terms of service

effective date: 2 november 2026

1. Purpose

The Aware System is a personal observation and reflection tool designed to assist with biological autonomic literacy. It is intended to help users document their own internal states. It is operated by Aware Movement (Pty) Ltd.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use The Aware System. By using it, you confirm that you are 18 or older. We do not knowingly permit use by, or collect information from, anyone under 18. Where age applies, it is enforced at sign-up.

3. Not Medical Advice

The Aware System is not a medical device, a therapy platform, or a diagnostic tool. The content, layers, and features provided are for informational and self-tracking purposes only. They do not constitute professional medical, psychiatric, or psychological advice. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking treatment because of something you have recorded or read within this tool.

4. Emergency Situations

This tool is not equipped to handle crisis situations. If you are in crisis, experiencing suicidal ideation, or in need of immediate support, please contact your local emergency services, a suicide prevention hotline, or a qualified mental health professional immediately. Independent helplines are listed at theawaresystem.com/support.

5. Your Responsibility

You are entirely responsible for the data you enter and for how you interpret it. The Aware System surfaces observations, not conclusions. Your emotional and physiological well-being remains your own responsibility.

6. Ownership of Your Content

You retain full ownership of the observations, reflections, and sequences you record. We claim no licence or right over your content beyond what is strictly necessary to operate and provide the service to you, and we do not use your content for any other purpose.

7. Our Intellectual Property

The Aware System, including its framework, terminology, written content, articles, and interface, is the intellectual property of Aware Movement (Pty) Ltd. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of it without our prior written permission.

8. Acceptable Use

You may not scrape, reverse engineer, decompile, or access the service through automated means, nor attempt to disrupt it, circumvent its security, or gain unauthorised access to any part of it or to other users' data.

9. Artificial Intelligence Features

Some features of The Aware System use Claude, an artificial intelligence model provided by Anthropic, PBC. Those features are Reflect’s replies, the written readings in Review, and the suggested sequences in Examine. The privacy policy, section 3C, sets out exactly what is sent, what is never sent, and where it is processed.

The app asks for your permission before anything is sent, the first time you use Reflect, Review and Examine. You may decline, and you may withdraw permission at any time in Preferences. The rest of the app works without these features.

Text produced by a model can be wrong. It may misread what you logged, state something with more confidence than the record supports, or produce an observation that does not hold. It is bounded by your own record and nothing else, it is not advice, it is not an assessment, and it is not a clinical opinion. Treat it as a prompt for your own thinking and not as a finding. Readings that are computed rather than written, such as counts and comparisons across your lanes, follow fixed rules and are not produced by a model.

You should not rely on anything a model writes as a basis for a medical, psychological, legal or financial decision.

10. Subscriptions, Billing and Cancellation

The Aware System offers a plan that costs nothing and two paid plans, depth and abyss. Writing to your record, reading it back in Review, the Learn articles, and exporting your data are available on every plan and are never placed behind a subscription.

Paid plans are sold as auto-renewing subscriptions through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Payment is taken by the store, not by us. We never see or hold your card details. Prices are shown in the app in your own currency before you confirm.

A subscription renews automatically at the end of each period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it ends. You cancel through your Apple or Google account settings, not through us, and we cannot cancel a subscription on your behalf. Cancelling stops the next renewal; it does not end the period you have already paid for, and you keep access until that period ends.

Refunds are handled by the store under the store’s own policy, and the store may grant or refuse a refund irrespective of our position. Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008, or under any consumer law that applies where you live. Where the decision is ours to make, our position is that a monthly subscription may be refunded for the current period only, and that annual subscriptions are not refunded.

We may change the price of a plan. A change never applies to a period you have already paid for, and the stores will ask you to consent to a price increase before it takes effect on a renewal.

If you move to a lower plan or stop paying, your record is not deleted. You keep everything you have written and you keep access to everything the plan that costs nothing includes. Features belonging to the higher plan stop, and the monthly allowances return to those of your current plan.

Closing your account is separate from cancelling a subscription. Closing the account deletes your record as the privacy policy describes. Cancel the subscription in the store as well, or it will continue to renew.

11. Service Availability

The Aware System is provided on an as-is and as-available basis. We do not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times, and we may modify or discontinue features from time to time.

12. Test Users

A limited number of people may be invited to use test versions of The Aware System, before and after it opens to the public. You can apply on the test user page. Applying does not entitle you to an invitation, and it does not place you on the waitlist.

You must be 18 or older to apply and to take part.

A test version is unfinished. It may contain errors, and it may change or stop working without notice. These terms apply to a test version in full, including sections 3, 4 and 9.

Taking part is voluntary and unpaid. You may stop at any time by uninstalling the test version and telling us, and we may end a test, or your place in it, at any time. Either way, your account and your record are not deleted because of it.

Features that are only in a test version, and not yet in the public app, are confidential. Do not publish or share screenshots, recordings or descriptions of them without our written permission. You are free to talk about anything that is in the public app.

Feedback you send us about a test version may be used to improve The Aware System, without payment to you, and gives you no right in the result. Your own record remains yours, as section 6 sets out.

Your account and your record are kept when a test ends. You may carry on with test versions, which include features still being tested, or move to the public app, and your record goes with you either way.

13. Account Suspension and Termination

You may delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these terms. On termination or deletion, your account data is handled and deleted in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Aware Movement (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2025/500633/07, is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss or damage arising from your use of, or inability to use, The Aware System. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for gross negligence or wilful misconduct. Where our liability cannot be excluded but may lawfully be limited, it is limited to the amount, if any, you paid us for the service in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

15. Relationship to the Privacy Policy

These terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which forms part of them and explains how we handle your personal information. By accepting these terms, you also accept the Privacy Policy.

16. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts for any dispute arising from or relating to them.

17. Severability

If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions continue in full force.

18. Supplier Information

In accordance with Section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002, the supplier of this service is Aware Movement (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2025/500633/07, a private company registered in the Republic of South Africa, contactable at hello@theawaresystem.com.

19. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. By continuing to use the system, you agree to the updated terms.