Terms of Service
Please note: these Terms include an agreement to resolve disputes through binding individual arbitration and a waiver of class actions (Section 14). Read them carefully before using the App.
1. Acceptance of These Terms
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of Poeia, a connotation-aware word-suggestion tool for poets and writers (“the App”), provided by Cognitales LLC, a Georgia limited liability company (“Cognitales”, “we”, “our”, or “us”). By downloading, installing, accessing, or using Poeia, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy , which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree to all of these Terms, do not use the App.
We may update these Terms from time to time (see Section 15). Your continued use of Poeia after updated Terms take effect constitutes your acceptance of the changes.
2. Definitions
In these Terms, the following words have these meanings:
- “App” — the Poeia iOS application.
- “Service” — the App, the Poeia pages on cognitales.com, and all related features, backend infrastructure, and services we provide.
- “AI Features” — the functionality within the Service that uses third-party artificial-intelligence inference providers to generate word suggestions from the query data you submit.
- “User Content” — the poems, word selections, query history, and preferences you create in the App. As described in Section 6 and in our Privacy Policy, this content is stored locally on your device using Apple’s SwiftData framework and is not retained by Cognitales.
- “Query Data” — the limited data sent off your device to generate a suggestion: your seed word or search term, any refinement text, and — if you have an active poem project — its title and up to 20 of your most recent word selections from that poem, together with your request settings. Query Data is described in detail in Section 1 of our Privacy Policy .
- “You” — the individual who downloads, accesses, or uses Poeia.
3. Description of the Service
Poeia is an AI-assisted creative writing tool that helps poets and writers find emotionally resonant, connotation-aware word suggestions. Using the App requires Sign in with Apple to create and access your account. When you sign in, we collect and store a limited account profile on our servers (hosted on Supabase, a cloud database provider): a unique Apple user identifier (the Apple “sub”, which is not your Apple ID), your email address and name only if you choose to share them, and your subscription status. We do not receive your Apple ID password or your payment information. Your poems and word selections remain stored on your device, not on our servers. To generate suggestions, the App sends limited Query Data through our backend to third-party AI inference providers, as described in Section 5. The account data above and how we handle it are described in full in Section 1 of our Privacy Policy .
Poeia’s core features are free to use. The App also offers optional paid subscriptions (“Poeia Premium”) sold through Apple’s App Store in-app purchase system. Apple handles all billing; we do not receive or store your payment information. We keep a record of your subscription status (such as the product identifier and expiration date) on our servers to provide and enforce premium features, as described in our Privacy Policy . Applicable pricing and the features included in any paid plan are presented in the App before you complete a purchase.
The Service is continuously evolving. We may modify, update, enhance, or discontinue any feature at any time. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you of material changes that significantly affect your use of the Service, but we are not obligated to maintain any specific feature indefinitely.
4. Eligibility
Poeia is intended for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. You must be at least 13 years old, and old enough under the App Store age rating, to use the App. If you are a minor in your jurisdiction, you may use Poeia only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. You must not be a person barred from receiving the Service under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction.
5. AI Features
Poeia’s core function relies on AI Features. When you request suggestions, the App sends your Query Data through a backend operated by Cognitales to one or more third-party AI inference providers, which generate the suggestions returned to you.
- Only Query Data is sent. We transmit the limited data described in Section 2 and in Section 1 of our Privacy Policy — not your full poems, your identity, or any device identifiers.
- Authenticated per user. Requests are authenticated using a per-user token tied to your account, so each request is associated with your account for authentication and rate-limiting purposes.
- Usage is metered per user. We keep a per-user count of requests to enforce daily usage quotas and rate limits. This metering records how many requests you make, not the content of those requests.
- Query content is not stored on our servers. The content of your requests (such as seed words and refinements) is transmitted to the AI inference provider to generate your suggestions and is not retained server-side by Cognitales after your request is processed.
- Results are provided “as is.” AI-generated suggestions may be inaccurate, incomplete, unexpected, or unsuitable for your purpose. We make no guarantee as to the quality, originality, or fitness of any suggestion, and you are responsible for evaluating and editing any suggestion before using it in your work.
- Provider terms apply. Your use of AI Features is also subject to the policies of the third-party AI inference providers. Data sent to those providers is governed by their own privacy and data-handling policies and by the data-processing agreements we maintain with them. Their handling of submitted data, including any use for model training, is governed by those policies and agreements rather than by a separate commitment in these Terms.
- You agree not to use AI Features to generate content that is unlawful or that violates these Terms or the providers’ policies.
We may change AI and infrastructure providers at our discretion as the technology evolves.
6. User Content and Ownership
Your work is yours. You retain all rights to the poems, words, and other User Content you create with Poeia. We claim no ownership over your creative work. As described in our Privacy Policy, your User Content is stored locally on your device using SwiftData and is not uploaded to or retained by Cognitales — it stays on your device, which we cannot access.
For the limited Query Data you send for processing, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, store, transmit, and process that Query Data solely for the purpose of operating the Service and returning your requested suggestions (for example, routing your query to an AI inference provider and returning the result). This narrow license exists only to deliver the feature you asked for and does not extend to your poems or other on-device content.
You are solely responsible for your User Content and represent that you have the rights necessary to use it and that it does not infringe the rights of others or violate any law.
7. Acceptable Use
You agree not to:
- Use Poeia for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms;
- Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, interfere with, or gain unauthorized access to the App, our backend, or the app-level credential it uses;
- Use automated tools to access the Service, or abuse, overload, or attempt to circumvent rate limits on the AI or backend services;
- Create multiple or duplicate accounts to circumvent rate limits or usage quotas, or to evade a restriction, suspension, or other limitation we have previously applied to your account;
- Use the Service to generate content that is illegal or that infringes the rights of others;
- Circumvent any technical measure we use to enforce these Terms, or resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Service without our written permission.
8. Intellectual Property
The Poeia App, its design, branding, and software are owned by Cognitales and protected by applicable intellectual property laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to download and use one copy of the App on Apple devices you own or control, for your personal use. These Terms do not grant you any rights to our trademarks, logos, or brand identity.
If you provide us with suggestions, ideas, or feedback about the Service (“Feedback”), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable license to use and incorporate that Feedback without any obligation to you.
9. Disclaimer of Warranties
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that results obtained from the Service (including AI-generated word suggestions) will be accurate, original, or reliable.
10. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COGNITALES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF POEIA, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED FIFTY DOLLARS ($50). Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Cognitales and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from or relating to your use of the Service, your User Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any applicable law or third-party rights.
12. Termination and Survival
You may stop using Poeia at any time by deleting the App. Deleting the App removes the User Content stored on your device; the app-level credential held in the iOS Keychain may persist depending on your iOS version, and you can clear it from the App’s Settings before uninstalling.
We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or if necessary to protect the security or integrity of the Service. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including Definitions, User Content and Ownership, Disclaimer of Warranties, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, and Governing Law and Dispute Resolution — will survive.
To protect the Service and our other users from abuse, we operate automated fraud-prevention measures (described in Section 1 of our Privacy Policy ). Where we detect activity consistent with fraud or abuse — such as multiple accounts created to circumvent rate limits or to evade a prior restriction — we may restrict, limit, or throttle access to some or all features of the Service for the affected accounts, rather than terminate them. These protective restrictions may be applied automatically and without prior notice.
13. Third-Party Services
Poeia relies on a small number of third-party services to operate, including Apple (App Store distribution), Cognitales’ cloud infrastructure (request routing, rate-limiting, and short-term operational logging), and third-party AI inference providers (the word suggestions). Your use of these services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies, and the providers process data on our behalf under data-processing agreements. We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or practices of third-party services. See our Privacy Policy for how data is handled.
14. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
Governing Law
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Georgia, USA, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.
Informal Resolution
Before filing any formal dispute, you agree to first contact us at support@cognitales.com and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days. Most disputes can be resolved through good-faith communication.
Binding Arbitration
If informal resolution fails, any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of Poeia shall be resolved through binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its applicable rules, conducted in Atlanta, Georgia (Fulton County). The arbitrator’s decision is final and binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Class Action Waiver
You and Cognitales agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person’s claims or preside over any form of class or representative proceeding.
Exceptions
Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court for disputes within that court’s jurisdiction, and either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for matters relating to intellectual property or unauthorized access to the Service. For any dispute not subject to arbitration, you and Cognitales consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Fulton County, Georgia.
15. Force Majeure
We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations under these Terms where the failure or delay results from events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, pandemics, acts of war or terrorism, government actions, civil unrest, power or internet outages, cyberattacks, or failures of third-party service providers.
16. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with a new version number and effective date, and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you through the App where appropriate. It is your responsibility to review these Terms periodically. Continued use of Poeia after changes take effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the modified Terms, stop using the Service.
17. Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect, and the invalid provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving its original intent.
18. Entire Agreement
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy , constitute the entire agreement between you and Cognitales regarding your use of Poeia and supersede any prior agreements, understandings, or representations regarding the Service.
19. General Provisions
You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign ours in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it. These Terms create no third-party beneficiary rights. We may provide notices to you through the App or by posting on the Service, and section headings are for convenience only and have no legal effect.
20. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Reach us at:
Cognitales LLC
Email:
support@cognitales.com
Poeia is a product of Cognitales LLC, a Georgia limited liability company.