Terms of Service

1. Agreement to These Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of the Pit Pals mobile application, website, and related services, collectively referred to as the “Service.”

Pit Pals is operated by Steve Garrison (“Pit Pals,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Community Guidelines.

If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account or use Pit Pals.

If you are between 13 and the age of legal majority where you live, you may use the Service only with the permission of a parent or legal guardian.

You may not use the Service if you are prohibited from doing so under applicable law.

3. Your Account

You agree to:

• Provide accurate account information
• Keep your account information reasonably current
• Protect the confidentiality of your login credentials
• Notify us if you believe your account has been accessed without authorization
• Accept responsibility for activity conducted through your account

You may not:

• Create an account for another person without permission
• Impersonate another person or organization
• Sell, transfer, or provide access to your account to another person
• Use another person’s account without authorization
• Circumvent an account suspension, block, or restriction

4. The Pit Pals Service

Pit Pals helps users plan and track barbecue cooks, save notes and photos, build a cook history, and share content with other users.

Features may change as the Service evolves. We may add, modify, suspend, or discontinue features at any time.

We do not guarantee that every feature will always be available or operate without interruption.

5. User Content

“User Content” means information or material that you submit through the Service, including:

• Profile information
• Cook plans and cook details
• Steps, temperatures, notes, and ratings
• Photos
• Comments and reactions
• Reports, feedback, and other submissions

You retain ownership of your User Content.

You are responsible for your User Content and represent that:

• You own it or have the necessary permission to submit it
• It does not violate another person’s rights
• It complies with these Terms and our Community Guidelines
• It is not unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, or harmful

6. Permission to Operate the Service

By submitting User Content, you grant Pit Pals a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, display, and distribute that content as reasonably necessary to operate, maintain, secure, moderate, and provide the Service.

This license allows us, for example, to:

• Store your photos and cook information
• Display content within feeds and profiles
• Format or resize images for different devices
• Make content available through Pit Pals’ social features
• Review content for support, security, and moderation purposes

This license does not transfer ownership of your User Content to Pit Pals.

The license generally ends when your content is deleted, except where:

• Temporary backup copies remain
• Retention is required for legal, security, fraud-prevention, or moderation purposes
• Another user has independently copied or shared the content outside Pit Pals

We will not use your photos or posts in external advertising without your permission.

7. Shared Content and Social Interactions

Content you post through Pit Pals’ social features may be viewed and interacted with by other users.

Other users may:

• View your profile and shared cooks
• Comment on or react to your content
• Capture screenshots
• Save or share information outside Pit Pals

Pit Pals cannot control how another person handles information after viewing or saving it.

8. Acceptable Use

You may not use Pit Pals to:

• Harass, threaten, bully, intimidate, or abuse another person
• Post hateful or discriminatory content
• Post sexually explicit or graphically violent content
• Promote illegal activity or knowingly dangerous conduct
• Share another person’s private information without permission
• Infringe copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual-property rights
• Impersonate another person, business, or organization
• Send spam, scams, or deceptive promotions
• Artificially manipulate comments, reactions, follows, or engagement
• Upload malicious code or interfere with the operation or security of the Service
• Attempt to access accounts, systems, or information without authorization
• Scrape, reverse-engineer, or commercially exploit the Service except where applicable law expressly permits it
• Circumvent a suspension, block, restriction, or moderation action

Your use of the Service must also comply with our Community Guidelines.

9. Reporting, Blocking, and Moderation

Pit Pals may review reports and investigate suspected violations of these Terms or our Community Guidelines.

We may take action including:

• Removing content
• Limiting the visibility of content
• Issuing a warning
• Restricting particular features
• Temporarily suspending an account
• Permanently terminating an account
• Preserving or disclosing information when required for legal, security, or safety purposes

We are not obligated to publish, display, or continue distributing any User Content.

Moderation decisions require judgment. Reporting content does not guarantee that it will be removed, and we may not provide details about action taken against another user.

10. Food, Fire, and Equipment Safety

Pit Pals is a planning, tracking, and journaling tool. It is not a food-safety service, professional cooking service, thermometer, fire-monitoring system, or substitute for your own judgment.

Timers, target temperatures, cook durations, templates, suggestions, and user-submitted information are estimates or organizational tools. They do not guarantee:

• That food is safe to eat
• That food has reached a safe internal temperature
• That a cook will finish at a particular time
• That cooking equipment is being used safely
• That timers, notifications, or alerts will occur at the expected time
• That information submitted by another user is complete or accurate

You are responsible for:

• Independently verifying food temperatures and doneness
• Following applicable food-handling and food-safety guidance
• Safely operating grills, smokers, fires, fuels, and related equipment
• Following equipment-manufacturer instructions
• Supervising active fires and hot equipment
• Complying with local laws, fire restrictions, and burn bans
• Considering allergies and other dietary concerns

Never rely solely on Pit Pals to determine whether food is safe to consume or equipment is safe to operate.

11. Pit Pals Intellectual Property

The Service, including its software, design, branding, illustrations, logos, text, and original interface elements, is owned by Pit Pals or its licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.

Except for the limited right to use the Service under these Terms, no rights in Pit Pals’ intellectual property are granted to you.

You may not use the Pit Pals name, branding, logos, or illustrations without prior written permission.

12. Feedback

You may submit ideas, suggestions, or feedback about Pit Pals.

You grant us permission to use that feedback without restriction or compensation. This does not give us ownership of unrelated User Content, such as your photos, cook history, or posts.

13. Third-Party Services

Pit Pals relies on third-party platforms and service providers to operate portions of the Service.

Your use of third-party platforms, websites, or services may also be governed by their own terms and privacy policies.

Pit Pals is not responsible for services controlled by third parties.

14. Suspension, Termination, and Account Deletion

You may stop using Pit Pals at any time.

You may initiate permanent account deletion from:

Profile → Settings → Delete Account

We may restrict, suspend, or terminate your access when we reasonably believe:

• You have violated these Terms or the Community Guidelines
• Your account poses a security or safety risk
• Your activity may expose Pit Pals or another person to harm or legal liability
• We are required to do so by law
• The Service is discontinued

Sections that should reasonably survive termination will remain effective, including provisions concerning intellectual property, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and disputes.

15. Service Availability and Data Loss

We work to keep Pit Pals available and reliable, but interruptions and errors may occur.

You understand that:

• The Service may occasionally be unavailable
• Features may not function as expected
• Timers or notifications may be delayed or missed
• Content or account information may be lost, corrupted, or unavailable
• Maintenance, security incidents, or third-party outages may affect the Service

You should not rely on Pit Pals as the sole record of information that is important to you.

16. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Pit Pals is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

We make no warranty that:

• The Service will always be available, secure, accurate, or error-free
• User-submitted information will be complete or reliable
• Timers and notifications will occur at a specific time
• Data will never be lost
• Use of the Service will produce a particular cooking result
• Defects will always be identified or corrected

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain warranty exclusions, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

17. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Pit Pals and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including loss of data, profits, goodwill, or use.

Pit Pals is not responsible for injuries, foodborne illness, allergic reactions, property damage, fires, equipment damage, or other harm resulting from:

• Cooking or food-handling activities
• Fire or equipment operation
• Reliance on app information, timers, or notifications
• Content submitted by users
• Failure to follow manufacturer instructions or applicable safety guidance

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total liability of Pit Pals and its operator arising from or relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of:

• The amount you paid directly to Pit Pals during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or
• One hundred U.S. dollars

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain limitations of liability, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.

18. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pit Pals and its operator from claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable expenses arising from:

• Your User Content
• Your misuse of the Service
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of another person’s rights
• Your cooking, food-handling, fire, or equipment-related activities

19. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute that is not eligible for small-claims court may be brought in a state or federal court with jurisdiction in Colorado.

Nothing in these Terms prevents either party from pursuing a claim in small-claims court where eligible or from exercising rights that cannot legally be waived.

20. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as Pit Pals evolves.

When changes are made, we will update the “Last updated” date. For material changes, we may provide additional notice through the Service, by email, or through another reasonable method.

Your continued use of Pit Pals after updated Terms become effective means that the updated Terms apply to your continued use of the Service.

21. Contact Us