Terms of Service
LighChat Terms of Service
Last updated: 2026-08-03 Version: 2 Applies to: web/PWA, mobile and desktop applications.
PLEASE READ SECTION 16 CAREFULLY. It requires most disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration and contains a class-action waiver. You may opt out within 30 days of first accepting these Terms.
1. Agreement
These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and KDS Consulting, Inc., a Florida corporation, 1730 S Federal Hwy, Suite 160, Delray Beach, FL 33483, United States ("LighChat", "we", "us"), governing your use of the LighChat messenger (the "Service").
By creating an account, signing in or otherwise using the Service you accept these Terms, the Privacy Policy and the Acceptable Use Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
The Service is operated from the United States. It is offered to an international audience but is not directed at users located in the Russian Federation: it is not localised for that market, does not accept payments in rubles, does not advertise there and does not use infrastructure located there.
2. Company details
- Legal name: KDS Consulting Inc
- Address: 1730 S Federal Hwy, Suite 160, Delray Beach, FL 33483, United States
- Phone: +1 561-702-9557
- Registration: Florida profit corporation, State of Florida document number P02000081666
- General/legal contact: legal@lighchat.online
3. Your account
3.1 Age
The Service is available to individuals aged 16 or over. By registering you represent that you are at least 16. If you are between 16 and the age of majority where you live, you confirm that your parent or guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms.
3.2 Sign-in methods
Email and password; phone number with a one-time code (where available); sign-in with Google, Apple or Telegram; and QR sign-in from an already-authorised device.
When you sign in with a third-party provider, that provider passes us the profile data you approve (for Telegram: your Telegram user id, first and last name, username and profile photo). We use it to create and identify your account; we never post anything through those providers on your behalf.
By providing a phone number for verification you consent to receive one-time codes by SMS or messaging service. Message and data rates may apply; reply STOP to opt out of SMS where supported. You may remove your number at any time in Settings.
3.3 Your responsibilities
Provide accurate information, keep your credentials and devices secure, and tell us immediately at legal@lighchat.online if you suspect unauthorised access. You are responsible for activity on your account. Do not use someone else's identity or data without permission.
3.4 Electronic communications
You consent to receive agreements, notices and disclosures from us electronically (in-app or by email), and you agree that electronic acceptance has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature under the U.S. E-SIGN Act.
4. Acceptable use
Prohibited conduct is set out in full in the Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of these Terms. In summary, you may not use the Service for unlawful content or activity, child sexual abuse material, terrorism or violent extremism, harassment, threats, hate speech, doxing, non-consensual intimate imagery, spam, phishing, fraud, malware, scraping, attacks on our infrastructure, block evasion, or infringement of intellectual property.
You are solely responsible for the content you send. We do not monitor private and group conversations in real time, and we cannot read end-to-end encrypted content at all. We do act on reports and lawful requests — see the Content Moderation Policy and the DMCA / Copyright Policy.
5. Meetings and guests
Meetings may be joined by guests through a link without registration. A guest supplies a display name, receives a token limited to that meeting, and has no access to chats, profiles or other features. Guest-session data is deleted automatically within 24 hours after the meeting ends.
If a host enables recording, all participants are notified in the interface. If you do not consent to being recorded, leave the meeting. You are responsible for obtaining any consent required by the law of your jurisdiction before recording.
6. Intellectual property
Your content stays yours. By using the Service you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, transmit, reformat and display your content solely to operate, secure and improve the Service, and to comply with law. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies retained in backups for the periods stated in the Privacy Policy, and except where the content has been shared with others who retain their copy.
Our content stays ours. The software, design, trademarks, logos and documentation of the Service belong to us or our licensors. Open-source components are licensed under their own terms (see LICENSES.md in the distribution).
7. Paid features and subscriptions
The Service is currently provided free of charge. We may introduce paid subscriptions or paid features in the future. If we do, the price, billing period, renewal terms, trial conditions and refund rules will be presented before purchase and are governed by the Billing Terms. Purchases made through the App Store or Google Play are additionally subject to those stores' terms, and refunds for them are handled by Apple or Google.
Nothing in these Terms obliges us to keep any feature free, but we will not start charging for a feature you already use without at least 30 days' advance notice.
8. Availability and changes to the Service
We may add, change, suspend or discontinue features. If we discontinue the Service as a whole, we will give at least 30 days' notice and a way to export your data, except where immediate discontinuation is required by law or by a safety emergency.
9. Suspension and termination
9.1 By you
You may delete individual chats, sign out of devices (Settings → Devices), or delete your account entirely (Settings → Account → Delete account, or on the web at https://lighchat.online/dashboard/settings/privacy). Deletion timelines are in the Privacy Policy.
9.2 By us
We may restrict, suspend or terminate an account for a material breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, for a lawful request from a competent authority, to protect users from imminent harm, or after more than 12 months of inactivity.
Except where prohibited (e.g. CSAM, imminent harm, legal orders), we will tell you the reason and, under our Content Moderation Policy, give you a way to appeal.
10. Export controls and sanctions
The Service contains encryption. You may not use, export or re-export the Service in violation of U.S. export control or sanctions laws, including the Export Administration Regulations and the programmes administered by OFAC.
You represent that you are not located in, and are not ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions (currently Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine), and that you are not listed on any U.S. restricted-party list (SDN, Entity List, Denied Persons List).
Encryption in the client applications is self-classified under ECCN 5D992.c as mass-market encryption software. Local law may restrict the use of encryption where you live; complying with that law is your responsibility.
11. Disclaimer of warranties
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
12. Limitation of liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA OR GOODWILL.
OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (a) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (b) US$100.
These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be excluded by law, including liability for wilful misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, death or personal injury, and — for consumers in the EEA and the UK — statutory rights that cannot be waived.
13. Indemnity
If you use the Service in a business capacity, you agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising out of your content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms. This section does not apply to consumers where local law prohibits it.
14. Force majeure
Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, government action, and large-scale network or infrastructure outages.
15. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida and the federal laws of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules.
If you are a consumer resident in the EEA, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, this choice of law does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory consumer-protection rules of your country of residence, and you may bring proceedings in the courts of that country.
16. Dispute resolution, arbitration and class-action waiver
16.1 Talk to us first
Before starting formal proceedings, send a written notice describing the dispute to legal@lighchat.online. We will try to resolve it informally within 30 days.
16.2 Binding arbitration
If we cannot resolve it, you and we agree that any dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, seated in Palm Beach County, Florida, or conducted remotely at your election. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Exceptions: either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court, and either party may seek injunctive relief in court for intellectual-property infringement or unauthorised access to the Service.
16.3 Class-action waiver
Disputes will be brought only on an individual basis. Neither you nor we may bring a class, collective, consolidated or representative action. If this waiver is held unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim proceeds in court and the rest of this section still applies.
16.4 Your right to opt out
You may opt out of Sections 16.2 and 16.3 by emailing legal@lighchat.online with the subject "Arbitration Opt-Out", including your account email, within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Opting out does not affect any other part of these Terms.
16.5 Consumers in the EEA and the UK
Sections 16.2 and 16.3 do not apply to you. You may use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr, and you retain the right to go to the courts of your country of residence.
17. Notices, complaints and points of contact
- General and legal: legal@lighchat.online
- Abuse reports: abuse@lighchat.online
- Copyright (DMCA): dmca@lighchat.online — see the DMCA / Copyright Policy
- Security vulnerabilities: security@lighchat.online — see the Security Policy
- Law enforcement: legal@lighchat.online — see the Law Enforcement Guidelines
- EU Digital Services Act point of contact (Arts. 11–12): legal@lighchat.online, correspondence accepted in English
- Postal: KDS Consulting Inc, 1730 S Federal Hwy, Suite 160, Delray Beach, FL 33483, USA
18. Changes to these Terms
We may amend these Terms. Material changes take effect at least 14 days after we notify you in the app or by email; changes required by law may take effect sooner. If you do not accept the new version, stop using the Service and delete your account. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
19. General
Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the policies they reference, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service. Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in force. No waiver. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it. Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them to an affiliate or successor in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. Survival. Sections 6, 10–16 and 19 survive termination. Third parties. Except as stated in the EULA with respect to Apple, these Terms create no third-party beneficiary rights. Language. These Terms are drafted in English. Translations are provided for convenience; in case of conflict, the English version prevails, except where mandatory local law provides otherwise.