Secure Messenger
1. Scope
These terms govern your use of the Secure Messenger apps for Android and iOS and the server that relays their messages (together, “the service”). The service is provided by Aralel GmbH, Aachen, Germany (“we”, “us”). Our full details are in the imprint.
By installing or using the app, you agree to these terms. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the service.
2. The service
Secure Messenger lets you exchange end-to-end encrypted text messages, photos and files with contacts you add by scanning a QR code. Content is encrypted on your phone. Our server only stores and forwards encrypted data until it’s delivered.
We currently provide the service free of charge. You need a compatible phone and an internet connection; any data charges from your mobile provider are your own.
3. Your ID and your phone
The service has no user accounts. On first launch your phone receives a random ID. Your keys, contacts and messages are stored only on your phone.
You are responsible for keeping your phone secure, for example with a screen lock. We can’t recover keys, contacts or messages if your phone is lost, broken, reset or the app is uninstalled, because we never have them.
4. Acceptable use
You must be at least 16 years old to use the service. You agree not to use it to:
- break any law, or help anyone else break one;
- send unsolicited bulk messages, malware, or content that harasses, threatens or exploits others, including any material depicting the sexual abuse of children;
- infringe other people’s intellectual property or privacy;
- attack, overload or disrupt our servers, for example through automated mass registration, flooding, or probing for vulnerabilities without our written permission;
- access the server with software other than our official apps in a way that impairs the service for others.
If you find a security vulnerability, please tell us at [security email] before disclosing it publicly.
5. Your content
You keep all rights to what you send. Because content is end-to-end encrypted, we can’t see, check or moderate it. You alone are responsible for what you send and to whom.
You allow us to store and transmit your encrypted content only as far as needed to deliver it.
6. Licence to use the app
We grant you a free, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the app for its intended purpose on devices you control. Rights under §§ 69d and 69e of the German Copyright Act (UrhG) remain unaffected. The terms of the app store you downloaded from also apply.
7. Availability and changes to the service
We work to keep the service available, but we can’t guarantee uninterrupted operation. Maintenance, security incidents or events outside our control can cause interruptions.
We may develop the service further and change features, as long as this is reasonable for you. Security-relevant updates may be required to keep using the service.
8. Blocking IDs
If there are concrete indications that an ID is used in breach of section 4, for example to flood the server, we may block that ID or the associated connections. We consider your legitimate interests when deciding and choose the mildest effective measure.
9. Liability
We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act, and where we have given a guarantee.
For slight negligence, we are liable only for breaches of essential obligations: obligations whose fulfilment makes proper use of the service possible at all and on which you may regularly rely. In that case, liability is limited to the damage typical and foreseeable for this kind of service.
Otherwise our liability is excluded. These limits also apply to our employees and agents.
10. Ending use
You can stop using the service at any time by uninstalling the app. You can ask us to delete server-side data linked to your ID as described in the privacy policy.
We may discontinue the service with reasonable notice, announced on this website and, where possible, in the app. Our right to block IDs under section 8 remains unaffected.
11. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms for valid reasons, such as new legal requirements or new features. We’ll announce changes on this website at least four weeks before they take effect. If you keep using the service after that, the new terms apply. If you don’t agree, you can stop using the service.
12. Law and jurisdiction
German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, this choice of law doesn’t take away the protection of mandatory rules of the country where you normally live.
If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, or have no general place of jurisdiction in Germany, the exclusive place of jurisdiction is Aachen, Germany.
If any provision of these terms is invalid, the rest remain in effect.
We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.