Terms of Use
- WordCue is a dictionary that explains the meaning of an English word in the context where you met it.
- The built-in dictionary works offline. Each lookup you start counts as a request, dictionary words included. Requests are limited on the Free plan and expanded by the Plus subscription bought through Apple; when the app offers them, Plus subscribers can also buy packs of extra requests.
- Explanations are generated by an AI model. They can be wrong. Use your judgment.
- You must be 13 or older. Don't abuse the service or try to work around its limits.
1. Agreement
These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and the developer of WordCue, an individual developer ("we", "us"). By installing or using the WordCue iPhone app (the "Service") you accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
The iPhone app is distributed through the App Store under Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement; these Terms add to it. Where the two conflict for the app, Apple's agreement prevails.
2. What the Service does
You give the Service an English word — typed, pasted, photographed, or spoken — and it shows you real meanings of that word so you can pick the one you actually met, then explains it in simple English at your level. It includes a built-in dictionary of over 1000 common words that works without a connection, and AI features that need a connection: explanations for words outside the built-in dictionary, "None of these — add the context", Translate, Similar words, Explain simpler, and photo recognition.
3. Age
You must be at least 13 years old to use WordCue. As a dictionary it explains vulgar and slang senses of everyday words honestly, with each such sense labeled; the App Store listing carries the matching age rating. The Service is not directed at children under 13.
4. No account
There are no user accounts. The app generates an anonymous random identifier on first launch, used only to count your requests against your plan, to attach a subscription and to hold any extra requests you buy. Keep your device backed up: the identifier, your saved words, and your settings live on the device, and if you lose them we cannot restore them. A subscription itself can always be restored through Apple with "Restore Purchases".
5. Your licence and acceptable use
We grant you a personal, non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to use the Service for learning English. You agree not to:
- use scripts, bots, or any automated means to send requests, or work around usage limits (for example by generating or sharing identifiers);
- use the AI features for anything other than understanding words and phrases — for example to obtain unrelated generated text, or to attempt to make the model ignore its instructions;
- send content that is illegal, or that you have no right to share, including photos containing other people's private information;
- copy, sell, or redistribute the Service or the built-in dictionary, or attempt to extract our prompts or reverse-engineer the app beyond what the law allows;
- interfere with the Service or the servers behind it.
We may throttle or block requests from an identifier that breaks these rules. Because we have no accounts, this is our only remedy — and it is not one we want to use.
6. AI-generated content
Meanings, explanations, examples, translations, "similar words", and text read from photos are generated by an AI model (currently provided through OpenAI's API) and are not reviewed by a person before you see them. They are usually good and sometimes wrong: a meaning may be inaccurate, a translation imprecise, an example unnatural, or a photo misread. The content is provided for language learning only and is not professional, legal, medical, financial, or any other advice. Do not rely on it where a mistake could matter; check an authoritative source when it does. The built-in offline dictionary was also produced with AI assistance and carries the same caveat.
7. Free plan, Plus and extra requests
Every lookup you start counts as a request, whether the answer comes from the built-in dictionary or from the AI. Requests are counted per plan:
| Plan | Price | Requests |
|---|---|---|
| Free | — | 5 per day |
| Plus | $5.99 per month or $39.99 per year | Unlimited, within the fair-use policy below; native speaker pronunciation included |
| Extra requests (when offered in the app) | $1.99 per pack of 500 (one-time purchase, Plus subscribers only) | Used after the monthly allowance; never expire |
Prices are in US dollars; the App Store shows the equivalent price in your local currency and applicable taxes before you confirm. One request is one successful lookup you start: a word you type, paste or say, a phrase you ask to explain in its context, or a photo you decode. A word answered from the built-in dictionary counts the same as one explained by the AI. The card for the meaning you pick and the Translate, Similar words and Explain simpler helpers on that card are part of the same lookup and are not counted; opening a word you have already saved is not counted either. Requests that fail are not counted. When your device has no connection you can still look up words in the built-in dictionary; those lookups cannot be counted, so they are not. Daily counters reset at midnight in your device's time zone, and monthly counters on the first day of the month in that zone; the zone is the one your device reported when it first used the Service, so changing the clock or the zone on the device does not renew an allowance.
- Free trial. Both plans start with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. When the trial ends, the price of the plan you chose is charged to your Apple ID account unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Apple grants one introductory offer per subscription group, so a trial already used on one plan is not offered again on the other.
- Auto-renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically for the same period and price unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple ID account is charged within 24 hours before the renewal.
- Managing and cancelling. Manage or cancel any time in your Apple ID subscription settings (Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions, or "Manage Subscription" in the app). Cancelling stops future renewals; access continues until the end of the period already paid.
- Refunds. Purchases are made through Apple and refunds are handled by Apple under App Store terms; we cannot issue them ourselves.
- Restore. After a reinstall or a new device, tap "Restore Purchases" in the app with the same Apple ID. This restores the subscription and moves any unused extra requests to the new installation.
- Extra requests. When the app offers them, a Plus subscriber who reaches the monthly fair-use cap can buy a pack of 500 extra requests for a one-time payment. Extra requests are not a subscription and do not renew. They are spent only after the monthly allowance of the current period is used up, they never expire, and they stay with the app installation they were bought on (see section 4). Like all purchases they are made through Apple, and refunds are handled by Apple.
- Price changes. If we change a subscription price, Apple will notify you in advance and, where required, ask for your consent before the new price applies.
8. Fair use on Plus
"Unlimited" on Plus means you will not run into a limit in normal personal use — even heavy use. To keep the Service sustainable and fast for everyone, Plus includes a fair-use cap of 5,000 requests per calendar month. After that you can continue with extra requests when the app offers them (section 7) or wait for the next month; saved words and pronunciation keep working either way. In addition, every plan has an anti-abuse guard of 100 requests per hour that a person using the app will not reach; it exists to stop automated scripts, and a separate guard pauses requests for the rest of the hour after repeated failed requests. Hitting any of these limits is not a breach of these Terms, but sustained usage patterns that only automation could produce are (see section 5).
9. Availability and changes
We work to keep the Service available, but it depends on third parties (Apple, the AI provider, hosting) and it can be interrupted. AI requests may be temporarily unavailable when the Service is at capacity; the offline dictionary keeps working. We may change, add, or remove features, and we may discontinue the Service or a plan with reasonable notice; in that case any prepaid period is handled according to App Store rules.
10. Your content
You keep all rights to the words, context, and photos you submit. You give us permission to process them, through our server and our AI provider, solely to produce the result you asked for. We do not keep the content of your requests; see the Privacy Policy for details and for how the AI provider handles it. You are responsible for what you submit.
11. Our content
The app, its design, the built-in dictionary, and the prompts behind the AI features belong to us. Explanations generated for you may be used freely for your own learning, including sharing a card with a friend. The app includes open-source components under their own licences.
12. Disclaimer and limitation of liability
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we make no warranties about its accuracy, reliability, or fitness for a particular purpose, and we are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential losses, or for losses arising from reliance on AI-generated content. Where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability to you for all claims is limited to the amount you paid us for the Service in the twelve months before the claim arose. Nothing in these Terms limits rights that consumer-protection law in your country gives you and that cannot be waived.
13. Termination
You can stop using the Service at any time by uninstalling the app (remember to cancel any subscription in your Apple ID settings first — uninstalling does not cancel it). We may suspend or block access for an identifier used in breach of these Terms.
14. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the country where the developer resides, except where the mandatory consumer-protection law of the country where you live applies instead.
15. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. The current version, with its effective date, is always at wordcue.pages.dev/terms. Meaningful changes will also be mentioned in the app's release notes. Continuing to use the Service after a change means you accept the updated Terms.
16. Contact
Questions about these Terms: tehon125@gmail.com.