Terms of Service

Effective October 18, 2026

1. Agreeing to these terms
2. Who can use Boat Bot
3. Your account
4. Not for navigation or safety
5. Boats, owners and crew
6. Software on your boat
7. Matey, AI and outside services
8. Your content
9. Acceptable use
10. Plans, payments and cancelling
11. Emails and texts
12. Our rights
13. Suspension and ending
14. Disclaimers
15. Limit of liability
16. Indemnity
17. Law and disputes
18. Changes
19. General

1. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and Boat Bot (“Boat Bot”, “we”, “us”) for using boatbot.io, the web app at app.boatbot.io, the Boat Bot software for a computer aboard your boat, the Boat Bot Signal K plugin, the Android app and related services (the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy and Email and Text Message Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Who can use Boat Bot

You must be 18 or older, or the age of majority where you live, to have an account. Younger crew may use Boat Bot only with a parent's or guardian's permission, and that adult accepts these terms for them. Boat Bot isn't for children under 13. Boat Bot is invite-only for now; an invite lets you create an account but doesn't guarantee continued access. You may not use the Service if the law where you are forbids it.

3. Your account

• Give accurate details and keep your email address current, since that's how you sign in.
• Keep your email account, authenticator app and backup codes secure. You're responsible for what happens under your account.
• Tell us at support@boatbot.io right away if you think someone else has used your account. You can sign out every device from your Account page.
• One person per account. Don't share your sign-in.

4. Not for navigation or safety

Boat Bot is a convenience and an extra pair of eyes. It is not a certified navigation instrument, collision-avoidance system, anchor-watch device, distress beacon or weather service, and it doesn't replace any equipment, chart, publication, watch or procedure required by law or good seamanship.

• Alarms may fail. Anchor and boat alarms depend on the boat's sensors, power, software, Wi-Fi, phones and their settings. Phones can be silenced, flat or out of range; texts and notifications can be delayed or lost.
• Data can be wrong. Positions, depths, wind, AIS targets, tides, forecasts and other readings come from your instruments and outside sources, and can be inaccurate, stale or missing.
• Matey can be wrong. Answers come partly from AI and can be incorrect or incomplete, even when they sound confident.
• Reminders are aids. Maintenance reminders don't replace the manufacturer's schedule or a qualified marine professional.
• Galley information is a guide. Allergy flags and recipes depend on what you enter; always check labels and ingredients yourself.

The skipper and crew remain solely responsible for the safe operation of the vessel and the safety of everyone aboard. In an emergency, use your VHF radio, distress beacon and other proper means, not Boat Bot.

5. Boats, owners and crew

• Whoever adds a boat is its owner on Boat Bot. Owners can invite crew and guests, change their roles, remove them, connect equipment and delete the boat.
• Owners are responsible for who they invite, for having the right to connect the boat and its equipment, and for telling people aboard that Boat Bot is in use (for example, that it listens for “Hey, Matey”).
• Everyone on a boat can see its readings and position. If you leave or are removed, you lose access to that boat.
• If owners disagree about a boat, we may act on the instructions of the person who added it, or of the registered owner if shown evidence.

6. Software on your boat

• Licence. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the Boat Bot software, plugin and app for your own boats, under these terms. Parts of it are open-source software under their own licences, which apply to those parts.
• Your hardware. You supply and are responsible for the computer, power, network, sensors and phones. The installer changes the computer it runs on (it installs software and services and opens local network ports). Back up anything important first.
• Updates. The software may update itself automatically to fix problems and keep it secure. Some features need the latest version.
• Local data. Data kept on your boat's computer is under your control, and you are responsible for securing and backing it up.

7. Matey, AI and outside services

Some features use outside services, including Anthropic (AI), ElevenLabs (voice), Open-Meteo (weather), search engines, ntfy (phone alarms), Signal K, Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services. They may change, limit or stop, and their own terms may apply. If you use your own keys for these services, you are responsible for that account, its terms and its charges. We aren't responsible for outside services or their content.

Don't rely on AI output for anything where a mistake could cause harm, and don't use Matey to make decisions about someone's health, legal rights, credit or employment.

8. Your content

You own what you put into Boat Bot: log entries, notes, photos, voice memos, galley lists, settings and boat data (“your content”). You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, copy, process, transmit and display your content only as needed to run, secure and improve the Service for you and the people on your boats. This licence ends when your content is deleted, except for copies kept as described in the Privacy Policy. You promise you have the rights to your content and that it doesn't break the law or anyone's rights.

If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them freely, without paying you.

9. Acceptable use

Don't:

• break the law, or use Boat Bot to harass, track or watch someone without their consent;
• try to get into accounts, boats or data that aren't yours, or test, scan or probe our systems without our written permission (to report a security issue, email us);
• overload, disrupt or work around limits or security on the Service;
• copy, sell, resell or rent the Service, or reverse engineer it except where the law allows;
• upload malware or content that infringes others' rights;
• use Boat Bot's AI or voice service for anything other than Boat Bot on your boat, or to build a competing product;
• send messages through Boat Bot to people who haven't agreed to receive them.

10. Plans, payments and cancelling

Plans. Each boat is on a plan: Free, or a paid plan (currently Crew and Bluewater) shown with its price and limits at boatbot.io before you buy. Plans are per boat and are bought by one of the boat's owners. Limits such as AI questions per day, web look-ups, premium voice characters, backup storage and the number of people aboard are part of each plan; when a limit is reached, those features pause until the limit resets or the plan changes, while Matey's features that run on the boat keep working. We may also apply a fair-use limit on what a boat's AI and voice use costs us each month.

Usage top-ups. An owner can buy prepaid usage credit for a boat in blocks shown at boatbot.io. Credit is used only after the plan's allowance for the day or month is used up, at the cost to us of the AI, web look-ups and voices it pays for; it doesn't expire while the boat's account exists and isn't refundable or transferable. If you turn on automatic top-up, we charge the card on file for the block you chose whenever the boat's credit runs low, up to the number of times a month you set, until you turn it off. If a charge fails, automatic top-up turns off and we email the owners.

Free trial. A new boat may get a free trial of a paid plan (currently 30 days of Crew, one trial per person). At the end of the trial the boat moves to Free unless an owner has chosen a paid plan. We don't need a card for the trial and don't charge you when it ends unless you've subscribed.

Payment and renewal. Paid plans are billed in advance, monthly or yearly, in US dollars, through our payment processor, Stripe. Your plan renews automatically at the end of each billing period, and we charge the payment method on file, until you cancel. Prices don't include taxes, which may be added where the law requires. If you subscribe during a free trial, the first charge happens when the trial ends. If you change plan, the difference is prorated.

Cancelling. You can cancel any time under Manage billing on the boat's Plan page. Cancelling stops the next renewal; the plan continues until the end of the period you've paid for, then the boat moves to Free. Except where the law requires otherwise, payments aren't refundable and we don't give credits for partly used periods.

Failed payments. If a payment fails, we and Stripe will retry it and let you know. If it still can't be collected, the boat moves to Free.

Price changes. We may change plan prices or what a plan includes. We'll tell owners at least 30 days before a price increase applies to their next renewal, and you can cancel before then. Changes don't affect a period you've already paid for.

Plans set by us. We may give a boat a plan, trial or limits for free (for example while testing), and may end that with reasonable notice.

11. Emails and texts

We send service emails you need to use your account, such as sign-in codes, invites, security and account notices and changes to these terms. Product news by email and text alerts are optional and sent only if you opt in. Our Email and Text Message Terms explain how they work and how to stop them, including replying STOP to any text.

12. Our rights

The Service, its software, design and the Boat Bot name and logo belong to us or our licensors. These terms don't give you any rights to them except the licence in section 6. We may change, add or remove features. If we remove something important you rely on, we'll try to give you notice.

13. Suspension and ending

• You can stop using Boat Bot at any time and ask us to delete your account by emailing support@boatbot.io. Owners can delete a boat from its page.
• We may suspend or close an account or disconnect a boat if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms, if needed to protect people or the Service, or if the law requires it. Where reasonable, we'll tell you first and give you a chance to fix things.
• We may end the Service, or the preview, with at least 30 days' notice, and will give you a way to get your content out of our cloud services before we delete it. The software on your boat will keep running its offline features as long as you choose.
• Sections 4, 8, 12 and 14 to 19 continue after this agreement ends.

14. Disclaimers

To the extent the law allows, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, non-infringement, and that it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free. This is a preview, and some things will break.

15. Limit of liability

To the extent the law allows:

• We aren't liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, use or goodwill.
• We aren't liable for any loss, damage, injury or cost arising from navigation, anchoring, groundings, collisions, weather, equipment failure, or reliance on alarms, readings, forecasts, reminders or Matey's answers.
• Our total liability for all claims about the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and US$100.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, or takes away rights you have as a consumer that can't be waived.

16. Indemnity

If you use the Service for a business, or break these terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable losses and costs (including legal fees) from claims by others that arise from that. This doesn't apply to the extent the loss was our fault.

17. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana and applicable federal law of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Before starting a legal claim, please email us so we can try to sort it out; most problems get fixed that way. If we can't resolve it within 60 days, the state and federal courts located in Louisiana will have jurisdiction. If you're a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live and may bring a claim in its courts.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll post the new version here with a new effective date and, for significant changes, tell you by email or in the app at least 30 days before they apply (sooner only if required by law or for security). If you keep using the Service after that, the new terms apply. If you don't agree, stop using the Service and ask us to delete your account.

19. General

• These terms, the Privacy Policy and the Email and Text Message Terms are the whole agreement between us about the Service.
• If any part is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. Not enforcing something isn't a waiver.
• You may not transfer these terms without our consent. We may transfer them as part of a reorganization, merger or sale, with notice to you.
• We aren't responsible for delays or failures caused by things outside our reasonable control, such as outages of networks or providers, storms, or government action.
• We'll contact you at your account email. You can reach us at support@boatbot.io.