Terms of Service

Last updated: May 17, 2026

These Terms govern your use of Cove — the iPhone app and the website at covesearch.com. By using Cove, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please don't use the service.

1. Who can use Cove

You must be at least 13 years old to use Cove (or older if your country requires a higher age of digital consent). By using Cove you represent that you meet this requirement.

2. Your account

You sign in with Apple. You are responsible for keeping your Apple ID secure. You are responsible for activity that happens under your account. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we reasonably believe are being used fraudulently.

3. The service

Cove lets you search your iPhone photo library using natural language. To do that, the app sends thumbnails and limited metadata to our servers for AI processing, then deletes them. See our Privacy Policy for the details.

Cove relies on third-party AI services. Search results are generated by AI and may be imperfect, incomplete, or occasionally wrong. Cove is a tool to help you find photos, not a substitute for your own judgment.

4. Your content

Your photos remain yours. By using Cove you grant us a limited license to process them as needed to operate the service — that is, to generate captions and embeddings, store the results, and return search results to you. This license ends when you delete your account or the underlying data.

You represent that you have the right to use and process the photos you index with Cove.

5. Acceptable use

Don't use Cove to:

  • Process content that is illegal where you are, including child sexual abuse material.
  • Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the app.
  • Circumvent rate limits, free-tier limits, or other technical restrictions.
  • Interfere with the service or other users.
  • Use the service to build a competing product.

We may remove content or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

6. Free tier and pricing

Cove is free to use during the initial release, subject to a limit on the number of photos that can be indexed per account (currently 5,000). We may introduce paid tiers in the future. If we do, we will give you notice in the app before any charges apply.

7. Service availability

We work to keep Cove available and working well, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features at any time. If we discontinue the service entirely, we will give reasonable notice and an opportunity to export your data.

8. Termination

You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete Account in the iPhone app. We may terminate accounts that violate these Terms. Termination removes your account data, captions, vectors, and any in-flight photo data from our servers.

9. Disclaimers

COVE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT SEARCH RESULTS WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.

10. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, COVE AND ITS OPERATORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, OR (B) USD $50.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, losses, or damages arising out of your use of the service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of another.

12. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

13. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and notify you in the app or by email before the changes take effect. Continued use of Cove after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email hello@covesearch.com.