Terms of Use

Version 1.3 | Effective Date: 2025-12-08

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Retroflight web service (the Service), operated by the individual owner of Retroflight ("Retroflight", "we", "us", "our").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.

If you use the Service on behalf of a company or organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that entity, and "you" also refers to that entity.

2. Description of the Service

Retroflight is a web-based animation generator that allows you to:

Register an account via email/password or OAuth (Google, GitHub)
Upload images or photos which are turned into a 2D arcade-style hero character using AI
Upload flight data (e.g., Excel/CSV) or manually input flight routes
Generate 2D arcade-style world-map flight animations and export video files
Purchase credits via Stripe to run AI generations and video renders

We may update, improve, or modify features over time. Certain features or parts of the Service may be in beta and can change or be removed at any time.

3. User Accounts and Credits

3.1 Eligibility

You must:

Be at least 18 years old (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction), and
Have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract.

The Service is not intended for children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has created an account, we may delete it.

3.2 Registration and Security

You can register using:

Email and password, or
An OAuth provider (e.g., Google, GitHub).

You agree to:

Provide accurate and up-to-date information,
Keep your credentials confidential, and
Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account.

You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account.

3.3 Credits and Payments

The Service operates on a credit system. Credits are required to perform certain actions, such as:
AI hero image generations
Video creation/rendering
No free initial credits: When you create an account, your credit balances for AI generations and video creations start at zero. You must purchase credits before using any credit-based features.
Credits are sold via Stripe or other payment processors we may add in the future. Prices, bundles, and what each credit includes (e.g., "1 credit = X AI generations + Y video renders") are shown in the Service and may be adjusted over time for future purchases.
Credits:
Are associated with your account and are non-transferable.
Are typically non-refundable, except where required by mandatory law or as explicitly stated in the Service.
May be deducted when you trigger certain actions (e.g., when you confirm a render or AI generation), even if you later decide not to use the resulting output.
We may correct obvious balance errors (for example, due to system bugs or failed payments) by adjusting your credit balances.

Payment processing is handled by Stripe. We do not store your full payment card details.

4. User Content and Storage

4.1 User Content

"User Content" means any data, files, or material you upload or submit to the Service, including:

Images and photos you upload for hero creation
Flight data (e.g., Excel/CSV with routes, dates, airports)
Any other content you provide

You remain the owner of your User Content.

You are responsible for:

Having all necessary rights and permissions to upload and use the User Content, and
Ensuring that User Content and your use of it with the Service are lawful in your jurisdiction.

4.2 License to Retroflight

Solely for the purpose of operating and improving the Service, you grant Retroflight a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to:

Host, store, process, transform, and display your User Content, and
Generate derived works (e.g., AI hero images, videos) as part of the Service.

This license ends when your User Content is deleted from our systems in accordance with these Terms and our Privacy Policy, except to the extent we must retain certain data for legal or security reasons.

4.3 Content Storage and Retention

We store your content on infrastructure hosted in the EU (currently Azure Blob Storage in Frankfurt, Germany, and CockroachDB on AWS in Frankfurt, plus application servers at Hetzner in Germany).

Content is stored as follows (subject to technical and operational constraints):

Generated videos:
Videos are stored for a limited time only.
The expiry date is determined solely by Retroflight and cannot be set or changed by you.
As of the Effective Date of these Terms, our typical retention period is about 30 days from creation, but we may adjust this for operational, technical, or legal reasons.
The Service may display an indicative expiry date for each video; this is informational and does not guarantee availability.
Hero images and thumbnails ("heros"):
Stored for as long as your account is active or until you delete them, subject to technical limits and our housekeeping routines.
Backups and logs:
Technical backups and system logs may retain references to your content for a longer period, but they are generally not accessible through the normal user interface.

We may delete or remove content at any time if:

It violates these Terms or applicable law,
It poses security or technical risks, or
We discontinue or significantly change the Service.

You are responsible for downloading or backing up any videos or other outputs you wish to keep. We are not liable if content is deleted or becomes unavailable.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

Upload or generate content that:
Violates any law or the rights of others (including privacy, publicity, copyright, trademark, or other IP rights),
Is defamatory, hateful, or promotes violence,
Contains sexual or explicit content involving minors, or
Contains malware, viruses, or other harmful code.
Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise misuse the Service or underlying models.
Bypass or circumvent security features or access controls.
Use automated tools (bots, scrapers) in a way that overloads or harms the Service.
Misrepresent your identity or affiliation.

We may investigate and, where appropriate, suspend or terminate accounts involved in suspected violations.

6. Intellectual Property

Except for User Content, all elements of the Service—including software, design, graphics, text, and logos—are owned by or licensed to Retroflight and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.

You receive a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for personal or internal business purposes in accordance with these Terms.

You may:

Download and use videos and other outputs you generate for personal or commercial purposes, subject to any third-party rights (for example, rights in the original uploaded photo or in third-party logos you include).

You may not:

Copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the Service itself,
Remove or alter any proprietary notices, or
Claim ownership over the Service or its underlying technology.

7. Third-Party Services

The Service integrates with third-party providers, including:

Stripe – for payment processing
OpenAI (or similar AI providers) – for image and content generation
Google Analytics – for usage analysis, where you have given consent via the cookie banner
Meta (Facebook Pixel and Conversions API) – for advertising measurement and attribution, where you have given consent via the cookie banner

Your use of those services may also be governed by the terms and policies of the respective providers. We are not responsible for their terms or practices.

Note on Meta Conversions API: When you consent to marketing cookies, we may send certain events (such as registration and purchases) from our servers to Meta using their Conversions API. This is done with hashed (pseudonymized) data to protect your privacy while enabling advertising attribution. No data is sent to Meta unless you have consented via the cookie banner.

8. Fees, Payments, and Refunds

Prices for credits and any other paid features are displayed in the Service and may change for future purchases.

You are responsible for:

All applicable taxes (unless we explicitly state otherwise), and
Providing accurate billing information.

Except where required by law or explicitly stated in the Service:

Payments are final and non-refundable, and
Unused credits are not redeemable for cash.

If a payment is reversed, disputed, or refunded, we may deduct the corresponding credits from your account or suspend your use of the Service.

9. Disclaimers

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we do not make any warranties, express or implied, including:

Fitness for a particular purpose,
Non-infringement,
Availability, reliability, or accuracy of the Service or outputs.

AI-generated content can sometimes be inaccurate, incomplete, or inappropriate. You are responsible for reviewing outputs before relying on them.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

Retroflight will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or business opportunities, arising from or related to your use of the Service.
Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will be limited to the amounts you have paid to us in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim (or, if you have not paid, to EUR 50).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability for:

Death or personal injury caused by negligence,
Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or
Any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Retroflight from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to:

Your use of the Service,
Your User Content, or
Your breach of these Terms or violation of any law or third-party rights.

12. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and may request deletion of your account through the available mechanisms.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if:

You materially breach these Terms,
You misuse the Service or engage in illegal activity, or
We decide to discontinue the Service.

Upon termination:

Your right to use the Service ceases, and
We may delete or anonymize your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy, subject to legal retention obligations (for example, keeping masked records of your consent and transactions for a limited period).

13. Changes to the Service and These Terms

We may modify the Service or these Terms from time to time.

We will notify you of material changes, for example by:

Updating the Effective Date and version at the top, and/or
Providing an in-app notice or requiring re-acceptance.

If you continue using the Service after changes take effect, you are deemed to have accepted the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service.

14. Governing Law and Disputes

Unless mandatory law provides otherwise:

These Terms and your use of the Service are governed by the laws of Germany, excluding its conflict of laws rules.
Courts in Germany (venue to be specified in the imprint) shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you may benefit from mandatory consumer protection rules of your country of residence, and you may bring claims in your local courts.

15. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact:

Email: timo@tiu-webapplications.de
Additional contact and imprint details are available on the Retroflight website.