Terms & Conditions

By accessing or using the SMS platform (the "Service"), you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions ("Terms"), together with our Privacy Policy and Security Policy, which are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

If you are agreeing on behalf of an educational institution, you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to bind that institution to these Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), 2023, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and other applicable Indian legislation.

To register a School on the Platform, the School Owner must:

• Represent a legally constituted educational institution — including a registered trust, society, private limited company, government school, or government-aided institution.
• Provide accurate, current, and complete registration information.
• Have received a valid invitation from our team or submitted a registration request that has been approved.
• Complete any applicable setup fee payment and await our confirmation of activation.

The School Owner is solely responsible for ensuring that all School Users who access the Platform are made aware of, and comply with, these Terms. The School Owner accepts these Terms on behalf of the School and all its users.

Registration using fraudulent, inaccurate, or misleading information will result in immediate account termination. Any fees paid in such cases are non-refundable.

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials at all times.
• All activities that occur under your account or using your credentials.
• Immediately notifying us at security@sms.app if you suspect any unauthorised access to your account.
• Ensuring that staff accounts are deactivated promptly when an individual leaves the school or changes roles.

We provide role-based and permission-based access controls to help schools manage and restrict access appropriately. However, the School Owner is responsible for correctly assigning roles and permissions to all School Users within their institution.

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 School's internal educational management purposes, including:

• Managing student enrolments, academic records, attendance, fees, examinations, and assignments.
• Communicating with parents, guardians, and students through the platform's notification system.
• Generating academic reports, fee reports, and administrative documents for internal school use.
• Managing staff roles, permissions, and school-level settings within the platform.

This licence is granted solely to the registered School and may not be transferred, sublicensed, or used for the benefit of any other institution without our prior written consent.

You must not use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable law, regulation, or court order in India or elsewhere.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Service or to another school's data.
• Upload, transmit, or introduce malicious code, viruses, or harmful content.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to extract the source code or architecture of the Service.
• Resell, sublicence, or commercially exploit the Service without our prior written authorisation.
• Send unsolicited bulk communications (spam) through the platform.
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity, performance, or availability of the Service or its infrastructure.
• Share login credentials with individuals who are not authorised School Users of your registered institution.
• Use Student Data for any purpose outside of legitimate school administration within the platform.
• Use the platform to harass, abuse, defame, or cause harm to any individual, including students, parents, or staff.

Violations of these prohibitions may result in immediate account suspension or termination and, where conduct is unlawful, referral to appropriate law enforcement authorities.

The collection, use, and protection of personal data — especially Student Data — is governed in detail by our Privacy Policy. The following principles apply:

• Data Ownership: The School owns all Student Data and staff data entered into the Platform. We act solely as a data processor on the School's behalf and do not claim any rights over that data.
• Data Isolation: Each School's data is stored in a dedicated, isolated environment. No cross-school data access is possible by design.
• No Sale of Data: We do not sell, rent, or trade any personal data to third parties for profit.
• Data Portability: You may request a structured export of your School's data at any time by contacting our support team.
• Data Deletion: Upon account termination, your data will be retained for a 30-day grace period for export, after which it will be permanently and irreversibly deleted from all systems.

Free Plan — Ad-Supported

SMS is available at no charge on our Free Plan. To sustain the platform and continue improving it, schools on the Free Plan will have contextual, educational advertisements displayed within certain areas of the platform.

By accepting these Terms for the Free Plan, the School:

• Acknowledges and consents to the display of contextual educational advertisements to all School Users (including students, teachers, and administrative staff) within non-sensitive areas of the platform.
• Acknowledges that these advertisements are contextual and non-behavioural — meaning they are matched to the general subject area of the page being viewed, not to any individual user's personal profile, history, or identity.
• Acknowledges that no student's personally identifiable information (PII) is shared with advertising partners for any purpose.

We permit only age-appropriate, educationally relevant advertising categories, including educational courses, academic tools, stationery, books, and career guidance. Advertisements for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, adult content, political campaigns, and financial products are strictly prohibited on our platform.

Premium Plan — Ad-Free

Schools may upgrade to our Premium Plan to remove all advertisements from the platform for all their users. The Premium Plan may also include additional features, as published on the platform from time to time.

• Premium Plan pricing and features will be published on the platform.
• Where applicable, Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be charged on Premium Plan subscriptions at the rate applicable under Indian law at the time of billing.
• Premium Plan subscriptions are managed through our payment system.
• Downgrading from Premium to Free Plan restores contextual advertising as described above.

Setup Fee

Access to the platform may require a one-time setup fee, the amount of which is displayed during the registration process. By submitting payment proof:

• You authorise us to verify the payment details you have submitted.
• You acknowledge that account activation is subject to our verification of the payment, which typically occurs within 24 business hours of submission.

Premium Subscription

• Premium Plan subscription fees, billing cycles, and payment methods will be specified at the time of upgrade.
• Applicable GST will be added to Premium Plan fees and shown clearly before payment is confirmed.
• Subscription cancellation policies and refund eligibility (if any) for Premium Plan will be communicated at the time of subscription.

Future Pricing Changes

We reserve the right to introduce, modify, or remove fees for any tier of the Service. We will provide at least 60 days' advance written notice to all registered School Owners before any pricing changes affecting existing schools take effect.

All software, code, design, trademarks, logos, user interface elements, and content comprising the SMS Platform are the exclusive intellectual property of the Platform operators and are protected under applicable Indian and international intellectual property law, including the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

Nothing in these Terms grants you any licence or right to use our trademarks, service marks, logos, or trade names without our prior written consent.

Your Content and Data: You retain full ownership of all data you upload to the Platform — including student records, documents, and school information. By using the Service, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive licence to host, process, and store this data solely as necessary to provide the Service to you. This licence terminates upon account closure and completion of the data retention period.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law in India, we shall not be liable for:

• Any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from use of the Service.
• Loss of data caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including force majeure events, natural disasters, or third-party infrastructure failures.
• Decisions made by school administrators, teachers, or other School Users based on data or reports generated within the Platform.
• Unauthorised access resulting from the School's failure to maintain adequate account security or credential hygiene.
• Service interruptions caused by scheduled or emergency maintenance, communicated in advance where reasonably practicable.

Our total aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the total fees paid by you to us in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, except as expressly required by applicable Indian law.

Either party may terminate access to the Service:

• By You: Contact our support team at support@sms.app to request account deactivation. Your data will be retained for 30 days following the request to allow for export, after which it will be permanently deleted.
• By Us: We may suspend or terminate your account immediately if you materially breach these Terms, engage in prohibited conduct, or if continued operation poses a legal, security, or regulatory risk. We will notify you of the reason for termination unless legally prohibited from doing so.

Upon termination, your licence to access the Service ceases immediately. We will make your data available for export for 30 days following termination. After this period, all data will be permanently and irreversibly deleted.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including Intellectual Property, Limitation of Liability, and Governing Law — shall continue to apply after termination of these Terms.

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India. Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms — including their validity, breach, or termination — shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of India.

Dispute Resolution — First Step: We strongly encourage resolution of any dispute through direct communication before initiating formal proceedings. Please contact us at legal@sms.app with a description of your concern. We will make good-faith efforts to resolve disputes amicably within 30 days.

Nothing in this clause limits your rights to contact India's Data Protection Board for matters concerning personal data under the DPDP Act 2023, or to seek consumer redressal under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

For any questions, clarifications, or concerns regarding these Terms, please contact us: