Terms of Service for Distance Goal

Distance Goal is published by Bluetorch Consulting Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Companies House number 14663890).

These terms are an agreement between you and Bluetorch Consulting Ltd about using the Distance Goal app. Please read them. If you do not agree with them, please do not use the app.

Distance Goal helps you set a distance target — like “50 km in July” — and see how you are getting on. You log your walks, rides, runs and other activities, and the app shows your progress.

The app is free. There is nothing to buy, and there are no adverts.

You do not need an account. There is no sign-up, no login, no email address and no password. You just open the app and start. We do not know who you are, and we have no way to find out.

You can choose to share your progress with a small group of people. This is completely optional and it is off until you turn it on. Here is how it works:

• You create a group and the app gives you a code. You send that code to the people you want in your group.
• Anyone with the code can join and see the group's progress.
• Everyone in the group can see each other's distance, target, and the name the app picked for them. If they leave the switches on, they also share a streak and the date they were last active. Nothing else.
• Your distance is what you have logged by hand. If you also use Health Connect — so that your gym machine or your watch can add distance for you — the app will ask you about each of those apps separately before any of it counts toward what your group sees. If you say no, or if you are never asked, it is not shared. You can change your mind at any time.
• The app picks everyone's name from a fixed list. You cannot type your own name, so nobody can put an unkind or rude word in one.
• There are no messages, no chat, no comments, no pictures and no links. There is no way for anyone in a group to send you anything except a number.

• The code is like a key to your front door. Anyone who ever gets it can keep seeing your group's progress, even if you did not mean to give it to them.
• Only send the code to people you know and trust. Do not post it publicly, and do not put it anywhere strangers can see it.
• You cannot remove someone else from a group. If a code reaches somebody it should not have, the answer is to start a fresh group and only share the new code with the right people. The old group stops updating once people leave it.
• If you are under 13, ask a parent or guardian before you join or create a group, and let them see who is in it.

You must not use Distance Goal to do anything illegal, or to harm or upset anyone.

You must never use this app, or anything in it, to share, send, promote or link to:

• Pornographic material, or anything sexual involving a child.
• Anything that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for suicide.
• Anything that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for self-harm.
• Anything that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for an eating disorder or serious weight loss.
• Anything that encourages or helps serious violence, terrorism, or hurting another person.
• Bullying, harassment, threats or hate directed at anyone, including because of their race, religion, disability, sex, gender, or sexuality.
• Anything that helps a crime, such as selling drugs or weapons.
• Anything that puts a child at risk in any way.

These rules apply to everything, including the goals and notes you write on your own phone, and anything at all connected with a buddy group.

We should be honest with you about something: the app is built so that there is no way to send any of this to another person in the first place. There is no chat, no pictures, no links, and no free text — the only thing that travels between people is a distance and a name the app chose. We have designed it this way on purpose, so that this kind of harm cannot happen here. These rules exist so that the position is clear and so we can act if anyone ever tries to get around it.

If you ever see something in this app that worries you, or someone using it makes you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, please tell us at support@bluetorch.co.uk. Tell us what happened, and we will look into it and act.

You can also protect yourself straight away, without waiting for us:

• Hide anyone in a group, on your own phone, and you will not see them any more.
• Rename anyone privately, so you see a name that means something to you.
• Leave a group at any time. Your progress stops being shared immediately.
• Start a fresh group if a code has reached the wrong person.

If someone breaks these rules, we may stop them using buddy groups or block their access to the relay. Because there are no accounts, our practical options are limited — which is another reason the app is built so that harmful content has no way through it.

If we are told about child sexual abuse or exploitation, we are required by law to report it to the National Crime Agency, and we will.

How we handle your information is explained in our Distance Goal Privacy Policy.

The short version: almost everything stays on your phone, and if you use buddy groups, the few figures that are shared are locked before they leave your phone so that even we cannot read them.

We want the app to work well, but we have to be straightforward about the limits:

• The app is provided as it is. We do not promise it will always work perfectly, or always be available.
• The buddy group relay may be unavailable at times, and updates may be delayed. It is not a safety system and must not be relied on as one.
• Distance Goal is not medical or fitness advice. It counts distance; it does not know anything about your health. If you have a health condition, or you are unsure whether an activity is safe for you, talk to a doctor. Please use common sense and stay safe when you are out.
• Distance figures come from what you type in, and — if you turn it on — from Health Connect. They may not be exactly right.
• We are not responsible for anything that happens in other apps you send your data to, such as when you export a file or share a progress card.

Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have by law, including your consumer rights. If you are in the UK, you have legal rights that cannot be signed away, and these terms do not try to. We do not exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for fraud.

Distance Goal is intended for people aged 9 and over. If you are under 13, please ask a parent or guardian before using buddy groups.

If we change these terms, we will update this page and change the effective date at the top. If the change is a significant one, we will ask you to accept the rules again in the app.

You can stop using Distance Goal whenever you like — leave your groups, or uninstall the app. That is all it takes, because there is no account to close.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales will deal with any dispute. If you live elsewhere in the UK, you can also bring a claim in your local courts.

Questions, worries, or reports: support@bluetorch.co.uk

Bluetorch Consulting Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 14663890).