Terms of Service
Buddy Watch is in private beta. These terms cover the service as it exists today. A lawyer-reviewed final version replaces this page before public launch; we'll notify active users before any change that affects rights or obligations.
Last updated: 2026-05-08
1. What Buddy Watch is
Buddy Watch is a synchronized media-viewing platform with spoiler-safe timestamped comments. You bring your own media library — typically a Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby server you already run — and Buddy Watch sits alongside it: comments, playback synchronization between friends, watch-party coordination. We don't host, transcode, or redistribute any media.
2. Accepting these terms
Creating an account or using Buddy Watch means you accept these terms and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the service.
3. Who can use Buddy Watch
- You're 13 or older. Signup blocks under-13 account creation.
- If you're 13–15 and live in an EU member state with an age of consent above 13 (e.g. France 15, Germany 16, Ireland 16), a parent or legal guardian must complete the parental-consent flow before you can use the service.
- You're not on a sanctions list that prohibits us from offering services to you, and you're not in a jurisdiction we're unable to operate in.
- You're using Buddy Watch for yourself, not for a sanctioned entity, automated account farm, or commercial reseller arrangement.
4. Your account
- One account per person. Don't share login credentials.
- Keep your password (or external-identity login — Google, Apple, etc.) secure. Tell us at hello@buddywatch.online if you suspect unauthorized access.
- Provide accurate signup information. We don't run identity verification, but knowingly false claims (age, identity, location for jurisdiction-gated features) are a terms breach.
- You're responsible for activity on your account, including comments posted under your handle.
5. Your content
"Your content" means everything you put into Buddy Watch: comments, reactions, friend invites, custom display name, avatar, profile fields, watch-party invitations.
- You own it. Posting in Buddy Watch doesn't transfer ownership.
- You grant us a limited license to store, display, and transmit your content as needed to run the service — show your comments to your friends at the right playback timestamps, sync your watch-party state, deliver your invites. The license ends when you delete the content (or your account), with two narrow exceptions:
- Backups already taken can persist until they roll off (typically within 30 days).
- Audit-log entries that reference an action you took are retained with your user reference scrubbed — standard GDPR Article 17(3)(e) posture.
- You're responsible for what you post. Don't post anything you don't have the right to share. Don't post copyrighted material you don't own a license to. (More on the takedown process in section 8.)
- We don't endorse user content. Comments visible on Buddy Watch reflect the people who wrote them, not us.
6. Acceptable use
The spirit: be a good Buddy Watch citizen. The specifics:
- Be kind. No harassment, threats, hate speech, or targeted abuse — including in comments anchored to media moments.
- Don't dox or stalk. Don't share other people's private information without consent, and don't use Buddy Watch to track someone's viewing activity outside what they've explicitly shared with you.
- No illegal content. Don't post or promote anything that's illegal where you live or where the recipient lives — including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), incitement to violence, or content that violates sanctions.
- No spam. Don't use friend invites, watch-party broadcasts, or comment threads to advertise unrelated products, run scams, or chain-message strangers.
- Don't break our infrastructure. No probing for vulnerabilities outside a coordinated-disclosure context (security@buddywatch.online when that exists; for now, hello@buddywatch.online). No scraping, automated mass requests, or DoS-shaped traffic. No reverse engineering except where local law explicitly permits it.
- Don't impersonate. Don't pretend to be someone you're not — another user, a Buddy Watch employee, a public figure — in ways meant to deceive.
- Use third-party media services within their terms. Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Stripe (when billing ships), Google/Apple OAuth, and any other connected service has its own terms. Don't use Buddy Watch as a wrapper to violate theirs.
We may remove content, suspend accounts, or terminate access for violations. Severe or repeated violations get a permanent ban without refund.
7. Bring your own media
Buddy Watch syncs alongside media you control via your own Plex / Jellyfin / Emby server (or another supported provider as we add them). We don't host the files, decrypt or break DRM, bypass geoblocks, or aggregate other people's libraries into yours. Whether your library is legally yours to share with the friends you invite is your call and your responsibility — same as inviting them over to your couch.
We integrate with these services using their public APIs and OAuth flows. If a provider changes their integration surface in a way that breaks Buddy Watch, we'll work to restore it; we can't guarantee continued compatibility forever.
8. Copyright and the DMCA
Buddy Watch doesn't host media, but our comment system can carry user-generated text, links, screenshots, or other content that may incorporate copyrighted material. If you believe content on Buddy Watch infringes a copyright you own or control, send us a notice that includes:
- An identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
- A specific URL or description sufficient for us to locate the allegedly infringing material on Buddy Watch.
- Your contact information (full legal name, email, mailing address).
- A good-faith statement that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
- Your physical or electronic signature.
Send notices to hello@buddywatch.online with subject "DMCA Notice." We'll respond within the statutory window. If we remove your content based on a notice and you believe the removal was wrong, you may submit a counter-notice — same contact, subject "DMCA Counter-Notice" — including all of the elements above plus a statement under penalty of perjury that the removal was the result of mistake or misidentification, and consent to jurisdiction.
Repeat infringers get terminated. Misrepresentations in a notice or counter-notice can result in liability for damages under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).
9. The service, as it is
Buddy Watch is in private beta. That means:
- We may change features, deprecate features, or take the service down for maintenance with limited notice.
- Things will occasionally break. We aim for stability but don't promise uptime, performance, or that any specific feature will exist tomorrow.
- We may add new features (billing, additional providers, expanded integrations) under these terms; substantively new features may have additional terms specific to them, in which case we'll surface them at the time you opt in.
Buddy Watch is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties — express and implied — including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
10. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither Buddy Watch nor its operators are liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or business interruption, arising from your use of (or inability to use) the service.
Where law requires us to retain some liability, our aggregate liability is capped at the greater of (a) the amount you've paid Buddy Watch in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) USD $50.
Some jurisdictions don't allow these exclusions or limitations; in those places, parts of this section may not apply to you, and you'll have the rights local law gives you.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold Buddy Watch harmless from claims arising out of (a) content you post, (b) your breach of these terms, or (c) your violation of someone else's rights — including intellectual-property rights — through your use of the service. We'll let you know if we receive such a claim and cooperate with you on the defense.
12. Termination
You can leave anytime. Delete your account from your settings page. Erasure runs per the Compliance page; the result is removal of personally identifiable information tied to your account, with audit-log scrubbing.
We can suspend or terminate your access if you violate these terms, if your account is implicated in fraud or abuse, if continued service would expose Buddy Watch to legal risk, or if you're in a jurisdiction we're no longer able to serve. We aim to give notice unless the breach is ongoing or severe enough that delay would cause harm.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms — for instance, when we ship a new feature, when a regulatory change requires it, or when the lawyer-reviewed version replaces this scaffold. When changes are material (affecting rights or obligations), we'll notify active users by email and prompt re-acceptance on the next session, with a reasonable window to review. Minor housekeeping changes (typos, clarifications, contact-info updates) take effect on posting; the "Last updated" line at the top reflects the most recent change.
14. Governing law and disputes
The lawyer-reviewed final version will name a specific governing-law jurisdiction and dispute-resolution mechanism. For private beta, disputes are handled by direct communication first — email hello@buddywatch.online and we'll engage in good faith. Where law requires a formal venue, the venue defaults to the operator's home jurisdiction (named in the lawyer-reviewed version) and the laws of that jurisdiction govern, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.
15. The boring fine print
- Severability. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest stands.
- No waiver. Our not enforcing a clause once doesn't mean we've given it up forever.
- Assignment. You can't transfer your account to someone else without our consent. We may assign these terms in connection with a corporate event (acquisition, reorganization), with notice.
- Entire agreement. These terms plus the Privacy Policy and any feature-specific terms we surface to you are the entire agreement between you and Buddy Watch on the subject.
- Notices to us — by email at hello@buddywatch.online. We'll send notices to you via the email on your account, or by an in-app banner if it's account-relevant.
Questions?
Email hello@buddywatch.online and we'll get back to you. Most things are figure-out-able if you tell us what you need.
Related: Privacy · Compliance