Terms of Service

1. The agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a contract between you and Ethereal Labs Private Limited, a company incorporated in India (“Ethereal Labs”, “we”, “us”). They govern your use of the Forky mobile apps, the Forky website, interactive stories, creator tools, comments and related services (“Forky”). They also apply when you use TokiToki Studio to make stories for Forky.

The following policies are part of these Terms: the Community Guidelines, the Copyright & IP policy, the Forky Bucks & Refunds policy, the Creator Terms (if you publish), the Child Safety & Age policy and the AI & Social Connections notice. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data. By using Forky you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Forky.

On iOS, Apple’s Standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies to the app itself. If it conflicts with these Terms about the app, Apple’s agreement applies.

2. Who can use Forky

• You must be at least 13 years old, or at least 16 in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
• If you are under 18 and live in India, or anywhere else that requires it, you may only use Forky with the consent of a parent or guardian, who agrees to these Terms on your behalf.
• You must be at least 18 to join the creator program and receive payouts.
• Some stories have a higher age rating and are hidden based on the age you give us. You must not use Forky if the law prohibits you from doing so, or if we have previously suspended your account.

3. Accounts and guest mode

You can watch stories as a guest without an account. Guest progress and any promotional balance are tied to your device and can be lost if you clear the app, change devices or reinstall. To keep your progress, comment, react or publish, sign in with Google, Apple, Facebook or your phone number. When you sign in, your guest progress is merged into your account.

Keep your sign-in details secure and tell us at once if you think someone else is using your account. You are responsible for what happens under your account. Give us accurate information, including your age, and keep it up to date. One person, one account; do not create accounts to evade enforcement.

4. Stories and choices

Stories on Forky are fiction. Choices change the story only in the ways the creator has written. We do not guarantee that any story will have a particular ending, remain available, or be completed by its creator. Creators may edit, add to or remove their stories, and we may remove, age-restrict or limit the distribution of any story for editorial, licensing, safety or legal reasons. Aggregate choice statistics shown on stories are approximate.

5. Your content and our licence

You own your content. Everything you create and post on Forky (stories, scripts, video, audio, images, comments, profile content) stays yours, or belongs to whoever owned it before you uploaded it. We do not claim ownership.

The licence you give us. So that we can run Forky, you grant Ethereal Labs a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable (to our service providers only) licence to host, store, reproduce, transcode, adapt the format of, distribute, display, perform and make available your content through Forky, and to show short excerpts of your published content to promote your story within Forky and on our own channels. The licence lasts while the content is on Forky, plus the time it takes to remove it from our systems and backups. It does not transfer ownership, and it does not let us sell your content or use it outside Forky without a separate agreement.

Drafts stay private. Unpublished drafts and Studio projects are processed only to provide the service you asked for. We do not promote them or show them to anyone.

What you promise. You confirm that you have all the rights needed to post your content and grant this licence, including rights to any music, clips, characters, performers and likenesses in it, and that the content complies with these Terms and the law.

Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we can use them without obligation to you.

6. What you must not do

The Community Guidelines set out the full rules. In summary, you must not:

• post content you do not have the rights to, or that infringes anyone’s copyright, trademark, privacy or publicity rights;
• post child sexual abuse material, sexual content involving minors, non-consensual intimate images, credible threats, hate, targeted harassment, doxxing, or content promoting terrorism or serious harm;
• impersonate any person or organisation, or imply sponsorship that does not exist;
• run scams, spam, fake engagement, bots, brigading or engagement manipulation;
• scrape, copy or download content or data from Forky except as the app allows, or use Forky’s content to train AI models;
• reverse-engineer, interfere with or attempt unauthorised access to Forky or its systems;
• evade a suspension, age restriction or any other enforcement action;
• use Forky for anything illegal.

7. Purchases and Forky Bucks

Forky Bucks are in-app credits used to unlock paid stories. They are a limited licence to use features inside Forky, not money, property or an investment. They have no cash value, cannot be transferred, exchanged or redeemed for cash, and are not refundable except as required by law or the app store’s policies. Promotional Forky Bucks we give you for free are separate from purchased ones and may expire.

Purchases in the iOS app are processed by Apple, and purchases in the Android app by Google Play. Their terms, payment methods and refund processes apply. Before you buy, we show you the price in your local currency, what you get, and whether a story is still being made. Full details, including what happens to credits if Forky closes, are in the Forky Bucks & Refunds policy.

8. Creators

If you publish stories on Forky, the Creator Terms also apply. They cover your responsibilities for the content you publish, how paid unlocks work, who is eligible for the revenue share, and how payouts are made. You accept them in the app before you publish for the first time.

9. Moderation, removal and appeals

We may use automated systems and human reviewers to detect content that breaks these Terms, the Community Guidelines or the law. We may label, age-restrict, limit the reach of, or remove content, and may warn, restrict, suspend or terminate accounts. We act on reports from users, rights holders and authorities. Serious cases, including child sexual abuse material, are reported to the relevant authorities.

Where the law requires, we tell you what we removed and why, and you can appeal in the app or by emailing admin@ethereallabs.in with the subject “Forky Appeal”. We acknowledge appeals within 24 hours and aim to decide within 15 days. Making a report in good faith does not guarantee a particular outcome, and repeatedly making false reports is itself a breach of these Terms.

10. Our intellectual property

Forky, the Forky name and mark, the app, the website, our design, software and original content are owned by Ethereal Labs or our licensors and protected by intellectual property laws. We give you a personal, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app and website for your own, non-commercial use in line with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell or lease any part of Forky, or use our name or marks without permission.

11. Third-party services

Forky works with services we do not control: sign-in providers, app stores, AI providers, and social platforms you choose to connect (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok). Their terms apply to your use of them, and we are not responsible for their availability or conduct. Content you publish to a connected platform is governed by that platform’s rules once it is there. See the AI & Social Connections notice.

12. Ending the agreement

You can stop using Forky at any time and delete your account in the app or by following the steps on the account deletion page. We can suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms, if the law requires it, or if we close Forky. If we close Forky, we will give reasonable notice and, where the law requires, refund unused purchased Forky Bucks. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including 5, 10, 13 and 14) continue to apply. Suspension does not remove any consumer rights the law gives you.

13. Warranties and liability

We provide Forky with reasonable skill and care, but we cannot promise it will always be available, error-free or that any story will be available for any period. To the fullest extent the law allows, Forky is provided “as is”, and we exclude all other warranties.

To the fullest extent the law allows, Ethereal Labs is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, data or goodwill, or for content posted by other users, and our total liability to you for all claims relating to Forky is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and INR 5,000 (or the equivalent in your currency). Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and nothing affects your statutory consumer rights.

You agree to compensate us for claims by third parties arising from content you post or your breach of these Terms, to the extent the law allows.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, and the courts of Bengaluru, Karnataka have jurisdiction. If you live in a country whose consumer law gives you the right to rely on your local law or local courts, that right is not affected. If you live in the EU, you may also use the European Commission’s online dispute resolution platform. Before going to court, please contact us; most problems can be sorted out quickly.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms, for example when we add features or for legal reasons. We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date. For significant changes, we will notify you in the app or by email at least 15 days before they take effect. If you keep using Forky after the changes take effect, the new Terms apply. If you do not agree, stop using Forky and delete your account.

16. Contact

Ethereal Labs Private Limited
2nd Floor, No. 189, Municipal No. 207/189, 14th A Cross Road, 6th Sector, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102, India
Email: admin@ethereallabs.in · Phone: +91 86975 85018
Grievance Officer: same address, subject “Grievance”. We acknowledge within 24 hours and resolve within 15 days.