Terms of Service

1. Service

MyTravelCircle is a collaborative travel planning service for trips, circles, recommendations, plans, media, documents, chat, manual expenses, paid-trip join requests, and AI-assisted itinerary drafts. It is a planning tool: we are not a travel agent or tour operator, and we do not sell, book or guarantee any travel, stay or activity.

2. Accounts and Eligibility

• You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. A parent or guardian can include their children in trips they organize, for example as name-only members, but anyone under 18 must not create their own account. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we may close it.
• Keep your email account and phone secure, and never share your sign-in code with anyone. We will never ask you for it.
• You must provide accurate information and may not impersonate another person.
• If you add other people’s details, such as an email address to invite them or a name for a name-only member, make sure they are happy for you to do so, and add only what the trip needs.

3. User Content and Community Rules

User Content includes trip details, chat, recommendations, plans, photos, videos, documents, expense records, paid-trip payment details, profile details, and AI prompt text.

• You keep ownership of your User Content. You give MyTravelCircle a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, store, copy, process, transmit and display it, and to adapt it for display (for example resizing photos or making previews), only to run, secure and improve MyTravelCircle in the places you choose to share it. The license ends when your content is deleted from our systems, except for copies other people already have, content that stays in shared spaces under our deletion rules, and backup copies until they expire.
• When you share content, the people who can see it may use it within MyTravelCircle: trip members can view, download, save and share the trip’s photos, videos and documents marked “Shared with trip”, and use trip photos in collages they post elsewhere; circle members can see what is shared with the circle; and anyone signed in to MyTravelCircle can see, save and copy recommendations and plans you make public, which show your name. New recommendations are public unless you choose “Circle only”.
• We do not sell your content, and we do not use your photos, videos, documents or messages to train AI models.
• Content shared with trip or circle members may remain visible to them even after you edit or delete your copy, subject to our retention and deletion rules.

Prohibited content. We have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. You must not host, display, upload, change, publish, send, store, update or share anything on MyTravelCircle that:

1. 1.belongs to another person and that you have no right to share;
2. 2.is obscene, pornographic or paedophilic; invades another person’s privacy, including bodily privacy; insults or harasses anyone on the basis of gender; is racially or ethnically objectionable; relates to or encourages money laundering or gambling, or is an online game that causes harm to users; or promotes enmity between groups on grounds of religion or caste with intent to incite violence;
3. 3.is harmful to children;
4. 4.infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right;
5. 5.deceives or misleads anyone about where a message came from, or knowingly and intentionally spreads misinformation or information that is patently false or misleading, including fake trips, prices or payment details;
6. 6.impersonates another person;
7. 7.threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with other countries, or public order; incites anyone to commit a cognisable offence; prevents the investigation of any offence; or insults any other country;
8. 8.contains a software virus or any other code, file or program designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
9. 9.is an online game that has not been verified as a permissible online game;
10. 10.advertises or promotes an online game that is not a permissible online game, or a platform offering one; or
11. 11.breaks any law in force.

This applies to everything you add, including chat messages, photos, videos, documents, recommendations, plans, profile details, paid-trip details and AI prompts. If you break these rules, we may remove the content and suspend or close your account (section 15).

4. AI Itinerary Disclaimer

AI itinerary drafts are planning assistance only. They are written automatically by a third-party AI model from what you enter; they are checked automatically, but nobody at MyTravelCircle reviews them before you see them. They may be incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, unsafe for your personal circumstances, or unavailable in real life, and they do not include live opening hours, prices, bookings, weather, safety or visa information. You are responsible for checking opening hours, prices, visa requirements, weather, local laws, medical needs, suitability for children or elders, accessibility, and transport feasibility before relying on any itinerary. Full AI drafts are shown to you for review before they are added to a trip, and you are responsible for what you keep and share. Do not enter other people’s personal details or sensitive information, such as passport, visa, health or payment details. AI features have usage limits, such as a monthly allowance of full drafts, and may sometimes be unavailable. If an AI draft contains something harmful or offensive, tell us at support@mytravelcircle.com.

5. Travel Safety Disclaimer

MyTravelCircle does not provide professional travel, legal, medical, safety, immigration, or insurance advice. You are responsible for travel documents, bookings, local conditions, emergency decisions, and compliance with laws. Recommendations from users or AI are not endorsements or guarantees. Some trips and circles include people you have not met. Take the same care you would offline: check who is organizing, meet in public places, and tell someone you trust about your plans.

6. Expenses and Settlement Disclaimer

Expenses and settle-up are a shared record that trip members keep for themselves. Trip members can add, edit and delete expenses and record payments between them, so the record shows what members entered: it is not proof that money was paid or is owed. Exchange rates may be typed in by members and can differ from your bank’s rate. MyTravelCircle does not process payments, hold or move money, verify debts, issue invoices or GST bills, provide accounting or tax advice, or guarantee repayment. Members are solely responsible for resolving expense disputes and settlements among themselves. Paid trips are covered in section 12.

7. Copyright and Takedown

Only upload or link to content you own or have permission to use. If you believe content on MyTravelCircle infringes your copyright, email support@mytravelcircle.com with the subject “Copyright complaint” and include: a description of your work; proof that you own the copyright or are its exclusive licensee; where the content is on MyTravelCircle (the trip, circle, recommendation or plan, with a screenshot); the name of the person who posted it, if you know it; why it infringes and is not allowed under the Copyright Act, 1957; and your contact details and a statement that the complaint is made in good faith and is accurate. We may remove or restrict the content while we review the complaint, and we will tell the person who posted it. For trademarks and other rights, write to the same address.

8. Acceptable Use

• Do not attack, scrape, reverse engineer, overload, or bypass security controls.
• Do not create fake accounts, spam invites, harass users, or use the app for illegal activity.
• Do not add people to trips or circles who would not expect it, or send invitations in bulk.
• Do not share other people’s personal details, ID or health documents, photos or location without their permission.
• Do not use someone else’s account or sign-in code.
• Do not run a fake paid trip, use a payment QR code or account that is not yours, or collect money under false pretenses.
• Do not try to access trips, circles, media, expenses, or recommendations you are not authorized to access.
• Do not use AI generation to create harmful, unlawful, or abusive content.

9. Privacy, Deletion, and Retention

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect, where it is processed, and how account deletion works. Account deletion can be initiated in the app or by email, as described on our Delete account page. Some records stay after deletion, such as messages, expenses and other things you added to shared trips and circles (shown as from “Deleted traveler”), and records we must keep by law, as described in the Privacy Policy and on the Delete account page. The photos, videos and trip documents you uploaded and the recommendations you posted are deleted.

10. App Stores, Updates, and Availability

MyTravelCircle is free to download and use, and the app has no in-app purchases or subscriptions. Some features have limits, such as a monthly allowance of AI drafts or storage per trip, and we may change them. If we ever introduce paid features, we will show you the price and terms before you pay. Apple App Store and Google Play terms cover how you download and update the app and which devices it supports. If you downloaded the iPhone app from the App Store, Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement also governs your license to use it. Payments for paid trips go directly to the trip owner (section 12). We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features with reasonable notice where practical.

11. Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

• MyTravelCircle is provided free of charge, “as is” and “as available”. We work to keep it running and your data safe, but we do not promise that it will always be available or error-free, or that content will never be lost. Keep your own copies of important documents and records.
• To the maximum extent permitted by law, MyTravelCircle is not liable for: indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive loss; loss caused by other users, trip owners or organizers, including in paid trips and expense disputes; travel-related loss, such as missed bookings, changed plans or unsafe places; decisions you make based on AI drafts or recommendations; or loss of content you did not keep elsewhere.
• To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for all claims about MyTravelCircle is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim (currently none) or ₹500.
• Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Indian law, or takes away your rights as a consumer.

12. Paid Trips

• A trip owner can make a trip paid: they set an amount to join and add their own UPI or other payment QR code and a payment note. People who want to join pay the trip owner directly, outside MyTravelCircle, then upload a screenshot of their payment, and the owner approves or declines them.
• MyTravelCircle never receives, holds, transfers or refunds this money. We are not a party to the arrangement between a trip owner and the people who pay, we do not check payments or screenshots, and we do not guarantee that a trip will take place as described.
• If you run a paid trip, you alone are responsible for it. Describe the trip, the amount and what it includes accurately; tell people your refund and cancellation terms before they pay, and keep to them; handle questions and complaints about the trip and payments; and follow the law, including any tax (such as GST), registration or license your trips need. Use only a payment QR code or account that is yours, check your own payment app before you approve anyone, and never ask for more than the amount shown. Do not use paid trips to collect deposits, investment or chit-fund money, or for any money-circulation, lottery or prize scheme.
• Anyone with a paid trip’s invite link, and members of the circle the trip was created in, can see the amount to join. People who open the link after signing in, and the trip’s members, can also see your payment note and payment QR code, so do not put anything private in them.
• If you pay to join a trip, you are dealing with the trip owner, not with MyTravelCircle. Pay only organizers you know or trust, check the payee name in your payment app before you pay, and keep your own record. Approval, refunds and disputes are between you and the trip owner. Only the trip owner and organizers see your payment screenshot.
• We may remove a paid trip or suspend an account if we receive credible reports of fraud or misuse. If you think you have been cheated, tell our Grievance Officer (section 14) and report it at cybercrime.gov.in or by calling 1930.

13. Trips, Circles and Invites

Trips and circles are shared spaces. Everyone who joins can see what is shared there, including earlier chat messages, photos, shared documents and the member list; in a circle, the member list shows each member’s email address. Anyone who has an invite link can use it until it expires or is used up (to join a paid trip, they must also pay and be approved), so share links only with people you want to join. A trip created in a circle is open to that circle’s members: whoever creates it can add them straight away and, unless it is a paid trip, they can also join it themselves, without an invite. If a circle is listed in Discover and lets people join instantly, anyone signed in to MyTravelCircle can join it, read its chat and join its trips that are not paid. Only a trip’s owner and organizers can invite people to it; in a circle, every member can invite people unless the circle’s admins limit invites to admins. The trip owner and circle admins can remove members; use these controls fairly and in line with these terms. Content you shared may stay visible to others after you edit or delete your copy, or leave, as our Privacy Policy explains.

14. Reporting and Complaints

• To report a member, open their profile from a trip or circle member list and tap Report member. To report a message, photo, document, recommendation, plan or circle, email support@mytravelcircle.com with a screenshot and say where it is.
• We aim to act on reports of objectionable content within 24 hours, by removing the content and, where appropriate, removing the person who posted it.
• Our Grievance Officer handles complaints about content, other users, your account or these terms. Their contact details, and how quickly we act, are in section 13 of our Privacy Policy and on our Support page. You can appeal the Grievance Officer’s decision to the Grievance Appellate Committee at gac.gov.in within 30 days.

15. Suspension and Termination

• You can stop using MyTravelCircle at any time and delete your account, as described on our Delete account page.
• We may remove or block access to content, limit features, or suspend or close an account, straight away and without notice where needed, if we reasonably believe that it breaks these terms, our Privacy Policy or the law, or puts other people at risk (for example harassment, fraud or a fake paid trip), or if a court or an authorized government agency lawfully orders us to. Where it is safe and lawful, we will tell you what we did and why, and you can ask our Grievance Officer to review the decision.
• If you break these terms or the law, you may also be liable to a penalty or punishment under the Information Technology Act, 2000 or other laws. Where the law requires an offence to be reported, for example under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, we will report it to the appropriate authority.
• When we remove content or close an account for these reasons, we keep the content and related records for 180 days, or longer if a court or an authorized government agency requires, as Indian law requires.
• If your account is closed, our Privacy Policy and Delete account page explain what happens to your data. Sections 11, 16 and 18 continue to apply.

16. Indemnity

If someone makes a claim against us because of content you posted, a paid trip you ran, or your breach of these terms or the law, you agree to cover the reasonable losses and costs, including reasonable legal fees, that we incur because of that claim. We will tell you about the claim promptly. This does not apply to the extent the claim was caused by our own fault.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms, for example when we add features or when the law changes. We will post the new version on this page with a new “Last updated” date. If a change materially affects your rights, we will tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect, unless we must make it sooner for legal, safety or security reasons. If you keep using MyTravelCircle after a change takes effect, the new terms apply to you; if you do not agree, you can stop using MyTravelCircle and delete your account.

18. Governing Law and Disputes

These terms, and any dispute about MyTravelCircle, are governed by the laws of India. If you have a problem, please contact us first (see section 20) so we can try to resolve it. Subject to that, the courts in India have jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of these terms or your use of MyTravelCircle. Nothing in these terms takes away your right to complain to a consumer commission or court where you live or work, or any other right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

19. General

• We may send you notices about MyTravelCircle by email or in the app.
• When you use another company’s service from MyTravelCircle, such as Google Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook or your UPI app, that company’s terms and privacy policy apply, and we are not responsible for it.
• You may not transfer your account or these terms to anyone else. We may transfer them to a business that takes over MyTravelCircle, and we will tell you if we do.
• If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• These terms are the whole agreement between you and us about MyTravelCircle.

20. Contact

For legal questions, contact support@mytravelcircle.com. For complaints about content or other users, contact our Grievance Officer (section 14). Website: https://www.mytravelcircle.com.