Terms of Use
1. Acceptance
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of the Holdfast app and its coach. Holdfast is published by an individual developer, referred to here as “the developer of Holdfast”, “we” or “us”. By downloading or using the app, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the app. Our Privacy Policy explains what happens to your data.
You must be at least 13 to use Holdfast. If you are under the age of majority where you live, use it only with the agreement of a parent or guardian.
2. What Holdfast is, and is not
Holdfast is a comfort and accountability tool for people who have decided to stop contacting an ex: a count since the last contact, a tool for the moment of the urge, private writing, lessons and a coach.
- It is not therapy and does not replace a therapist, a doctor or any other professional.
- It is not medical advice. Nothing in the app, its lessons or the coach’s replies is medical, psychological or legal advice, or a diagnosis.
- It is not an emergency service. The app cannot call for help for you and nobody reads what you write.
- It promises no outcome. Holdfast does not promise that anyone will come back to you, that the hurt ends by a certain day, or any other result. The decision to keep no contact is yours, and so is every decision you make while using the app.
3. Crisis help
If you are in danger, or think you might harm yourself or someone else, call your local emergency number or a crisis line now.
The app lists crisis lines by country, on the page called Real help. The numbers were checked against official sources on 2026-10-12. Services change their numbers and hours, and we cannot promise that every entry is still current or that a line will answer. If a number does not work, call your local emergency number.
4. The coach
- The coach is software. It is not a person, not a therapist and not a friend who knows your situation. Its replies are generated automatically and nobody reviews them before you see them.
- It can be wrong. A reply may be inaccurate, incomplete or unsuited to you. Do not rely on it for decisions about your health, your safety, your legal position or your money. You can report any reply to us: touch and hold it, then tap Report this reply.
- It needs your agreement. Before the first message, the app shows what is sent and where it goes. The details are in the Privacy Policy.
- It needs an internet connection and may be unavailable at times. Hold on, your reasons and the rest of the app work offline.
- Limits. Three messages are free, counted per install. After that the coach is part of Holdfast Plus, with a fair-use limit of 40 messages a day and 600 a calendar month (both change at 00:00 UTC). A message about being in danger is answered whatever the limit. A message is counted only when a reply is returned.
- Keep other people out of it. Please do not type names, addresses, phone numbers or other identifying details, yours or anyone else’s.
5. Licence and Apple’s EULA
We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app on Apple devices that you own or control, for your own non-commercial use, as permitted by the App Store’s Usage Rules.
Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the “Standard EULA”) also applies to your use of the app. These Terms add to it. If they conflict, the Standard EULA prevails to the extent of the conflict. As the Standard EULA states, Apple is not responsible for the app or its content, and we, not Apple, are responsible for its maintenance and support and for any claims relating to it.
The lessons, texts, illustrations and design of the app belong to us or our licensors. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, rent or reverse engineer the app or its content, except as the law or the Standard EULA allows.
6. What is free, what is Plus
Free, for good: your count, milestones and history; the widgets; Hold on, your reasons in words and unsent messages; the check-in, the journal and this week’s insights; the heart and its home, with everything that is added to it; ten lessons; the app lock, discreet mode, the crisis lines, export and delete; and three messages to the coach.
Holdfast Plus adds: the rest of the lesson library, the coach beyond the three free messages (up to 40 messages a day and 600 a month), patterns over time (your mood and a half-year of your check-in days), photos on your reasons, the extra widget looks and “Make it yours”: more skins for the heart (glow, night, speckled and dusk) and small things for it to wear or hold. Trying a look on is free; keeping it is part of Plus.
7. Purchases
All purchases are made through Apple’s In-App Purchase and charged to your Apple account. Prices are shown in the app, in your currency, before you buy; the US prices below are given for reference. We never see your payment details. A purchase that is waiting for approval (Ask to Buy, for example) may be charged later, when it is approved; the app says that it is waiting.
| Product | US price | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Holdfast Plus, 30 days | $9.99, paid once | A non-renewing purchase. It ends after 30 days, does not renew, and nothing more is charged. A pass bought while another is running is added after it. |
| Holdfast Plus, yearly | $29.99 a year | An auto-renewing subscription, with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. It renews each year until you cancel. |
| Holdfast Plus, lifetime | $59.99, paid once | A one-time purchase. Plus stays unlocked for as long as the app is offered, with no further charge. |
The yearly subscription and its trial
- The trial is free for 7 days and is offered once, to new subscribers. If you do not cancel at least 24 hours before it ends, the yearly price is charged to your Apple account and the first year begins.
- Two days before the trial ends, the app says so on its Today screen, and sends a notification if notifications are allowed for Holdfast. A trial you have cancelled gets no reminder. The end date is also shown in You → Holdfast Plus.
- The subscription renews automatically each year, at the price then in force, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple account is charged for the renewal within the 24 hours before that date.
- You cancel in your App Store account settings: on your iPhone, Settings → your name → Subscriptions → Holdfast. You keep Plus until the end of the period you paid for. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.
Refunds
Apple handles payments and refunds, and any right of withdrawal the law gives you is exercised with Apple. Ask at reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue refunds ourselves.
When a pass or a subscription ends
Plus content locks again. What the heart is wearing stays on it. Everything you wrote stays readable, and everything that is free stays free.
Restoring
If you reinstall the app or change phone, You → Holdfast Plus → Restore purchases brings back what you bought with the same Apple account.
8. What you write
What you write in Holdfast is yours. It stays on your iPhone; we have no access to it and claim no rights over it.
That also means we cannot recover it. If you use Delete everything, delete the app, or lose your phone without a backup, it is gone. Your iPhone’s own backups and the Export in the app are the ways to keep a copy.
9. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- use the app to harass, threaten, follow or watch another person;
- use the coach for anything unlawful, or try to make it produce content unrelated to its purpose;
- send automated requests to our relay, get around its limits, or interfere with its security;
- resell the app, its lessons or access to the coach.
10. Availability and changes to the app
We may change, add or remove features, and we may stop offering the app. The coach depends on outside services and can be interrupted. If we ever stop offering the app, what you wrote stays on your phone, and the Export keeps working for as long as the app is installed.
11. Disclaimer
The app is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the extent the law allows, we give no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including that the app will be uninterrupted or free of errors, that the coach’s replies will be accurate, or that using the app will lead to any particular result.
Nothing in these Terms removes rights that the consumer law of your country gives you and that cannot be set aside by agreement.
12. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, for loss of data kept on your device, or for decisions you make on the basis of the app, its lessons or the coach. Our total liability to you for any claim relating to the app is limited to the amount you paid for Holdfast Plus in the twelve months before the claim.
These limits do not apply to liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for intent or gross negligence.
13. Termination
You can stop using Holdfast at any time by deleting the app; cancel a running subscription first (section 7). We may suspend access to the coach for an install that breaks section 9. These Terms end when you stop using the app; sections 8, 11, 12 and 14 continue to apply.
14. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws applicable in the developer’s place of residence, without prejudice to the mandatory consumer-protection rules of the country where you live.
If you are a consumer, you keep the protection of those rules, and you may bring a claim before the courts of the country where you live.
15. Changes to these terms
We may update these Terms when the app or the law changes. We will change the date at the top and, for a significant change, tell you in the app. A change never alters the price or the length of a period you have already paid for.
16. Contact
Email: app.holdfast@proton.me. We answer within a day.