Terms of Service

Effective date: 3 June 2026

1. Agreement to these terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and HOOKEM AI (PTY) LTD, a South African private company with registered address at 11 Gail Road, Sandton, 2196, South Africa (“Hookem”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). They govern your access to and use of the Hookem mobile application, the website at hookem.ai, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, joining the waitlist, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you may not use the Service.

2. Who can use Hookem

You must be at least 16 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract in your jurisdiction. By using the Service you represent and warrant that you meet these requirements.

If you use the Service on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you are authorised to bind that organisation to these Terms, in which case “you” includes that organisation.

3. Your account

To access most features of the Service you must create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information and to keep it updated. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account.

Notify us immediately at support@hookem.ai if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

4. Subscriptions, credits, and billing

Hookem offers paid subscription plans and optional credit top-up packs. Pricing, features, and credit allowances for each plan are set out on our website at the time of purchase.

4.1 Billing

Subscriptions and credit top-ups are billed through Stripe via our website. By subscribing, you authorise us (through Stripe) to charge your chosen payment method for the applicable fees. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled before the next renewal date.

4.2 Credits

Each analysis performed on your behalf consumes one credit from your available balance. Credits reset at the start of each billing period for subscribers. Unused credits do not roll over unless explicitly stated. Credit top-up packs do not expire unless stated at time of purchase.

4.3 Changes to pricing

We may change our pricing from time to time. If we increase the price of your subscription, we will notify you at least 30 days before the change takes effect. You may cancel your subscription before the new price applies.

4.4 Cancellations and refunds

You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and you will retain access to paid features until then. We do not offer refunds for partial billing periods, unused credits, or downgrades, except where required by applicable law.

4.5 Taxes

Fees are exclusive of applicable taxes unless stated otherwise. You are responsible for any taxes, duties, or similar charges applicable to your use of the Service.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to assist anyone else to:

  • Submit content that you do not have the right to submit, or that violates the intellectual property or privacy rights of any person.
  • Use the Service to analyse content obtained in violation of Instagram’s terms or in breach of any applicable law.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code or underlying ideas of the Service, except to the extent permitted by law.
  • Scrape, spider, or otherwise programmatically extract data from the Service except through interfaces we provide.
  • Circumvent rate limits, credit allowances, or other usage controls.
  • Use the Service to build or train a competing product or model, or to extract and resell our outputs at scale.
  • Introduce malware, exploit vulnerabilities, or otherwise disrupt the Service or its infrastructure.
  • Use the Service to generate content that is illegal, harmful, harassing, defamatory, discriminatory, or otherwise objectionable.
  • Resell, sublicense, or share your account credentials with third parties.
  • Use the Service for any purpose prohibited by applicable law.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that breach these rules, with or without notice depending on severity.

6. Your content

“Your Content” means the Instagram URLs, chat prompts, notes, adaptations, and other inputs you submit to the Service.

You retain all rights in Your Content. By submitting Your Content, you grant Hookem a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, process, transmit, and display Your Content solely as needed to operate, provide, improve, and secure the Service.

You represent and warrant that you have the necessary rights to submit Your Content, and that submitting it does not violate these Terms, the rights of any third party, or any applicable law.

7. Third-party content and connected accounts

When you submit an Instagram URL, we fetch publicly accessible information about that post (the video file and publicly visible engagement metadata) so we can analyse it. We do not own, control, or endorse content published by Instagram users, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by Instagram, Meta Platforms, Inc., or any related entity.

You are responsible for ensuring your use of the Service with any particular Instagram content complies with Instagram’s terms, applicable copyright law, and any other rights that may apply to that content.

7.1 Connected accounts

You may authorise Hookem to connect to third-party accounts you control — currently Google Drive and Notion — on a read-onlybasis, so you can import your own documents into your knowledge base. By connecting an account you confirm that you have the right to access and import that content. Your use of the third-party service remains governed by that provider’s own terms and privacy policy. You can disconnect a connected account at any time from within the app; doing so stops all further access.

8. Our intellectual property

The Service, including the Hookem name and logo, the software, the design of our user interfaces, and all content we create (other than Your Content), is owned by Hookem or our licensors and protected by intellectual property laws.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use the Service for your personal or internal business use. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

9. AI-generated analysis

The Service uses artificial intelligence to generate transcripts, hook analyses, chat responses, and other outputs (“AI Output”). AI Output is probabilistic and may contain inaccuracies, omissions, biases, or other errors. You should not rely on AI Output as a substitute for professional advice in any regulated field (including legal, medical, financial, or safety-critical domains).

Subject to these Terms and any rights retained by our AI providers, you may use AI Output for your lawful purposes. However, we cannot and do not guarantee that AI Output is unique, non-infringing, or free of errors. You are responsible for reviewing AI Output before relying on or publishing it.

Different users may receive similar or identical AI Output for similar inputs. Hookem makes no representation that AI Output is unique to you.

10. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time (see our Privacy Policy for instructions).

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, if required to do so by law, or if continued provision of the Service becomes commercially impracticable.

On account deletion your personal data is handled as described in our Privacy Policy, section 13. Your account enters a 30-day grace period during which you can cancel. After 30 days all personal data is permanently deleted and your email address is released for re-registration.

Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including ownership of content, disclaimers, indemnities, and limitations of liability) will survive.

11. Disclaimer of warranties

The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that AI Output will be accurate or reliable; or that any defects will be corrected.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Hookem, its directors, employees, agents, and affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service.

Our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the Service in any 12-month period will not exceed the greater of: (a) the total fees you paid us during that period, or (b) ZAR 1,000.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In those jurisdictions, our liability will be limited to the minimum extent permitted by law.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Hookem and its directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) Your Content, (b) your use of the Service, (c) your breach of these Terms, or (d) your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

You agree that the courts of South Africa have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide any such dispute, except that we may seek injunctive or equitable relief in any jurisdiction where infringement of our rights occurs.

Nothing in this section limits any mandatory consumer-protection rights you may have under the laws of your country of residence.

15. Apple App Store additional terms

The following additional terms apply if you download the Hookem mobile app from the Apple App Store:

  • These Terms are between you and Hookem only, not with Apple. Apple is not responsible for the Service or its contents.
  • Your licence to use the app is limited to a non-transferable licence to use it on any Apple-branded device that you own or control, as permitted by the App Store Terms of Service.
  • Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support services for the Service.
  • If the Service fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the Service.
  • Hookem, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the Service, including product liability, legal or regulatory compliance, and consumer protection claims.
  • Hookem, not Apple, is responsible for investigating and resolving any third-party claim that the Service or your use of it infringes intellectual property rights.
  • You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a “terrorist-supporting” country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  • Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

16. Google Play additional terms

If you download the Hookem mobile app from Google Play, your use is also subject to the Google Play Terms of Service. Hookem, not Google, is solely responsible for the Service and any claims arising from it. Google has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the Service.

17. General provisions

  • Entire agreement. These Terms and our Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and Hookem regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.
  • Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect.
  • No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right.
  • Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, to a successor in interest or an affiliate.
  • Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure to perform caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, pandemic, internet outages, or the acts of third-party service providers.
  • Electronic communications. You consent to receive communications from us electronically (by email or in-app notice). Legal notices to us must be sent to the address in section 19.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Effective date” at the top of this page. For material changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice in the Service before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Service after the change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

19. Contact us

Questions about these Terms can be directed to:

HOOKEM AI (PTY) LTD
11 Gail Road, Sandton, 2196, South Africa
support@hookem.ai