Welcome to Cortex. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Cortex ("Cortex," "we," "us," or "our") that governs your access to and use of the Cortex mobile app, our website at cortexdesks.com, and any related features or services (together, the "Services"). By creating an account or using the Services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect and use your information. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.
To use the Services you must be at least 13 years old, or older if the law where you live sets a higher minimum age for consenting to the processing of your data. If you are under 18, you may need your parent or guardian's permission, depending on where you live.
1. Your Account
An account (Google, Apple, or email and password) is required to sync your notes and habits across devices. You agree to give us accurate information and to keep it up to date. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials secure and for everything that happens through your account. Do not share your credentials. Tell us right away at cortexapp.support@gmail.com if you think your account has been compromised.
You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Delete account. This permanently deletes your account and everything synced to it, and cannot be undone. Deleting your account does not cancel an active subscription. Cancel through Apple, as described in section 10.
2. Your Content
A. Ownership. Everything you capture in Cortex, including your notes, habits, check-ins, and voice recordings (your "Content"), stays yours. We do not claim ownership of it.
B. License to run the Services. To operate the app for you, we need your permission to store, sync, process, and display your Content. You grant us and the service providers acting on our behalf a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, copy, transmit, process, and display your Content, only to provide, maintain, and protect the Services for you. We do not use your Content to advertise to you or to anyone else, and we do not sell it.
C. Automated processing and AI. Cortex uses automated tools, including speech recognition and AI features, to turn your voice into text, clean it up, and sort it into tasks, ideas, notes, and habits. Depending on how you capture, this may involve sending your audio or text to the third-party processors named in section 6. Our Privacy Policy describes exactly which captures go where. We do not use your Content to train AI models, and we do not permit our processors to.
D. Accuracy. AUTOMATED OUTPUTS, INCLUDING TRANSCRIPTS, CATEGORIES, PRIORITIES, DUE DATES, AND HABIT DETECTION, CAN BE WRONG EVEN WHEN THEY LOOK CONFIDENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THEY ARE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE. CHECK ANYTHING TIME-SENSITIVE OR IMPORTANT BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT.
E. Your responsibility. You are responsible for what you capture. Do not use the Services to store anything illegal. Anyone with access to your unlocked phone or your signed-in account can see your notes unless you have turned on Face ID locking for a category.
F. Recording other people. If you use voice capture to record other people, you are responsible for following any laws about recording, notice, and consent that apply to you.
3. Restrictions
You may use the Services only as permitted by law. You agree not to:
- break or get around any security or authentication measure;
- reverse engineer, decompile, or take apart any part of the Services to get at source code or other intellectual property;
- access or use the Services through means other than our publicly supported app and website, including scraping or creating accounts in bulk;
- probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems, or interfere with or disrupt the Services, other users, or our providers;
- use the Services to store or share content that is illegal, or that is child sexual abuse material or promotes extreme violence;
- violate anyone's intellectual property, privacy, or other rights;
- resell the Services, or share a paid subscription in a way Apple's rules do not permit;
- commit payment fraud, including unauthorized use of a payment method or illegitimate chargebacks; or
- use the Services or their outputs to train or improve any AI or machine learning model.
We may take action in response to a violation, including suspending or ending your access.
4. Our Services
Subject to these Terms, we grant you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to install and use the Cortex app on Apple devices you own or control, and to use the related Services, for your personal use. The app may update automatically. This license is also subject to the usage rules in Apple's Media Services Terms.
5. Beta and Preview Features
We may release features or builds that we are still testing, for example through TestFlight, or that are labeled "beta" or "preview." They may be less reliable than the rest of the app and may change or disappear. By using them you agree that we may contact you for feedback.
6. Third-Party Services
The Services rely on third parties to work. These include Apple (sign-in, in-app purchases, on-device speech recognition), Google (sign-in, and Firebase for storage, sync, analytics, and crash reports), RevenueCat (subscription management), Groq (transcription of Action Button and Shortcut recordings), and Anthropic (optional text cleanup). Our Privacy Policy describes what each one receives. We require our AI providers not to use your data to train their models. Third-party services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for how they operate or for the Services being unavailable because a third party is.
7. Our Intellectual Property
As between you and us, the Services, including the app, its design, and the Cortex name and logo, are owned by us and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. These Terms give you no right to them except the limited license in section 4. You agree not to modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Services. We welcome feedback and suggestions, and we may use them without any obligation to you.
8. Our Rights
We may, at any time and without liability to you (except where the law says otherwise): change parts or all of the Services; suspend or discontinue parts or all of the Services; and restrict or disable access to your account. If we discontinue the Services before the end of a period you have already paid for, we will refund the unused portion.
9. Privacy
By using the Services you confirm you have read our Privacy Policy, which describes how we handle your personal information.
10. Paid Services (Premium)
Cortex offers an optional Premium subscription, with monthly and yearly plans and a free trial when one is offered in the app. The free plan has a monthly capture limit, and Premium removes it. The prices and features are shown in the app before you buy.
- Payment is charged to your Apple ID account when you confirm the purchase.
- Subscriptions automatically renew unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.
- Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period, at the price you agreed to.
- You can manage or cancel your subscription any time in your Apple ID account settings. This app cannot cancel it for you.
- Any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription.
- We may change prices for future renewals, and we will give you reasonable notice in the app or by email so you can cancel before the new price applies.
All payments are processed by Apple. Refunds are handled by Apple under its own policies, and we cannot issue refunds for App Store purchases directly. If the law where you live gives you cancellation or refund rights, these Terms do not override them.
11. Termination
You can stop using the Services at any time. We may suspend or end your access if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, or your use creates a risk of harm or loss to us or others, or if we must do so to follow the law. We may also end accounts that have been inactive for a long time, with notice. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, and indemnity.
12. Warranty Disclaimers
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL AUTOMATED OUTPUTS, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE TIMELY, UNINTERRUPTED, OR ERROR-FREE, WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR WILL BE FREE FROM VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
Some places do not allow certain disclaimers, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms affects rights you have under mandatory laws.
13. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, USE, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR ANY OUTPUT, OR FROM ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO YOUR CONTENT. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR US$50 IF YOU PAID NOTHING. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THIRD-PARTY SERVICES.
If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we remain liable under the law for intent and gross negligence, and nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
14. Indemnification
To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to defend and hold us harmless from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arise from your breach of these Terms, your Content, or your violation of any law or third-party right in connection with the Services. This does not apply to the extent a claim is caused by our breach of these Terms.
15. Dispute Resolution
Before filing a claim against us, please email cortexapp.support@gmail.com with a description of the problem. We will try in good faith to resolve it informally. If we cannot resolve it within 60 days, either of us may bring a formal proceeding. Any proceeding relating to these Terms or the Services will be brought in the courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction and venue. If you live somewhere whose laws give consumers the right to bring disputes in their local courts, this section does not affect that right.
16. Modifications
We may update these Terms from time to time and will post the current version on this site with a new "Last updated" date. If a change meaningfully reduces your rights, we will tell you, for example by email or a notice in the app. Changes are not retroactive. By continuing to use the Services after a change takes effect, you agree to the updated Terms. If you disagree, stop using the Services and cancel any subscription.
17. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. If you live in a country whose law requires local law to govern, this section does not override that.
18. General
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services and replace any earlier agreement on the same subject. If we do not enforce a provision, that is not a waiver. If a provision is found unenforceable, the rest stay in effect. You may not assign your rights under these Terms. We may assign ours to an affiliate or a successor to the business.
Contact
Questions about these Terms: cortexapp.support@gmail.com
Apple is not a party to these Terms and is not responsible for the app or its content. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support for the app. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and once you accept them Apple will have the right to enforce them against you.