Terms of Service

1. About these Terms

These Terms govern use of the Reading Lobster iOS app and its supporting features, including the AI-assistant connector.

The contract is between the user and Anastasiia Kirzhanova, trading as Soba Apps, Am Kutscherhaus 6, 12555 Berlin, Germany, hello@readinglobster.com (“the operator”). The operator’s legal notice is included in the Impressum.

The user accepts these Terms through the acceptance screen in the app. The Privacy Policy explains personal-data processing. The app requests permission before transferring content to its AI providers. Apple’s terms also apply to App Store downloads and purchases.

2. Access and accounts

Reading Lobster is intended for users aged 16 and over. Users under 18 need a parent’s or guardian’s permission where required to enter into a contract or make a purchase.

The app requires a compatible device and operating system as shown in the App Store. Features that connect to Reading Lobster’s servers or AI providers require internet access.

The user can create an account using email, Apple or Google sign-in, or start with a guest profile. A registered account can be used on supported devices by the same person. The user must take reasonable care of sign-in information and report suspected unauthorised access.

Guest access depends on credentials held on the device. Losing those credentials, changing devices or reinstalling the app can make a guest profile inaccessible. Registering an account makes access less dependent on one device. The supported guest-to-account process transfers the library, progress and eligible balances without duplicating allowances.

A guest profile without active Plus access may be deleted after 730 consecutive days without activity. Deletion includes its library, progress and remaining purchased or bonus credits. The user can keep the profile active by using it or avoid this guest-inactivity rule by registering an account.

3. Learning features and credit prices

Reading Lobster provides reading with translations, AI audio, listening and shadowing practice, word cards and quizzes. Texts can come from the catalog, user imports, Lobster’s AI writer or a connected external assistant. Available languages and features are shown in the app.

Free features include reading catalog texts, saving their words, using catalog quizzes and adding prepared materials through the connector. The app identifies separately priced actions before they are requested.

Paid actions use credits. These include certain imports, translations, text generations, word-card operations and audio generation. Before confirmation, the app displays a price or explains its calculation. Prices can depend on text length, audio duration or a stated number of small operations. The price is for the requested result, rather than the number of underlying AI calls.

Reading an existing text, practising saved cards or replaying available audio does not itself incur a new generation charge. Creating or changing material may have a separate price.

Credits may be reserved during an operation. A failed operation releases its unused reservation; completed stages of a multi-stage operation may still be charged. Releasing a reservation does not extend the expiry of monthly credits. Balance corrections after an interrupted operation can take additional time.

4. Plus and credits

Monthly credits. Reading Lobster Plus provides 500 credits per monthly credit period, following the subscription cycle shown in the app. An annual subscription also provides monthly allowances, rather than the full year’s credits at once. Unused monthly credits expire at the end of the credit period or when the associated Plus entitlement ends.

Credit packs. Users with an eligible active Plus subscription can buy extra credits. Pack credits have no scheduled expiry and remain usable after Plus ends. Monthly credits are used before pack credits.

Bonuses and promotions. Bonus credits have no scheduled expiry and remain usable without Plus. Promotional Plus access lasts for the period stated in the offer. The offer also explains its allowance and any interaction with an existing subscription.

Credits belong to the account or guest profile receiving them. They cannot be transferred to another person or exchanged for cash. They are lost when that account or profile is deleted, including under the guest-inactivity rule in section 2. Mandatory reimbursement rights remain available.

5. App Store purchases

The purchase screen shows the product, price, billing period and applicable taxes. Apple handles payments and purchase administration. The operator provides the corresponding app access and credits.

Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled through the user’s Apple account. Ordinary cancellation stops future renewal; access normally continues until the displayed expiry date. Any additional cancellation or refund rights under Apple’s country-specific terms or applicable law remain available. Deleting the app or a Reading Lobster account does not cancel the subscription. Apple provides cancellation instructions.

If a payment fails, access and monthly allowances follow the subscription status confirmed by Apple, including any applicable grace period.

Restoring purchases. The app’s Restore purchases option checks eligible App Store purchases, such as an active subscription. It does not issue a new allocation of previously purchased consumable credits. Existing credit balances remain attached to their Reading Lobster account or guest profile. Apple explains which purchases can be restored.

Refunds and withdrawal. Requests for refunds of App Store purchases are submitted through reportaproblem.apple.com or Apple Support. Eligibility and the procedure for exercising any right of withdrawal follow applicable law and Apple’s country-specific Media Services Terms. The operator does not promise approval of every refund request.

A refunded credit pack loses the remaining credits attributable to that purchase. If Apple revokes a subscription entitlement, the associated Plus access and monthly allowance end. A refund for an older transaction does not by itself cancel a separate valid entitlement.

Statutory claims concerning defects or failure to provide paid features can also be raised with the operator.

6. Submitted content and AI

The user retains the rights the user has in submitted materials. The user permits the operator and the necessary providers to store, process, translate, voice and synchronise those materials to provide the requested features. Human review during beta testing is described in section 9 and the Privacy Policy.

The user is responsible for choosing the submitted information and having the rights and permissions needed for its use. This includes rights in other people’s texts, photographs and personal information. Owning a copy of a book or finding material online does not necessarily permit uploading it for AI processing.

Only information needed for language practice should be submitted. Fictional details can replace real health information or other sensitive personal details. The Privacy Policy identifies the AI recipients and explains their processing.

AI-generated translations, explanations, stories and audio can contain errors or invented facts. They are intended for language practice. Information used for important decisions should be checked against an appropriate independent source. Reading Lobster does not provide medical, legal or financial advice.

AI output may not qualify for copyright protection, and similar output may be generated for other people. The user’s rights in the user’s own contributions remain unchanged.

7. External assistants and app content

A registered user can authorise an external AI assistant to connect to Reading Lobster and disconnect it in Profile → Connect your AI. The Privacy Policy explains the information shared through that connection. The assistant’s own terms and charges apply. Adding prepared materials through the connector is free; later paid actions in Reading Lobster use credits under the ordinary rules.

The software, branding, design, catalog and catalog audio belong to the operator or their rightsholders. The user receives a personal, non-transferable permission to use them for learning, subject to applicable App Store rules and mandatory legal rights.

Available exports of texts, vocabulary and audio are provided for personal study. Publishing, reselling or commercially distributing app-generated audio requires separate permission. These restrictions do not transfer rights in the user’s own original writing to the operator.

8. Acceptable use and complaints

The user must not use the app unlawfully, infringe another person’s rights, compromise security, access another person’s data without permission, bypass charges or usage limits, or extract the catalog or audio in bulk for resale. Account sharing to circumvent restrictions is also prohibited. Activities expressly permitted by mandatory law remain allowed.

Questions, complaints and reports of unlawful material can be sent to hello@readinglobster.com. Reports should identify the relevant material and explain the concern so it can be investigated.

The operator may restrict content or suspend access where reasonably necessary to address unlawful use, a serious breach or a security risk. The response must be proportionate. The operator gives any notice and explanation required by law. The user can contact the operator to challenge a restriction.

9. Beta programmes

These rules apply to TestFlight beta programmes both before and after the app’s public release. Beta builds can change or expire and may require installation of a newer build.

TestFlight sandbox purchases are test transactions, not real payments. Promotional access and credits follow the stated conditions of the beta offer and do not automatically turn into a paid subscription.

For the beta preceding the first App Store release, promotional Plus access ends at launch while the library and remaining beta credits stay on the account and remain usable without a subscription. Later beta programmes follow the conditions presented with their invitations. Participation alone does not cancel a separate paid subscription.

Beta participation includes human review by the operator of all texts generated through Lobster, including personal templates and free topics, and the prompts and answers used to create them. The purpose, scope and privacy rights are explained in section 8 of the Privacy Policy.

10. Updates and changes

The operator provides conformity and security updates for the period required by law. Maintenance and technical failures can temporarily affect availability.

Other changes to digital features may be made for valid reasons, such as operating-system changes, security or changes in a required provider. Such changes must comply with applicable law, including advance information and any right to end the contract where a change adversely affects use beyond a minor extent. Where required, notice is given in a form the user can keep.

Changes to these Terms require agreement where the law requires it. Subscription price changes follow Apple’s applicable process. Publishing new Terms alone does not reduce agreed benefits for an already paid period. New offers and conditions for future periods are shown before they apply.

11. Liability

The operator is liable without limitation for intentional wrongdoing, gross negligence, injury to life, body or health caused by the operator’s fault, liability under the German Product Liability Act and to the extent of an expressly assumed guarantee.

For ordinary negligence, liability is limited to breaches of essential contractual obligations: obligations needed for the contract to work and on which the user can reasonably rely. In those cases, liability is limited to losses foreseeable and typical for this type of contract.

These limitations apply only as permitted by law. Mandatory consumer and data-protection rights, including rights concerning defective digital products, remain available.

12. Ending use and governing law

A registered account can be deleted in Profile → Delete account; a guest profile in Profile → Delete your data. Deletion removes access to the associated library and remaining credits. Materials the user wishes to keep should be exported first. The Privacy Policy explains deletion and retention. An Apple subscription must be cancelled separately.

The operator can terminate access for a sufficiently serious reason, subject to applicable notice and warning requirements. If Reading Lobster is permanently discontinued, the operator gives at least one month’s notice and an opportunity to export available materials. Refund requests follow section 5 and applicable law. Free credits and promotional access have no cash refund value.

German law applies. Consumers retain the mandatory protections of the law of their habitual residence where those protections apply under the relevant conflict-of-law rules.

Contact for questions and complaints: hello@readinglobster.com.