Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Cute Apple ("we", "us", "our"). Cute Apple is a community platform where families can organise playdates, and a philanthropy-first initiative that mobilises families, businesses and supporters to fund causes that improve children's lives through donations, curated campaigns and a children's-art auction.

You agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy when you tick the agreement box to create an account or sign in, and whenever you use Cute Apple, including when you give as a guest, send us a form or browse without an account. If you don't agree, please don't use the platform.

These Terms apply to everyone who uses Cute Apple in any way: members, guest donors, visitors and anyone who sends us a form. Some sections apply to you only when you take on a particular role, for example volunteer, ambassador, sponsor or partner, artwork submitter, playdate organiser, group admin or photo uploader. Those parts apply to you from the moment you take on the role.

Please read sections 13 to 21 carefully. They give you a limited licence to use the platform, explain what Cute Apple is and is not responsible for, ask you to accept certain risks, limit our liability and ask you to cover losses caused by your own conduct. Section 22 sets out the consumer rights these Terms do not take away.

You can contact us at any time through cuteapple.org/contact.

You can sign in with an emailed code, a password, Google or Apple. Your email address is confirmed when you sign up. Phone and government ID verification are optional, and are offered only where we have switched them on. You agree to give accurate information and to keep your sign-in details secure.

A family has one primary parent and may add a co-parent. Some actions, such as creating groups or playdates, deleting a child profile or changing family settings, are limited to the primary parent.

Playdates are currently available only in the countries where Cute Apple has confirmed it can operate safely and legally (Australia at launch). Giving and auction bidding are open worldwide.

Cute Apple does not conduct background checks and does not verify or make any representation about any user's identity, background, history, character or conduct. You are responsible for deciding whether to interact or meet with other users and for supervising your own children at all times.

We may suspend or remove any account, group or content that we reasonably believe compromises child safety, without prior notice. Reporting tools and moderation are there to help the community. They are not a promise that we monitor users, content or events, or that we will detect or prevent harm.

Group admins: a group admin is a member who has chosen to help run a group. A group admin is not our employee, agent or representative and acts on their own judgment. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Cute Apple team is not responsible for what a group admin or any group member does or does not do, including decisions to invite, approve, warn or remove members, posts or messages. If you become a group admin you agree to apply the group's rules fairly and in good faith, and that sections 15, 17 and 19 apply to what you do in that role.

If the organiser sets a budget, it is shared between the organising family and each family that replies Yes. Nothing is charged until the minimum number of families the organiser set (including the organiser) have said Yes. At that point each family's share is charged to its saved card, or the family can pay from the playdate page. The share is then locked: a family that joins later pays the same amount, and any amount collected above the budget goes to the organiser. This is explained to families before they say Yes.

Families pay Cute Apple through Stripe. After the playdate has ended, the collected money is transferred to the organiser's Stripe account (which the organiser sets up on the playdate page), less the card processing fee that Stripe charges for each payment, and less any platform fee shown on the playdate. Cute Apple adds no fee of its own to shared costs unless a platform fee is shown on the playdate, and the share a family sees is the amount it pays: no extra fee is added on top (a family's own bank may charge for an overseas card). If an organiser cancels a playdate, every family that has already paid is refunded in full automatically.

Cute Apple is not a party to the arrangements families make with each other. We do not organise, host, supervise or attend playdates, do not inspect any venue, and do not check any activity, food, safety plan, allergy or medical information that users give each other. Sections 14 and 15 say more about this.

Organisers: if you organise a playdate you do so as a private individual, not on our behalf. You are responsible for the venue, the activity, supervision, food and drink, the safety plan you publish and the people you let in. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree that sections 15, 17 and 19 apply to every playdate you organise or host.

Donations are not tax-deductible (see section 1) and are non-refundable, except where we made an error, a gift was duplicated or unauthorised, or the law requires a refund. To ask about a gift, contact us with the email you gave with.

Projects that receive funds may be carried out by other organisations or people. We choose them in good faith but do not control them, and we do not promise that a campaign will reach its goal or that a project will achieve a particular result.

Guest donors: you do not need an account to give. If you give as a guest you confirm you are entitled to use the payment method, and you agree to these Terms by giving. Sections 15 to 22 apply to you in the same way as they apply to a member, as far as they relate to your gift and your use of the platform.

Sponsors and partners: a sponsor or partner who pledges money, matching or help acts for itself. We name a sponsor or partner publicly only after it has confirmed in writing that we may. A sponsor or partner is responsible for the accuracy of what it gives us, including its name, logo and claims, and confirms it has the right to let us use them. Matching means the sponsor has pledged to match gifts: it is the sponsor's pledge, and to the maximum extent permitted by law the Cute Apple team is not liable if a sponsor does not pay or does not meet its pledge. To the maximum extent permitted by law, a sponsor or partner releases the Cute Apple team on the terms of section 17, and indemnifies it on the terms of section 19, as those sections apply to the sponsor's or partner's conduct, content and claims.

Artwork is original work made by children and is sold as described and pictured in the listing. Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law, including consumer guarantees that cannot be excluded. If artwork is not as described, contact us and we will review it.

Artwork you give us: a parent or guardian who submits a child's artwork confirms that they are that child's parent or legal guardian, that the artwork is the child's own original work, and that they are entitled to give it to us. By submitting it, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, you give Cute Apple a non-exclusive licence to photograph, list, describe, display and sell the artwork, and to show the artist's first name or initials as you allow, on the platform and on related campaign pages. This licence does not cover press, advertising or social media use of the child's name, face or other likeness, and we will ask for your separate written consent before any other use. You give these confirmations and this licence for yourself as the child's parent or guardian. Nothing in this paragraph waives a child's own rights beyond what the law allows. If any confirmation you give is untrue, section 19 applies to you.

Ideas and suggestions you post on the Feedback Board may be used by us without payment or obligation. Posts and comments are reviewed before they appear, and we may remove content that breaks these Terms.

Photo uploaders: if you add a photo that shows a child or another family, you confirm that you took the photo or have the right to use it, and that you have the permission of every family pictured. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release the Cute Apple team, and indemnify it on the terms of section 19, against any claim by a person pictured, or by their parent or guardian, about that photo or how you used it. We will remove a photo on request, but we cannot control copies made by people who were able to see it.

Volunteers and ambassadors: when you tick the acknowledgement on the Help Cute Apple form, and when you volunteer or act as an ambassador, you agree, to the maximum extent permitted by law, that (a) you take part at your own risk, including the risk of injury, illness and loss of or damage to your property; (b) you release the Cute Apple team from every claim, loss and cost arising from or connected with your volunteering or ambassador activity, including claims by other people; (c) you indemnify the Cute Apple team against loss it suffers because of what you do or say in that role, including anything that breaks our guidelines; (d) you are not an employee or contractor of Cute Apple, and we do not promise that any insurance of ours covers you, so you should arrange your own cover where you think you need it; and (e) you will not speak for Cute Apple beyond our guidelines, and will not describe Cute Apple as a registered charity or a gift as tax-deductible. Paragraphs (b) and (c) do not apply to the extent that the loss was caused by our own negligence, fraud or breach, and nothing in this paragraph limits a right that cannot lawfully be excluded (section 22). We may ask a skilled volunteer to sign a separate agreement as well; where we do, that agreement and these Terms are read together.

The licence does not let you use the platform for anything unlawful or harmful, collect other users' information or contact them for commercial purposes, copy, scrape or reverse engineer the platform, interfere with its security, or use it on behalf of someone else without their authority.

We may change, suspend or withdraw any part of the platform, and may suspend or end your licence if you break these Terms or to protect other users. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you first.

Playdates, connections, groups and messages: we provide the tools that let families find each other, talk and make their own arrangements. We are not a party to those arrangements. We do not organise, host, supervise, attend or control any playdate or meeting, and we are not an agent, carer, employer or insurer of any user.

No vetting: we do not run background, criminal-record or working-with-children checks. A verification badge shows only that an email address, phone number or identity document was confirmed at one point in time. It is not an endorsement and says nothing about a person's character, safety or suitability.

Shared playdate costs: we collect and pass on shared costs through Stripe as a convenience to the organiser and the attending families. We are not a party to what the money is spent on, and any disagreement about it is between the organiser and those families.

Giving: donations are gifts to Cute Apple. We receive them and decide in good faith how they are allocated, in line with the campaign's stated purpose (section 5).

The auction: we list and sell artwork that families have given to us. Section 6 and the Auction Terms apply.

Group admins, playdate organisers, volunteers, ambassadors, sponsors and partners act for themselves. They are not our employees or agents, and what they say is their own.

Content from users: profiles, messages, photos, group descriptions, feedback and safety information come from users. We do not check that they are accurate or complete.

You alone are responsible for deciding whether to connect with, meet or share information with another user, for supervising your own children at all times, for checking any venue, activity, food, drink or transport yourself, for telling an organiser directly about any allergy, medical or other need rather than relying only on what the app shows, and for arranging any insurance you want.

Allergy, medical and emergency-contact details shown in the app are entered by other users. We do not check them, and they may be wrong, incomplete or out of date.

Between families: each family that takes part in a playdate, group event or meeting arranged through Cute Apple, whether as organiser, host, attendee or invitee, agrees with every other family taking part that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, it releases those families from claims arising from the ordinary risks of children playing together and from the acts of the children present, except to the extent that the loss was caused by that other family's fraud or wilful misconduct. You give this release for yourself as a parent or guardian. It does not waive a child's own rights beyond what the law allows, and it does not release anyone from a liability that the law does not allow to be released. Each family may rely on this paragraph against another.

Every condition, warranty and guarantee that is not written in these Terms is excluded, except those that cannot lawfully be excluded (section 22).

The Cute Apple team's total liability to you for everything arising from or connected with the platform or these Terms, whether in contract, negligence or otherwise, is limited, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to the greater of AUD 100 and the amount you paid to Cute Apple, in the 12 months before the claim arose, for the gift, purchase or service the claim is about.

Where a guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law applies and the law lets us limit our liability for not meeting it, our liability is limited, at our choice, to supplying the service again or paying the cost of having it supplied again or, for goods, to replacing or repairing them or paying the cost of doing so.

Our liability is reduced to the extent that you or someone else caused or contributed to the loss.

Sections 15 to 19 apply to everyone who uses Cute Apple, with or without an account, as far as they relate to what that person does, posts, sends, gives or agrees to.

This indemnity does not apply to the extent that the loss was caused by our own negligence, fraud or breach of these Terms. We will take reasonable steps to reduce any loss we claim under it.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by our own negligence where the law does not allow that liability to be limited.

This section applies to every role described in these Terms, including guest donor, volunteer, ambassador, sponsor, partner, artwork submitter, playdate organiser, group admin and photo uploader. Every protection for Cute Apple in these Terms is given only to the maximum extent permitted by law.

If you use the platform without an account, using it after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.