Terms of Use

Effective October 2nd, 2026

These Terms of Use (the "Terms") are an agreement between you and Davis Kimoto ("Sear," "we," "us" or "our"). They cover the Sear app for iPhone, including its share extension and widgets (the "App"), the website at searcooking.com, and the servers the App uses (together, the "Services"). By downloading or using the Services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the Services.

1. Who can use Sear

You must be at least 13 years old, or older if your country requires it, to use Sear. This includes anyone you share a grocery list with. If you're under the age of majority where you live, a parent or guardian must agree to these Terms for you.

2. Your license to use the App

We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the App on Apple devices that you own or control, as allowed by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions. You may not:

• copy, modify, or make derivative works of the App, except as the law allows;
• reverse engineer, decompile or try to extract the App's source code, except as the law allows despite this restriction;
• rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense or redistribute the App;
• access or copy the recipe cache or our other servers other than through the App as intended, including by scraping, bulk downloading or automated requests;
• interfere with, overload or try to get around the security of the Services; or
• use the Services to break the law or infringe anyone's rights.

We and our licensors own the Services, including the App's design, code, built-in recipes and photos, and the Sear name and logo. These Terms don't give you any rights to them other than the license above.

3. Your content

The recipes, notes, photos, plans and lists you create or save in Sear ("Your Content") are yours. We don't claim ownership of them. Your Content lives on your iPhone, and in your iCloud account if iCloud is turned on for Sear, not on our servers. So we don't need a license to it, and you're responsible for keeping backups. iCloud is provided by Apple under Apple's terms.

You're responsible for Your Content and for having the right to use it. Recipes you import from other people's websites and posts are for your own personal, non-commercial use. Please respect creators' rights when you share them.

Sharing with your family and others

When you share a grocery list, everyone you invite can see, change and delete what's on it. You're responsible for who you invite, and everyone you invite must meet the age requirement in section 1. You're also responsible for what you add. Only add information about other people with their permission. The person who shared a list can remove people or stop sharing at any time. We aren't responsible for what participants do with a shared list, including changes or deletions they make, or what they keep after they leave. Sharing uses Apple's iCloud and is subject to Apple's terms. If Sear offers purchases that support Family Sharing, Apple's Family Sharing rules decide who in your family can use them.

4. Importing recipes and the recipe cache

Sear can import recipes from links to websites and social media posts. As the Privacy Policy explains, the App checks the link against a shared cache of recipes we've already prepared, and we may add public recipes to the cache using automated tools, including machine-learning tools.

The cache holds the list of ingredients and the method, written as factual steps in Sear's standard format, with a link back to the original and credit to its creator. It doesn't copy or redistribute creators' photos, videos, stories or other original expression. When you submit a link, you agree that we may fetch the publicly available page or post it points to and process it to add the recipe to the cache.

Imported recipes come from third parties, and automated extraction can make mistakes. We don't check imported recipes, aren't responsible for them, and don't endorse them or their creators. Always check an imported recipe against the original before you rely on it.

5. Creators and copyright

We respect creators' work. If you're a creator and would like your recipes left out of the cache, email hello@searcooking.com with the links or the account concerned, and we'll remove them and stop adding them.

6. Cooking safely

Sear helps you plan and cook, but you are responsible for your kitchen. Cooking times, temperatures, reminders, timers and thermometer readings are guides only. They can be affected by your equipment, your ingredients, your device's settings and battery, and your connection to your thermometer. In particular:

• always check that food is cooked to a safe internal temperature using a food thermometer you trust, following guidance from food safety authorities such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
• check every ingredient for allergens and dietary requirements yourself. Recipes, including imported ones, may be incomplete or wrong;
• take care with heat, flames, knives and appliances, and never leave cooking unattended because you're relying on a reminder or timer; and
• Sear doesn't provide medical, nutritional or dietary advice.

7. Other companies' services and devices

Sear works with services and products from other companies, including Apple (iCloud, Siri and Apple Intelligence), recipe websites, TikTok, Instagram and Combustion thermometers. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by these companies, and we're not responsible for their services, content or devices. Your use of them is governed by their own terms.

8. Purchases and Sear Premium

Purchases and subscriptions are made through Apple and are subject to Apple's terms. Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel them in your Apple Account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Refunds are handled by Apple.

Sear is free to use. The free version includes five recipe imports from websites, social media posts and screenshots in any seven-day period, counted from your first import in that period. Recipes you type in yourself, and the recipes that come with the App, never count toward this limit. Imports past the limit wait in a queue and run in order when the period ends. Sear Premium removes the import limit and unlocks any other features we describe as Premium.

Sear Premium is offered as a monthly subscription, an annual subscription and a one-time lifetime purchase. New subscribers may be offered a free trial; if you don't cancel before the trial ends, you'll be charged for the first subscription period. Prices are shown in the App before you buy, and we may change them for future purchases, including when a launch price ends. A price change doesn't affect a purchase you've already made, and Apple tells subscribers about price increases before they apply.

If you buy lifetime outright, Sear Premium is yours for good from the moment Apple completes the purchase: every Premium feature, including ones we add later, with no further charges, for as long as we publish the App. Buying lifetime doesn't cancel a subscription you already have; cancel that in your Apple Account settings so it doesn't renew. If the purchase is refunded, lifetime access ends.

Purchases that support Apple's Family Sharing can be used by the members of your family group, as Apple decides. Family members share access to a subscription only while it runs, and a lifetime purchase for as long as Apple shares it with them.

Lifetime access after three years

After Apple has charged you for three annual subscription periods (a free trial isn't charged, and a refunded period doesn't count), Sear Premium becomes yours for good: every Premium feature, including ones we add later, stays unlocked with no further charges, for as long as we publish the App. Monthly subscriptions don't count toward this, and neither do annual periods shared with you through Family Sharing; only the person Apple charged earns them. Your lifetime access is worked out on your device from the purchase history Apple keeps for your Apple Account; if one of the three charges is refunded, it no longer counts. Lifetime access is personal to you, follows your Apple Account, and is subject to the rest of these Terms, including section 11.

9. Feedback and beta versions

If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you. Beta versions of the App, including through TestFlight, may be incomplete or unstable and are provided for testing only.

10. Changes to Sear and to these Terms

We may change, suspend or stop any part of the Services at any time, for example the recipe cache. We may also update these Terms. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in the App or on this page before it takes effect. If you keep using the Services after the change, you accept the new Terms.

11. Ending this agreement

You can stop using the Services at any time by deleting the App. We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms. The license in section 2 ends when this agreement ends. Sections 3 to 7 and 11 to 16 still apply after that.

12. Disclaimer

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Services are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We don't warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that recipes, times, temperatures or other information will be accurate, or that your data won't be lost.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Sear and its owners, contractors and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits or goodwill, arising from or related to the Services, even if we've been told they're possible. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Services is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the App in the 12 months before the claim or US $50.

Some places don't allow these exclusions or limits, so some of them may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

14. Indemnity

To the extent the law allows, you agree to defend and indemnify Sear against claims, losses and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your misuse of the Services, your breach of these Terms or your violation of anyone else's rights.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction, except that either of us may bring a claim in small claims court. If you're a consumer in the EEA, UK or another place whose law gives you the right to bring claims in your home courts or under your home law, these Terms don't take that right away.

16. General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services. If any part of these Terms can't be enforced, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a part of these Terms, we haven't waived it. You may not transfer these Terms without our consent. We may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.

17. Terms that apply because you got Sear from the App Store

1. Parties. These Terms are between you and Sear only, not Apple Inc. ("Apple"). Sear, not Apple, is solely responsible for the App and its content.
2. Support. Sear is solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the App. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for the App.
3. Warranty. To the extent any warranty applies and hasn't been effectively disclaimed, Sear is responsible for it. If the App fails to conform to an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price you paid for the App, if any. To the maximum extent the law allows, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the App.
4. Claims. Sear, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the App or your possession or use of it, including product liability claims, claims that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar laws.
5. Intellectual property. If a third party claims that the App or your possession and use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, Sear, not Apple, is solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement and discharge of that claim.
6. Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that you aren't located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you aren't on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
7. Third-party terms. You must comply with any applicable third-party terms, such as your wireless data service agreement, when using the App.
8. Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and once you accept them, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms: hello@searcooking.com
Davis Kimoto