THE RIGHT PEOPLE. THE RIGHT CONTEXT.

These Terms of Use are an agreement between you and Thought Garden Labs LLC, a New York company (“Walkstack,” “we,” “us”). They cover the Walkstack iPhone app and walkstack.world (together, the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Who can use Walkstack

You must be at least 18 and able to enter a binding contract. If you use Walkstack for a business, you confirm that you can accept these Terms for it. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in details secure, keeping your account information accurate, and for activity on your account. Do not share your account.

2. What Walkstack is, and what it is not

Walkstack is software. It helps independent pet-care providers (“walkers”) and the pet owners they work with (“owners”) coordinate care: schedules, visit requests, care plans, visit reports, messages, invoices, and payments.

Walkstack is not a party to any agreement between a walker and an owner. The walker and the owner decide the services, prices, schedule, cancellation terms, and anything else between them, and each is responsible for keeping those promises.
Walkstack is not an employer. Walkers are independent businesses, not our employees, agents, or contractors. We do not direct, supervise, or control their work.
Walkstack is not an insurer. We do not provide insurance, bonding, or any guarantee of a walker’s services. Profile details such as “insured” or “bonded” are provided by the walker, and we do not verify them.
Walkstack does not screen or background-check walkers or owners unless we say so in writing. Owners choose whom to invite. Walkers choose whom to serve.
Walkstack is not a veterinary service or an emergency service. For an animal-health or safety emergency, contact local emergency services or a veterinarian.

Walkers are responsible for their own licenses, permits, insurance, taxes, client agreements, and emergency procedures. Owners are responsible for giving accurate care instructions and lawful access to their home and pets.

3. Walker membership

Walkers need an active Walker membership to start new care in the app. The membership is an auto-renewing subscription sold through Apple’s App Store:

$39.99 per month or $399.99 per year (US prices; the App Store shows the price in your country before you buy).
7-day free trial on the monthly and yearly plans, for eligible new subscribers. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, the subscription starts and you are charged. Any unused part of a free trial ends when you buy a subscription.
Founding rate: $29.99 per month, locked for life. Walkers offered the founding rate in the app keep that price for as long as that founding subscription stays active. The founding rate has no free trial. If it is canceled or lapses, the standard price applies to any new subscription.

Payment is charged to your Apple ID account when you confirm the purchase. Your subscription renews automatically at the same price and for the same period 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. You can manage or cancel your subscription and turn off auto-renew at any time after purchase in your Apple ID subscription settings (on iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions). Canceling stops future renewals. Access continues until the end of the period you have paid for.

Apple handles billing and refunds under its own terms. Refund requests go to Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Deleting the app or your Walkstack account does not cancel your subscription. If we change the price, Apple will notify you as its rules require, and you can cancel before the change applies. Without an active membership, you keep access to your existing care records, but you cannot start new care.

4. Owners join free

Pet owners use Walkstack free of charge. Owners join when a walker invites them. Owners pay their walker for pet-care services as agreed between them, not Walkstack.

5. Payments between owners and walkers

Card and bank payments for pet-care services are processed by Stripe on the walker’s own Stripe account. The owner pays the walker directly: the payment goes to the walker’s Stripe account, not to Walkstack, and the walker is the seller. To accept payments, a walker creates a Stripe account or connects one they already have, and agrees to Stripe’s terms, including the Stripe Services Agreement (stripe.com/legal/ssa). Stripe may ask for identity, tax, and bank details and decides whether to approve an account. Walkstack is not a bank or a money transmitter and does not hold care payments.

Walkstack takes 0% of what walkers earn. We add no platform fee or markup to client payments.
Card payments: the walker pays Stripe’s card processing fee. Stripe takes it from that payment on the walker’s own Stripe account. Stripe’s standard US online card rate is currently 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge, and some cards, such as international cards, cost more. Walkstack does not pay card fees.
Bank (ACH) payments: Walkstack pays the bank fee. Stripe takes the fee from the payment on the walker’s Stripe account, and Walkstack then pays that amount back to the walker’s Stripe account in a separate transfer, so the walker keeps the full invoice amount.
Saved payment methods and autopay: an owner can save one card or bank account for each walker and set a limit per charge. This authorizes that walker to charge it for invoices they have issued to that owner, up to the limit. An issued invoice is charged automatically on its due date, and the walker can also start a charge. If a charge fails, it may be retried 1, 3, and 7 days after the first failure, and then stops. An invoice above the limit is not charged. An owner can withdraw the authorization at any time in the app. Unpaid invoices will then not be charged, and payments already made are not affected.
Manual payments, such as cash, can be recorded on an invoice. Walkstack does not process them.
Refunds, disputes, and chargebacks are between the owner and the walker, handled through Stripe’s processes on the walker’s Stripe account. Walkers are responsible for their own taxes.

Walker membership fees are paid only through the App Store, never through Stripe.

6. Your content

You own the content you add to Walkstack, including photos, video clips, notes, care plans, and messages (“your content”). You give Walkstack a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, process, transmit, and display your content only to run the Service for you and for the people you share it with (for example, showing a visit’s photos to that household), and to keep the Service secure and working. We do not use your content for advertising, and we do not publish it outside the Service without your permission. The license ends when your content is deleted. It continues only where needed for content you have shared with others under our Privacy Policy, for records we must keep, and for a limited time in backups. Messages are encrypted end to end, and we cannot read them.

You confirm you have the rights and permissions needed for your content. For walkers, that means following each household’s camera rules: take photos or clips inside a home only when that household allows it.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

break any law, or use Walkstack to harm, harass, threaten, or deceive anyone, or to mistreat an animal;
use home addresses, entry notes, or access codes for anything other than an authorized visit, or share them with anyone the owner has not approved;
photograph or record people, homes, or pets against a household’s rules, or upload content you do not have the right to share;
impersonate anyone, create fake accounts, or misstate your qualifications, insurance, or bonding;
access data you are not authorized to see, probe or break our security, or get around subscription or access limits;
scrape, copy, resell, reverse engineer, or interfere with the Service, or upload malware; or
send spam or unsolicited messages through invitations, email, or messages.

8. The App Store and Apple

Your use of the iPhone app is also governed by Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the standard Apple EULA) at apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula. These Terms are between you and Walkstack, not Apple. Apple is not responsible for the app, its content, maintenance, support, warranty, or any claim about it, including product liability, legal compliance, or intellectual-property claims. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

9. Other services

Walkstack works with services run by others, including Apple (App Store, Sign in with Apple, notifications, and Apple Maps), Stripe, and email delivery. Their own terms apply to your use of them, and we are not responsible for them.

10. Ending your account

You can stop using Walkstack at any time and delete your account in the app (Settings → Request account deletion), as described in our Privacy Policy. Cancel any App Store subscription separately with Apple. We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, put people, pets, or homes at risk, create legal risk for us, or if we stop offering the Service. When we can, we will give notice and a chance to export your records. Sections 2, 5 through 7, and 11 through 16 continue after your account ends.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that GPS routes, distances, or times will be exact, or that notifications, emails, or payments will arrive at any particular time. We are not responsible for the conduct, services, or content of any walker or owner.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Walkstack and its members, employees, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill. We will also not be liable for injury to people or animals, or for loss of or damage to property, arising from pet-care services or from dealings between walkers and owners. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid Walkstack in the 12 months before the claim, or US $100. Some places do not allow these limits, so some of them may not apply to you.

13. Indemnity

To the extent the law allows, you will defend and indemnify Walkstack against third-party claims, and related costs, that arise from your content, your pet-care services or dealings with other users, or your breach of these Terms or the law.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Before filing a claim, please email support@walkstack.world so we can try to resolve it informally within 30 days. Any dispute that is not resolved will be heard only in the state or federal courts in New York County, New York, and you and we consent to those courts’ jurisdiction. Either side may bring a qualifying claim in small-claims court.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. If you continue to use the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms.

16. General

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and Apple’s EULA for the app are the entire agreement between you and Walkstack about the Service. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a right, we have not waived it. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent. We may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

Questions about these Terms: support@walkstack.world · Thought Garden Labs LLC, New York