or self-referred accounts. We may hold rewards for up to 60 days after they are earned to cover refunds and chargebacks. If the purchase behind a reward is refunded, charged back, or otherwise reversed, we may reverse the reward too; if you already withdrew it, the amount becomes a balance you owe us and we may recover it from future rewards.
Cash rewards, taxes, and your information. Cash referral rewards are available only to people in the United States who can receive payouts to a US bank account. You are responsible for any taxes on rewards you receive. You are not our employee, partner, agent, or joint venturer, and nothing in the referral program creates any of those relationships. Before we pay or continue paying cash rewards we may require information from you, including confirmation that you are a United States person for tax purposes and, once your rewards pass reporting thresholds, tax information collected through our payment partner. Tax forms, when one is required, are delivered through that partner as well, electronically if you chose that, otherwise by mail. We may hold rewards until you provide it, and we may deduct or withhold from a reward any amount we are required by law to deduct or withhold. A minimum balance, currently $25.00 and shown in the app and on your creator dashboard, applies before a cash reward can be withdrawn; a balance under the minimum is not forfeited, and we pay it out when your account closes.
Once you join a challenge, you are committed to finishing it. You cannot quit after joining, and that is the point: locking yourself in is what gets you to follow through.
The forfeit is a price, not a penalty
The forfeit is the agreed price of the accountability service you chose to use, for the event you defined when you started the challenge. It is not a fine, a punishment, or damages for breaking a promise. You decide the amount in advance, you decide what counts as falling short, and you agree to give up that price if the event happens. This is true whether the forfeit is a card charge on Android or Unplug Points on iPhone and iPad. By starting a challenge with a forfeit, you agree that the amount, in dollars or in points, is fair and reasonable for the service.
Payment authorization (Android)
This section applies on Android only. When you start a challenge with a forfeit, you authorize Unplug and our payment processor, Stripe, to charge your linked payment method up to the forfeit amount you chose, and only if you fall short of your goal. Your card details are handled and stored by Stripe. Unplug never sees or stores your full card number.
By saving a card you agree that we may charge it without you present, in the circumstances above only: the amount is the forfeit you chose when you started or joined the challenge, and the charge happens when that challenge settles as a shortfall or when you confirm a forfeit in the app. Charges are made in US dollars. If your card was issued outside the United States, your bank may convert the amount and may add its own fee.
No charge is made up front. If you forfeit a challenge and confirm the forfeit in the app, your card is charged right away. Any other shortfall is charged only after the challenge's review window in Section 9 has closed.
On iPhone and iPad no card is collected and this section does not apply. See Section 7.
Unplug Points on iPhone and iPad
On iPhone and iPad, you back a challenge with Unplug Points instead of a card. This section explains what points are and how they work, and it applies only to the iPhone and iPad version of the app.
What points are. Unplug Points are a closed-loop digital credit that exists only inside Unplug and only for backing your own challenges. Points are not money, not a currency, and not a deposit. They have no cash value, and they are not a stored-value account, a prepaid account, or a gift card. A points balance is not a claim on money we hold for you, and holding points does not make us a holder of your funds.
Buying points. Points are sold in fixed packs and can be bought only as an in-app purchase through Apple. Apple processes the payment under its own terms, and points are credited to your account after Apple confirms the purchase. You must be 18 or older to buy points, and a Linked Teen Account (Section 20) can never buy or stake them.
Staking points on a challenge. When you start a challenge you choose how many of your points to stake. Those points are held for that challenge while it runs, so you cannot put them on anything else until it ends. On iPhone and iPad, points are the only thing you can put on a challenge. We do not collect a card, and no card is ever charged.
Meet your goal and exactly the points you staked come back to you. Nothing is added: you get back what you put in, no more. Fall short and you confirm the forfeit yourself in the app. Once you confirm it, it is final. Forfeited points are retained by Unplug as the price of the accountability service you chose, exactly as described in Section 5, and they are never given to another user.
What you cannot do with points. Points cannot be withdrawn, transferred, sold, traded, given to another user, redeemed, cashed out, or exchanged for money or for anything outside Unplug. We do not buy them back. Points also do not buy Premium and do not unlock any feature. Backing your own challenges is the only thing they do.
No expiry, no fees. Points do not expire. We charge no maintenance, dormancy, or inactivity fee against a points balance. A balance you leave alone stays exactly as you left it.
Refunds for a points purchase. A points purchase is an Apple purchase and is handled under Apple's refund policies. Request a refund through your Apple Account. We cannot refund an Apple purchase ourselves. If Apple refunds a purchase, we may remove the same number of points from your balance. If those points are already staked or forfeited and your balance falls short, the shortfall stays on your account and we may recover it from points you buy later.
Deleting your account. Deleting your Unplug account extinguishes any points you still hold. They are not paid out in cash or in any other form, and they cannot be moved to another account. If you have points left and you plan to delete your account, use them first.
Staking points is not gambling, not a wager, and not a game of chance. There is no shared fund and there is nothing to collect from another user. The outcome is decided only by your own behavior against the goal you set. Points never move from one user to another: the most that can come back to you is exactly what you staked, and points you forfeit are retained by Unplug as the price of the service.
Verifying your result, and anti-cheat
Your screen-time result is measured on your device. To make the forfeit real and fair, you agree that for the length of a challenge you will keep Unplug installed, keep the required Screen Time or usage permission granted, and not disable, remove, or work around the monitoring or blocking.
At the end of a challenge you must let the app confirm your final result, which usually just means opening the app so it can report your standing.
If we cannot confirm your result, because you force-quit and do not return, uninstall the app, or disable the permission, we treat that challenge as a shortfall and your forfeit applies: a card charge on Android, or the loss of the points you staked on iPhone and iPad. The simplest way to avoid that is always the same: stay under your limit and open the app at the end so we can confirm it.
We may require additional verification and may audit any participation. Each of the following is a violation that counts as falling short: disabling or revoking monitoring during a challenge, dismissing or bypassing the block, using an exempted app to get around your limit, or any attempt to manipulate your result. We may disqualify a participant we reasonably believe is cheating.
Charges, points forfeits, corrections, and support review
Your results come from the enforcement records on your own device. A forfeit you tap and confirm in the app settles right away and is final: on Android your card is charged, and on iPhone and iPad the points you staked are forfeited. A measured shortfall, for example going over your daily limit, settles after a review window of about 72 hours before anything is charged or any points are forfeited.
If you believe a result, a charge, or a points forfeit is wrong, contact support as soon as you can: in the app under Account, tap Contact support, or email services@unplugmobile.app. We review every request in good faith. If we decide a charge or a forfeit was made in error, for example because tracking did not reflect what really happened, or a situation outside your control that we accept, we will not charge you, or we will refund a charge that already went through, or we will return points that were already forfeited.
You agree to contact us before asking your bank to reverse a charge. Starting a chargeback for a forfeit you properly authorized, instead of contacting us first, is a breach of these Terms. Purchases of Unplug Points are Apple purchases, so questions about a points purchase go to Apple (Section 7).
Refunds
Once you join a challenge, you commit to finishing it. You cannot quit a challenge after joining, so there is no cancellation refund. The one exception is deleting your account, which removes you from every challenge you are in (see Section 3).
Properly made forfeit charges are non-refundable, and points that were properly forfeited are not returned, except where we decide in good faith that a charge or a forfeit was made in error (see Section 9). Purchases of Unplug Points are Apple purchases and are refunded by Apple under its own policies, as described in Section 7. Premium subscription fees are handled by the app stores and are covered in Section 12.
Unclaimed funds
If we ever owe you money, for example a refund that is due to you, and we are unable to return it because your account is inactive or we cannot reach you, we will try to contact you first using the details on file. If the funds stay unclaimed, we will report and remit them to your state's unclaimed-property fund as required by law.
Unplug Points are not funds and have no cash value, so nothing in this section applies to them. We never owe you money on account of a points balance.
Acceptable use
When you use Unplug, you agree not to:
- break the law, or use the app for anything illegal;
- cheat, tamper with, reverse engineer, or try to manipulate screen-time tracking, challenges, or charges;
- use another person's payment method or account without permission;
- buy, sell, trade, or transfer Unplug Points outside the app, or try to convert them to cash;
- interfere with, overload, or try to gain unauthorized access to the app or our systems; or
- copy, resell, or misuse any part of the service.
Screen-time data and permissions
Unplug needs screen-time permissions to do its job. On iOS it uses Apple's Screen Time and Device Activity features, and on Android it uses Usage Access and an Accessibility Service. Your usage is measured on your device, and your daily usage summaries sync to your account to run your challenges, confirm results, and review support requests. How we handle your information is described in our Privacy Policy, which is part of these Terms.
To improve the app and fix problems, Unplug also collects product-usage analytics, crash diagnostics, and masked session replays (playbacks of your in-app screens, with passwords, verification codes, and payment details hidden), which you can turn off at any time under Account (basic crash reporting stays on). This is covered in our Privacy Policy.
On a Linked Teen Account (Section 20), the linked parent can see whether each challenge day passed or failed, the minutes used on the challenge's tracked apps against the limit, streaks, and whether monitoring was turned off. The parent never sees which other apps the teen uses, message content, or anything else on the teen's phone.
Health and wellness
Unplug is a habit and accountability tool. It is not medical, psychological, or professional advice, and it is not a treatment for any condition. If you are concerned about your relationship with your phone or your wellbeing, please talk to a qualified professional.
Disclaimers and limitation of liability
Unplug is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without warranties of any kind, to the fullest extent allowed by law. We do not promise that screen-time tracking is perfectly accurate at all times, or that the app will always be available or error-free. If you ever think a charge or a points forfeit is wrong, the support review in Section 9 is how we look into it and make it right.
To the fullest extent allowed by law, Unplug will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for lost profits or data. Our total liability for any claim relating to the app is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the three months before the claim, or one hundred US dollars (US$100). You agree to indemnify and hold Unplug harmless from claims arising out of your misuse of the app or your breach of these Terms.
Some states do not allow certain limits on warranties or liability, so some of the above may not apply to you.
App Store and Google Play terms
If you download Unplug from the Apple App Store, you also agree to Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement. Purchases of Unplug Points on iPhone and iPad are made through Apple as in-app purchases, and Apple handles those purchases and any refunds for them under its own policies (Section 7). Apple and Google are not parties to these Terms and are not responsible for the app or its content. Apple, Google, and their subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. You confirm you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo and are not on any US Government restricted-parties list.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will give notice in the app or by email, and where it matters we will ask you to accept the updated Terms before you continue. The "Last updated" date at the top shows when the current version took effect. Continuing to use Unplug after an update means you accept the new Terms.
Governing law and dispute resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
If you have a problem, please contact us first. We will try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally. If we cannot, you and Unplug agree that any dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, except that either of us may bring an individual claim in small-claims court where eligible.
You and Unplug agree to bring claims only on an individual basis, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action. If the forfeit part of these Terms, in dollars or in points, is found unenforceable where you live, the rest of these Terms still applies, and your challenges can still run as a goal with nothing on the line.
Family Challenges and Linked Teen Accounts
Family Challenges let a parent or legal guardian ("parent") propose a weekly screen-time deal to their own teen: if the teen stays under an agreed daily limit on agreed apps for the week, the parent pays the teen an allowance they chose. This section governs that feature.
Linked Teen Accounts. A person aged 13 or older may hold a linked account under a family challenge. For a teen aged 13 to 17 this is a Linked Teen Account: the parent creates an invitation (confirming they are the teen's parent or guardian, stating the teen's birth month, and accepting these Terms on the teen's behalf), and the teen separately reviews and accepts the link in the app on their own device. A Linked Teen Account cannot stake money, buy or stake Unplug Points, save a payment card, deposit, withdraw, receive payouts, join group challenges, subscribe to Premium, or earn referral rewards. These restrictions are enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the app.
The allowance is between you and your teen. Allowance promises are yours alone. Unplug never holds, collects, transfers, or processes allowance money; the app only keeps score. The allowance is a conditional gift from parent to teen: the teen never pays anything, risks nothing, and is never charged, and the parent decides how and whether to pay outside the app. An unpaid allowance is a matter between you and your teen, not a debt owed by or through Unplug.
Settlement links. For convenience, the app can open a third-party payment app with the amount prefilled. Venmo is a service of PayPal, Inc.; Unplug is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of Venmo or PayPal, cannot see or confirm any payment you make there, and does not guarantee those links keep working. "Mark as paid" only updates your family scoreboard.
Setup, the family PIN, and monitoring. Enforcement runs on the teen's device with the teen's knowledge: the teen accepts each recurring deal before any monitoring starts, and during setup the parent chooses the limited apps on the teen's phone, protected by a family PIN the parent sets. Unlinking a Linked Teen Account requires the parent's family PIN until the teen turns 18. Two withdrawal paths always remain open to the teen: revoking the screen-time permission in their device settings (which stops monitoring and counts as a missed day), and turning 18, when the link ends automatically and the account becomes a standard account without the parent's PIN. A person who links at 18 or older participates as a consenting adult: their link has no automatic end date, and they may unlink at any time without the family PIN.
Not gambling. A Family Challenge involves no stake from the teen, no pot, no chance, and no winnings from other users. It is an allowance conditioned on the teen's own behavior.
Contact
Questions about these Terms? Email services@unplugmobile.app, or write to us at:
Farrell Bros LLC
Seattle, WA, United States