Terms of Use
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Art Block mobile application and related services (the “Service”) offered by Vardar Studio Inc., based in Quebec, Canada (“we”, “us”, “our”). We publish Art Block under the Art Block name and are identified as the app’s developer / seller on the Apple App Store. The Service is software for scheduling, tracking, reflecting on, and (optionally) sharing creative practice.
By downloading, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
The Service is local-first: practice content is stored on your device, with cloud backup keeping a structured copy on our servers when you are signed in so you can move between devices. Session diary photos stay primarily on your device; photos you attach as shared session covers are stored on our file hosting when you publish to social. Optional social features (profile, follow / followers, shared sessions feed, likes and comments, groups, in-app notifications, blocks, mutes, and reports) are off by default and only become active when you complete social activation in the app.
Eligibility
You must be old enough to form a binding contract where you live and must not be barred from using the Service under applicable law. The Service is not intended for children under 13; the social features in particular are not intended for users under 13. If you use the Service on behalf of a company or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity.
Accounts
You must sign in to use the Service. You may use Sign in with Apple or email and password (hosted authentication via Supabase). Email sign-up may require email confirmation before you can sign in. We may add Sign in with Google later; we will update these Terms before that ships.
You are responsible for activity under your account, except where it results from our error or a compromise we should reasonably have prevented. If you suspect unauthorized use, contact us promptly through the channels described at the end of these Terms.
Signing out clears local practice data on your device; your cloud backup remains on our servers until you delete content or request account deletion. Paid features are tied to your platform subscription (for example your Apple ID and App Store subscription), independent of your Art Block sign-in account.
Subscriptions and payments
Art Block offers a free tier and optional Art Block Pro subscription. If you purchase Pro or other paid offerings, payment is processed by the platform where you obtained the Service (for example, Apple through the App Store). Prices, billing cycle, renewal, and cancellation are controlled by that platform’s rules and your account settings. We use RevenueCat to validate purchases and entitlements; we do not receive your full payment card number. To the extent permitted by law, fees may be non-refundable except as required by the platform or applicable consumer law.
The Service
We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service in line with these Terms and platform rules. The Service is offered for your personal, non-commercial creative practice unless we agree otherwise in writing.
We may change, suspend, or discontinue features, temporarily or permanently. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Optional focus shielding uses Apple’s Family Controls / Screen Time APIs on your device to block apps you select during a practice session; see our Privacy Policy for how that works. The Service is not medical, therapeutic, or professional coaching or instruction, and is not a substitute for employment, school, or legal advice.
Your content
You are responsible for content you create, upload, or publish in the Service (“Your Content”) and for complying with law. Your Content includes your practice journal, the items you put on your social profile (username, bio, avatar), the sessions you share, the cover photos you attach to them, the comments you post, and anything you submit to a group.
You represent that Your Content does not infringe anyone else’s rights, is not illegal, and does not include malware or other harmful material.
Your Content remains yours. To run the Service — for example to store Your Content on your device, back it up, display it in the app, format it (such as preparing an optional share image), and, when you have opted in to social features, to transmit it to the audience you chose (private, followers, public, or a specific group) — you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, use, reproduce, adapt (for formatting or accessibility), distribute, and display Your Content solely to provide and improve the Service.
You can delete Your Content where the Service allows. Some copies may persist for a short period in caches or backups, or be retained where law requires (for example, moderation records related to a report).
Social features and audience controls
Social features are off by default. When you activate social and mark a session as shared (as opposed to private in your diary), audience rules apply:
- Private (not shared) — the session is not published to your social feed.
- Shared with a private profile — generally visible to accounts that follow you, subject to follow-approval settings.
- Shared with a public profile — may be visible to signed-in users who can find you, subject to discoverability settings.
- Group — when you tag a session to a group, active members of that group may see it according to group rules.
Other users may interact with sessions you publish (like, comment, report) and may follow you (subject to your approval setting). Comments you leave on someone else’s session are visible to the audience that can see that session, including the author.
You can change your discoverability, follow-approval, default audience, notification preferences, blocked-artists list, and muted-artists list at any time from Settings.
Acceptable use
You agree to use the Service in good faith and in line with the following rules. We may remove content or restrict your account if you break them.
- No harassment or abuse. Do not target other users with threats, harassment, hate, or sustained unwelcome contact.
- No spam, scams, or sexual content involving minors. Do not post commercial spam, fraudulent links, malware, sexual content involving anyone under 18, or content that sexualises minors in any way.
- No impersonation. Do not pretend to be another person or organisation in your username, bio, avatar, or published content.
- No infringing content. Do not publish content you do not have the right to share (for example reference images you don’t own and don’t have permission to redistribute in their original form).
- No automated, bot, or scripted use. Do not scrape, probe, or stress-test our systems; do not use automation to manufacture follows, likes, comments, sessions, or cover updates.
- No bypassing safety controls. Do not attempt to evade blocks, mutes, reports, rate limits, paywalls, or other security or usage limits.
- No reverse engineering. Do not reverse engineer or attempt to extract source code or backend credentials, except where law expressly permits.
- No competing-product abuse. Do not use the Service to build a competing product using our data or interfaces in breach of platform rules.
Reporting, blocking, and moderation
The Service includes built-in tools for you to manage your experience and to escalate to us:
- Block — hides your profile and content from the other person and theirs from you, and removes any prior follows, likes, comments, and notifications between the two of you.
- Mute — silently hides someone’s sessions and activity from your feeds and notifications without removing the follow relationship.
- Report — sends a moderation report to us for review.
We may, at our discretion and to the extent permitted by law, review reports, look at the reported content, and take action including removing content, restricting features for an account, or suspending or terminating an account that materially or repeatedly breaches these Terms. We may keep moderation records (including reports you filed and reports filed against you) even after the underlying content is removed, where reasonably necessary for safety or to meet legal obligations.
Rate limits
To protect the Service against automation and accidental loops, the backend enforces per-user thresholds on social write actions (follows, likes, comments, publishing or auto-sharing sessions, and updating session cover photos). When you exceed a threshold, the relevant action is rejected and the app shows a short message asking you to wait. Rate limits apply per account regardless of how many devices you sign in from.
Our intellectual property
The Service, including its design, branding, and underlying software (excluding Your Content), is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. Except for the license above, no rights are granted to you. Do not copy, modify, or resell the Service except as allowed by law.
Third parties and the App Store
If you access the Service through a third-party platform (such as Apple’s App Store), that platform’s terms and privacy policies may also apply. The Service also relies on third-party processors (Supabase for backend hosting, RevenueCat for subscription management) — see the Privacy Policy for details. You acknowledge that:
- Apple (or other platform) is not responsible for the Service or its content, other than as required by that platform’s rules;
- For App Store downloads, Apple’s “Licensed Application End User License Agreement” may apply between you and Apple as required by Apple; these Terms govern your relationship with us for the Service.
Disclaimer of warranties
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers; in those cases some disclaimers may not apply to you.
Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE (AND OUR AFFILIATES, CONTRACTORS, AND LICENSORS) WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE — INCLUDING ANY LOSS OR UNAVAILABILITY OF CLOUD BACKUP, SHARED SESSIONS, OR OTHER USER-GENERATED CONTENT.
OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICE THROUGH THE APPLICABLE PLATFORM (FOR EXAMPLE APPLE’S APP STORE) IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE YOU BROUGHT THE CLAIM (IF ANY), or (B) FIFTY CANADIAN DOLLARS (CAD $50), IF YOU HAD NO AMOUNTS PAYABLE FOR THE SERVICE DURING THAT PERIOD. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations; in those cases some limitations may not apply to you.
Indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you will defend and indemnify us against third-party claims, damages, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from Your Content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms.
Termination
You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or end your access if you materially breach these Terms (including the Acceptable use rules), if we must do so for legal or security reasons, or if we wind down the Service. When an account is terminated, content tied to that account (cloud backup, social profile, shared sessions, follows, group memberships, comments, etc.) may be removed. Some moderation records may be retained as described under Reporting, blocking, and moderation. Provisions that should survive (including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitations, indemnity, and governing law) survive termination.
Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Quebec and the federal laws of Canada applicable there, without regard to conflict-of-law rules that would send the dispute to another jurisdiction’s laws — except that mandatory consumer protection rules where you live may still apply.
Except where prohibited by applicable law, you agree that the courts located in the Province of Quebec have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising from these Terms or the Service, subject to those mandatory rules.
Changes
We may modify these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated document on this page and update the “Last updated” date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice where practicable (for example in the app). Continued use after the effective date of changes may constitute acceptance where the law allows. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and, where applicable, cancel subscriptions through your platform account.
Miscellaneous
If part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent; we may assign ours in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and supersede prior understandings on the same subject.
Contact
Questions about these Terms, support, or requests for account deletion:
- Vardar Studio Inc. — vardarstudio.com
- Email: contact@vardarstudio.com
- You may also use the developer contact channel shown on the Apple App Store listing for Art Block.