Homeward Community Guidelines

Version 0.1.0-draft · Last reviewed 2026-07-03

1. What Homeward is for

Homeward is a local discovery app for going outside, spending time with the people you care about, or finding a good solo afternoon. You pick a city, browse editorial outing plans, and head out. It is not a messaging app, a dating platform, or a social feed.

A small number of features let you contribute to the app: you can rate an outing after you do it, add a tip, upload a photo, build your own outing plan and optionally share it, and follow other users whose outings you enjoy. These are the surfaces covered by these guidelines.

2. What you can contribute

Homeward accepts the following types of user-contributed content:

Everything else in the app (outing descriptions, editorial notes, route narratives, event listings) is content written and selected by the Homeward team, not user-contributed.

3. What is not allowed

The rules below apply to all user-contributed content on Homeward. Violating them is grounds for content removal, suspension, or permanent account termination. See also the Terms of Service §§ 5-7 for the binding statement of these rules.

Illegal content. Content that violates Swiss law or the law of the country where you are using the app. This includes incitement to violence, content that glorifies serious crimes, and material that is illegal in the applicable jurisdiction.

Harassment and threats. Content designed to intimidate, harm, or target a specific person or group. This includes abusive messages in tip text or outing descriptions, threats, and targeted coordinated reports filed to harass another user.

Sexual content involving minors. Any sexual content involving anyone under 18. This is a zero-tolerance rule. Accounts submitting this content are immediately terminated and, where required by law, reported to the relevant authorities.

Doxxing. Publishing private personal information about another person without their consent: home address, phone number, workplace, daily schedule, or any combination of details that could be used to locate or identify them.

Spam. Repetitive, off-topic, or automated content submitted to flood the system or promote external services.

Impersonation. Pretending to be another person, business, or public figure in a way that could mislead other users.

Copyright infringement. Submitting text, photos, or other material that belongs to someone else without their permission. See § 8 for the copyright notice-and-takedown channel.

Photos of private individuals without consent. If a person is identifiable in your photo (face visible, identifying details present), you need their consent before uploading. This applies especially to strangers who appeared in the background of your shot. Photos of children who are not your own require explicit parental consent.

Fabricated content. Fake ratings, AI-generated tip text submitted as personal experience, or invented visit records. Homeward's value comes from honest accounts of real visits. Per Operating Principle #3, we do not accept content that misrepresents itself as genuine.

4. Moderation

Homeward operates a single-operator moderation process. Here is what you can expect when you file a report:

How to report. Tap the flag icon on any photo, rating, community outing, or profile. Choose the reason that best fits and add an optional note. Your report is sent directly to the operator.

Response time. Reports are reviewed within 24 hours. If the content violates these guidelines, the operator will remove it and may suspend or terminate the account responsible. For egregious violations (sexual content involving minors, doxxing, credible threats), the response is immediate.

What happens after you report. You will see the report status in the reports view in your profile. You will not be told what specific action was taken on the reported account (to protect that user's privacy), but you will be told whether your report was resolved.

Honest gap (Operating Principle #1). Homeward is a solo-operator project. A 24-hour response is the target for all reports; during periods when the operator is unavailable (travel, illness, or simply asleep), response may take longer. This is an honest constraint, not a promise to break. Critical violations are addressed as quickly as possible.

Note on conflict with Terms of Service. The Terms of Service § 7 currently state a 48-hour response window. These community guidelines set a 24-hour target consistent with Apple Guideline 1.2 expectations. The Terms of Service will be updated to align in the Wave 2-B lawyer-review pass. Until then, the 24-hour target applies to content moderation; the 48-hour window in the ToS reflects the broader report-handling SLA including non-content reports (factual errors, spam, etc.).

5. Blocking

You can block any user from your profile. Blocking is:

Blocking does not notify the blocked user. Homeward does not tell you if someone else has blocked you.

6. Appeals

If you believe content you contributed was removed in error, or that your account was suspended or terminated unfairly, email legal@gethomeward.app with a description of what happened and any context that would help the review. The operator will respond within 7 days.

Appeals are reviewed by the operator directly. Homeward is pre-GmbH and does not have a formal appeals panel; the operator's decision is final during the friends-beta period. Post-validation, the appeals process will be formalized as part of the Wave 2-B legal engagement.

7. Repeat offenders

Accounts that repeatedly violate these guidelines are permanently terminated, even if any individual violation would otherwise have merited only a warning or a content removal. There is no fixed threshold: the operator assesses the pattern of behavior, not just the last incident.

If you believe content on Homeward infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, you can file a notice with the operator. Switzerland does not have a formal DMCA-equivalent statutory safe-harbor process, but the operator follows a notice-and-takedown policy in the spirit of Article 17 of EU Directive 2019/790 and the Swiss URG (Urheberrechtsgesetz).

What to include in your notice:

Where to send it: legal@gethomeward.app

What happens next: The operator will review the notice within 5 business days. If the claim appears valid, the content will be removed or disabled. You will receive an acknowledgment by email. If the content was submitted by a user, that user may be notified that the content was removed and have the opportunity to file a counter-notice.

False or bad-faith copyright notices are a violation of these guidelines and may result in account termination and, where applicable, legal liability.

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