1. The agreement
These terms apply when you use the Tern app on Mac, iPhone or iPad, the push relay that supports it, and the Tern pages on this website. Tern is published by Zachery Gentry (“I,” “me,” or “my”). By using Tern, you agree to these terms.
When you get Tern from the App Store, your license to the app is Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement. These terms add to it. If the two ever conflict about the license, Apple’s agreement wins. Testing builds are provided for evaluation only.
How data is handled is described in the privacy policy, which is part of these terms.
2. Your Google account
Tern works with Gmail and Google Workspace accounts you’re allowed to use. You stay responsible for those accounts and for following Google’s terms and, for a Workspace account, your organization’s rules. Tern acts only on your instructions: when you send, delete, label or archive mail in Tern, it makes that change in your Google account.
Tern isn’t made, endorsed or supported by Google. Gmail’s availability, limits and behavior are up to Google.
3. Trial and purchase
Tern is planned as a free download with a 14-day trial of every feature. After the trial, a one-time purchase unlocks sending, triage actions and AI features on all your Mac, iPhone and iPad devices signed in to the same Apple Account, and for your Family Sharing group. Without it, you can keep reading and searching your mail.
Apple processes the payment. Refunds are handled by Apple under its policies; you can request one at reportaproblem.apple.com. Use Restore Purchases in the app to unlock Tern on a new device.
There’s no subscription. The purchase includes updates to the version you bought. A future major version may be offered as a separate purchase, and the version you bought keeps working.
4. AI features
AI features are optional. If you use your own API key, you’re using that provider’s service under your own agreement with it. Its terms, its charges and its handling of your data apply, and you’re responsible for the cost of your usage and for keeping your key safe.
AI can be wrong. Summaries can miss things, and drafts can say things you didn’t mean. Tern never sends anything an AI wrote without you choosing to send it, so read it first. Don’t rely on AI output for decisions that need professional advice.
5. Notifications and scheduled actions
Notifications, snoozes and scheduled sends depend on Gmail, Apple’s push service, the relay and your devices. I work to keep them reliable but can’t guarantee that every notification arrives or that every scheduled action happens at the exact moment you chose.
A scheduled message is sent by one of your devices. If none of them is reachable at the scheduled time, the message goes out when the first one comes back online. Don’t schedule mail where a delay would cause you harm.
6. Acceptable use
Don’t use Tern or its relay to:
- send spam, phishing or malware, or harass anyone;
- break the law or anyone else’s rights;
- access accounts or data you aren’t authorized to access;
- probe, overload, reverse-engineer or interfere with the relay, except as the law allows.
I may block devices from the relay that abuse it.
7. Changes to the app
I improve Tern through updates, which may add, change or, rarely, remove features. If Google, Apple or an AI provider changes or withdraws something Tern depends on, a feature may stop working; I’ll say so in the app or its release notes when that happens.
8. Disclaimers
Apart from what the law doesn’t let me exclude, Tern, the relay and these pages are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Keep your own copies of anything important: Gmail, not Tern, is where your mail is stored.
9. Limitation of liability
To the extent the law allows, I’m not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost data, profits or business, arising from your use of Tern. My total liability for any claim about Tern is limited to the amount you paid for it. Some places don’t allow these limits, so they may not all apply to you.
10. Ending
You can stop using Tern at any time by removing your accounts and deleting the app; the privacy policy explains what that removes. I may stop providing the relay to anyone who breaks these terms. Sections 8, 9 and 11 continue to apply after you stop using Tern.
11. Changes to these terms and governing law
I’ll post changes to these terms here and update the effective date. If a change is significant, I’ll also mention it in the app’s release notes. Continuing to use Tern after a change means you accept it.
These terms are governed by the laws of the place where the publisher of the app is established, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If you’re a consumer, you keep any protections the law of the country you live in gives you.
12. Contact
Questions about these terms: zacherygentry@gmail.com.