Terms of Service

Eligibility

You must be legally able to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction to use the paid Service. If you are under the age of 18, you may use the Service only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

1. The Service

PhotonFile enables file transfers between senders and recipients using ephemeral relays, and also offers Photon Vault for persistent encrypted storage. Live Relay file contents are not stored on server storage by PhotonFile as part of the Live Relay transfer flow, and we do not provide a hosted "inbox" of stored files for Relay. Vault is a separate storage product where encrypted data is retained for ongoing access according to the features and plan you choose. Features and availability may change.

Cloud transfer is a selected delivery mode that retains encrypted transfer data and operational metadata until expiry or deletion. Account transfer management is metadata-only and cannot recover a transfer link or decrypt content.

2. File Passes and Payments

• A File Pass covers one transfer that exceeds free-tier size limits.
• A Live Relay pass is consumed only after completion, meaning both peers have transmitted all required bytes and the transfer is marked complete.
• A File Pass used for Cloud transfer is consumed after the entire encrypted upload completes. Choose a download period of one to seven days before starting. The default is seven days from upload completion, and the selected deadline cannot be extended. Account-funded Cloud transfers use account storage. Relay subscription funding also applies the applicable movement meter.
• Cloud transfer mode requires an authenticated sender to accept its delivery policy explicitly. Existing purchases retain their Live Relay option. If File Pass funding is selected, complete encrypted upload consumes the pass even if nobody downloads the files. For File Pass funding, the first confirmed saved download prevents new downloads and starts early deletion. PhotonFile deletes its stored copy automatically in the background and retries deletion automatically when needed.
• File Pass backing does not use account storage or account Relay allowances. Account-funded backing uses shared account storage. Account movement is counted once for complete delivery, separately from the recipient's saved-file confirmation. Paid account retention can be extended only within the configured maximum.
• If Live Relay delivery or a cloud upload fails before completion, the pass is not consumed and you may retry.
• Passes are non-refundable once consumed, except in cases of confirmed system error where a pass was consumed incorrectly.
• Pricing and tier limits may change over time. Changes apply prospectively and do not affect passes already purchased unless required by law.

3. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use PhotonFile to:

• Transmit content that is illegal under applicable law.
• Upload malware, viruses, or harmful code.
• Interfere with, probe, or reverse engineer the Service.
• Impersonate others or misrepresent the origin of data.
• Transmit content that infringes intellectual property rights.
• Attempt to overload, disrupt, or bypass rate limits or access controls.

We may restrict or terminate access for violations.

4. Privacy

We do not inspect decrypted file contents. Live Relay does not retain hosted file copies. Cloud transfer and Vault retain client-encrypted data under their respective policies. We collect minimal operational metadata and use third-party processors for payments. See the Privacy for details.

5. Free Tier

• Maximum file size: 10 GiB.
• Transfers run on a standard pool targeted up to 1 Gib/s.
• No guarantee of uninterrupted or error-free service.

6. Reliability and Retries

We detect incomplete transfers and generally allow retries until a transfer completes. We may apply reasonable rate limits or restrictions to prevent abuse and protect service reliability. A Live Relay File Pass is consumed when the relay confirms delivery of all required file data, independently of the recipient's final acknowledgement. Incomplete delivery does not consume the pass. The recipient separately confirms that the files were saved.

7. No Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, PhotonFile and its affiliates are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid to PhotonFile for File Passes in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

9. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. Continued use after updates constitutes acceptance. The current version is always available at /terms.

10. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

11. Contact

Email: [email protected]