Legal

Terms of Use

Effective date: July 23, 2026
Terms version: 2026-07-23
Applies to: the CruiseMesh mobile apps, the optional hosted internet relay, this website, and Cruise Pass.

Short version: Use CruiseMesh lawfully and safely. Do not use it to threaten, harass, exploit, impersonate, spam, expose private information, distribute malware, or infringe rights. You control who you connect with and what you send. Block abusive contacts in the app and report abuse to abuse@cruisemesh.app.

1. Agreement and eligibility

These Terms are an agreement between you and David Jacobson, operator of the CruiseMesh project (“CruiseMesh,” “we,” “us”). By accepting these Terms in an app or using a covered service, you agree to them and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use CruiseMesh.

You must be legally able to agree to these Terms. CruiseMesh is not directed to children under 13 as a general-audience service. A parent or legal guardian who provides CruiseMesh to a minor is responsible for supervising that minor’s use and connections.

2. What CruiseMesh provides

CruiseMesh is offline-first messaging software. It may deliver end-to-end encrypted messages directly, over local networks, through other devices carrying sealed messages, or through an optional internet relay. Delivery can be delayed, duplicated, interrupted, or unavailable. CruiseMesh is not an emergency service and must not be relied on for urgent, medical, safety-critical, or life-safety communications.

No central account is required. Your cryptographic identity, contacts, groups, and message history primarily live on participating devices. You are responsible for your device, backups, passphrases, relay credentials, and the people you choose to connect with.

3. Your content and conduct

You retain responsibility for messages, names, photos, voice recordings, links, and other material you create or send (“User Content”). You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to use and share your User Content.

You may not use CruiseMesh to create, request, send, carry knowingly, promote, or facilitate:

• illegal activity or content, including trafficking or exploitation;
• child sexual abuse material, sexual exploitation of minors, or grooming;
• credible threats, encouragement of violence, harassment, stalking, bullying, or non-consensual sexual content;
• hateful conduct targeting people based on protected characteristics;
• impersonation, fraud, scams, spam, or deceptive manipulation;
• another person’s private or sensitive information without permission, including doxxing;
• malware, destructive code, credential theft, or attempts to disrupt or gain unauthorized access to devices, relays, or services;
• content that infringes copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights; or
• conduct intended to evade safety controls, abuse reports, blocks, access limits, or applicable law.

4. Messaging safety, blocking, and reporting

Only connect with people you trust, compare the safety words shown during friending, and treat public broadcast channels as public. You can block a contact from the contact details screen. Blocking stops that sender’s future messages from being accepted on your device; it does not erase copies already held on other devices.

To report a contact, use Report contact in the app or email abuse@cruisemesh.app. Include the contact ID, safety words, approximate time, and a description of what happened. Because private messages are end-to-end encrypted, CruiseMesh cannot proactively read them or retrieve plaintext from a relay. You may need to provide screenshots or other evidence. If anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.

5. Relays and third-party operators

The optional hosted relay stores sealed envelopes and limited routing metadata as described in the Privacy Policy. Anyone with a family relay token may use that mailbox, so protect and rotate it if exposed. We may rate-limit, suspend, rotate, or revoke hosted-relay access to protect users, infrastructure, or legal compliance.

CruiseMesh can connect to independently operated or self-hosted relays. Those operators are third parties, not our agents, and may apply their own terms, availability, logging, retention, or privacy practices. You are responsible for selecting and trusting a relay operator.

6. Cruise Pass

Cruise Pass is an optional, time-limited hosted-relay purchase. Prices, duration, and included service are displayed before checkout. The pass term begins when the purchase completes, not when you first use it or when you travel. Payment processing is provided by Stripe under its terms. Unless the checkout page says otherwise, you may request a full refund within 90 days of purchase by following the instructions on the Support page. Taxes, currency conversion, bank fees, and statutory consumer rights may apply.

7. Open-source software

The source code is separately licensed under the licenses in the CruiseMesh repository. Those licenses govern copying, modifying, and distributing the code. These Terms govern use of the apps and operated services and do not take away rights granted by an open-source license.

8. Service changes and enforcement

We may change, limit, suspend, or discontinue a hosted service or feature. We may restrict hosted-service access when we reasonably believe these Terms have been violated, a token or system is compromised, or action is needed to protect users, infrastructure, or comply with law. On-device data may remain on your device after hosted access ends.

9. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, CruiseMesh software and services are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted availability, delivery, data preservation, or security. End-to-end encryption reduces some risks but does not make a compromised device, unsafe contact, weak backup passphrase, or exposed relay token safe.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, CruiseMesh and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or loss of data, communications, profits, goodwill, or opportunity arising from CruiseMesh. Where liability cannot be excluded, total liability for a claim will not exceed the greater of US $100 or the amount you paid us for the covered service during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limits, so those provisions apply only to the extent allowed there.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as CruiseMesh evolves. The page will identify the effective date and terms version. If an app requires acceptance of a newer version, you must accept it before continuing to use messaging features. Changes do not reduce rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

12. Contact

Report abuse to abuse@cruisemesh.app. For support or other questions, see the Support page or email support@cruisemesh.app. Never post private messages or relay tokens publicly.