Terms of Service.

1. About Nearness

Nearness ("we", "us", "our") is an Australian AI-powered companion call service (ABN 38 698 010 552). By creating an account or using our service, you ("you", "the account holder") agree to these Terms of Service.

These terms govern your use of the Nearness website at nearness.com.au, the Nearness subscription service, and any related communications from us.

2. What Nearness Is – and Is Not

Nearness is designed to complement – not replace – human relationships, professional health care, and aged care services. It should not be relied upon as the sole means of checking on a person's health or safety.

3. Eligibility & Account Setup

To use Nearness, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Be located in Australia (service is currently available in Australia only)
• Provide accurate information during account setup
• Have the consent of the person who will receive Nearness calls

You are responsible for ensuring the call recipient understands and consents to receiving AI-powered phone calls from Nearness. Nearness will also introduce itself as an AI service at the start of every call.

4. Subscription Plans & Billing

Nearness offers four subscription tiers: Starter ($19/month, 1 call/week), Light ($39/month, 3 calls/week), Regular ($59/month, 5 calls/week), and Premium ($79/month, 7 calls/week). Annual plans are also available at a 20% discount. Additional one-off calls can be added for $8.99 each.

Billing is processed monthly (or annually) via Stripe. By providing payment details, you authorise recurring charges at the plan rate. We will notify you of any price changes at least 30 days in advance.

Prices are in Australian Dollars (AUD) and include GST where applicable.

5. Free Trial Terms

New subscribers receive a 30-day free trial. A valid payment method is required to start your trial, but you will not be charged until the trial period ends. At the end of the trial period, your subscription will automatically continue at the standard monthly rate for your chosen plan. You may cancel at any time before the trial ends to avoid being charged.

Free trials are limited to one per household. Nearness reserves the right to modify or discontinue free trial offers at any time.

6. Cancellation & Refunds

You may cancel your subscription at any time from your account dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period – you will retain access until then.

We do not offer refunds for partial billing periods. If you experience a significant service failure on our part, please contact us and we will assess your situation fairly.

Annual subscribers who cancel within 14 days of renewal may be eligible for a pro-rata refund at our discretion.

7. Your Responsibilities

As an account holder, you agree to:

• Provide accurate information about the call recipient, including their phone number and contact preferences
• Obtain the call recipient's actual consent before setting up Nearness – you must discuss the service with them and confirm they agree to receive AI-powered calls
• Ensure the call recipient knows they will be receiving calls from Nearness (an AI service) and that calls are recorded and summarised
• Keep nominated emergency contact details current and accurate in your account at all times
• Actively monitor alert emails and notifications from Nearness – including regularly checking that alert emails are not going to spam or junk folders
• Ensure that all nominated contacts are aware of and prepared to act on Nearness alert notifications
• Maintain independent and appropriate safety and emergency plans for the call recipient – Nearness must never be used as the sole or primary safety mechanism for any person
• Keep your account credentials secure and confidential
• Not use Nearness for any unlawful or abusive purpose
• Not attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or exploit Nearness's technology
• Update us promptly if the call recipient's circumstances change in ways that affect service appropriateness

8. AI Disclosure, Consent & Call Recording

Nearness uses artificial intelligence to conduct voice conversations. This is disclosed during signup and at the start of every call. By using Nearness and setting up service for a call recipient, you acknowledge and consent – on behalf of yourself and confirm you have obtained the consent of the call recipient – to:

• AI-generated voice being used to conduct calls on behalf of the service
• Call conversations being processed by AI in real time
• Calls being recorded for the purposes of generating transcripts, summaries, and wellbeing reports
• Transcripts and summaries being generated from call content and shared with authorised account holders
• Mood and sentiment analysis being applied to call data for wellbeing monitoring
• Automated distress detection being applied, and the results being used to trigger alert notifications as described in Section 9

The call recipient will be informed at the start of each call that they are speaking with an AI service and that the call is being recorded. You are responsible for ensuring the call recipient is aware of and consents to these conditions before Nearness calls are initiated.

See our full AI Disclosure for detailed information about how AI is used in Nearness.

9. Emergency Protocol

Nearness includes a distress detection system that monitors calls for signs of distress, expressed harm, or emergency situations. When triggered, Nearness will:

• Respond to the call recipient with empathy and provide crisis line information (e.g. Lifeline: 13 11 14)
• Encourage the person to call 000 if there is immediate danger
• Send an email notification only to the nominated family or emergency contacts registered in the account

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by Australian consumer law, Nearness's total aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to this service is limited to the amount you paid to Nearness in the three months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Nearness expressly excludes liability for:

• Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive loss of any kind arising from use of, or inability to use, the service
• The health, safety, physical or mental wellbeing, or any outcome of any call recipient, including any injury, illness, deterioration, or death
• Any failure by any nominated contact to receive, open, read, or act on any alert email, distress notification, or other communication sent by Nearness – including where such failure results in harm to the call recipient
• The accuracy, timeliness, reliability, or adequacy of any distress detection, mood assessment, sentiment analysis, or wellbeing flag generated by the AI system
• Any error, hallucination, misstatement, omission, or inappropriate response made by the AI during or in connection with a call
• Service interruptions, outages, delays, or failures caused by third-party platforms including Vapi, OpenAI, Supabase, Stripe, or Resend
• Any reliance on Nearness as a substitute for professional medical, mental health, emergency response, aged care, or any other care services
• Missed calls, calls that fail to connect, or calls that are shorter or different in nature to what was expected
• Loss, corruption, or unauthorised access to data caused by third-party system failures or events outside Nearness's reasonable control

Alert responsibility. You expressly acknowledge that the distress alert and notification system described in Section 9 operates solely by email notification to nominated contacts. The obligation to monitor, respond to, and act on any such notification rests entirely and exclusively with the nominated contact. Nearness is not responsible for any harm, loss, or outcome connected to an alert email that was sent but not received, delivered to a spam folder, not opened, not read, or not acted upon.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes any liability that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law, including consumer guarantees in relation to services.

11. Intellectual Property

All content, software, branding, and technology used in Nearness is the intellectual property of Nearness or its licensors. You may not copy, reproduce, or create derivative works from any part of Nearness without our written consent.

You retain ownership of any personal information and profile data you provide. By using Nearness, you grant us a licence to use that data to deliver the service as described in our Privacy Policy.

12. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account if you breach these terms, engage in abusive or fraudulent behaviour, or if we are required to do so by law. We will provide reasonable notice where possible.

Upon termination, your data will be retained for the period described in our Privacy Policy and then securely deleted.

13. Governing Law

These Terms of Service are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales, except where overridden by applicable Australian consumer law.

14. Contact