Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions, together with the documents referred to in them, form a legally binding agreement between you and the operator of the Chikooya dating application and the website at chikooya.com, referred to in this document as Chikooya, we, us or our.

By creating an account, accessing the Chikooya website, downloading or using the Chikooya mobile application, or purchasing a subscription, you confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not create an account and must stop using the Services.

These Terms are an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made under it, and are published in accordance with Rule 3(1)(a) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. This electronic record is generated by a computer system and does not require any physical or digital signature.

The following documents are incorporated into these Terms by reference and apply to you in the same way as these Terms:

• Privacy Policy
• Plans and Pricing

• Services means the Chikooya website, mobile applications, matching and discovery features, chat, audio and video calling, subscription plans and all related features we make available.
• Member or User means any individual who has registered an account on Chikooya.
• Content means any text, photograph, video, audio, profile information, prompt answer, message, review, rating, report or other material transmitted through the Services.
• User Content means Content created, uploaded or transmitted by a Member.
• Subscription means a paid plan that unlocks additional features for a fixed duration, as described on our Plans and Pricing page.
• Match means a mutual expression of interest between two Members that unlocks the ability to exchange messages.
• Automated Safety Systems means the machine learning and rule based systems described in Automated safety systems and in the Privacy Policy.

To register for and use Chikooya, you represent and warrant on a continuing basis that:

• you are at least 18 years of age. Chikooya is strictly an adult platform. Persons below 18 years are not permitted to create an account, submit any information, or appear in any photograph or video on the platform in any capacity;
• you are competent to enter into a binding contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and are not disqualified from contracting under any applicable law;
• you are not a person who is barred from receiving services under the laws of India or any other applicable jurisdiction, and you are not on any sanctions or watch list;
• you have never been convicted of, or required to register as a sex offender for, any felony, sexual offence, offence involving violence, offence against a child, fraud or any similar offence in India or elsewhere;
• your account has not previously been suspended, banned or terminated by us for a breach of these Terms;
• all information you supply to us is true, accurate, current and complete.

If we have reasonable grounds to believe that you do not meet any of the above conditions, we may suspend or terminate your account immediately and without refund, and may report the matter to law enforcement where the law requires or permits us to do so.

Only one account per person is permitted. Accounts are personal to you and may not be sold, transferred, rented, licensed or shared.

You may register using an email address and password, an Indian mobile number verified by a one time password, or a supported third party sign in provider such as Google, Apple or Facebook. Where you sign in with a third party provider, your use of that provider is also governed by the terms and privacy policy of that provider.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and one time passwords, and for all activity that occurs under your account. Chikooya will never ask you for your password or a one time password over a call, email or chat message.

Sessions are bound to the device from which you sign in. Access tokens are short lived and are refreshed using a device bound refresh token that expires if unused. You may review and revoke active sessions from within the app. You must notify us at hello@chikooya.com immediately if you suspect any unauthorised access to your account.

We may limit the number of devices that can be signed in to a single account at the same time, and may sign you out of all devices where we detect suspicious activity, credential sharing, or automated access.

As part of onboarding you may be asked to complete a selfie based face verification check. The image you submit is analysed by an automated facial analysis service to confirm that a single, clearly visible, unobstructed human face is present and that the photograph is a live capture of the person creating the account. The process, the data involved and its retention are described in our Privacy Policy.

Verification and any verification badge issued to a profile confirm only that our automated checks were satisfied at a point in time. A badge is not:

• a criminal background check or a police verification;
• a confirmation of identity documents, marital status, income, education or profession;
• an endorsement, recommendation or guarantee of any Member by Chikooya;
• an assurance that a Member is safe, honest or suitable for you.

Chikooya does not conduct criminal background checks on Members. You remain solely responsible for your interactions and for taking sensible precautions, including meeting in a public place, telling someone where you are going, and video calling before you meet.

You retain ownership of the User Content you create. You are solely responsible for that Content and for the consequences of sharing it.

By submitting User Content, you grant Chikooya a worldwide, non exclusive, royalty free, sublicensable and transferable licence to host, store, cache, reproduce, adapt, reformat, resize, transmit and display that Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, securing, moderating and improving the Services, and for enforcing these Terms. This licence ends when you delete the Content or your account, except:

• to the extent the Content has been shared with other Members who have not deleted it, such as a message already delivered to a chat;
• to the extent we are required to retain it under applicable law, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, or to prevent harm.

You confirm and warrant that, for all User Content you submit:

• you own it or have all rights and permissions necessary to grant the licence above;
• every identifiable person appearing in it is an adult who has consented to that appearance and to its publication on a dating platform;
• it does not infringe any copyright, trade mark, publicity, privacy or other right of any person;
• it does not breach the rules of conduct in Acceptable conduct.

We do not claim ownership of your photographs and we do not sell your photographs. We may use anonymised and aggregated data derived from usage of the Services for analytics and product improvement.

This section sets out the rules of conduct for Chikooya. It applies to your profile, your name, your photographs and album, your bio, your messages, your audio and video calls, and anything you send to our support team. You must not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that:

• belongs to another person and to which you do not have any right;
• is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of the privacy of another person including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating to or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatsoever;
• is harmful to a child;
• infringes any patent, trade mark, copyright or other proprietary right;
• deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the message or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature;
• impersonates another person;
• threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence, or prevents investigation of any offence, or is insulting to any foreign State;
• contains a software virus or any other computer code, file or programme designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
• is patently false and untrue and is written or published in any form with the intent to mislead or harass a person, entity or agency for financial gain or to cause any injury to any person.

You must also not:

• use the Services for commercial solicitation, advertising, multi level marketing, recruitment, escort services, prostitution, or the sale of any goods or services;
• request, collect or transfer money, cryptocurrency, gift cards or investment funds from other Members, or promote any trading, betting or investment scheme;
• use bots, scrapers, crawlers, automation tools, emulators or modified clients to access the Services, or reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to extract the source code of any part of the Services;
• copy, record, screenshot, screen capture or redistribute another Member photographs, messages, audio or video, including video call streams;
• create a false identity, misstate your age, or use photographs of another person or artificially generated photographs presented as yourself;
• circumvent a block, ban, suspension or any technical limitation of the Services.

Discovery, ordering of profiles and match suggestions are generated by automated systems that take into account the preferences you set, your activity, profile completeness, reported behaviour and, for subscribers, any reach boost included in your plan. We do not guarantee that you will receive any particular number of profile views, likes, matches or replies.

Messaging is available only after a mutual match, and the number of messages and unique conversations available to you depends on your plan and on platform wide limits that we set to discourage spam. Audio and video calling is available between matched Members who have each enabled it, and either party may decline, end or disable calls at any time.

Video calls are not recorded by Chikooya for general purposes and are not made available for playback. Video and audio streams are, however, subject to automated safety screening as described in Automated safety systems. Screen recording and screenshots during calls are prohibited and may be technically blocked where the operating system permits it.

Calls and messages depend on internet connectivity, device capability and third party infrastructure. We do not warrant uninterrupted or error free call quality, and calls must never be relied upon for emergency communication.

To protect Members from harm, Chikooya operates Automated Safety Systems that analyse profile photographs, album images, chat messages, reported content and live audio and video call streams to detect nudity, sexual content, child sexual abuse material, violence, weapons, self harm, nudity based extortion, abusive language, spam, scam patterns and other unwanted activity.

By using the Services, and specifically by starting or accepting a video or audio call, you acknowledge and consent to this automated screening. Screening is a condition of using the Services and cannot be switched off, because it exists to protect other Members as much as it protects you. Screening is carried out on transient samples, and content is retained only where a violation is detected, and then only for the limited purposes and periods described in the Privacy Policy.

Automated systems are not perfect. Where an automated decision materially affects your account, you have the right to request human review through the appeal process described in Reporting, moderation, suspension and termination.

Chikooya is free to download and to use for core discovery. Certain features are available only through a paid Subscription. The plans, their benefits, their duration and their prices in Indian Rupees are published on our Plans and Pricing page and are displayed again on the payment screen before you confirm any payment.

Price and taxes

All prices are stated in Indian Rupees and are inclusive of Goods and Services Tax at the rate applicable on the date of the transaction, unless expressly stated otherwise at the point of sale. Where you purchase from outside India, the price may be presented in a supported foreign currency and your bank or card network may apply conversion charges and cross border fees over which we have no control.

Term and renewal

A Subscription begins immediately on successful payment confirmation and runs for the duration shown on the plan. Where a plan is marked as auto renewing and you have authorised a recurring mandate, it will renew automatically for the same duration at the price then in effect, and the registered payment method will be charged on or about the renewal date, unless you cancel before that date.

You will be given advance notice of a renewal charge and of any price change in accordance with applicable Reserve Bank of India requirements for recurring transactions, including the pre debit notification requirements for e mandates.

Cancellation

You may switch off auto renewal at any time from the subscription screen in the app or by writing to hello@chikooya.com. Switching off auto renewal stops future charges. It does not shorten the current paid term and it does not entitle you to a refund of amounts already paid, as set out in Cancellation and refunds.

Changes to plans

We may add, modify, rename, reprice or discontinue plans and benefits. Any change to price or to a material benefit will not affect a Subscription term you have already paid for, and will apply only from the next renewal, of which you will be notified in advance and which you may decline by cancelling.

Unused benefits

Consumable benefits such as super likes or boosts that are granted for a billing period do not carry over to the next period and have no cash value, are not transferable, and are not redeemable for money.

Payments on the Chikooya website and through supported web checkout flows are processed by Razorpay Software Private Limited, a payment aggregator authorised by the Reserve Bank of India, and by such other payment aggregators, banks, card networks and wallet providers as we may appoint. By making a payment you also agree to the terms and privacy policy of the relevant payment service provider.

Chikooya does not store your full card number, CVV, expiry date, UPI PIN, net banking credentials or any other payment authentication factor. Card data, where saved, is tokenised by the card network or the payment aggregator in accordance with Reserve Bank of India tokenisation requirements. We receive only a payment reference, a masked instrument identifier, the amount, the currency and the status of the transaction.

A payment is treated as successful only when we receive a confirmed authorisation from the payment aggregator and the digital signature on the payment response is verified. If an amount is debited from your account but the payment aggregator reports the transaction as failed, the amount is normally reversed automatically by the issuing bank within the timelines prescribed under the Reserve Bank of India Harmonisation of Turn Around Time framework. If it is not, contact us using the process in Cancellation and refunds.

A tax invoice or payment receipt for every successful transaction is issued to the email address registered on your account and is also available from the billing section of the app.

You must use only a payment instrument that you are lawfully entitled to use. Any chargeback that we reasonably determine to be fraudulent or made in bad faith may lead to immediate suspension of your account and recovery of the disputed amount and of any associated fee.

Cancelling

You may cancel at any time, and cancelling is free. Open Chikooya, go to Profile, then Subscription, select your active plan, and turn off Auto renewal. You may also email hello@chikooya.com from the address registered on your account, with the subject Cancel Subscription and your registered mobile number or Chikooya ID. We action such requests within two working days.

Cancelling stops all future charges. It does not end the term you have already paid for. Your benefits continue until the end date shown on the plan, after which the account reverts to the free tier. Cancelling a subscription does not delete your account.

Refunds

All payments for Chikooya subscriptions are final. Once a subscription is activated, the fee is not refundable, in whole or in part. A subscription unlocks digital features immediately and irreversibly at the moment of payment. In particular, no refund is payable where you have not used the features you paid for, where you found a match and no longer need the plan, where you delete your account or cancel auto renewal part way through a paid term, or where your account is suspended or terminated for a breach of these Terms.

The price you will be charged is shown in full on the payment screen before you confirm. Nothing in this section limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 or any other law that cannot be excluded by contract.

Failed, duplicate and incorrect payments

These are payment failures rather than refund requests, and we will always put them right:

• where a payment shows as failed but money left your account, the transaction was not captured and the amount is auto reversed by your bank, generally within 5 to 7 working days, in line with the Reserve Bank of India Harmonisation of Turn Around Time framework;
• where a payment succeeded but the plan is not active 30 minutes later, we activate the plan or return the amount if you prefer;
• where you were charged twice for the same plan, or charged an amount different from the price shown at checkout, we return the duplicate or excess amount in full.

Email hello@chikooya.com with your registered mobile number or Chikooya ID, the payment reference, and the date, time and amount. We acknowledge within 48 hours and resolve within 7 working days. Any amount returned goes back to the original payment method only, and reaches you within 5 to 7 working days of being initiated, depending on your bank.

If you believe a charge is wrong, please contact us before raising a chargeback with your bank. A chargeback that we reasonably determine to be fraudulent or made in bad faith may lead to suspension of the account and recovery of the disputed amount and any associated fee.

Where you purchase a Subscription through the Apple App Store or Google Play using in application billing, that transaction is made with the relevant app store and is governed by its terms. In that case:

• billing, renewal and cancellation are managed in the subscription settings of your Apple ID or Google account, and not by Chikooya;
• refunds are granted at the discretion of the relevant app store under its refund policy, and Chikooya is not able to process, approve or reverse those charges;
• deleting the Chikooya app does not cancel an app store subscription. You must cancel it in the store subscription settings before the next renewal date.

Cancellation and refunds applies to purchases made directly from Chikooya through our own payment gateway.

Chikooya is an intermediary within the meaning of section 2(1)(w) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. We host and transmit User Content but we do not initiate the transmission, select the receiver of the transmission, or select or modify the information contained in the transmission, except through the neutral moderation and safety measures described in these Terms.

We observe due diligence as required by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, including publishing these Terms, the Privacy Policy and the rules of conduct, informing Members at least once a year of the consequences of non compliance, and appointing a Grievance Officer.

Views expressed in User Content are those of the Member who posted them and not of Chikooya. We do not pre screen all User Content, and the presence of any profile or content on the platform is not an endorsement by us.

On receiving actual knowledge of unlawful content through a court order or a notification by an appropriate government agency, or a valid complaint under Grievance redressal, we will act within the timelines prescribed by law. Content in the nature of non consensual sexually explicit material, or artificially morphed impersonation of that nature, will be removed within twenty four hours of a valid complaint.

Every profile, chat and call carries reporting and blocking controls. Reports are reviewed by our Trust and Safety team, supported by Automated Safety Systems. Depending on the severity, frequency and context of a breach, we may take one or more of the following steps without prior notice:

• remove or restrict the visibility of specific Content;
• issue a warning or a temporary feature restriction such as a messaging or call restriction;
• reduce distribution of a profile in discovery;
• suspend the account for a defined period;
• permanently terminate the account and block re registration;
• preserve and disclose relevant information to law enforcement where required or permitted by law.

Where an account is terminated for a breach of these Terms, any unexpired portion of a paid Subscription is forfeited and is not refundable, save where a refund is required by applicable law.

You may close your account at any time. The process, the effect on your data and the applicable retention periods are described in the Privacy Policy.

We may also suspend or discontinue the Services, in whole or in part, for maintenance, for security reasons, or where required by law or by a competent authority.

Our handling of personal data is governed by the Privacy Policy, which explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, whom we share it with and how you may exercise your rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011.

By using the Services you consent to the processing described in that policy, including the processing of facial image data for verification and of audio and video for safety screening.

The Services rely on third party providers for cloud hosting and storage, facial analysis, messaging and email delivery, payments, analytics and crash reporting. Those providers process data on our instructions under written agreements, and are listed in the Privacy Policy.

The Services may contain links to third party websites, social media profiles or offers. We do not control and are not responsible for the content, products, practices or privacy policies of those third parties, and your dealings with them are solely between you and them.

The Chikooya name, logo, the strapline Real People. Real Connections., the user interface, designs, graphics, illustrations, copy, software, algorithms, databases and all other materials forming part of the Services are owned by or licensed to Chikooya and are protected by copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property laws.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, revocable, non exclusive, non transferable and non sublicensable licence to install and use the Chikooya app on a device you own or control, and to access the Services, in each case for your own personal and non commercial use.

You must not reproduce, distribute, publicly display, modify, create derivative works from, frame, mirror, or commercially exploit any part of the Services without our prior written permission.

If you believe that content on Chikooya infringes your intellectual property, write to hello@chikooya.com with details of the work, the location of the infringing content, your contact details, and a statement that you are the rights owner or authorised to act on their behalf.

Any feedback, idea or suggestion you send us may be used by us without restriction and without any obligation to compensate you.

The Services are provided on an as is and as available basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, conditions and representations that are not expressly set out in these Terms, whether express, implied or statutory, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or non infringement.

We specifically do not warrant or guarantee that:

• you will find a match, a relationship, a partner or a marriage, or that any Member will respond to you;
• the information in any profile is accurate, current or truthful, or that any Member is who they claim to be;
• the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, error free, or free of viruses or other harmful components;
• any astrology, compatibility, horoscope or similar content offered in the Services is scientific, predictive or reliable. Such content is provided for entertainment and cultural interest only and must not be relied upon for any financial, medical, legal or life decision.

Chikooya is not a matrimonial bureau, a marriage broker, a background verification agency, a counselling service or an emergency service. We do not participate in and are not a party to any meeting, communication, arrangement or transaction between Members, whether online or offline.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Chikooya, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, data, opportunity or reputation, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the Services, whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such loss.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, our aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to the Services in any twelve month period will not exceed the higher of:

• the total amount you actually paid to us for the Services in the twelve months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim; or
• Indian Rupees one thousand (INR 1,000).

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including rights available to you as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

You acknowledge that we do not screen Members for criminal history, and that we are not responsible for the conduct of any Member, whether online or offline. You assume all risk arising from your interactions with other Members.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Chikooya, its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against any claim, demand, proceeding, loss, liability, damage, cost or expense, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or related to your User Content, your use of the Services, your breach of these Terms or of any incorporated policy, your violation of any law, or your infringement of the rights of any third party.

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where that failure or delay results from an event beyond our reasonable control, including an act of God, flood, earthquake, fire, epidemic or pandemic, war, riot, terrorism, civil unrest, strike, failure of telecommunications or internet infrastructure, power failure, cyber attack, or any act, order or restriction of a government or regulatory authority.

We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in the Services, in our business or in the law. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date and version number.

Where a change is material and adverse to you, we will give you reasonable prior notice by email, by in app notice, or both, before it takes effect. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not accept them, you must stop using the Services and may close your account.

In compliance with Rule 3(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, the details of our Grievance Officer are:

• Name: Rohit Kohli
• Designation: Grievance Officer
• Email: hello@chikooya.com
• Phone: +91 74285 24629
• Address: H. No. 142, F-1 Block, Street No. 5, Near Old Shiv Temple, Sunder Nagri, North East Delhi, Delhi 110093, India
• Working hours: Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM IST, excluding public holidays

Complaints are acknowledged within twenty four hours and resolved within fifteen days of receipt. Escalation beyond the Grievance Officer is described in the Contact Us page.

These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, including any non contractual dispute or claim, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India.

Before commencing any formal proceeding, you agree to first raise the matter with our Grievance Officer and to attempt to resolve it in good faith for a period of thirty days.

If the dispute is not resolved within that period, it will be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration by a sole arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The seat and venue of arbitration will be New Delhi, India and the language of the arbitration will be English. The award of the arbitrator will be final and binding.

Subject to the above, the courts at Delhi, India will have exclusive jurisdiction. Nothing in this section prevents you from pursuing a remedy available to you as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 before the appropriate consumer forum.

• Entire agreement. These Terms and the documents incorporated into them constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Services and supersede any earlier understanding.
• Severability. If any provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
• Waiver. A failure or delay by us in enforcing any provision is not a waiver of that provision or of any other provision.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms. We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, on notice to you.
• Notices. We may send notices to the email address or mobile number registered on your account, or by in app message. Notices to us must be sent to hello@chikooya.com.
• Survival. Sections relating to Content licences, intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, governing law and general provisions survive termination.
• Language. These Terms are drafted in English. Any translation is provided for convenience and the English version prevails in case of conflict.
• Relationship. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship between you and us.

• Email: hello@chikooya.com
• Phone: +91 74285 24629
• Address: H. No. 142, F-1 Block, Street No. 5, Near Old Shiv Temple, Sunder Nagri, North East Delhi, Delhi 110093, India
• Working hours: Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM IST, excluding public holidays

We use one inbox for support, billing, safety, privacy, grievances and legal notices, and reply within 24 to 48 working hours. Everything is also listed on the Contact Us page.