drop.

Drop: Terms of Service

Version 2.0 · Effective September 3, 2026 · Last updated September 3, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding legal agreement between you and Ethan Yueh-Lin Yang, an individual based in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, who operates the Drop mobile application and related services (together, "Drop," the "App," or the "Service"). In these Terms, "we," "us," and "our" mean the operator, and "you" and "your" mean the person using the Service.

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY. They include important provisions that limit our liability, require you to assume the risks of interacting with other users in person and online, and, unless you opt out, require disputes to be resolved through binding individual arbitration and waive your right to a jury trial and to participate in class actions (see Section 16).

By tapping to accept these Terms, creating an account, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Community Guidelines, and our Safety Guidelines, each of which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

To use Drop, you must:

  1. be at least 18 years old;
  2. be a current member of the Brandeis University community with a valid, verifiable @brandeis.edu email address;
  3. have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract and not be barred from using the Service under applicable law; and
  4. not have been previously removed, banned, or suspended from the Service.

If you do not meet all of these requirements, you may not use Drop. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet them.

2. The Service

Drop is a hyperlocal social application that helps verified members of the Brandeis community discover, create, and coordinate spontaneous in-person plans ("drops") at named campus spots, connect with friends, and send lightweight invitations ("pings"). We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice, to the extent permitted by law.

Drop is a tool that facilitates connections between users. We are not a party to, and are not responsible for, any interaction, meeting, plan, communication, or arrangement between users, whether online or in person. See Section 8 (Safety; Assumption of Risk; Release).

3. Your account

You sign in using your Brandeis email and a one-time code. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your email account and your access to Drop, and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to provide accurate information, to keep it current, and to notify us promptly at support@dropitnow.app of any unauthorized use or security breach. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of your account. You may not share your account, transfer it, or allow anyone else to use it.

4. License to use the App

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to download and use one copy of the App on an Apple-branded device that you own or control, solely for your personal, non-commercial use. This license is further governed by the Apple App Store terms referenced in Section 19. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

You may not, and may not permit anyone else to: copy, modify, or create derivative works of the Service; reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law; rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense, or otherwise commercialize the Service; remove or obscure any proprietary notices; use any robot, scraper, or automated means to access or collect data from the Service; probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service or breach any security or authentication measure; or access the Service to build a competing product.

5. Your content

"User Content" means anything you post, upload, submit, or transmit through the Service, including drops, messages, comments, pings, profile information, photos, and reports.

You retain ownership of your User Content. By submitting User Content, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, adapt (for example, to format or resize), and distribute your User Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, securing, and improving the Service. This license ends when you delete your User Content or your account, except (a) to the extent your content has been shared with others who have not deleted it, (b) for reasonable backup copies that are purged on our routine cycle, and (c) as needed to comply with law or enforce our agreements.

You are solely responsible for your User Content. You represent and warrant that you own or have all necessary rights to your User Content, that it does not violate these Terms, our Community Guidelines, or any law, and that it does not infringe or misappropriate the rights of any third party. We do not endorse and are not responsible for any User Content.

6. Acceptable use and zero tolerance for objectionable content

Your use of the Service is governed by our Community Guidelines, which are incorporated into these Terms. You agree that there is zero tolerance for objectionable content and for abusive behavior toward other users. Objectionable content and conduct include, without limitation: content that is unlawful, harassing, bullying, threatening, hateful, defamatory, sexually explicit or pornographic, that sexualizes or endangers minors, that promotes violence or self-harm, that is fraudulent or deceptive, that infringes intellectual property or privacy, that contains malware, that constitutes spam, or that impersonates another person.

We reserve the right, but assume no obligation except as required by law or by the Apple App Store, to review, monitor, filter, refuse, remove, or restrict any User Content, and to suspend or terminate any account, at our sole discretion. We use automated content filtering and rely on user reports; we endeavor to act on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours by removing the content and/or removing the responsible user, consistent with Apple's requirements for apps with user-generated content.

You can report content or users through the in-app reporting tools and can block other users at any time. Published contact information for concerns is provided in Section 20.

7. Enforcement

If you violate these Terms or our Community Guidelines, or if we determine in our discretion that your conduct is harmful to the Service, other users, or us, or exposes us to liability, we may take any action we consider appropriate, including issuing a warning, removing content, limiting features, and suspending or permanently terminating your account, in each case with or without notice. We may preserve and disclose information as described in our Privacy Policy and as permitted by law.

8. Safety; assumption of risk; release

This Section is important. Please read it carefully.

Drop helps you find and coordinate plans with other people and encourages you to meet in person. Interactions with other people carry inherent risks, and we cannot control or guarantee the conduct, identity, honesty, or safety of any user or any third party.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release and hold harmless Ethan Yueh-Lin Yang and the operator of Drop, and our affiliates, from any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys' fees), whether direct or indirect, known or unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with (a) your interactions or disputes with other users or third parties, (b) any plan, meeting, or event coordinated through the Service, or (c) the conduct, content, or omissions of any user or third party. If you are a California resident, you expressly waive California Civil Code Section 1542, and any similar law of any jurisdiction, which would otherwise limit the effect of a general release to claims you know or suspect to exist. Drop is not responsible for, and does not supervise, mediate, or participate in, disputes between users.

If Drop's Safety Guidelines or any in-app safety features are provided, they are provided as a courtesy and do not create any duty of care, guarantee your safety, or shift responsibility for your safety to us.

9. Third-party services and content

The Service integrates or interoperates with third-party services (including Apple, Supabase, and Expo) and may display content or links controlled by third parties. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party services or content, and your use of them may be subject to their own terms and policies. Any dealings you have with third parties are solely between you and the third party.

10. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, text, graphics, logos, and other materials (other than User Content), and all intellectual property rights in them, are owned by or licensed to the operator of Drop and are protected by law. "Drop" and associated names and logos are marks of the operator. Except for the limited license in Section 4, nothing in these Terms grants you any right, title, or interest in the Service.

If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Service, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use them for any purpose without any obligation to you.

11. Copyright and DMCA

We respect intellectual property rights and respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement in accordance with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Our notice-and-takedown process, counter-notification process, and designated agent are described in our DMCA / Copyright Policy. We may remove infringing content and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; THAT ANY CONTENT IS ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE CONDUCT OF ANY USER OR THIRD PARTY. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED FROM US OR THROUGH THE SERVICE, CREATES ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HERE.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

13. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

(a) IN NO EVENT WILL THE OPERATOR OF DROP BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, OR FOR ANY PERSONAL INJURY, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, OR DEATH ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO INTERACTIONS BETWEEN USERS OR THIRD PARTIES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

(b) OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (i) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS YOU PAID US TO USE THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (ii) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). BECAUSE DROP IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THIS AMOUNT IS A REASONABLE ALLOCATION OF RISK.

(c) THE LIMITATIONS IN THIS SECTION APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW AND FORM AN ESSENTIAL BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN YOU AND US. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES, SO SOME OR ALL OF THESE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES OR LIMITS LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW (SUCH AS LIABILITY FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILLFUL MISCONDUCT, OR FRAUD, WHERE APPLICABLE).

14. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the operator of Drop from and against any claims, demands, actions, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your User Content; (c) your violation of these Terms, our Community Guidelines, or any law; (d) your violation of the rights of any third party; or (e) your interactions or disputes with any user or third party. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with us.

15. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time through the in-app account-deletion feature. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause and with or without notice, including if you violate these Terms. Upon termination, the license granted to you ends, and Sections that by their nature should survive, including Sections 5 (as to licenses that survive), 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18, will survive.

16. Dispute resolution; arbitration; class-action waiver

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

16.1 Informal resolution first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to contact us at support@dropitnow.app and give us at least 30 days to resolve the dispute informally. Most concerns can be resolved this way.

16.2 Binding arbitration. If we cannot resolve a dispute informally, you and we agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by final and binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, except as provided below. The arbitration will be administered by a recognized arbitration provider under its consumer arbitration rules, and will take place in Massachusetts or, at your election, by telephone, video, or written submissions. The arbitrator's award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. This agreement to arbitrate is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.

16.3 Class-action and jury-trial waiver. You and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding. You and we waive any right to a jury trial.

16.4 Exceptions. Either party may (a) bring an individual claim in small-claims court if it qualifies, and (b) seek injunctive or equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property or address unauthorized access to the Service.

16.5 30-day right to opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement (Sections 16.2 to 16.3) by emailing support@dropitnow.app within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name and that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out will not affect any other part of these Terms.

16.6 Severability. If the class-action waiver in Section 16.3 is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim will be severed and heard in court, while the remainder of this Section continues to apply.

17. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and by applicable U.S. federal law. Subject to Section 16, you agree that any dispute not subject to arbitration will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Version" and "Last updated" dates above and provide notice through the App, which may include requiring you to review and accept the updated Terms before continuing to use Drop. Changes are effective when posted, unless stated otherwise. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and may delete your account. Your continued use after the changes become effective constitutes acceptance.

19. Apple App Store additional terms

These Terms are between you and the operator of Drop only, and not with Apple Inc. ("Apple"). The following additional terms apply to your use of the App obtained through the Apple App Store, and you acknowledge and agree that:

  1. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance or support services for the App.
  2. In the event the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund any applicable purchase price; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the App. Because the App is free, no refund is applicable.
  3. Apple is not responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the App or your possession or use of it, including product-liability claims, any claim that the App fails to conform to any legal or regulatory requirement, and claims under consumer-protection or similar legislation.
  4. In the event of any third-party claim that the App or your possession and use of it infringes that third party's intellectual property rights, the operator of Drop, not Apple, is solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any such claim, to the extent required by these Terms.
  5. You represent and warrant that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as "terrorist-supporting," and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  6. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

20. General; contact

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Community Guidelines, Safety Guidelines, and DMCA / Copyright Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction.

Force majeure. We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control.

Notices. We may provide notices to you through the App or by email. You may contact us at the address below.

Contact: Ethan Yueh-Lin Yang (operator of Drop) Email: support@dropitnow.app Mailing address: 45 Moody Street, Apartment B212, Waltham, MA 02453

About this document. We may update this document from time to time. When we do, we will post the revised version and update the dates shown above. Questions are welcome at support@dropitnow.app.