Terms and Conditions

1. About the Service Provider

Pocket Friend is operated by:

This disclosure is made in compliance with Section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA). A copy of our PAIA Manual is available at pocketfriend.co.za/paia.html.

2. About the Service

Pocket Friend is a paid wellbeing and personal reflection companion service delivered through the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging platforms. The service provides text-based and voice-based conversations for the purposes of general wellbeing, motivation, personal reflection, emotional support, and casual conversation.

Users interact with companion personas by sending text messages, voice notes, images, PDF documents, or location pins (including Google Maps links) via WhatsApp or Telegram. The companion responds in the same format as the user's input — text messages receive text replies, and voice notes receive voice replies.

Pocket Friend is a wellbeing companion service that uses artificial intelligence as an enabling technology. It is not an AI platform, AI provider, or AI distribution service.

3. Eligibility

To use Pocket Friend, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age. This is mandatory regardless of your country of residence. In South Africa, 18 is the age of legal majority under the Children's Act 38 of 2005, and full contractual capacity is required for a paid service with automatic financial obligations. This requirement also satisfies POPIA's restrictions on processing children's data, OpenAI's age requirements, and the minimum age necessary for binding payment authorisations.
• Have a valid WhatsApp account or Telegram account.
• Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract and to authorise recurring card payments.
• Not have had a Pocket Friend account previously suspended or terminated for breach of these Terms.

By using the service, you confirm that you meet all eligibility requirements. We rely on your self-declaration and reserve the right to terminate accounts where we have reasonable grounds to believe a user does not meet these requirements.

4. Acceptance of Terms

By sending your first message to Pocket Friend on WhatsApp or Telegram and replying "AGREE" during the onboarding process, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms and Conditions, our Privacy Policy, and any other policies referenced herein. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd. They apply equally to your use of the service on WhatsApp and Telegram. They are available at all times at pocketfriend.co.za/terms.html.

5. Nature of the Service — Important Limitations

You acknowledge and agree that:

• All responses are generated by artificial intelligence, not by human beings. No human monitors or participates in your conversations in real time.
• AI-generated responses may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or inappropriate. The AI may produce factually incorrect content. You should not rely on it for decisions affecting your health, finances, legal position, or safety.
• Pocket Friend does not replace and is not a substitute for qualified professionals, including but not limited to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counsellors, financial advisors, or lawyers.
• Pocket Friend is not a crisis service. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, thoughts of self-harm, or any immediate danger, please contact emergency services (10111 in South Africa) or a crisis helpline such as the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) at 0800 567 567 or Lifeline at 0861 322 322. If you are outside South Africa, please contact your local emergency services.
• Pocket Friend will never generate or send images. All responses are text or voice only.
• Voice messages are synthetic speech produced by artificial intelligence technology. They are not recordings of a human voice.

6. AI Disclosure and Transparency

In compliance with OpenAI's usage policies, the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 50 — transparency obligations taking effect from August 2026), and general best practices for AI transparency, we disclose the following:

• You are interacting with an AI system, not a human. Every response from Pocket Friend is generated by artificial intelligence.
• AI technology provider: Pocket Friend uses AI models provided by OpenAI for text generation, speech-to-text transcription, and text-to-speech voice synthesis. The specific models used may change over time as technology evolves.
• Voice messages are AI-generated. Voice responses are produced by synthetic text-to-speech technology. They are not recordings of any real person. Different companion personas use different synthetic voices.
• AI-generated content carries no guarantee of accuracy. Responses are probabilistic outputs of a language model and may contain errors, biases, or fabricated information.
• No emotional or conscious experience: The AI does not have feelings, consciousness, or genuine understanding. Expressions of empathy or emotion in responses are generated patterns, not authentic experiences.
• Content is AI-generated and machine-readable markers may be present: In accordance with EU AI Act Article 50(2), AI-generated text and audio outputs may contain machine-readable markers indicating their artificial origin.

7. Your Account

Your WhatsApp phone number or Telegram account serves as your Pocket Friend account identifier. You are responsible for:

• Ensuring that only you use Pocket Friend from your WhatsApp or Telegram account. Sharing your phone or messaging account does not transfer your Pocket Friend account — you remain responsible for all activity.
• Keeping your WhatsApp or Telegram account and device secure. We are not responsible for unauthorised access resulting from your failure to secure your phone or messaging account.
• Ensuring that any information you provide to us (such as your email address) is accurate and current.

During onboarding, you will choose a nickname and a name for your companion. These are stored as part of your account profile. We may also store your messaging platform display name for personalisation purposes. Your phone number will never be shared with other users or used for marketing by third parties.

If you use Pocket Friend on both WhatsApp and Telegram, your accounts may be linked via your phone number.

8. Pricing and Payment

8.1 Pay-As-You-Go Model

Pocket Friend operates on a prepaid, pay-as-you-go basis. There are no monthly subscriptions, and you only pay for messages you send and receive.

8.2 Initial Deposit

An initial deposit is required to activate your account. The minimum initial deposit for South African users is R15.00 (fifteen South African Rand). For international users, the minimum initial deposit is $1.00 USD, £1.00 GBP, €1.00 EUR, or $1.00 AUD depending on your region. You may choose to deposit a higher amount. The deposit is credited to your account balance and used to pay for messages.

8.3 Message Costs

Each message exchange (your message plus the AI response) has a cost deducted from your balance. Costs vary by message type:

Costs are calculated dynamically based on actual AI processing costs plus a service margin, ensuring fair pricing — shorter conversations cost less than longer ones. A minimum charge applies per message exchange. All prices are in your account currency.

8.4 Automatic Top-Up

When your account balance falls below a predetermined low-balance threshold, Pocket Friend will automatically charge the applicable top-up amount to the payment card you provided during onboarding. By providing your card details and agreeing to these Terms, you expressly consent to these automatic recurring charges.

If you do not use the service, no costs will be incurred and no automatic top-ups will be triggered. Automatic top-ups occur only when your balance is reduced through active use of the service.

You may manage your account settings, including your payment preferences, via the Pocket Friend website portal. To cancel automatic top-ups or to delete your account entirely, please use the website portal or email support@pocketfriend.co.za. Cancelling top-ups will not refund your current balance but prevents future charges. Your account remains active until your balance is depleted.

8.5 Payment Processing

Payments for South African users are processed by Paystack, a PCI-DSS compliant payment processor. Payments for international users are processed by Peach Payments, also PCI-DSS compliant. Pocket Friend does not store your full card number or CVV. We store only tokenised references provided by the relevant payment processor for processing automatic top-ups. Each payment processor's own terms and privacy policy apply to their processing of your payment information.

8.6 Currency

South African users transact in South African Rand (ZAR). International users transact in US Dollars (USD), British Pounds (GBP), Euros (EUR), or Australian Dollars (AUD) depending on their region. If your bank or card issuer applies currency conversion fees, these are not controlled or charged by Pocket Friend.

8.7 Value Added Tax (VAT)

All prices and amounts displayed within the service are exclusive of VAT. For South African users, Value Added Tax at the prevailing rate (currently 15%) is applied to payment amounts at the point of collection. International users are not charged South African VAT. Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd is not currently registered for VAT; invoices reflect 0% VAT until such registration is obtained.

8.8 Cost Recovery and Pricing

Pocket Friend incurs operational costs for each message exchange, including AI processing, speech transcription, voice synthesis, image analysis, document summarisation, location interpretation, memory management, and transaction processing. The per-message charges deducted from your balance are designed to recover these costs plus a service margin.

In addition, Pocket Friend reserves the right to recover incidental costs from your account balance, including but not limited to payment processing fees charged by Paystack, Peach Payments, or any other payment service provider used to process your transactions.

Pocket Friend reserves the right to reasonably adjust pricing, including per-message charges, deposit amounts, top-up amounts, low-balance thresholds, and incidental cost recovery, at any time and without prior notice. Continued use of the service after any pricing change constitutes acceptance of the updated pricing.

9. Cooling-Off Period

In accordance with Section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA), you have the right to cancel this agreement within 7 (seven) days of your initial payment, without reason and without penalty.

To exercise this right, visit the website portal to delete your account, or email support@pocketfriend.co.za within 7 days of activation. We will refund your initial deposit in full within 15 business days, less any reasonable costs for services already rendered during that period.

10. Cancellation and Termination

10.1 Cancellation by You

You may cancel at any time by deleting your account via the website portal or by emailing support@pocketfriend.co.za. Automatic top-ups will cease immediately. Any remaining balance is non-refundable after the 7-day cooling-off period, except where required by applicable consumer protection law.

10.2 Suspension or Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if:

• You breach these Terms.
• You use the service in a harmful, abusive, or unlawful manner.
• We are required to do so by law, regulation, or binding order.
• We reasonably believe your account has been compromised.
• Your automatic top-up payment fails repeatedly.
• The service is discontinued (see Section 16).

Where practicable, we will provide advance notice and reasons. If your account is terminated for reasons other than your breach, we will refund any remaining positive balance.

10.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your conversation history will be deleted in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including Sections 5, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 21.

11. User Conduct

You agree not to use Pocket Friend to:

• Attempt to extract, circumvent, or exploit the underlying AI models, prompts, or system instructions.
• Generate or distribute unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable content.
• Use the service in a way that violates OpenAI's Usage Policies, which are incorporated by reference.
• Attempt to obtain professional advice (medical, legal, financial, therapeutic, etc.) from the service.
• Use the service on behalf of or provide access to anyone under 18 years of age.
• Use automated scripts, bots, or tools to interact with Pocket Friend.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code, algorithms, or system architecture of the service.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or place an unreasonable burden on the service or its infrastructure.
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation.
• Use the service for political campaigning, lobbying, or the generation of political messaging at scale.
• Transmit content that infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party.
• Send personal information of children under 13 (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction) through the service.

12. Content and Intellectual Property

12.1 Your Content

You retain ownership of messages, voice notes, images, PDF documents, and location data you send ("Your Content"). You grant Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd a limited, non-exclusive licence to process Your Content solely for providing the service. We do not use Your Content for marketing, advertising, or any purpose other than delivering and improving the service.

12.2 AI-Generated Responses

AI-generated responses are produced by third-party AI models (OpenAI). In accordance with OpenAI's terms, you may use these responses for personal purposes. AI-generated content may not be eligible for copyright protection in all jurisdictions. We make no representations about intellectual property rights in AI-generated responses. You must not represent AI-generated content as being wholly human-generated.

12.3 Pocket Friend Intellectual Property

The name "Pocket Friend", our logo, brand identity, system prompts, persona configurations, website content, and service design are the intellectual property of Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd. "POCKET FRIEND" (word mark) and the Pocket Friend logo (figurative mark) are the subject of pending trademark applications with CIPC (Ref: 2026/05327 and 2026/05507). You may not use our trademarks or proprietary materials without prior written permission.

12.4 OpenAI's Rights

The AI technology underlying Pocket Friend is provided by OpenAI. OpenAI's intellectual property rights in their models, algorithms, and technology are reserved. Your use of Pocket Friend does not grant you any rights to OpenAI's technology.

13. Data Protection and Privacy

We take your privacy seriously. Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) for personal information processed through the service.

Our Privacy Policy explains in detail what personal information we collect, how we use it, how we protect it, and what rights you have. It forms part of these Terms. Key points:

• Conversations are stored to maintain continuity and memory across sessions.
• Conversation data is automatically deleted after 90 days. Conversation summaries are retained for service continuity and are deleted when you delete your account.
• Data is processed by third-party services including OpenAI (United States), Supabase (EU), N8N (EU), Paystack (South Africa), Peach Payments (South Africa), Resend (United States), and Telegram (UAE).
• You have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information.
• Support ticket data is stored and linked to your account for the purpose of resolving your requests.

14. Automated Decision-Making

In accordance with Section 71 of POPIA and Article 22 of the GDPR (where applicable), we inform you that Pocket Friend involves automated processing, including:

• AI-generated responses based on your messages and conversation history.
• Automatic language detection to match your response language.
• Dynamic pricing calculations based on AI processing costs.
• Automatic balance top-ups when your balance falls below the threshold.

These automated processes do not produce legal effects or similarly significantly affect you beyond the provision of the conversational service. If you believe any automated decision has adversely affected you, you may contact us to request human review.

15. Third-Party Platforms and Services

Pocket Friend is delivered through WhatsApp (Meta Platforms, Inc.) and Telegram (Telegram FZ-LLC), and relies on several third-party services. You acknowledge and agree that:

• WhatsApp's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy apply to your use of the WhatsApp platform. We are not responsible for WhatsApp's data processing, availability, or policies.
• Telegram's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy apply to your use of the Telegram platform. We are not responsible for Telegram's data processing, availability, or policies.
• Meta/WhatsApp or Telegram may change their policies at any time. If such changes materially affect our ability to operate, we may modify, suspend, or discontinue the service with reasonable notice.
• OpenAI's Usage Policies apply to AI-generated content. OpenAI may update their models, policies, or capabilities, which may affect responses.
• Paystack's Terms of Service apply to payment processing for South African users. We are not liable for payment processing errors, delays, or security incidents caused by Paystack.
• Peach Payments' Terms of Service apply to payment processing for international users. We are not liable for payment processing errors, delays, or security incidents caused by Peach Payments.
• N8N's Terms of Service apply to workflow processing.
• Resend's Terms of Service apply to email delivery.
• We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, policies, or practices of any third-party platform.

16. Service Availability and Communication

Pocket Friend aims to be available 24/7 but does not guarantee uninterrupted availability. The service may be unavailable due to maintenance, technical failures affecting us or our providers, or circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

Discontinuation: If we permanently discontinue the service, we will provide at least 30 days' advance notice via email. Upon discontinuation, all remaining positive account balances will be refunded.

16.1 Formal Communication

All formal, legal, and material communications from Pocket Friend — including notices of changes to these Terms, service discontinuation, account-related notices, and other important notifications — will be sent via email. Pocket Friend does not have an obligation to deliver formal notifications via WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other messaging platform.

It is your responsibility to provide and maintain an accurate email address on your Pocket Friend account. If you have not provided an email address, or if the email address you have provided is incorrect or no longer accessible, Pocket Friend cannot be held liable for your failure to receive formal communications. You may update your email address at any time via the website portal.

16.2 Geographic Availability

Pocket Friend is designed to be accessible globally. The service is currently available to users in South Africa, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and many more countries. Local laws in your jurisdiction may apply in addition to these Terms. We make no representations about the service being appropriate or compliant with laws in every jurisdiction worldwide.

17. US State Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, or another US state with applicable privacy legislation, you may have additional rights regarding your personal information. These include:

• The right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
• The right to request deletion of your personal information (subject to certain legal exceptions).
• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information — Pocket Friend does not sell or share personal information with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.
• The right not to be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in the Contact Information section. For full details of how we handle your personal information, see our Privacy Policy.

18. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

18.1 "As Is" Service

Pocket Friend is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

18.2 Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd, its directors, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service.

Our total aggregate liability for all claims shall not exceed the amount you paid to Pocket Friend in the three (3) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law, including liability under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008.

18.3 No Liability for AI Content

AI-generated responses may be incorrect, inappropriate, or harmful. You use AI-generated content at your own risk. We expressly disclaim all liability for actions you take or decisions you make based on AI-generated responses.

19. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd, its directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: your use of the service in violation of these Terms; your breach of applicable law; your violation of the rights of any third party; or any content you submit through the service.

20. Force Majeure

Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd shall not be liable for failure or delay in performing its obligations if caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemic, government actions, power outages, internet or telecommunications failures, failures of third-party services (including WhatsApp, Telegram, OpenAI, Paystack, Peach Payments, Resend, and Supabase), cyberattacks, and labour disputes.

21. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

21.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

If you are located in the European Union or the United Kingdom, nothing in these Terms affects your rights under mandatory consumer protection or data protection laws of your jurisdiction.

21.2 Dispute Resolution

1. Negotiation: The parties shall first attempt resolution through good-faith negotiation for at least 20 business days.
2. Mediation: If negotiation fails, mediation under the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) rules or a mutually agreed mediator.
3. Court proceedings: If mediation fails, either party may institute proceedings in the competent courts of South Africa.

21.3 Regulatory Complaints

Nothing limits your right to lodge complaints with: the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za), the National Consumer Commission (thencc.gov.za), the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), Data Protection Authorities in the European Union, or the relevant State Attorney General in the United States.

22. Assignment

You may not assign your rights or obligations without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of substantially all assets, provided the assignee agrees to honour these Terms.

23. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. When we do, the updated Terms will be published at this URL with a new "Last Updated" date. For material changes (other than pricing changes, which are governed by Section 8.8), we will notify you via email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. It is your responsibility to ensure you have a valid email address on file (see Section 16.1). Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

24. Severability

If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed. The remaining provisions continue in full force.

25. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the PAIA Manual, and any policies referenced herein, constitute the entire agreement between you and Pocket Friend (Pty) Ltd regarding the service, superseding all prior agreements.

26. Contact Information