Hessam Zahedi

    Terms

    # Liminal Terms of Service

    *Last updated: August 15, 2026*

    Liminal is a philosophy game made by Hessam Zahedi (“we,” “us,” “Liminal”). By using the app you agree to these terms. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Liminal. See also our [Privacy Policy](https://hessamzahedi.com/liminal/privacy), which these terms incorporate by reference.

    ## 1. What Liminal is — and what it is not

    Liminal is a **work of imagination**. Historical thinkers are reconstructed from their writings by an AI model so you can think alongside them. They are **not the real people**, they are not their estates or representatives, and nothing they say is a genuine statement by the person named.

    Liminal is for reflection and entertainment. It is **not** philosophical, psychological, medical, legal, or financial advice, and it is not therapy, counseling, or a substitute for any of them. Answers are generated text and may be wrong, one-sided, or unsuitable for your situation. Decisions you make after using Liminal are yours.

    ## 2. The Journey, and what it is designed to do

    The Journey is a long-form feature in which a question you bring is carried across seven Stations over several days, and deliberately challenged along the way. **One Station, The Ruin, is written to argue that your question is not worth answering.** This is a philosophical device drawn from pessimist thought — it is not a judgment of you, your question, or your life.

    You can end a Journey at any Station, from the “Leave the road” option on that Station’s screen, and keep everything you have written. If a Journey is not what you need right now, please stop it.

    ## 3. Liminal is not a crisis service

    Liminal includes a safety backstop: when a message appears to describe self-harm or crisis, the app does not send it to the AI and instead shows mental-health support resources. This is a courtesy, not a monitoring service. **We do not monitor your use, we cannot detect every emergency, and no one is watching for your safety.**

    If you are in distress, please contact someone you trust, a qualified professional, or your local crisis line. If you may be in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

    ## 4. Who can use Liminal

    You must be able to form a binding agreement to use Liminal — generally 13 or older, and old enough under the law where you live. Liminal is rated 13+ for mature and philosophical themes, including frank discussion of mortality, meaning, suffering, and despair.

    ## 5. Your account

    Signing in uses Sign in with Apple. You’re responsible for activity under your sign-in and for keeping your device secure. You may delete your account and its data at any time from **You → Delete account**; see the Privacy Policy for exactly what that removes.

    ## 6. What you write, and what the voices say

    **What you write is yours.** We don’t claim ownership of your questions, your reflections, your kept lines, or the ledger a Journey produces. To generate an answer we send what you write to Anthropic’s Claude API; the Privacy Policy explains this in detail. We do not sell it, publish it, or use it to advertise to you.

    **What the voices say back** is machine-generated text, provided to you for your personal use. Please don’t present it as the genuine words of the person named — it isn’t, and the app says so throughout.

    Don’t use Liminal to generate content that is unlawful, or to attempt to extract material that infringes someone’s copyright.

    ## 7. Credits and purchases

    Some features use **credits**, a consumable in-app purchase processed entirely by Apple under Apple’s terms; we never see your payment details.

    – Credits are consumed as you use live answers. A Journey Station costs more than a single answer, and the app tells you the price before you enter one.

    – Credits have **no cash value**, cannot be exchanged for money, and are not transferable between accounts.

    – Credits do not expire, and there is no subscription.

    – Refunds are handled by Apple under Apple’s policies, not by us. Nothing here limits any refund right you have under the law where you live.

    If a live answer fails to generate, the credits reserved for it are returned to your balance automatically.

    ## 8. Availability

    Live answers require our backend and Anthropic’s API. Either may be slow, unavailable, or changed without notice. Much of Liminal — the on-device games, your kept lines, your ledgers — keeps working offline. We may add, change, or remove voices, games, and features over time.

    ## 9. Third-party services

    Liminal uses Anthropic’s Claude API for generated answers, and Apple’s Sign in with Apple, In-App Purchase, CloudKit, and iCloud key-value storage. Each is governed by its provider’s own terms. We’re not responsible for the availability or accuracy of these services.

    ## 10. Disclaimers

    Liminal is provided **”as is”** and **”as available.”** We don’t guarantee that any generated answer is accurate, appropriate, safe for your circumstances, or consistent with what the named thinker actually believed. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

    ## 11. Limitation of liability

    **Liminal is entertainment.** It is a game, played for reflection and enjoyment. It is not a source of guidance and should not be relied on for any decision that matters to you — the app says so at first launch, at the Journey’s door, and here.

    To the fullest extent the law allows, Hessam Zahedi is not liable for any loss or damage of any kind arising from your use of Liminal — direct or indirect, incidental, special, or consequential — including reliance on a generated answer, decisions you made after using the app, or distress arising from its content. You use Liminal at your own discretion and risk.

    ## 12. Changes

    We may update these terms as Liminal grows. If a change is material, we’ll say so in the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use Liminal after a change means you accept the update.

    ## 13. Termination

    You may stop using Liminal and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for use that violates these terms or the law.

    ## 14. Contact

    Questions about these terms: **support@hessamzahedi.com**, or the in-app Support link.