terms of use.

These Terms of Use are an agreement between you and Degrees App Inc. (“Degrees,” “we,” “us”). By creating an account or using the Degrees app you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use Degrees.

You must be at least 21 years old to use Degrees. We collect your date of birth at sign-up and actively monitor accounts for compliance; accounts that misrepresent their age may be suspended or removed. Degrees does not sell or serve alcohol; bars are independent businesses and their entry, ID, and service rules apply.

By using Degrees, you further represent and warrant that you have never been convicted of, or pled no contest to, any crime involving violence, a threat of violence, or sexual misconduct.

Accounts are created with your phone number. You’re responsible for the accuracy of your profile and for activity on your account. You may delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Delete account).

Degrees connects real people at real places, so we hold a zero-tolerance policy for objectionable content and abusive behavior. You agree not to:

• use a name, username, photo, or message that is hateful, harassing, threatening, defamatory, obscene, or sexually explicit;
• harass, stalk, intimidate, or harm another user, in the app or in person;
• impersonate any person or misrepresent who you are;
• use Degrees for spam, promotion, or any unlawful purpose;
• attempt to probe, disrupt, or reverse-engineer the service.

Every user surface in the app includes tools to block and report other users. We review reports and act on objectionable content or abusive users within 24 hours, including removing content and terminating accounts.

Degrees does not host a feed, and members do not post content. The information you provide consists of your profile (name, username, and profile photograph) and your activity on the service (friendships, invites, waves, and bar assignments). As between you and Degrees, you retain ownership of your profile content. You hereby grant Degrees a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, adapt, and use your profile content and activity in connection with operating, promoting, and improving the service, including to display your profile to your connections and their connections, to operate the Wednesday reveal, to render network graphs, and to depict the service — including actual member profiles — in Degrees marketing materials, screenshots, and demonstrations. Degrees may remove any content that violates these Terms. Any ideas, suggestions, or feedback you submit to Degrees may be used by Degrees for any purpose without compensation or attribution.

The service may include sponsored content and partner promotions, such as a brand sponsoring a first drink or partner branding appearing on the Wednesday reveal. Sponsored content is displayed to all members on the same basis and is not targeted using your personal information. Partner offers are fulfilled by independent venues, not by Degrees. All offers are available only to persons twenty-one (21) years of age or older and remain subject at all times to each venue’s identification and service policies. Degrees does not sell, serve, or furnish alcohol.

Degrees-routed nights and Degrees events (including launch events) may be photographed, filmed, or otherwise recorded by Degrees or by third parties engaged by Degrees. By attending a Degrees-routed night or a Degrees event, you irrevocably consent to being photographed, filmed, and recorded, and you grant Degrees a worldwide, perpetual, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free right and license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, display, and distribute such content — including your image, likeness, voice, and first name — in the app, on Degrees’ social media channels, in marketing and advertising materials, and in co-branded content with Degrees’ sponsors and partners, in any media now known or later developed, without compensation, and you waive any right to inspect or approve such use. The same license applies to any photographs or other content you submit to Degrees for potential featuring, whether through the app or by tagging or sending content to Degrees’ social accounts, and you represent and warrant that you have obtained the consent of each identifiable person appearing in any content you submit. If you prefer not to appear, notify the photographer at the event or email matthew@trydegrees.com, and Degrees will take commercially reasonable steps to exclude you from published content or to remove a specified post.

DEGREES DOES NOT CONDUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS OR IDENTITY VERIFICATION ON ANY MEMBER, VENUE, OR OTHER PERSON, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE CONDUCT, IDENTITY, OR INTENTIONS OF ANY MEMBER OR THE SUITABILITY OR SAFETY OF ANY VENUE. Venues are independent businesses that determine their own admission, identification, and service policies. You acknowledge that attending bars and social events involves inherent risks, including risk of personal injury, illness, and property damage, and YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER MEMBERS AND THIRD PARTIES AND FOR YOUR OWN CONDUCT, BOTH ON AND OFF THE SERVICE. Use your best judgment when meeting others, drink responsibly, and never drive while impaired. Degrees makes no representation or guarantee regarding the identity or number of members who will attend any venue on any night.

We may suspend or terminate your access at any time for violating these terms. You may stop using Degrees and delete your account at any time.

Degrees is provided “as is,” without warranties of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Degrees App Inc. is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service, and our total liability is limited to US $100.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Degrees App, Inc. and its officers, directors, employees, agents, and partners from and against any and all claims, demands, losses, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your conduct, your account, any content or information you provide or submit, or your breach of these Terms.

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT REQUIRES THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND DEGREES BE RESOLVED THROUGH BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION RATHER THAN IN COURT, AND IT INCLUDES A CLASS ACTION WAIVER AND A JURY TRIAL WAIVER. YOU MAY OPT OUT AS DESCRIBED IN SUBSECTION (h) BELOW.

(a) Informal Resolution.Before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding, you and Degrees each agree to first attempt to resolve any Dispute informally. The party asserting the Dispute shall send a written notice (a “Notice”) — to matthew@trydegrees.com if directed to Degrees, or to the contact information associated with your account if directed to you — describing the nature and basis of the Dispute and the specific relief sought. For sixty (60) days following receipt of a completed Notice, the parties shall negotiate in good faith to resolve the Dispute. Completion of this informal process is a condition precedent to commencing any arbitration or court action, and any applicable statute of limitations shall be tolled while it is pending. “Dispute” means any dispute, claim, or controversy between you and Degrees arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Privacy Policy, the app, or the service, whether based in contract, tort, statute, or any other legal theory, including claims that arose before your acceptance of these Terms.

(b) Agreement to Arbitrate.Except as provided in subsection (c), any Dispute not resolved informally shall be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect, as modified by this Section. The arbitration shall be seated in New York County, New York, or conducted by videoconference at your election. This arbitration agreement is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Payment of filing, administrative, and arbitrator fees shall be governed by the AAA’s rules; if you demonstrate in your Notice that paying your share of the filing fee would impose a genuine hardship, Degrees will consider paying it on your behalf.

(c) Exceptions. Notwithstanding subsection (b): (i) either party may bring an individual claim in a small claims court of competent jurisdiction; (ii) claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment may, at your election, be brought in court in accordance with the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act; and (iii) either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court for actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation, or misuse of intellectual property, or unauthorized access to or misuse of the service.

(d) Class Action Waiver; Jury Trial Waiver.TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AND DEGREES EACH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY AND THE RIGHT TO BRING, JOIN, OR PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR ARBITRATION. The arbitrator may award relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to resolve that party’s individual claim. If a court of competent jurisdiction finally determines that this subsection (d) is unenforceable as to a particular claim or request for relief, then that claim or request for relief, and only that claim or request for relief, shall be severed and may proceed in court, stayed pending arbitration of all remaining claims.

(e) Mass Filings.If twenty-five (25) or more similar demands for arbitration are filed against Degrees by the same or coordinated counsel or organizations, the AAA’s rules and procedures applicable to multiple or mass case filings shall apply, and the parties agree that the demands shall proceed in staged proceedings of ten (10) cases per round, five (5) selected by each side, with a global mediation between rounds. Filing and administrative fees for any demand shall become due only when that demand is selected to proceed.

(f) Time Limitation on Claims. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service must be filed within one (1) year after the claim arose; otherwise, the claim is permanently barred.

(g) Severability; Survival. Except as provided in subsection (d), if any portion of this Section is found to be unenforceable, the remainder shall remain in full force and effect. This Section survives termination of your account and of these Terms.

(h) Opt-Out. You may reject this arbitration agreement (and only this Section) by emailing matthew@trydegrees.com within thirty (30) days of first creating your account, stating your name, the telephone number associated with your account, and your intent to opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms.

Degrees may modify these Terms from time to time; material changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date, and your continued use of the service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles, except that the arbitration agreement above is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. Any claim not subject to arbitration or brought in small claims court shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Degrees regarding the service and supersede all prior agreements and understandings, written or oral. Degrees may assign these Terms without restriction; you may not assign these Terms or your account, and your account is personal to you and non-transferable. Nothing in these Terms creates any partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship between you and Degrees. Degrees’ failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

Degrees App Inc. · matthew@trydegrees.com