Terms of Service

1. Operator Identity

PIKO ("the Service", "the Software", "we", "our", or "us") is developed and operated by an individual software creator and sole proprietor based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

The operator's verified public support contact is support@heypiko.app. Full personal legal identity disclosures and physical street address records are maintained in pre-launch staging and will be finalized prior to public commercial release, in strict compliance with applicable consumer protection and electronic commerce disclosure regulations. No fictitious corporate entities or artificial registration numbers are asserted.

2. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you and the operator of PIKO. By accessing our website, creating an account, downloading or installing the desktop application, activating a 7-day trial, or purchasing a subscription, you expressly acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms.

Acceptance of these commercial Terms is distinct from any separate, granular consents you may provide for optional privacy preferences. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must immediately refrain from installing, downloading, or using the Software.

3. Product Description

PIKO is an interactive desktop roommate application for compatible Microsoft Windows operating systems (Windows 10 and Windows 11). The Software provides animated character interactions, an eighty-expression emotion system, customizable color themes, spontaneous autonomous idle behaviors, a 20-20-20 screen wellness rest reminder, and native desktop window interaction capabilities.

PIKO is designed with a local-first architecture. It does not record screens, record microphones, or transmit user application contents to remote cloud AI models. Features are provided as currently implemented; future roadmap items are not guaranteed until formally deployed.

4. User Eligibility & Age Requirement (18+)

PIKO is strictly intended for individuals who are at least 18 years of age or the age of legal majority in their jurisdiction. By creating an account, downloading the installer, or activating a trial, you affirmatively represent and warrant that you are 18 years of age or older.

Minors under 18 years of age are strictly prohibited from creating accounts, downloading the software, or initiating payment transactions. If we discover that an account was created by or on behalf of an individual under 18, we will immediately terminate the account and purge associated profile records.

5. Account Security

To access downloads, trial entitlements, and subscription management, you must register using a valid email address. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activities occurring under your account.

You agree to notify us immediately at support@heypiko.app upon discovering any unauthorized use of your account or security breach. We reserve the right to temporarily suspend accounts exhibiting suspicious automated activity or credential abuse.

6. Seven-Day Free Trial

New customer accounts are entitled to a single 7-day free trial (enforced on our backend for exactly 604,800,000 milliseconds from activation).

• Full Feature Access: During your 7-day trial, you receive 100% full access to all companion features, expressions, sound chirps, and themes without synthetic limits.
• Single-Trial Limitation: Free trials are limited to one per customer and one per physical workstation. Cycling new email addresses or utilizing automated scripts to farm repeated trials is strictly prohibited and monitored via pseudonymous hardware anti-abuse hashes.
• Trial Expiration: When the 604,800,000 millisecond trial window concludes, desktop companion functionality pauses until a paid monthly subscription is initiated. Your settings and companion customization state remain safely preserved on your local PC.
• No Automatic Hidden Charges: Free trial activation does not bill your payment method without your explicit authorization. Starting paid subscription access requires your direct confirmation through our authorized checkout provider.

7. One-Computer License & Device Transfer

Each active PIKO account license entitles the user to run the desktop application on one (1) active computer at any given time.

• Device Registration: When you sign in to PIKO on a PC, that machine is registered as your active authorized device.
• Authorized Device Transfer: When you purchase a new PC or switch workstations, you can transfer your license to your new computer with one click. Activating a new device automatically and safely deactivates the previous machine.
• Offline Grace Period: To accommodate travel, offline work, and unstable network environments, PIKO incorporates an authoritative 72-hour offline grace period. The desktop companion will remain operational for up to 72 hours without requiring server re-verification.
• Prohibition of Circumvention: Tampering with cryptographic licensing envelopes, reverse engineering verification endpoints, or simulating multi-device operation is a material violation of these Terms.

8. Subscription Price & Renewals

PIKO is billed on a recurring monthly subscription basis at the price of $5.99 USD (plus applicable local indirect taxes, if required by your jurisdiction).

• Billing Interval: Subscriptions renew automatically every thirty (30) days from the initial purchase date unless cancelled prior to the renewal date.
• Payment Processing via Dodo Payments: Payments are processed securely by our Merchant of Record and authorized payment provider, Dodo Payments. We do not store or process your raw credit card numbers or banking secrets on our servers.
• Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time via your account dashboard or through the Dodo Payments customer portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing cycle, during which you retain full software access.
• Payment Failures: If a scheduled renewal charge fails, Dodo Payments will retry the transaction across several days. If payment remains incomplete, subscription access will be suspended until valid payment details are provided.

9. Refunds

We evaluate refund requests on a case-by-case basis. Review our dedicated Refund Policy for complete guidelines.

Refunds are readily issued for verified accidental double-charges, billing administrative errors, or reproducible technical failures where PIKO cannot run on your supported Windows 10/11 system and our support desk is unable to resolve the defect within seven (7) business days of reporting. Statutory consumer rights under applicable local laws remain fully preserved.

10. Acceptable Use

You agree to use PIKO solely for lawful personal entertainment and companionship. You agree not to:

• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or derive source code from the compiled desktop binary.
• Sublicense, resell, rent, lease, or syndicate the Software to third parties.
• Circumvent or tamper with cryptographic licensing tokens, machine authorization envelopes, or trial validation mechanisms.
• Use automated bots, disposable email services, or identity masking to exploit repeated free trials.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or place unreasonable server load upon our backend infrastructure.

11. Intellectual Property

The PIKO character design, 3D meshes, 2D facial sprite artwork, custom sound synthesizers, visor animations, visual assets, documentation, website design, and proprietary code are the exclusive intellectual property of the operator.

Your license grants you the limited right to run the application on your computer in accordance with these Terms. No ownership rights, copyrights, or trademark rights are transferred to you.

12. Updates & Operating System Compatibility

We may periodically issue software updates, bug patches, expression additions, or performance improvements. Updates may download automatically or prompt you for confirmation within the desktop application.

PIKO is engineered specifically for modern 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. We do not warrant compatibility with unsupported operating systems, non-Windows environments, or heavily modified virtualized machines that lack standard display compositing.

13. Third-Party Services & Infrastructure

The Service utilizes reputable third-party infrastructure providers for hosting, authentication, database management, and payment processing (including Supabase, Vercel, and Dodo Payments).

While we select reliable, enterprise-grade partners, third-party services operate under their respective terms and service level agreements. We are not liable for temporary interruptions caused by third-party upstream outages beyond our reasonable control.

14. Disclaimers of Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, PIKO is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express, statutory, or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Software will be error-free, uninterrupted, or fully compatible with every third-party desktop utility or anti-virus suite.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the operator of PIKO be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, consequential, or punitive damages (including loss of profits, data corruption, or business interruption) arising out of or in connection with your use or inability to use the Software.

Our total aggregate liability under these Terms for all claims shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount paid by you for the PIKO subscription in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the claim; or (b) fifty United States Dollars ($50.00 USD). Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where doing so is unlawful under applicable consumer protection legislation.

16. Suspension & Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account and revoke your software license upon reasonable notice if you materially breach these Terms, engage in payment fraud, or deliberately tamper with licensing safeguards.

You may terminate your account at any time by requesting deletion through our web dashboard or by emailing support@heypiko.app. Upon termination, your active license is revoked and personal account records are purged in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

17. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without giving effect to its conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising under or in connection with these Terms shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, subject to any mandatory non-waivable statutory consumer protections available in your country of residence.

18. Changes to Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time to reflect product updates, pricing adjustments, or regulatory obligations. When changes are made, we will update the "Effective Date" and "Version" indicators at the top of this page.

For material changes affecting pricing or core licensing rights, we will provide advance notification via email or prominent application notice at least fifteen (15) days prior to the changes taking effect. Continued use of PIKO after changes become effective constitutes acceptance.

19. Contact Information & Grievance Redressal

For questions, licensing assistance, or consumer inquiries, contact our support desk directly at: