Terms of Use

These terms are an agreement between you and Ming for using the Ming app (iOS, Android and web) and this website. You agree to them, and to the Privacy Policy, by continuing past the app's first screen or by signing in (both say so, with links to these pages); by using this website you agree to the parts that apply to it. If you live in the EU or UK, nothing here takes away rights you have under the consumer law of your country.

Who we are

Ming ("Ming", "we", "us") is run by the Ming team. Contact: support@ming-app.org.

The service

Ming teaches Chinese vocabulary with short daily lessons, spaced-repetition reviews, a streak, and progress synced to your account. We may improve, change or remove features over time. If we ever stop offering Ming, we'll give you reasonable notice, and if you have a paid subscription you won't be charged for time you can't use.

Your account

You can take the placement test and your first lesson without an account; after that, an account is needed to keep learning, to sync across devices and to buy Ming Pro. You need to be at least 16 to create an account in the EEA or UK (or the younger age your country allows, with a parent's or guardian's consent), and at least 13 elsewhere. Keep access to your sign-in method (Apple, Google or your email) secure — you're responsible for activity on your account.

Free and Pro

Ming is free to use with up to three lessons a day. Ming Pro is a paid subscription that adds unlimited lessons, a streak repair once a week, and weak-spot lessons built from the words you find hardest. What Pro includes is always described on the Pro screen in the app before you buy.

Subscriptions, renewal and cancellation

• Prices. The price, billing period and any taxes are shown before you confirm a purchase. Prices may be shown in your local currency.
• Automatic renewal. Pro renews automatically at the end of each period (monthly or yearly) at the then-current price until you cancel. To avoid being charged for the next period, cancel at least 24 hours before the current one ends.
• Cancelling. You can cancel any time: in your App Store account settings (Apple), your Google Play subscriptions (Google), or at app.link.com if you paid through Stripe. "Manage subscription" in the app takes you to the right place. After cancelling, Pro stays active until the end of the period you've paid for.
• Price changes. If we change the price of your plan, you'll be told in advance and the new price applies only from your next renewal after the notice. If you don't agree, you can cancel before then.
• Who sells it. Purchases in the iOS app are sold by Apple and purchases in the Android app by Google, under their own terms and refund policies. Purchases on the web, and in the iOS app in the United States where you choose to pay by card, are sold and processed by Stripe through its Link service as merchant of record, under Link's terms. These merchants handle payment, receipts, taxes and billing questions.
• Refunds. Refunds for App Store and Google Play purchases are handled by Apple and Google. For purchases through Stripe, contact us or Link support. If something has gone wrong with Ming itself, email us and we'll put it right — including a refund where that's fair.
• Right of withdrawal (EU/UK). If you're a consumer in the EU or UK you may have a statutory right to withdraw from a purchase within 14 days. This right is provided by the merchant that sold you the subscription (Apple, Google or Link, as above), under the conditions of your local law.

Invite a friend

Signed-in users get an invite code. When someone signs in with your code and finishes two lessons, you get 7 days of Ming Pro. You can earn this once per account, however many friends join. Invite Pro time simply ends; it never renews or charges you. The friend must be new to Ming (their account created within the last 14 days) and can only be counted once; you can't invite yourself, and two people can't invite each other. Rewards have no cash value and can't be transferred or exchanged. We may cancel rewards obtained through fake or duplicate accounts or other abuse, and we may change or end the programme at any time — Pro time you've already earned stays yours until it runs out.

Acceptable use

Use Ming for learning. Don't try to break, overload or reverse-engineer the service, access another user's data, automate lessons, create accounts to collect invite rewards, or use Ming for anything unlawful.

Licence and intellectual property

We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use Ming for your own non-commercial learning. The app, its design and its content — including the word catalogue, example sentences, audio and illustrations — belong to Ming or its licensors. Some of that content comes from open datasets and is used under their own licences, which you can use it under too — see Credits & licences. Your learning data is yours; see the Privacy Policy for how it's handled and deleted.

No guarantees

We work hard to keep Ming accurate and available, but it's provided "as is": we can't promise it will always be error-free or uninterrupted, or that it will get you to a particular level of Chinese. If you're a consumer, this doesn't affect your statutory rights, including the legal guarantee that digital content and services conform to the contract.

Liability

We're not liable for losses that weren't reasonably foreseeable, or for indirect or consequential losses, and — except as below — our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid us for Ming in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, or any other liability that can't be limited by law.

Ending your use

You can stop using Ming or delete your account any time (Settings → Delete account). We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms; where we can, we'll tell you why first. If we close your account without a good reason, we'll refund any unused paid period.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when we add features or the law changes. For meaningful changes, we'll update the date above and tell you in the app before they apply to you; continuing to use Ming after that means you accept them. If you don't agree, you can stop using Ming, delete your account and cancel your subscription.

Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of Poland. If you're a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you can bring a claim in the courts there. Please email us first — most problems can be solved quickly.

Additional terms for the Apple App Store

If you got Ming from the Apple App Store:

• These terms are between you and Ming, not Apple. Ming, not Apple, is solely responsible for the app and its content.
• Your licence is to use the app on Apple-branded devices you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app; contact us instead.
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any) for the app. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app; any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses due to failure to conform to a warranty are Ming's responsibility.
• Ming, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the app, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, and consumer protection or privacy claims.
• If a third party claims the app infringes their intellectual property, Ming, not Apple, is responsible for investigating, defending, settling and discharging that claim.
• You confirm that you're not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you're not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• You must also comply with any applicable third-party terms (for example, your wireless data agreement) when using the app.
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and, once you accept them, Apple has the right to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

Contact

Ming · support@ming-app.org