Terms of Service

Promises

Users can create promises with defined deadlines and share them with friends for accountability. Promises may be one-time, daily, or weekly, each requiring periodic check-ins to confirm progress. If the promise creator does not complete all required check-ins before the deadline, the promise may be marked as failed.

Challenges

A challenge is a special type of promise where the creator challenges one or more friends. Challenges always require a monetary stake from all participants (creator and challengers), within the same $5–$100 stake limits as promises. Each participant's outcome is resolved individually: participants who keep the challenge have their stakes returned, and participants who fail (or give up) have their stakes forfeited and pooled. The pool is distributed to eligible participants who kept their end, or to eligible backers if no one kept it. A backer is only eligible if they have accepted the backer role. If a backer was invited but has not yet accepted when the challenge resolves, the forfeited pool is held for up to 48 hours while invited backers accept or decline (see the Backer Acceptance Window under Promise Stakes). If no backer accepts, or there are no eligible backers, the forfeited stakes are retained by the platform and are not returned to the participants who failed. If every participant keeps the challenge, no stakes are forfeited. Challenges require a neutral verifier (a non-competing third party) to oversee check-ins and override requests.

Stakes

Users may attach a monetary stake (minimum $5, maximum $100) to a promise or challenge. Staked funds are authorised and held via Stripe until the promise is resolved. A non-refundable processing fee is added on top of the stake to cover payment processing costs.

Roles

Participants in a promise may have different roles:

• Verifier: Confirms whether the promise was kept or broken, and approves or rejects override requests. Verifiers are neutral and do not receive payouts. If no verifier responds within 48 hours, the promise is auto-completed. Required for challenges.
• Backer: Supports the promise and may receive a share of the forfeited stake if the promise is broken. A backer must accept the backer role to receive any share. An invited backer who has not accepted when the promise is broken is given 48 hours to accept; if they do not, they forfeit their claim and the platform retains the funds. Required for staked promises.
• Challenger: Participates in a challenge by staking their own money alongside the creator.
• Watcher: Follows the promise without a specific accountability role. Watchers do not receive payouts.

Check-ins

Recurring promises (daily or weekly) require the creator to check in during each period. If the creator misses three consecutive check-in periods, the promise is automatically failed.

Overrides

If a check-in is missed, the promise creator may request an override by providing a reason. Overrides must be approved by the verifier (for promises) or by other challengers and the verifier (for challenges). Approved overrides count as completed check-ins; rejected overrides do not.

Circles

Users can create friend groups called "Circles" to organise their connections. Promises and challenges can be shared with a Circle, and Circle members can view shared activity together.

Auto-resolution

Promises are automatically resolved in the following cases: (a) if the deadline passes without all check-ins completed, the promise is auto-failed; (b) if the verifier does not respond within 48 hours of the final check-in, the promise is auto-completed. Auto-resolution triggers the same stake settlement as manual resolution.

Processing Fee

A non-refundable processing fee is added to your stake amount to cover payment processing costs. The fee varies by country and payment method (for example, 1.7% + $0.30 in Australia). The exact fee is displayed in your local currency before you confirm payment and is non-refundable under all circumstances, including when your stake is returned.

Stake Limits

The minimum stake is $5 and the maximum stake is $100 (in your local currency). These limits apply to both promises and challenges.

Promise Stakes

For promises, your stake is captured (charged to your card) immediately when the promise is created. If you keep your promise, your stake amount is refunded (the processing fee is not refunded). If you break your promise, a platform fee (currently 15%, disclosed before you confirm payment and subject to change) is deducted from your stake, and the remainder is split equally among all backers who have accepted the backer role, as their individual shares.

Backer Acceptance Window. A backer must accept the backer role to receive a share. If, when you break your promise, a backer was invited but has not yet accepted, the forfeited amount (after the platform fee) is held and not distributed for up to 48 hours while invited backers accept or decline. Where more than one backer was invited, no funds are distributed until every invited backer has accepted or declined, or the 48-hour window elapses, whichever comes first; the pool is then split equally among only those backers who accepted. If no backer accepts within the window (because all declined or none responded), the forfeited amount is retained by the platform. You are not refunded your stake in this case — failing your promise forfeits it regardless of whether a backer ultimately receives it.

Each backer's share is paid out individually based on that backer's own payout setup:

• Backers who have completed payout setup receive their share immediately at settlement.
• Backers who have not completed payout setup have their share held for 30 days. They are notified at settlement, reminded 7 days before expiry, and can claim their share at any time during the window by completing payout setup in Settings.
• A share that is not claimed within its individual 30-day window is retained by the platform. Other backers' shares are unaffected and are not redistributed.

Funds (including the platform fee and any unclaimed shares) are not refunded to the person who broke the promise.

Challenge Stakes

For challenges, all stakes (creator and challengers) are held but not captured until all challengers have responded. Once all challengers accept or decline, held stakes are captured. Each participant's outcome is resolved individually. Stakes from participants who keep the challenge are returned (minus the processing fee). Stakes from participants who fail or give up are forfeited; the same platform fee that applies to broken promises (currently 15%, disclosed before you confirm payment and subject to change) is deducted from each forfeited stake, and the remainder is pooled. The forfeit pool is split equally among all participants who kept their end. If no participant kept the challenge, the pool is split equally among all backers who have accepted the backer role, subject to the same Backer Acceptance Window described under Promise Stakes (up to 48 hours for invited backers to accept; with multiple invited backers, nothing is distributed until all have accepted or declined or the window elapses; only accepted backers share). Each recipient's share is paid out individually based on their own payout setup, using the same per-recipient 30-day hold described under Promise Stakes: recipients with payout setup are paid immediately; recipients without have their share held for 30 days and forfeit it to the platform if they do not complete setup. Other recipients' shares are unaffected by any unclaimed share. If every participant fails and no backer accepts (because there are no backers, all declined, or none accepted within the window), the forfeited stakes (including the net amount after platform fees) are retained by the platform. Settlement happens once, when the final participant's outcome is determined — if you fail or give up mid-challenge, your stake remains on hold until the challenge fully resolves.

Challenge Cancellation

Challenges may be cancelled and all stakes refunded (minus processing fees) in the following scenarios: a required challenger declines (when quorum is set to "all"), all challengers decline, or the verifier declines. For promises, cancellation and refund occurs if the verifier declines or all backers decline. These cancellation-and-refund rules apply only before the promise or challenge has resolved. Once a promise or challenge is broken, the stake is forfeited and is not refunded — a backer declining or failing to accept after that point results in the forfeited funds being retained by the platform, not returned to the person who broke it.

Payouts

To receive payouts from forfeited stakes, you must set up a payout method in Settings. The available method depends on your country of residence.

Australian users — Stripe Connect: Promise uses Stripe Connect Express accounts. When you click “Set up payouts” in Settings, you are redirected to Stripe's hosted onboarding flow where you provide your identity and bank details directly to Stripe. To streamline onboarding, we share your name, date of birth, phone number, and address from your Promise profile with Stripe to pre-populate the onboarding form. We also send Stripe a small set of account-level metadata so it can complete account setup without prompting you for it: a link to your public Promise profile (shown to Stripe as your business URL), our support email, a merchant category code, and a short product description identifying the account as receiving accountability-stake payouts via Promise. Promise does not collect or store your bank account information. Your payout account country cannot be changed after setup; if you need to change it, contact support to reset your payout account. When you complete payout setup, you are also accepting the Stripe Connected Account Agreement applicable to your country.

International users — PayPal: For users outside Australia, payouts are sent via PayPal to the email address you provide in Settings. You do not need an existing PayPal account — PayPal will email you with instructions to claim your funds. By providing a PayPal email for payouts, you agree to PayPal's User Agreement applicable to your country. PayPal may apply currency conversion if your local currency differs from AUD.

Stripe or PayPal may review, restrict, or reject any payout based on their own identity, risk, and compliance checks. If your payout account is rejected or restricted, you will not be eligible to receive payouts, and your individual share will be treated as an unclaimed share under the per-recipient hold rules described under Promise Stakes. If you are eligible for a payout but have not set up a payout method, you will be notified and given 30 days to complete setup. If you do not set up a payout method within 30 days, your share is retained by the platform and you forfeit your claim to that share. Other recipients' shares are not affected. We are not responsible for missed payouts due to incomplete, rejected, or restricted payout setup.

General Payment Terms

• You are responsible for ensuring your payment method has sufficient funds for any stakes you place, including the applicable processing fee.
• Refund requests for captured stakes will be considered on a case-by-case basis but are not guaranteed, as funds may already have been distributed. Processing fees are non-refundable under all circumstances.
• All amounts are displayed in the local currency associated with your account country, as determined during payout setup. Currency conversion, if applicable, is handled by Stripe or PayPal.
• A flat payout fee (currently ~$1.25 AUD) is deducted from each recipient's payout at the time it is sent, regardless of payout method. For PayPal recipients this fee covers PayPal's international transfer cost; for Stripe recipients it is a platform-service fee. The fee is borne by the recipient, not the forfeit pool, so Stripe and PayPal recipients receive comparable net amounts. The fee is shown on your payout email and on the transaction record.
• If a forfeit pool, after the platform fee, would split into per-recipient shares smaller than the payout fee (so no recipient could receive a positive net payout), the entire pool is retained by the platform and no distribution is made. This may occur for small stakes split across many recipients. No funds are returned to the person who broke the promise.