Terms of Service

Last updated: April 16, 2026

These terms are an agreement between you and Tilted Planet, Ltd., an Illinois corporation ("we", "us", "Tilted Planet"). By using Teacups you agree to all of this.

What Teacups Is

An anonymous, location-based chat app. You talk to people nearby without sharing your real identity.
You get a random color and shape instead of a name. It changes with each conversation.
Messages disappear after 4 hours of inactivity.

Who Can Use It

You must be at least 18 years old.
One account per device. If your device gets banned, that's it.

The Rules

No bullying, harassment, threats, or hate speech.
No illegal content. No spam. No scams.
No sharing other people's personal information.
No abusing the report system. Filing fake reports can get you banned.
Real emergencies are escalated to law enforcement automatically.

Community Moderation

Your neighbors can become community reviewers.
If enough people report you, reviewers vote on what happens.
Consequences range from a warning to a permanent device ban.
Reviewer votes are anonymous. No one knows who voted or how.

Magic Teacups

You earn tea leaves by chatting with neighbors, or you can buy them.
Spend tea leaves to listen in on conversations in other areas.
Each teacup shows the last 42 minutes or last 42 messages, whichever is more.
Teacup visits are read-only. You can listen but you can't talk.

Home Teapot

You can set a home address and teleport back to it for free from anywhere.
Your home address can only be changed once per year.
Your home address is stored locally on your device. We don't store it on our servers.

Purchases

Teacups offers in-app purchases of Tea Leaves: 250 tea leaves for $2.99, or 1,000 tea leaves for $9.99.
Tea Leaves can be spent on Magic Teacups and other features.
All purchases are processed through Apple and are subject to Apple's terms.
Purchases are non-refundable except where required by law.
We can change prices, amounts, or what you get for your purchase at any time.

Your Content

You own what you write, but you give us permission to relay it to other users in your area.
Messages that receive enough upvotes may be featured on teater, our best-of feed. Featured messages may be rebroadcast beyond your local area and persist beyond the normal 4-hour window.
We don't store messages permanently. They live in memory and vanish after 4 hours of inactivity — unless featured on teater.
Photos and videos are relayed through our server, compressed for bandwidth, and are not permanently saved.

No Expectation of Privacy

Teacups is a public forum. Anything you say can be read by anyone nearby — and potentially featured to a wider audience.
Anonymous does not mean private. Don't share anything you wouldn't want seen by strangers.

Be Kind

Teacups is for connecting with your neighbors, not hurting them.
Don't post anything intended to harass, threaten, intimidate, or cause harm to another person.
Remember there's a real person on the other end of every message.

Apple Watch

The Teacups Apple Watch companion app lets you read nearby conversations.
The same rules and terms apply on the watch as on the phone.

What We Can Do

Ban devices that break the rules.
Remove content or restrict access at any time.
Share location data with law enforcement in genuine emergencies.
Shut down or change the service at any time. We'll try to give notice, but no promises.

No Warranties

Teacups is provided "as is." We don't guarantee it will always work, be safe, or be available. Use it at your own risk.

Liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law, Tilted Planet is not responsible for anything that happens on Teacups — including things other users say or do. Our total liability to you is limited to the amount you've paid us in the last 12 months.

Changes

We can update these terms. If we make big changes, you'll see them next time you open the app. Continuing to use Teacups means you accept the new terms.

Contact

Tilted Planet, Ltd.
legal@Teacups.app