Terms of Service

By using Kobond you accept the terms described here. Kobond is a social platform for organizing and joining dinners in private homes. It is not a dating app, nor a professional catering service.

1. The Kobond Service

Kobond lets you:

• Create a personal profile
• Publish dinners at your home as a host
• Apply to other users' dinners as a guest
• Communicate via dinner-specific chats
• Leave and receive reviews after dinners
• Invite your flatmates to your dinner with a link, without them having to create an account
• Optionally get the "verified" badge through face verification

2. Access Requirements

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You must provide truthful information during sign-up
• You may only have one account per person
• If you sign up with email and password you must confirm your address with the 6-digit code we send you
• Kobond can only be used with an account: without logging in, the app and its content (dinners, profiles, chats) are not visible. When you sign up you confirm you are at least 18 and accept these Terms; your confirmation is recorded with the date and the version of the texts
• If these Terms change substantially, we will ask you again in the app before you keep using it
• Some data is required to use Kobond and cannot be skipped: at sign-up an email (or a Google or Apple account) and password, confirmation that you are 18 or older and acceptance of the Terms, Guidelines and Privacy Policy; in your profile your name, nickname, age, the province you live in and a short bio. Without this data you cannot apply, accept invitations or create dinners. Photo, cooking, interests and face verification are optional

3. Community Rules

Prohibited behavior

• Using the platform for romantic or sexual purposes — Kobond is not a dating app
• Posting false or misleading information in your profile or dinners
• Harassing, threatening or offending other users
• Sharing illegal, offensive or sexually explicit content
• Using the platform for commercial activity, paid events or events in commercial venues (see section 4)
• Creating fake profiles or impersonating other people
• Making false or bad-faith reports, or using reports to harass or harm other users

Required behavior

• Treat everyone with respect and courtesy
• Respect the host's privacy: do not share the address you received
• Cancel your attendance at least 24 hours in advance when possible
• Be honest in your reviews

4. Host Responsibilities

• Provide accurate information about the menu and declare the allergens of every dish you prepare
• Maintain adequate hygiene standards when preparing food
• Welcome accepted guests safely and respectfully
• Communicate any cancellations promptly
• Respect the posting limits: at most 3 active dinners at the same time, at most 3 new dinners per day, and the dinner must start at least 1 hour after publishing
• Share the flatmate link only with people who actually live with you (max 10 per dinner; the link expires after 24 hours) and take responsibility for the people you invite. You tell your flatmates the dinner rules and the allergens in the dishes; if a flatmate has allergies or intolerances they tell you directly, and you take them into account without saying whose they are
• Be aware that the dinner is cancelled automatically if the minimum number of guests has not been reached when applications close (4 hours before; 30 minutes before for events created less than 5 hours before), or as soon as it drops below the minimum after closing
• If you delete the dinner in the 24 hours before it starts (even if you created it at the last minute) or don't hold it without notice, the Kobond team, after checking, may give you the "Missed event" badge
• If a guest tells you about their allergies, use them only to prepare the dinner safely and don't tell anyone
• Host events only in a private home: the home you live in or another private home you can legitimately use (for example your family's home, with their permission). Restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, agritourism farms, hotels, hostels, B&Bs, halls or spaces rented for the event, and the premises of any commercial business are not allowed, even if they belong to you or your family, the manager agrees or the business is closed at that time. The address you enter must be the place where the event actually takes place. This is a Kobond rule and applies even where the law would allow the event
• Keep events collaborative and free: on Kobond every event is a collaborative dinner, where the host provides the home and the cooking and guests contribute by bringing something to share, as shown in "What you bring". You may not ask for or accept money or any other compensation, in any form (cash, bank transfer, payment apps, vouchers), before, during or after the event: not for your cooking, nor as a fee, reimbursement or split of costs, tip or voluntary donation. You may not sell food, drinks or other products, or use the event to promote a business
• If an event does not comply with the two points above, the Kobond team may cancel it at any time, even shortly before it starts. Guests, invitees and applicants receive a notification that the event was cancelled by the Kobond team; the host receives a notification with the reason. The measures in section 9-bis also apply: an event in a restaurant, bar or other venue is a minor violation (1st time a warning, 2nd a 7-day suspension, 3rd 30 days, then a ban); a paid event or one involving sales is a serious violation (1st time a 30-day suspension, then a ban); if both apply, the measure for the serious violation applies. Kobond does not check every event in advance: it acts on reports or when it becomes aware of a problem. Kobond does not handle payments and is not a party to any financial arrangement between users: if one happens, even outside the app, only the people involved are responsible for it. You can always request a review of the decision (section 9-bis)
• Declare the allergens of every dish you prepare or bring (the 14 legal allergens, or «No allergens»): it is required for every dish and you are responsible for what you declare and prepare
• Keep the «Who brings what» list up to date. Every change is recorded and can be reported

5. Guest Responsibilities

• Show up on time and notify in advance if you can't make it
• Respect the home and the host's rules
• Bring any agreed contributions (wine, dessert, etc.)
• Keep the host's address confidential
• If you withdraw in the 24 hours before the dinner (except for dinners created less than 48 hours before they start) or don't show up, the Kobond team, after checking, may give you the "Missed event" badge, shown on your profile for 5 days, 10 days, 15 days or 1 month based on your confirmed absences in the last 2 months. The badge doesn't limit your use of the app. You can contest the decision by writing to [email protected]
• After withdrawing an application you can apply again to the same dinner: the host will decide again
• After each dinner the host and guests say whether it took place. Answers and any account of what happened go only to the Kobond team, are used to check absences and no-shows, and disputed reviews stay on hold until the team checks them
• Don't pay anything to take part: events on Kobond are free. If you are asked for money or the event takes place in a restaurant, bar or other venue, report it from the app
• If you have allergies or intolerances, tell the cook directly and check yourself, before eating, that the food doesn't contain them, by asking about the ingredients. The allergens declared by hosts and participants are not verified by Kobond
• Declare the allergens of what you bring (also when you tap «I'll bring it») and respect the dinner's diet (for example vegetarian or vegan): you are responsible for what you declare and bring
• With version 1.0 of the app you can still share your allergies with the table (the accepted participants see them with your name until the end of the dinner, and you can withdraw consent at any time). From version 1.1 allergies are no longer shared in the app: tell the cook directly

6. Safety

Kobond does not verify the identity of users' documents and does not guarantee anyone's behavior . You're meeting people you don't know, at their home or yours: use common sense.

• Read the profile and reviews before accepting or applying
• Tell someone where you're going
• Report inappropriate behavior right away using the report feature
• The "verified" badge is optional and only means the face belongs to a real person with no other account: it is not an identity check nor a guarantee of behaviour. Flatmates invited via link are not verified.
• Biometric data. Face verification is optional and only happens with your explicit consent (Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR). It is used only for the "Face verified" badge, to prevent duplicate accounts and to stop permanently banned people from returning; it is never used for advertising. It is processed by Amazon Rekognition (AWS, EU Ireland): videos and photos of your face are not saved, we only keep the result and the numeric face code. You can withdraw consent at any time from Settings › Face data. Full details in the Privacy Policy, section 7.

7. User Content

By posting content on Kobond you grant a non-exclusive, royalty-free license, limited to what's needed to operate the service. You remain the owner of your content. You may not post illegal content or content that infringes third-party rights.

8. Limitation of Liability

• Kobond does not guarantee continuous or error-free service
• Kobond is not responsible for users' behavior
• Kobond is not responsible for any damages related to dinners
• The limitations of liability in these Terms (sections 4 and 8) do not apply in case of wilful misconduct or gross negligence by Kobond and do not limit the rights that the law grants to consumers on a mandatory basis
• Kobond does not prepare, serve or check the food, nor the allergens and diets declared by users: whoever prepares or brings a dish declares its allergens and is responsible for what they declare and prepare; whoever eats tells the cook about their own allergies and checks what they eat

9. Account Deletion

You can delete your account from the app settings. When you delete your account, email, sign-in, name, photos, bio and other profile data are deleted immediately; backup copies are overwritten within 30 days. Kobond may suspend or close accounts that violate these Terms. Suspensions and closures follow the rules in section 9-bis. Deleting your account does not cancel a suspension: if you delete it while suspended or with an open report, a new account with the same email or device is linked to the deleted one and resumes the suspension until it ends (see Privacy Policy).

9-bis. Reports, team decisions and review

• Kobond has zero tolerance for objectionable content, harassment and abusive users. Reports are reviewed within 24 hours: violating content is removed and the users responsible are removed from Kobond.
• You can report people and content directly in the app. Every report is reviewed by a person on the Kobond team, and every measure on your account is always decided by a person, never by an automated system. Whoever reports receives a notification with the outcome. You can also block a user from their profile or from the private chat: from then on neither of you can message the other in a private chat, follow them, apply to their dinners or invite them, and you no longer get notifications for their messages in group chats, and you no longer see their content in Home, Discover and Search people. The other person is not notified and you can remove the block whenever you want from Settings › Blocked people.
• Some automatic checks block texts containing banned words and remove photos with explicit, violent, disturbing or hateful content. They only affect that single piece of content and, if one of your photos is removed, you get a notification.
• If you break these Terms or the Guidelines the team may remove the content, send you a warning, suspend the account for a period or block it permanently (ban).
• Measures follow severity. Minor violations (e.g. spam, offensive language, inappropriate content): 1st time a warning, 2nd a 7-day suspension, 3rd 30 days, then a ban. Serious violations (e.g. persistent dating approaches, fake reviews, misleading dinner): 1st time 30 days, then a ban. Very serious violations (harassment, threats, violence, sexual harassment, fake profile, minors, danger to people): immediate ban. Decisions from the previous 12 months count; the team may depart from this table only by stating the reason.
• False reports made in bad faith are minor violations; if repeated or made to get someone suspended, serious ones. Anyone who reports in good faith, even if mistaken, risks nothing.
• Events held in a restaurant, bar or other commercial venue are also minor violations, and paid events or events involving the sale of food, drinks or other products are serious violations (section 4). In both cases the team may also cancel the event.
• Declaring false allergens for a dish, or deliberately not declaring them, is a serious violation, because it puts people's health at risk.
• Every decision reaches you as an in-app notification stating the reason. During a suspension you can't use the app: you only see a screen with the reason and the end date, and when it expires the account becomes active again on its own.
• In case of a ban, to stop the same person from signing up again, we keep an encrypted, unreadable fingerprint of the email and device (until 2 years after the account is deleted) and, if you had consented to face verification, the numeric face code for as long as the account exists (as explained in the Privacy Policy). A new matching account is suspended and can ask for a review.
• If your account is suspended or blocked you can ask for it to be deleted by writing to [email protected]: we do it within 30 days (the encrypted fingerprints are kept for the 2 years stated above).
• You can ask for a review of any decision (including the "Missed event" badge or the outcome of one of your reports) within 6 months, by writing to [email protected] or with "Write to the team" on the suspension screen. We reply within 30 days and, when possible, the review is done by a team member other than the one who decided. Your right to go to court and the other remedies provided by law always remain available.
• We remove illegal content as soon as we become aware of it and cooperate with the authorities when the law requires it.
• The Kobond team is not an emergency service and does not act in real time: if you are in danger, call 112 right away.

10. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by Italian law. Any dispute falls under the jurisdiction of the Court of Bologna, unless otherwise mandated by consumer protection law.

11. Contact