Subscription & Auto-Renewal Terms

These Subscription & Auto-Renewal Terms supplement the Terms of Service and the Refund Policy. They describe how paid subscriptions and recurring purchases work on ChefSphere. They are designed to comply with App Store Review Guideline 3.1.2(a), Google Play's subscription policies, and EU consumer-protection rules.

1. Plans we offer

ChefSphere offers three tiers:

• Free — no subscription required, limited feature quotas.
• Premium — expanded quotas, vision-enabled AI Chef, full Couple Zone, private grocery list, advanced analytics, verified badge for 1 month, and 70 ChefCoins at subscription.
• Pro — everything in Premium plus advanced AI models, unlimited external recipe extraction, full Friends and Family zones, 4-meal-per-day month-long planning, early access to new features, verified badge for 2 months, and 320 ChefCoins at subscription.

Premium and Pro are offered on monthly, quarterly, and annual billing intervals. The price, included features, tax treatment, and the exact renewal price for each interval are shown in the app at the moment of purchase and are your authoritative reference for that purchase. We may change future prices; any such change is communicated as described in Section 8 before it takes effect, and any price you have already paid is honoured for the interval you paid for.

2. Add-on, one-time, and recurring purchases

In addition to subscription tiers, we offer purchases that are not subscriptions but follow the same billing rules:

• Swipe addon packs — one-time purchases of extra daily swipes
• ChefCoins — one-time purchases of in-app currency used for premium actions
• Verified badge — monthly, quarterly, or annual recurring purchase that auto-renews like a subscription
• Ebook purchases — one-time purchase of a specific ebook title, governed additionally by the Ebook Marketplace Addendum
• Tool purchases and rentals — governed by the Tools Marketplace Addendum

References to "subscription" in these Terms also apply to the verified badge.

3. How billing works

Your payment method is charged at the time of purchase for the first billing period. Each subsequent period, you are charged automatically at the then-current renewal price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends (this grace window is a standard store rule).

• iOS (Apple App Store) — billing is handled by Apple. Your payment method on file with Apple is charged. Cancellation and most refund requests must go through Apple's Subscriptions page on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
• Android (Google Play) — billing is handled by Google. Cancellation and most refund requests must go through Google Play → Subscriptions.
• Web (chefsphere.app) — billing is handled by our payment processor. You can cancel or change the plan from the ChefSphere Settings → Subscription page.

Receipts are issued after each successful charge. Taxes (VAT / GST / sales tax) are calculated based on the billing country you provide. If the store collects the tax on our behalf (as Apple and Google do in many countries), the store's receipt is the authoritative tax document for that transaction.

4. Auto-renewal disclosure

Your subscription renews automatically. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, your payment method will be charged for the next period at the then-current renewal price, for the same billing interval you chose, indefinitely, until you cancel. For web (payment-processor) subscriptions, ChefSphere sends a renewal reminder by email roughly 72 hours (3 days) before each auto-renewal, aligned with the EU / EEA 3–7 day reminder expectation for long-running consumer contracts; for Apple App Store and Google Play subscriptions, reminders are governed by the store (Apple and Google send their own renewal notices under their policies) and ChefSphere does not send a duplicate email. The exact next-renewal date is always visible in the store's subscription management page (for Apple and Google) or in your ChefSphere Settings → Subscription page (for web).

This notice satisfies Apple Guideline 3.1.2(a) and similar rules on clear, conspicuous disclosure of auto-renewal.

5. How to cancel

You can cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid period: you keep access to paid features until then, and no new charge is made.

• iOS: Settings → [your Apple ID] → Subscriptions → ChefSphere → Cancel Subscription, or open the Apple deep link https://apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions.
• Android: Google Play → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → ChefSphere → Cancel, or open the Google Play deep link https://play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions?package=app.chefsphere.chefsphere.
• Web: ChefSphere → Settings → Subscription → Cancel subscription, or open https://chefsphere.app/settings/subscription.

Deleting the app alone does not cancel the subscription. If you cannot access the cancellation flow, write to [email protected] and we will help.

Restore purchases on a new device. If you reinstall the app, change your device, or sign in from a new device, you can restore previously purchased non-consumable add-ons and your active subscription without paying again by using the in-app Restore Purchases action. On iOS the restore is attested by Apple against the Apple ID that made the purchase; on Android the restore is attested by Google against the Google account used at purchase. Restoration does not change your renewal date or the price you were charged. See Terms of Service §18.8 for the full statement.

6. Upgrades, downgrades, and proration

When you upgrade from Premium to Pro, or change from a shorter interval to a longer one, the change takes effect immediately. Where supported by the billing channel, we calculate a pro-rated credit for the unused portion of the current interval and apply it to the upgraded period. When you downgrade, the change takes effect at the end of the current paid period, so you do not lose access you already paid for.

Apple and Google handle proration in line with their own published rules; we do not override them. On the web, proration follows our payment processor's standard behaviour, shown in-flow before you confirm.

7. Refunds

Refund rules are set out in the Refund Policy. In short:

• Store purchases (Apple / Google): refunds are decided by the store; we cannot refund a store purchase directly.
• Web purchases: refunds may be granted in the situations listed in the Refund Policy (for example serious service failure or billing error), and are issued to the original payment method.
• Statutory EU 14-day withdrawal right: for immediate-access digital subscriptions, you give express consent at purchase to waive the 14-day withdrawal right under Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 16(m). Where EU or national law grants a different right you cannot lawfully waive, that right prevails.

8. Price changes

If we change the renewal price for your subscription, we will notify you in-app or by email at least 30 days before the change takes effect. You may cancel before the new price takes effect, and the cancellation will stop the renewal at that price. Where the store requires explicit re-consent to a price increase (Apple, Google), we follow the store's flow; without your consent where required, the subscription will lapse rather than renew at the new price.

9. Free promotional periods and referral bonuses

We do not currently offer free trial periods for paid tiers within the meaning of Apple App Store Review Guideline 3.1.2(a) or the Google Play subscription policy, and no "free trial" is declared in our App Store Connect or Google Play Console subscription offer configuration. We do offer a 7-day promotional period granted through our Referral programme to both the referrer and the invitee when they meet programme conditions. The 7-day promotional period is not a store-defined "free trial" and is not tied to payment-method capture; it is a one-time promotional bonus that ends after 7 days with no charge unless you separately purchase a subscription.

Any other promotional period we offer in the future will be disclosed in the purchase flow and will be bound by these Terms.

10. Grace periods and failed payments

If a renewal payment fails, we may enter a short grace period during which we keep your paid features active and retry the payment (the exact grace period is set by the billing channel and can be up to 16 days). If the payment still fails at the end of the grace period, your subscription is downgraded to Free and you lose access to paid features until you renew.

11. Changes to plan features

We may add, improve, or remove features within a subscription tier. If a change materially reduces the value of a paid plan, we will give reasonable notice and, where appropriate, offer a pro-rated refund for the unused portion of the paid period, as described in the Refund Policy.

12. Support

For any subscription question, please write to [email protected] or use in-app support. Apple and Google handle their own billing support for purchases made through the App Store and Google Play.