Terms of Use
These terms govern your use of the mobile applications and website published by John Rouda ("we", "us", or "our"). They form the End User Licence Agreement for our apps. By downloading, installing, or using any of them, you agree to what follows. If you do not agree, please do not use the apps.
Accepting These Terms
This agreement is between you and John Rouda. It applies to our apps, including Starlace, and to this website.
You may only use our apps if you can form a binding contract where you live, and if the law does not otherwise bar you from doing so. If you are under 18, you may use our apps only with the involvement of a parent or guardian who accepts these terms on your behalf.
Your Licence
We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use our apps on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, as permitted by the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions. This licence is for your own non-commercial use.
You may not:
- Copy, sell, rent, sublicense, or redistribute the apps or any part of them.
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the apps, except where that restriction is prohibited by applicable law.
- Extract, scrape, or reuse our word lists, puzzle data, artwork, audio, or other assets in another product.
- Remove or obscure any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice.
We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you.
Acceptable Use
You agree not to use our apps or website to:
- Break the law, or infringe anyone else's rights.
- Interfere with, disrupt, or place unreasonable load on any service we operate.
- Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any system, account, or data.
- Cheat, tamper with, or automate gameplay in a way that manipulates purchases, rewards, advertising, or virtual currency.
We may suspend or terminate your licence if you materially breach these terms. If we do, permanent purchases you have already made remain honoured to the extent we are technically able.
In-App Purchases
Our apps are free to download and may offer optional purchases. In Starlace these are:
| Item | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Stardust packs | One-time, consumable | Adds stardust, which is spent on hints |
| Remove Ads Forever | One-time, permanent | Removes all advertising, and adds stardust |
| Stargazer Pass | Auto-renewing subscription | Removes ads and grants stardust weekly |
Apple is the merchant of record for every purchase. All purchases are processed by Apple and charged to your Apple Account. Prices are shown in the app in your local currency, and you confirm the price before anything is charged. We never see your payment details.
Purchases are tied to your Apple Account, not to a device. If you delete and reinstall an app, use Settings → Restore purchases to recover permanent purchases and any active subscription.
Subscription Terms
Where an app offers an auto-renewing subscription — in Starlace, the Stargazer Pass — the following applies.
- Managing it. Cancel or change your subscription any time in iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions. You keep the benefits until the end of the period you have already paid for.
- Deleting the app does not cancel it. A subscription lives with your Apple Account, so you must cancel it in Settings.
- Price changes. If we change the price, Apple will notify you and ask for your consent before the new price takes effect. If you do not consent, the subscription will not renew.
- Free trials. If a free trial is offered and you buy the subscription during it, the unused portion of the trial is forfeited.
Virtual Items Have No Cash Value
Stardust, and any other virtual item or currency in our apps, is a limited licence to use a feature inside that app. It is not property, and it is not money.
- It cannot be exchanged for cash or anything of value outside the app.
- It cannot be transferred between devices, accounts, or people.
- It is lost if you reset your progress or delete the app.
- It does not survive discontinuation of the app.
We may adjust hint prices, reward amounts, and pack contents in future versions as part of normal game balancing. We will not revoke virtual currency you have already purchased.
Refunds
Because Apple is the merchant of record, we cannot issue refunds directly. Request one from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.
If something in one of our apps genuinely went wrong — a purchase that did not credit, a subscription that did not unlock — email us first. We will help you work out what happened and support your case with Apple. Nothing here affects any statutory right to a refund you may have where you live.
Advertising
The free versions of our apps display advertising supplied by third parties, principally Google AdMob. We choose where ads appear and limit them to a general audience content rating, but we do not select or control the individual ads you see.
If you see an ad that seems inappropriate, misleading, or fraudulent, send us a screenshot and we will report it to the network. You can remove advertising entirely with the relevant one-time purchase or subscription.
How advertising data is handled is covered in our Privacy Policy.
Your Data and Your Progress
Our games store progress locally on your device. We do not run game servers, and we do not back your progress up.
What we collect, and what we do not, is set out in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.
Intellectual Property
Our apps, their names, logos, artwork, audio, code, puzzle content, and word lists are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership of any of it to you.
If you believe something in one of our apps infringes your rights, contact us with enough detail to identify the material and we will investigate promptly.
Changes to the Apps and to These Terms
We may update, change, or discontinue any app or feature at any time. We will not remove a permanent purchase you have already made without offering an equivalent.
We may also revise these terms. When we make material changes we will update the date on this page and, where appropriate, notify you in the app. Continuing to use an app after the changes take effect means you accept the revised terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the app and, if you have an active subscription, cancel it in iOS Settings.
Disclaimers
Our apps are provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that an app will be uninterrupted, error-free, or compatible with every device.
Not a medical or cognitive product
Our games are entertainment. They make no claim to improve memory or cognition, to prevent, delay, or treat any medical condition, to aid sleep, or to deliver any health benefit — and they should not be used or recommended as if they did.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing here affects your statutory consumer rights.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or lost progress, arising out of or relating to your use of our apps.
Our total liability for any claim relating to an app is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for that app in the twelve months before the claim, or US $50.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited — including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.
Apple App Store Terms
The following applies to apps you obtain from the Apple App Store, and is required by Apple.
- Acknowledgement. This agreement is between you and us only, not with Apple. We — not Apple — are solely responsible for our apps and their content.
- Scope of licence. The licence in Section 2 is non-transferable and limited to Apple-branded devices you own or control, subject to the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
- Maintenance and support. We are solely responsible for maintenance and support. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support services.
- Warranty. If an app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are our responsibility.
- Product claims. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims relating to an app, including product liability, failure to conform to legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer protection or privacy claims.
- Intellectual property claims. If a third party claims an app infringes their intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement, and discharge of that claim.
- Legal compliance. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
- Third-party terms. You agree to comply with applicable third-party terms when using our apps.
- Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and, upon your acceptance, will have the right to enforce them against you.
Governing Law and Disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, USA, without regard to its conflict of law rules. You and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in South Carolina, except where applicable law gives you the right to bring proceedings in the courts of your own country of residence.
If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
Contact Us
Questions about these terms, or about a purchase? Reach out: