Draft, published before our legal review. If something here is unclear or you have a question, write to support@runningbuddy.app.

Running Buddy Terms of Use

Effective date: October 19, 2026
Last updated: October 19, 2026

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Dmitrii Tsybin ("we", "us"), the developer of Running Buddy ("Buddy", "the app"), for the Running Buddy app for iPhone, its widgets and Apple Watch app, and our website runningbuddy.app. By using the app or the website you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use them.

If you got the app from Apple's App Store, it is licensed to you under Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement. These Terms add to that agreement; where they conflict, Apple's agreement wins.

The short version

• Buddy is a running companion, not a doctor. Listen to your body, and talk to a doctor before you start if you have a health condition, are pregnant or have recently given birth.
• The plan, runs, voice cues and Apple Health stay free. Buddy Plus is an optional subscription sold by Apple.
• Buddy's AI can be wrong. Treat it as friendly advice, not as fact or as medical advice.
• Be fair: don't misuse the app, its AI or its runner numbers.

1. Who can use Buddy

You need to be at least 13 years old. If you are under the age of majority where you live, use Buddy with a parent's or guardian's permission. Where a higher age applies to consenting to online services (up to 16 in some countries of the European Union), features that rely on consent, such as Apple Health access and cloud AI, need that permission too.

2. Your health comes first

Buddy gives general running guidance: a walk-run plan, reminders, recovery hints from your own data and a friendly coach. It is not a medical device and does not give medical advice, a diagnosis or treatment.

• Before you start a new exercise programme, talk to a doctor if you have a heart, lung or other health condition, take medicine that affects your heart rate, are pregnant or have recently given birth, or are unsure whether running is right for you.
• Stop running and get help if you feel chest pain or tightness, faintness or dizziness, unusual breathlessness, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or sharp pain. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
• Readiness, plan changes, heart rate, distance, pace, weather and other figures come from your devices and from estimates. They can be inaccurate. Use your own judgement, run where it is safe, and follow traffic rules and local conditions.
• You run at your own risk, to the extent the law allows (section 10).

3. Your account and runner number

You can use Buddy without signing in. After your first qualifying run, the app creates an anonymous account so you can receive a runner number; you can sign in with Apple or Google to keep it on another iPhone. Keep your devices and sign-in secure; you are responsible for what happens through them.

Runner numbers and the member Buddies that come with them are earned by running, are free and have no monetary value. They can't be bought, sold or transferred. We may withhold or remove a number that was obtained by abusing the system (for example many accounts from one network or faked runs). You can delete your account and what our server keeps at any time in the app (Profile → Account).

4. Buddy Plus

Buddy Plus is an optional auto-renewing subscription (monthly or yearly; the yearly plan may start with a free trial). Prices are shown in the app before you buy and may vary by country.

• Apple handles the purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm. The subscription renews automatically unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your iPhone's Settings → your name → Subscriptions.
• Free trial: if you cancel before the trial ends, you are not charged. Any unused part of a trial ends when you buy a subscription.
• Refunds are handled by Apple under its policies; the app's Help & ideas offers a shortcut to request one.
• What's included is listed on the paywall. We may add features to Plus and change what it includes; if we remove something significant from a subscription you already pay for, we will tell you in advance, and you can cancel.
• If Plus ends, Plus-only looks go back to the free ones; your runs, plan and runner number stay.

The plan, recording runs, voice cues and Apple Health are free and stay free.

5. Buddy's AI

Buddy's notes, debriefs, weekly review and chat are written by AI models: Apple's model on your iPhone, or, if you turn it on, a cloud model (see the Privacy Policy). AI answers are generated automatically and may be incomplete, out of date or wrong. Don't rely on them for medical, safety or other important decisions. Messages about pain or worrying symptoms get a fixed safety answer instead of the AI.

Chat is for running and sport. AI features have fair-use limits (shown in the app), and we may slow down or stop AI access that looks automated or abusive.

6. Using Buddy fairly

When you use the app or the website, please don't:

• break the law or anyone's rights;
• try to get around limits, the paywall or security, or reach our server other than through the app and website;
• use bots, scripts or many accounts to claim runner numbers, use AI answers or join the waitlist;
• try to make Buddy's AI produce harmful content, reveal its instructions or act outside running and sport;
• copy, resell or reverse-engineer the app except where the law allows it;
• send us anything unlawful, harmful or that you have no right to share.

We may suspend or end access for anyone who seriously or repeatedly breaks these rules.

7. What's yours and what's ours

Your content. Your runs, notes, chats and health data are yours. The Privacy Policy explains how they are handled; most of it never leaves your iPhone.

Feedback. If you send us an idea or a suggestion, we may use it to improve Buddy without owing you anything for it. We won't publish your name with it without asking.

Our content. The app, the website, the Buddy character and illustrations, the name "Running Buddy" and the design are ours (or licensed to us) and protected by law. You may share the cards and images the app makes for you from your own runs.

8. Other services

Buddy works with services we don't control, such as Apple Health, Apple Maps, Apple Weather, the App Store, Sign in with Apple and Google Sign-In. Their own terms and privacy policies apply to them. Weather data comes from Apple Weather.

9. Changes and availability

We keep improving Buddy, so features can change, and some may be added, moved to Plus or removed. We try to keep the app and our server running, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors. If we stop offering Buddy, we will try to give notice in the app. Your data on your iPhone stays yours, and you can save a copy at any time (Profile → Backup).

We may update these Terms. We will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, tell you in the app before they take effect. If you keep using Buddy after that, the new Terms apply; if you don't agree, stop using Buddy and delete your account.

10. Liability

Buddy is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we don't give warranties beyond those the law requires, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for injury or loss that comes from exercise, from relying on the app's figures or AI answers, or from events outside our reasonable control. If we are liable to you anyway, our total liability is limited to the amount you paid for Buddy Plus in the 12 months before the claim.

Nothing in these Terms limits rights you have as a consumer that can't be limited by contract, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or under mandatory consumer law where you live.

11. Ending

You can stop using Buddy at any time and delete your account in the app. We may end or suspend your access if you seriously break these Terms or if we stop offering Buddy. Sections that by their nature should continue (such as 7 and 10) continue after that.

12. Disputes

If something goes wrong, please write to us first at support@runningbuddy.app; most things can be sorted out quickly. If you live in the European Union, the United Kingdom or another country with mandatory consumer protection, you can always rely on the law and courts of your country.

13. Contact

Dmitrii Tsybin, developer of Running Buddy
Email: support@runningbuddy.app
Website: https://runningbuddy.app