The terms for using SCP Researcher

1The app, and what it is not

SCP Researcher is an independent, unofficial reader. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the SCP Wiki, its staff, or Wikidot. It fetches pages from the SCP Wiki when you open them, the way a browser would, and shows them to you with reading conveniences added.

The app is free to download, and reading is free. There are no ads. SCP Researcher Pro and tips are optional purchases: see section 7.

2The articles belong to their authors

Every article the app shows is written by members of the SCP Wiki community and published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license (CC BY-SA 3.0). The app credits each article's author where the wiki records one, links every page to its original, and does not change the articles beyond what reading on a phone needs.

You may read, save and share articles under that license: keep the author's credit and the license with anything you pass on or adapt. Some images on the wiki carry different licenses of their own; the wiki's licensing guide explains them. Alchemy Lab claims no rights over any article or image.

The app's own software, name and design belong to Alchemy Lab.

3Who may use it

You must be at least 13 years old to use SCP Researcher. The SCP Wiki's content is written for older readers and some of it is disturbing; use your own judgement about what you read and what you show to others.

4The SCP Wiki's own rules apply

When the app fetches a page for you, that request goes to the SCP Wiki (and, for titles, ratings and authors, or an article's text when the wiki isn't answering, to the Crom API). Their terms and rules apply to that traffic. Use the app the way a person reading the wiki would: don't use it to scrape, mirror or bulk-download the wiki, to evade its limits, or to do anything the wiki forbids. Saving articles for your own offline reading, within the limits the app sets, is fine.

5Your drafts

The Write view keeps drafts of your own work for the wiki. They are yours, and what you write is your responsibility. When you ask to preview a draft, its title and text go to the SCP Wiki's sandbox on Wikidot, and whatever you post to the wiki is posted under the wiki's rules and Wikidot's, not ours. The app never writes or changes your words.

6Library Sync accounts

Library Sync is optional. It synchronises your reading progress, notes, shelves and drafts between your devices through a server run by Alchemy Lab, designed so that we cannot read your data (the privacy policy explains how).

If you use it:

• One account per person. Keep your password to yourself. If you sign in with Google, keep your Google account secure; the key that unlocks your library lives in your Google Drive.
• You hold the keys. Your data is encrypted with keys we never have. If you lose your password and your recovery phrase (or, for a Google sign-in, access to your Google account and your recovery phrase), the data on our server cannot be recovered — by you or by us. Write the recovery phrase down when the app shows it.
• Use it only for the app's data. The service exists to sync reading data between SCP Researcher, Alcove and any other Alchemy Lab app that shares the account. Don't use it to store anything else, and don't automate, probe or overload it.
• Deleting your account removes everything the server holds for it, on every device, and cannot be undone. You can do it in the app (Settings → Library Sync → Delete account), at alcove.alchemylab.sh/account/delete, or by asking us.

7SCP Researcher Pro and tips

SCP Researcher Pro adds optional features to the Android app, listed in the app (Settings → SCP Researcher Pro). Reading stays free without it. Pro and tips are sold only through Google Play, which takes the payment under its own terms. We never see your card or bank details.

• Prices are shown in Google Play before you buy, in your local currency.
• Subscriptions (monthly or yearly) renew automatically at the end of each period until you cancel them. Cancel at any time in Google Play's subscriptions or from Settings → SCP Researcher Pro → Manage subscription; Pro stays on until the end of the period you've paid for. Uninstalling the app or deleting a Library Sync account does not cancel a subscription. If a price changes, Google Play tells you before it applies.
• Lifetime is one payment instead of a subscription. It lasts for as long as we offer the app and Pro, and belongs to the Google account that bought it.
• Tips are one-time gifts that keep the app going. A tip unlocks nothing.
• Refunds go through Google Play's refund process. If something is wrong with a purchase, you can also write to us at the address below.

Pro belongs to the Google account that bought it, on Android devices signed in to that account. Pro's features rely partly on the SCP Wiki and the Crom API, which we don't run, so we can't promise that every change on the wiki will be caught. We may add to or change Pro's features as the app develops, and we will give notice where we practically can before removing one. Your rights under section 11 apply whatever these terms say.

8What we promise, and what we don't

Library Sync is provided as is. It is a small service run by a small studio: we aim to keep it up and to keep your encrypted data safe, we take nightly backups, and we will give notice where we practically can before changing or discontinuing it. But we do not promise that it will always be available, error-free or fast, and you should treat the copy on your own devices as the one that matters.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, harms the service or other people, or is required to be closed by law. Where we can, we will tell you why.

9Your data stays yours

Anything you read, save, note or write in the app is yours. Using Library Sync gives us only what running the service needs: permission to store the encrypted data you send and to hand it back to your devices. We do not claim any other right to it, and we never sell or share it. Details are in the privacy policy.

10Disclaimer and limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows: the app and Library Sync are provided without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose or of uninterrupted availability; Alchemy Lab is not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for any loss of data that our zero-knowledge design makes unrecoverable; and our total liability to you for anything connected with the app or the service is limited to the amount you paid for them, which is nothing unless you bought Pro or left a tip. Some jurisdictions do not allow some of these limits, in which case they apply only as far as that law permits.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

11Your rights as a consumer

Nothing in these terms takes away the rights you have as a consumer under the law of the country you live in. If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, those include your rights about digital content and services, such as a remedy if what you bought doesn't work as described, and any right the law gives you to withdraw from a purchase. Where a part of these terms conflicts with those rights, the rights win.

12Ending things

You can stop using the app at any time by uninstalling it, and stop using Library Sync by signing out or deleting your account. To stop a Pro subscription, cancel it as section 7 describes. We can end your access to Library Sync as described in section 8. Sections 2, 9, 10, 11 and 13 keep applying after that.

13Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, where The Alchemy Lab LLC is organised, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If you're a consumer living elsewhere, this doesn't take away the protection of the mandatory laws of the country you live in, and you may bring a claim in its courts. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.

14Changes

If these terms change, the new version will be posted at this address with an updated effective date. For a change that materially affects Library Sync accounts, the app will say so the next time you sign in. Continuing to use the app or the service after a change means you accept it.

15Contact

[email protected]

Our business details are also on the app's Google Play listing.