Terms of Use

Last updated: September 28, 2026

Effective Date: October 6, 2026 Version: 2.6 (updated October 6, 2026)

Scheduled change, effective October 28, 2026: if your subscription lapses, your Observed Users' monitoring data will be permanently deleted 30 days after the lapse (Sections 5.2, 15.5 and 19). Until then, the previous rule applies.

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("you," "your," or "User") and YouGuard ("we," "us," "our," or "Company"), governing your access to and use of YouGuard (the "Service"), available at https://youguard.app, including the YouGuard web dashboard, Android mobile application ("YouGuard Messenger"), and Chrome browser extension ("YouGuard Browser Shield").

By creating an account, installing any YouGuard application, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. Changes are handled as described in Section 22.

Please read Section 20 carefully. It requires disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration instead of in court and waives class actions, unless you opt out within 30 days as described there.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age to create a guardian (monitoring) account. Monitored individuals ("Observed Users") may be of any age, but monitoring of minors under 18 requires the consent and active management of a parent or legal guardian who holds the guardian account.

Users between 13 and 17 may participate in mutual accountability only through a guardian account held by their parent or legal guardian. Users under 13 may not create accounts; their data is only collected and managed through a parent or guardian's account in compliance with COPPA (see Section 15).

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms and that all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate.

3. Account Registration

To access certain features, you must create an account using Google OAuth. You agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete registration information.
• Maintain and promptly update your account information.
• Maintain the security and confidentiality of your login credentials.
• Accept responsibility for all activities under your account, including activities of Observed Users linked to your account.
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use at [email protected].

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or exhibit behavior that threatens the security of the Service.

4. Description of Service

YouGuard is a multi-platform monitoring and accountability service designed for families and individuals. The Service includes the following components and capabilities:

4.1 YouTube Monitoring

The Service uses the YouTube Data API v3 to sync and display YouTube activity from Observed Users' YouTube accounts: channel subscriptions, liked and disliked videos, playlists (including Watch Later) and the videos in them, comments the account has posted and comments on videos it has uploaded, uploaded videos, and the account's YouTube activity feed. Guardians may also upload a Google Takeout export of an Observed User's YouTube watch history; we do not retrieve watch history through the YouTube Data API. Parents and guardians can review content, set statuses (Pending, Permitted, Encouraged, Blocked, Removed), and take enforcement actions (subscribe, unsubscribe, like, unlike videos) on monitored accounts, except that for a child under 13 we request read-only access and take no action on the child's account. YouTube data is accessed and displayed in compliance with Google and YouTube API Terms of Service.

4.2 AI-Powered Content Analysis

The Service uses artificial intelligence (Google Gemini, accessed through Google Vertex AI) to analyze YouTube content and extract relevant excerpts organized by content categories (values/worldview, educational quality, developmental fit, media integrity, safety concerns). AI analysis provides informational excerpts only — AI does not make parental decisions or generate scores displayed to users. An internal priority value is used solely for sorting and is never shown to users, in compliance with YouTube API Terms of Service Policy III.E.4h.

4.3 Content Evaluation Rules

Parents may configure AI evaluation thresholds and topic-specific overrides to customize how content is analyzed for their family. Rule scopes include Family (all children), Child (individual child), and Personal (self-monitoring).

4.4 SMS and MMS Monitoring

Through the YouGuard Messenger Android application, the Service captures, syncs, and stores SMS and MMS messages from an Observed User's device. This includes message text, phone numbers, timestamps, and MMS attachments (images, videos, audio, documents). The Android app functions as the device's default SMS handler. Parents can view message threads through the web dashboard.

State Law Notice — All-Party Consent: Some states require the consent of all parties to a communication before it may be intercepted or monitored (including California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington). If you or the Observed User reside in a state with an all-party consent requirement, you are responsible for ensuring that third parties whose messages may be captured are appropriately notified, to the extent required by applicable state law. The existence of a parent-child monitoring relationship may or may not satisfy all-party consent requirements depending on your state. YouGuard does not provide legal advice; consult an attorney regarding your state's specific requirements.

4.5 Call Awareness

The Service monitors call log activity (incoming, outgoing, and missed calls) from Observed Users' Android devices. Call metadata (phone numbers, timestamps, duration, call type) is synced to the dashboard. The Service does not record call audio content.

4.6 Browser Shield (Chrome Extension)

The YouGuard Browser Shield Chrome extension provides:

• YouTube Filtering: Blocks or hides content from disapproved channels on YouTube sidebar and homepage recommendations.
• URL Logging: Records browsing history (URLs, domains, page titles, and the time of each visit) and syncs to the guardian dashboard.
• Senior Protection: Uses Google Safe Browsing / Web Risk API to detect potentially dangerous websites, categorizes domains (banking, cryptocurrency, remote access), detects scam page indicators, and provides a panic button for immediate guardian notification.
• Cross-Channel Scam Detection: Correlates phone call activity with concurrent browser activity to detect potential phone-assisted scam scenarios (e.g., a call directing a user to a suspicious website), triggering real-time alarms on the Android device and guardian email alerts.

4.7 Multi-Guardian and Account Types

The Service supports multiple account relationship types:

• Observer (Parent/Guardian): Monitors one or more Observed Users.
• Observed (Child/Dependent): A person whose activity is monitored. Children's accounts are managed entirely by their parent or guardian.
• Mutual Accountability: Two consenting adults who monitor each other. Users between 13 and 17 participate only through a guardian account held by their parent or legal guardian (see Section 2).

4.8 Alerts and Notifications

The Service sends email notifications and in-dashboard alerts for content flagged by AI analysis, scam detection events, device status changes (e.g., device admin disabled, heartbeat missed), and other monitoring events.

Features available to you depend on your subscription tier (see Section 5).

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with reasonable notice for material changes.

5. Subscriptions and Billing

5.1 Payment Processing

Subscriptions started in or after August 2026 are processed by Stripe, Inc. You enter your payment details into a secure payment field provided by Stripe, Inc.; card details go directly to Stripe and never pass through our servers. Stripe processes payments under its own terms at https://stripe.com/legal.

Subscriptions started before August 2026 continue to be processed through Whop, Inc. as Merchant of Record. For those subscriptions you also agree to Whop's terms of service and privacy policy at https://whop.com/terms and https://whop.com/privacy. As Merchant of Record, Whop is responsible for processing payment transactions, managing sales tax collection and remittance, handling chargebacks and payment disputes, and PCI DSS compliance for payment card data.

We do not directly collect, store, or process your payment card information.

5.2 Subscription Plans

The Service is offered as a single subscription plan:

• YouGuard: Full access to all features, including YouTube monitoring, SMS/MMS monitoring, call awareness, Browser Shield, AI content analysis, content evaluation rules, shared guardian access, and adult accountability. Current prices, billing intervals and the number of children included are shown at https://youguard.app/pricing.

New users receive a free trial with full access to all features; its length is shown at https://youguard.app/pricing and at checkout. After the trial period, a paid subscription is required to continue using the Service. Until October 28, 2026, your monitoring data is preserved during any lapse in subscription. From October 28, 2026: if your subscription lapses, your account and its settings are kept, and your Observed Users' monitoring data is retained for 30 days after the lapse so that you can resubscribe without losing it. We will remind you before that period ends. After 30 days, Observed Users' monitoring data is permanently deleted (see Section 15.5); you may delete it sooner at any time. If your subscription lapsed before September 28, 2026, that data is deleted on October 28, 2026.

Current pricing and feature details are available at https://youguard.app/pricing. Feature availability is subject to change; material reductions will be communicated at least 30 days in advance.

5.3 Billing Cycle

Paid subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring monthly or annual basis. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before the renewal date.

5.4 Price Changes

We reserve the right to change subscription prices. For existing subscribers, price changes take effect at the start of the next billing cycle following at least 30 days' written notice via email.

5.5 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time from the Billing page in your account (Stripe subscriptions through the Manage Billing link; subscriptions started before August 2026 through the in-app Cancel Subscription button). Upon cancellation, your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period. You retain access to paid features until the period you paid for expires. After expiration, access to paid features is suspended. Your monitoring data is kept as described in Section 5.2, and full access is restored upon resubscription.

6. Free Trials

We may offer free trial periods for paid subscription tiers. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid subscription at the applicable rate. Free trials are limited to one per user. Trial duration and availability are at our discretion.

7. Refund Policy

Refund requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and must be submitted within 7 days of the charge date to [email protected]. If you experience a technical issue preventing use of the Service, contact us promptly. Partial-month refunds are not provided for mid-cycle cancellations. Chargebacks initiated through your payment provider without first contacting us may result in account suspension.

8. Acceptable Use and Monitoring Responsibilities

8.1 General Prohibited Uses

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable law or regulation, including wiretapping, surveillance, and privacy laws.
• Monitor any individual without proper legal authority or consent (see Section 8.2).
• Stalk, harass, threaten, or intimidate any person.
• Infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.
• Transmit defamatory, obscene, threatening, abusive, or hateful material.
• Upload viruses, malware, or malicious code.
• Attempt unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or computer systems.
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service.
• Use automated tools (bots, scrapers) to access the Service without written permission.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service.
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions or bans.
• Resell or redistribute access without authorization.
• Use the Service to compete with YouGuard or build a competing product.
• Use AI analysis features for any purpose that violates Google's Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy or Anthropic's Acceptable Use Policy, including deception, illegal surveillance, or generating harmful content.

8.2 Lawful Monitoring Obligation

You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of the Service's monitoring features complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Monitoring laws vary by jurisdiction. In general:

• Minors: Parents and legal guardians generally have the legal right to monitor their minor children's communications and online activity. You represent that you have parental or legal guardian authority over any minor whose account you monitor.
• Adults: Monitoring another adult's communications and activity typically requires their informed, affirmative consent. The Service's mutual accountability and invitation features are designed to facilitate consent-based monitoring between adults. You represent that any adult Observed User linked to your account has provided informed consent to be monitored.
• Seniors/Dependents: If you monitor a senior family member or other dependent adult, you represent that you have legal authority to do so (e.g., power of attorney, legal guardianship) or that the individual has provided informed consent.

YouGuard does not verify your legal authority to monitor any individual. We provide the technology; you are responsible for its lawful use. Misuse of monitoring features may violate federal and state wiretapping, electronic surveillance, and privacy laws and may result in civil and criminal penalties.

9. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and underlying code, is the property of YouGuard or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. The YouGuard name, logo, and related marks are trademarks of YouGuard.

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial family monitoring and accountability purposes, subject to these Terms.

10. User Content

You retain all ownership rights to content you submit (such as custom content rules, notes, and configuration). By submitting content, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and display your content solely for the purposes of operating and improving the Service. This license terminates when you delete your content or account.

Monitored Content: SMS/MMS messages, YouTube activity, browsing history, and call logs synced from Observed Users' devices are collected and stored solely to provide the monitoring Service to authorized guardians. We do not use this content for advertising, marketing, or any purpose unrelated to the Service.

11. AI-Generated Content

The Service incorporates artificial intelligence features powered by third-party AI providers. YouTube data is analyzed only by Google Gemini through Google Vertex AI. If SMS content analysis is enabled, message content (with phone numbers redacted) may be analyzed by Google Vertex AI (Gemini) or Anthropic, PBC ("Claude AI").

• AI-generated content analysis is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice (medical, legal, psychological, or otherwise).
• AI content excerpts are extracted from publicly available YouTube data and are presented to help parents make informed decisions. AI does not make parental decisions.
• We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content.
• You assume all risk associated with any reliance on AI-generated content or analysis.
• AI analysis results are not "consumer reports" under the FCRA (see Section 14).

12. Third-Party Services and APIs

The Service integrates with the following third-party services and APIs:

Your use of the Service is also subject to Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may revoke YouGuard's access to your YouTube data at any time via https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.

We are not responsible for the practices, terms, or privacy policies of third parties. Use of third-party services is at your own risk.

13. Privacy

Our collection and use of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy at https://youguard.app/privacy, incorporated herein by reference.

14. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Disclaimer

YouGuard is NOT a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. The information, analyses, alerts, and reports provided through the Service — including AI-generated content analysis, SMS/MMS monitoring summaries, call logs, browsing history, and YouTube activity reports — are not "consumer reports" as defined by the FCRA.

You may not use any information obtained through YouGuard for: employment screening or hiring decisions; tenant screening or housing decisions; credit decisions or insurance underwriting; educational enrollment decisions; or any other purpose regulated by the FCRA.

The Service is designed solely for family monitoring, parental oversight, personal accountability, and senior protection within existing personal relationships. Using the Service for FCRA-regulated purposes is a violation of these Terms and may expose you to legal liability.

15. Children's Privacy and COPPA Compliance

YouGuard is a parental monitoring service that, by its nature, collects and processes data about children. We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq., and the FTC's COPPA Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 312) as follows:

15.1 Parental Consent Required

No data about a child under 13 is collected unless a parent or legal guardian has:

1. Created a guardian account.
2. Affirmatively initiated the monitoring relationship (sent an invite, paired a device, installed Browser Shield, or uploaded a watch-history export).
3. Accepted these Terms on behalf of the child.

For a child under 13, we require the parent to verify consent by completing a $0.50 charge on a credit or debit card through Stripe before the child's account or device can be connected. We refund the charge right away.

For a child under 13, we request read-only access to the child's YouTube account and do not take any action on that account (such as unsubscribing or removing likes).

15.2 Data Collected About Children

When a parent initiates monitoring of a child, we collect:

• YouTube subscriptions, liked and disliked videos, playlists, comments, uploaded videos, activity feed, and channel data (via YouTube API with parent-authorized OAuth)
• YouTube watch history, only if the parent uploads a Google Takeout export
• SMS and MMS message content, phone numbers, and timestamps (via YouGuard Messenger app installed by parent)
• MMS media attachments (images, video, audio)
• Call log metadata (phone numbers, timestamps, duration — no audio recording)
• Browsing history (URLs, domains, page titles, and the time of each visit — via Browser Shield installed by parent)
• Device information (device name, model, Android version, heartbeat status)

15.3 Use of Children's Data

Children's data is used solely to provide the monitoring Service to their authorized parent or guardian. We do not:

• Display targeted advertising to children or based on children's data.
• Sell, rent, or share children's data with third parties for marketing.
• Use children's data for AI model training.
• Create publicly visible profiles for children.
• Allow children to make their data publicly available.
• Condition a child's participation in any activity on providing more data than reasonably necessary.

15.4 Parental Rights

Parents and legal guardians may at any time:

• Review all data collected about their child through the guardian dashboard.
• Delete their child's data by removing the Observed Account (30-day soft delete, then permanent purge).
• Revoke consent by disconnecting the child's YouTube account, unpairing the device, or removing Browser Shield.
• Contact us at [email protected] to request data export or deletion.

15.5 Data Retention for Children

Upon removal of an Observed Account (child), data enters a 30-day soft-delete period (during which the parent can restore it), after which it is permanently deleted. From October 28, 2026, if the parent's subscription lapses, the child's data is permanently deleted 30 days after the lapse (see Section 5.2). YouTube OAuth tokens associated with the child's account are invalidated upon disconnection.

15.6 Information Security for Children's Data

Since October 6, 2026, we maintain a written information security program, as the FTC COPPA Rule requires. We protect children's personal information with encrypted data transmission (TLS 1.2+), AES-256-GCM encryption of OAuth tokens at rest, encrypted local storage on Android devices (SQLCipher), and access controls limiting data visibility to authorized guardians.

16. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Without limiting the foregoing, we do not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.
• Monitoring will capture 100% of an Observed User's activity. Network conditions, device settings, app permissions, and platform changes may affect data collection.
• AI content analysis will correctly identify all concerning content or avoid false positives.
• Scam detection features will identify all scam attempts or prevent all fraud.
• Defects will be corrected promptly or that the Service is free of viruses.

YouGuard is a supplementary tool to assist with parental oversight and personal accountability. It is not a substitute for direct parental supervision, open communication, or professional guidance.

17. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL YOUGUARD, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF DATA, MISSED ALERTS, UNDETECTED CONTENT, FAILURE OF MONITORING FEATURES, OR ACTIONS TAKEN OR NOT TAKEN BASED ON SERVICE OUTPUT.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICE IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM OR (B) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50).

18. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless YouGuard and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and licensors from any claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any third-party rights, including privacy rights; (d) your monitoring of any individual without proper legal authority or consent; or (e) any dispute between you and an Observed User regarding monitoring.

19. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account at any time for violation of these Terms, with notice where practicable. Upon termination:

• Your right to use the Service ceases immediately.
• Active device pairings and YouTube connections are disconnected.
• Your data and your Observed Users' data are permanently deleted within 30 days (see Section 15.5).
• Sections 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21 survive termination.

You may terminate your account at any time by contacting [email protected] or through your account settings.

20. Dispute Resolution

20.1 Informal Resolution

Before filing a claim, you agree to attempt to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at [email protected]. We will attempt to resolve the dispute within 30 days.

20.2 Arbitration

If informal resolution fails, any dispute shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Any in-person hearing will be held at a location reasonably convenient to you, or by video conference, as provided in the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitrator's decision shall be final and binding.

20.3 Class Action Waiver

YOU AGREE TO RESOLVE DISPUTES ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.

20.4 Small Claims Exception

Notwithstanding the above, either party may bring a claim in small claims court in the applicable jurisdiction.

20.5 Opt-Out

You may opt out of Sections 20.2 and 20.3 by emailing [email protected] with the subject line 'Arbitration Opt-Out' within 30 days of first accepting these Terms (or of accepting a version that first included these Sections). Opting out does not affect any other provision.

21. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes not subject to arbitration shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Texas.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If a change materially expands the personal information we collect, how we use or share it, or reduces your rights or choices, we will notify you by email or in-app notice at least 30 days before it takes effect, and the updated Terms will be posted at https://youguard.app/terms with their new effective date. Corrections that make these Terms describe our existing practices more accurately, and changes that add protections or reduce what we collect, take effect when posted. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and may request account deletion.

23. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable.

24. Entire Agreement

These Terms, along with our Privacy Policy and any additional terms for specific features or services, constitute the entire agreement between you and YouGuard regarding the Service, superseding all prior agreements and understandings.

25. Contact Information

YouGuard is operated by Daniel Swick, doing business as YouGuard.
Mailing address: 296 W Coshocton St, Johnstown, OH 43031
Telephone: (740) 403-9774
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://youguard.app