MINOU TERMS OF USE ================== Last updated: October 16, 2026 Minou is published by Klemstudio, in Quebec, Canada. Contact: cevrard.ca@gmail.com This text says what you can do with Minou, what you can't do, and what happens if you do. It's written to be read. If something seems unclear, write to us: it probably means it's badly worded. The privacy policy (https://zrsedagfckzeakitxjmv.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/site/privacy.txt) is a separate document, which explains what Minou collects and how. WHO CAN USE MINOU ----------------- You need an account, and you must be at least 14 years old: Minou publishes photos taken outdoors and puts people from the same neighbourhood in touch with each other, which is no small thing. By creating an account, you confirm that you're 14 or older, and you accept these terms and the privacy policy. Since version 1.0.5, the sign-up screen reminds you of this, with a link to each of these two texts. An account belongs to one person. Creating several accounts to get around the daily limits, confirm yourself as an owner or vote more than once is a prohibited use. WHAT YOU PUBLISH ---------------- You remain the owner of your photos. By publishing them, you grant Minou the right to display them in the app, on the cards of the cats concerned and on the sharing images. That right goes no further: your photos are not resold, not used in advertising, and not used to train a model. You can take your photos down at any time, without asking anyone. A photo must show a cat, and nothing else that causes a problem. The following are prohibited: - any recognisable person, and especially a child; - a licence plate, a readable address, the inside of a home that isn't yours; - another animal presented as a cat; - any violent, sexual, hateful or illegal image. A photo showing a recognisable person is taken down as soon as a single person reports it. The threshold is deliberately low: a card hidden by mistake can be restored, a photo that circulates can't be pulled back. WHAT YOU WRITE -------------- Cat names, usernames and messages are read by the whole neighbourhood, including children. Insults, harassment, hateful remarks and explicit sexual language have no place there, and a filter automatically refuses some of it. A filter never catches everything. The rest is reported by neighbours. CLAIMING A CAT AS YOURS ----------------------- Only claim your own cats. A false claim gives access to information that the product protects precisely against theft: the animal's territory and the times they pass by. A claim can be disputed by the people who have actually come across the cat. A disputed claim is cancelled, and the verification that came with it disappears along with it. There's a limit of five cats per account, and five claims per week. It's not a punishment: a household has one, two, sometimes three cats, and beyond that it's no longer a family. The number of photos and new cats per day grows with your level. ALERTS ------ An alert can send a notification to neighbours who have turned on alerts and whose area is within its circle. To prevent false alerts, neighbours are only notified if your account is more than seven days old, or if you added this cat yourself with "Add my cat"; never for a card that is hidden or waiting for confirmation from the neighbourhood. During the alert, the photos of the cat taken after it began appear at their exact position, for all members, in real time; if you added this cat yourself with "Add my cat", their whole history becomes exact. The details are in the privacy policy. Alerts are reserved for the owner, and are limited to two in progress and three per week. A false alert is not a joke. It mobilises neighbours, it devalues every alert that follows, and it's the only use that can lead to an account being closed without warning. Close your alert as soon as your cat is back home. If you don't confirm you're still looking and don't open the app for seven days, it closes on its own, and can be started again from their card. A FOUND CAT ----------- If you find a cat, Minou helps you let their owner know or publish their card. **Letting someone know or publishing a card doesn't make you their owner**. While the search for their family is ongoing, no one can claim them as theirs, you included. After that, only you can, at least 14 days after finding them. **Never ask for money to give a cat back, and never pay any to get one back.** Before giving a cat back, ask for proof: a photo of them at home, their vaccination record, or their microchip read by a vet. Minou doesn't check who a cat's owner is and takes no part in the meeting: to hand a cat back, choose a public place or a vet clinic. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON'T FOLLOW THESE RULES -------------------------------------------- In this order, and nothing is final except the last step: 1. The content is taken down, by neighbours or by moderation (the publisher and volunteers they appoint). 2. Your posts need the neighbourhood's approval for a few days if several of your cards have been taken down. You're told about it on your Profile, you can keep taking photos, and it lifts on its own. 3. The account is closed, for what can't be repaired: repeated false alerts, harassment, illegal content, repeated false claims of ownership, asking for money to give a cat back. You can write to us to challenge a decision. WHAT MINOU DOESN'T GUARANTEE ---------------------------- Minou is a neighbourhood mutual aid tool, not an animal search service. No one guarantees that a cat will be found, that an alert will be seen, or that a notification will arrive: it depends on Expo's servers, your network and your phone's settings. The positions displayed are deliberately approximate, rounded to about a hundred metres, for all cats that aren't being searched for. Don't use them to get somewhere. The service is provided as is, free of charge. It may be interrupted, changed, or shut down. We'll give notice in the app if that were to happen. MONEY ----- Minou is free. There's no hidden paid version, and alerts work for everyone. A donation gives no advantage in the app: no quota, no information, no power. What's earned here is earned by going out for a walk. If paid options ever appear, they will be announced, and they will never affect the ability to report a cat missing. CLOSING YOUR ACCOUNT -------------------- At any time, from Profile, under Settings. Your profile, your messages and your alerts are deleted. Your observations remain, without your username: they document cats that belong to the street, and deleting them would leave holes in the neighbourhood's history. What still links them to your former account is explained in the privacy policy. GOVERNING LAW ------------- These terms are governed by the law of Quebec and the laws of Canada that apply there. The courts of the district of Montreal have jurisdiction.