Catalog Terms of Service

Effective date: November 17, 2026
Last updated: November 17, 2026

Welcome to Catalog. These Terms are the agreement between you and Tommy Shimko of Brooklyn, New York ("Catalog," "we," "us") for using the Catalog app and website (the "Service"). By creating an account or using Catalog, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use Catalog.

Please read section 14 carefully: it says how disputes are handled, including a waiver of class actions.

1. Who can use Catalog

You must be at least 13 years old. If you're under the age of majority where you live, you need a parent or guardian's permission, and they agree to these Terms for you. We don't knowingly allow children under 13 to use Catalog and will delete any account we learn belongs to one. You also can't use Catalog if we've previously banned you or if the law forbids it.

2. Your account

You can sign up with Sign in with Apple or with email. Please give accurate information, keep your sign-in secure, and tell us at tommy@catalogthings.app if you think someone else has accessed your account. You're responsible for what happens under your account. Your handle can't impersonate someone else or infringe anyone's rights, and we may reclaim handles that do.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account.

3. Your content

"Your content" means anything you add to Catalog: catalog items, notes, shelves, diary entries, posts, comments, messages, profile details and photos, and community covers.

You own your content. To run Catalog, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, reproduce, adapt (for example, resizing images or formatting text), display, and distribute your content in connection with operating, improving and promoting the Service. This license covers:

• public content (profile, posts, comments, likes, diaries) being shown to anyone using Catalog;
• club messages being shown to that club's members;
• community covers being made available to all Catalog users to use on their own shelves, including after you delete your account where other people are already using them.

The license ends when you delete the content or your account, except for content others have already copied or that we must keep for legal or safety reasons, and except as described above for community covers.

You promise that you have the rights to everything you post (including any cover image you upload), and that it doesn't break these Terms or the law.

4. Community rules — zero tolerance

Catalog has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. Don't post or send anything that:

• harasses, bullies, threatens or intimidates anyone;
• is hateful or discriminatory based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or similar traits;
• is sexually explicit, or sexualizes minors in any way;
• promotes violence, self-harm, terrorism, or illegal activity;
• is spam, scams, or misleading;
• shares someone else's private information without permission;
• impersonates another person or organization;
• infringes someone's copyright, trademark, or other rights.

And don't misuse the Service: no scraping or bulk collection, no attempts to break or get around security or rate limits, no reverse engineering except as the law allows, no bots or fake accounts, and no using Catalog to build a competing dataset or train AI models.

5. Moderation, blocking and reporting

You can block any user and report any post, comment, profile or cover from inside the app. We review reports within 24 hours. We may remove content, restrict features, or suspend or permanently terminate accounts that break these Terms, with or without notice, at our discretion. Where we can, we'll tell you why. If you believe we made a mistake, email tommy@catalogthings.app.

We aren't obligated to monitor content and don't endorse anything users post, but we act on what we find or are told about.

6. Copyright and the DMCA

We respect copyright and respond to notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512).

To report infringement, send our designated agent a written notice that includes:

1. your physical or electronic signature;
2. identification of the copyrighted work you say is infringed;
3. identification of the material you say is infringing, with enough detail for us to find it (for example, a link or a screenshot showing the handle and post);
4. your name, mailing address, phone number and email;
5. a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use isn't authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

Designated agent:
Tommy Shimko (mailing address and phone available on request)
Email: tommy@catalogthings.app
Registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, registration pending

Counter-notice. If your content was removed and you believe it was a mistake or misidentification, send the agent a counter-notice with: your physical or electronic signature; identification of the removed material and where it appeared; a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief it was removed by mistake or misidentification; and your name, address and phone number, plus a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for your address (or, if you're outside the US, any judicial district in which Catalog may be found), and that you'll accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice. We'll forward it to them and may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless they tell us they've filed a court action.

Repeat infringers. We will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe.

Knowingly false notices or counter-notices can make you liable for damages.

7. Titles, cover art and other third-party content

Catalog shows titles, descriptions and cover art from sources such as TMDB, Open Library, Google Books, Apple, Deezer, MusicBrainz, Last.fm and Wikipedia. That material belongs to its respective owners and is shown to help you identify things you own, love, or want to try. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Catalog isn't affiliated with, or endorsed by, any author, studio, label, publisher or other rights holder. If you're a rights holder with a concern, use section 6 or email us.

8. Our stuff

The Catalog app, its design, name, logo and software belong to us and our licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the app on Apple devices you own or control, as permitted by Apple's Media Services Terms. You don't get any other rights to our intellectual property. If you send us feedback or ideas, we can use them freely without owing you anything.

9. AI features

Some features (like shelf scanning, recommendations, Syllabus, Ask Catalog, auto-sort, club recaps and local picks) use artificial intelligence. They only run after you consent, as described in the Privacy Policy. AI output is generated automatically and may be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. It isn't professional advice, and we don't guarantee it. Please check anything that matters before relying on it. Don't use AI features to create content that breaks section 4.

10. Catalog Premium (applies only once offered)

Catalog has no paid features at launch. This section applies only once we offer Catalog Premium in the app.

• What it is: an optional auto-renewable subscription that unlocks extra features, offered monthly and yearly. Prices are shown in the app before you buy and may vary by country.
• Billing: payment is charged to your Apple ID when you confirm the purchase. All purchases are processed by Apple under its terms.
• Automatic renewal: your subscription renews automatically at the same price and for the same period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your Apple ID is charged for renewal within the 24 hours before the period ends.
• Free trials: if we offer a free trial, it automatically converts to a paid subscription at the price shown unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Any unused portion of a trial ends when you buy a subscription.
• How to cancel: open the iPhone Settings app → your name → Subscriptions → Catalog, or manage it from the App Store. Deleting the app doesn't cancel your subscription. After you cancel, you keep access until the end of the paid period.
• Price changes: we'll give you advance notice of any price change as Apple and the law require, and you can cancel before it applies.
• Refunds: refunds are handled by Apple under its policies; request one at reportaproblem.apple.com. We can't issue refunds directly.
• Changes to features: we may add or change Premium features over time, but we won't take away what you paid for during a paid period without a prorated remedy where required by law.

11. Disclaimers

Catalog is provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We don't promise that Catalog will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, that data will never be lost, or that content from users or third parties is accurate. Please keep your own records of anything important. Some places don't allow these disclaimers, so some may not apply to you.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Catalog and its owners, employees and contractors won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from or related to the Service, even if we were told they were possible. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of US $100 or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose. These limits don't apply where the law doesn't allow them, such as for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or certain consumer rights.

13. Indemnity

If someone brings a claim against us because of your content, your use of Catalog, or your violation of these Terms or of someone else's rights, you agree to defend and indemnify us against that claim and the related costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, to the extent the law allows. We'll let you know about the claim and may choose to handle our own defense.

14. Disputes

Talk to us first. Most problems can be solved with a conversation. Before filing any claim, email tommy@catalogthings.app with a description of the issue and what you'd like, and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally.

Governing law and venue. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that isn't resolved informally will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Kings County, New York, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction. You may also bring an individual claim in small claims court where you live, if it qualifies. If you live in Canada or another place whose consumer-protection laws give you the right to sue locally or under local law, nothing here takes that right away.

No class actions. You and we agree to bring claims only on an individual basis, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, consolidated or representative action, to the extent the law allows. There is no mandatory arbitration under these Terms.

15. Ending things

You can stop using Catalog and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access as described in section 5, or if we stop offering the Service (in which case we'll give reasonable notice where we can). Sections that by their nature should survive (including 3's limits, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14) survive termination.

16. Apple-specific terms

These Terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple isn't responsible for Catalog or its content, has no obligation to provide maintenance or support, and isn't responsible for any claims relating to the app (including product liability, legal or regulatory compliance, consumer protection, or intellectual property claims). If the app fails to meet an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple for a refund of any purchase price, and Apple has no other warranty obligation. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. You confirm you aren't in a US-embargoed country or on a US government restricted-parties list.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as Catalog changes. We'll update the date at the top, and for significant changes we'll give you notice in the app or by email at least 14 days before they take effect. If you keep using Catalog after that, you accept the new Terms. If you don't, please delete your account.

18. Everything else

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about Catalog. If any part is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce something right away, we haven't given up the right to later. You can't transfer these Terms; we may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale. Notices to you may be sent in the app or to your account email.

19. Contact

Tommy Shimko
Brooklyn, New York, USA
tommy@catalogthings.app · https://www.catalogthings.app