T Legal · Terms
Terms of service.
Last updated: 12 May 2026
These terms cover how you use Grocery Buddy — the mobile app, our website, and anything we build around them. By installing the app, signing in, or using the service, you're agreeing to these terms. They're written to be readable, not to trap you.
1. Basic terms
The service
Grocery Buddy is a shopping-list app. It lets you keep lists, share them with other people, and have those lists reorder themselves to match the supermarket you're shopping at. The core service is free. Some optional features are available through an auto-renewing subscription (“Pro”), billed monthly or annually.
We provide Grocery Buddy “as is” and may change, add, or remove features at any time. We may also pause the service for maintenance, security, or other operational reasons. Where a change materially reduces what you've paid for, we'll do our best to tell you in advance.
Your account
You can use the app without signing in. Once you want to share a list, sync between devices, or unlock Pro, you'll need an account. You can sign in with Apple, Google, or an email link.
You must be at least 13 to use Grocery Buddy — or older if the law where you live sets a higher age. You're responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials safe and for the activity that happens under your account. Tell us right away at help@thebuddy.group if you think someone else has access.
App store distribution
Grocery Buddy is distributed through the Apple App Store and (when available) the Google Play Store. Your use of the app is also subject to Apple's and Google's terms for their respective platforms. Where their terms conflict with ours in a way that's required to ship the app on their platform, theirs apply for that specific point.
Apple is not a party to these terms but is a third-party beneficiary of them with respect to the iOS app, and may enforce them against you in that capacity.
Permissions on your device
Grocery Buddy may ask permission to use parts of your device, including:
- Location — to detect which supermarket you're in and reorder the list for it. Always optional; you can pick the store manually instead.
- Notifications — to let you know when someone adds or checks something off a shared list.
- Network access — to sync your lists and serve ads to free users.
You can grant or revoke any of these in your device settings at any time. Some features will stop working if you do, but the rest of the app keeps running.
Sharing and invites
You can share a list with anyone — flatmates, family, the person who handles the groceries this week. When you invite someone, we send them an email or a deep link on your behalf. Don't use invites to send spam, harassment, or anything you don't have permission to send. If you do, we may suspend your access.
People you've invited can see and edit the lists you've shared with them. Don't put anything on a shared list that the other people on it haven't consented to seeing.
Your content
Your lists, items, notes, and learned aisle order are yours. We don't claim ownership. To run the service we need a limited licence to host your content on our servers, sync it to the devices you've added, and show it to the people you've invited. That licence ends when you delete the content or your account.
You're responsible for keeping your own backups of anything you can't afford to lose. While we take reasonable care, we can't guarantee data won't be lost in rare circumstances (a major outage, a deleted account, a corrupted device).
Acceptable use
Don't use Grocery Buddy to:
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the app.
- Scrape, hammer, or otherwise overload our service.
- Try to access lists, accounts, or data that aren't yours.
- Resell, sublicense, or commercially redistribute the app or its content.
- Send messages through invites that are unlawful, abusive, infringing, or deceptive.
Free, ads, and Pro
The free version of the app is supported by ads served by Google AdMob. Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription that removes ads and adds a small set of convenience features. It's offered on a monthly or annual term; current prices are shown in the app before you confirm.
Subscriptions are billed and managed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Play Store) under their store terms — we don't see or store your card details. Payment is charged to your Apple ID or Google account at confirmation of purchase and at the start of each renewal period.
Your subscription renews automatically at the same term and price unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel any time from your Apple ID subscriptions settings or your Google Play subscriptions settings — cancelling stops the next renewal, and your Pro access continues until the end of the period you've already paid for.
If the price changes, we'll let you know in advance and you'll be asked to confirm the new price before it takes effect. If you don't confirm, your subscription will end at the next renewal.
Refunds are handled under Apple's or Google's refund policies for the store you subscribed through. If you have a problem with a charge, the fastest path is usually their support, but we're happy to help if you reach out.
Third-party merchants and prices
Grocery Buddy may surface store names, product names, suggested categorisations, or other information about retailers and products. We are not a party to anything you buy from a supermarket or other merchant. Prices, availability, and product details belong to the retailer; we don't guarantee them and aren't liable when they're wrong.
2. Limitation of liability
We provide Grocery Buddy with reasonable care, but it's offered on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we (and our affiliates and suppliers) aren't liable for:
- Indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive losses arising from your use of (or inability to use) the app.
- Forgotten items, regretted purchases, or domestic disagreements about whether something was on the list.
- Data loss, except where we've been grossly negligent.
- The acts or omissions of third parties — including supermarkets, payment processors, advertisers, and the people you've invited to your lists.
Where you have non-excludable rights under consumer law (for example the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act, the Australian Consumer Law, or equivalent in your country), those rights are not affected by this section. To the extent we can lawfully cap our liability for matters connected to the app, our total liability to you is limited to the greater of NZ$50 or the amount you've paid us for Grocery Buddy in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.
You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses, and reasonable legal costs arising from your breach of these terms or your misuse of the app.
3. General terms
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time — for example to reflect new features, legal requirements, or changes in how the service works. If we make a material change, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you inside the app before the change takes effect. Continuing to use Grocery Buddy after the change takes effect means you accept the updated terms.
Ending things
You can stop using Grocery Buddy at any time — delete the app, or delete your account from inside it. We can suspend or end your access if you seriously or repeatedly breach these terms, or if we're required to by law. Sections that should logically survive the end of these terms (like limitation of liability and indemnity) do.
If a clause doesn't hold up
If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest of the terms keep working. We'll read the unenforceable part as narrowly as needed to keep the intended meaning.
Governing law and jurisdiction
These terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand. Any dispute that can't be resolved by a quick conversation will be heard by the courts of New Zealand — unless your local consumer-protection law gives you the right to bring proceedings in your own country, in which case that right is preserved.
Contact
We'd much rather sort things out by email than in court. For anything related to these terms, your account, or how Grocery Buddy works, write to help@thebuddy.group.
Questions? help@thebuddy.group.