Terms &Conditions

1. Acceptance of These Terms

By accessing, registering for, or using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be legally bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of yourself, you represent that you have the legal capacity to do so.

2. Eligibility and Age Restriction

Ruoma is strictly built for adults seeking serious, intentional relationships. You must be at least 18 years of age, or the age of majority in your province, state, or country (whichever is older), to use the Service. By using Ruoma, you represent and warrant that:

• You meet this minimum age requirement.
• You are legally capable of entering into a binding contract.
• You are not prohibited from using the Service under any applicable laws or regulations.

We do not knowingly permit minors to access the Service and will immediately terminate any account identified as belonging to an individual under the required age.

3. The Service

Ruoma provides a digital matchmaking platform designed to help Users build authentic profiles, discover other vetted Users or community members, exchange information, and decide independently whether or not to take a connection further.

While Ruoma requires a mandatory identity verification process as part of its primal objective to build a high-integrity community with an aligned aim, the relationships, conversations, and decisions that occur on or off the Service remain entirely between the individuals involved. Ruoma acts solely as a platform; we do not conduct comprehensive criminal background checks on Users, and we are not responsible for the conduct, actions, or omissions of any User, whether online or offline.

4. Your Ruoma Account

To access the Service, you must create a User Account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information, including your legal name, email address, date of birth, authentic photographs of yourself, and any other details we request to facilitate our identity verification process. You agree to:

• Promptly update your account information to keep it accurate.
• Maintain the strict confidentiality of your login credentials.
• Accept full responsibility for all activities that occur under your account.

You may not create more than one account, use another person’s account, or impersonate any individual. Please notify us immediately at support@ruoma.ca if you suspect any unauthorized access to or breach of your account.

5. User Conduct and Community Standards

Ruoma is dedicated to maintaining a safe, respectful, and intentional environment. As an absolute condition of your use of the Service, you agree that you will not:

1. Harass, threaten, stalk, intimidate, defraud, or deceive any other User.
2. Post false, misleading, hateful, defamatory, sexually explicit, or unlawful content, including photographs of anyone other than yourself.
3. Use the Service for any commercial or promotional purpose, including marketing, soliciting, recruiting, or directing users to third-party platforms.
4. Request, send, or solicit money, financial gifts, or personal financial information from another User.
5. Disclose or share another User’s personal information without their explicit, prior consent.
6. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, scrape data, reverse engineer the platform, or interfere with its secure operation.
7. Use the Service in violation of any applicable local, provincial, national, or international law.

Users who breach these standards may have their accounts suspended or permanently terminated immediately, without notice, and without eligibility for a fee refund.

6. Your Content and License to Ruoma

You retain all ownership rights to the photographs, text, prompts, and other materials you submit to Ruoma (“Your Content”).

By submitting Your Content, you grant Ruoma a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, adapt, display, and distribute Your Content solely for the purposes of operating, providing, promoting, and improving the Service. You represent and warrant that you own or possess all necessary rights to grant this license and that Your Content does not infringe upon the intellectual property or privacy rights of any third party. We reserve the right to remove or restrict any content that violates these Terms or that we consider harmful to the community.

7. No Guarantee of Outcomes

Ruoma does not promise, warrant, or guarantee any specific outcome from your use of the Service. We do not guarantee that you will receive matches, replies, dates, relationships, engagements, or marriages. The Service is a structural tool designed to help intentional people find one another; whether and how you communicate with or pursue a connection with another person is entirely your personal decision and sole responsibility.

8. Safety, Blocking, and Reporting

We strive to foster a respectful community, but Ruoma cannot control real-world interactions or monitor every user interaction. We strongly encourage you to prioritize your safety and use common sense: meet new connections in public places for the first time, inform a trusted friend of your whereabouts, and never send money or share financial information with another User.

If a User’s behavior makes you uncomfortable or violates these Terms, please block and report them using the in-app reporting tools, or email us at support@ruoma.ca. We review all reports in good faith and will take actions we deem appropriate, up to and including permanent account banishment.

9. Fees, Verification Purchases, and Refunds

To align our community with our primal objective of maintaining a high-integrity, intentional, and secure matchmaking platform, Ruoma operates under a single-fee verification model.

• One-Time Verification Fee: New Users are required to pay a one-time identity verification fee of $175 (CAD) to cover the technical and administrative costs associated with authenticating user identity. Following the payment and processing of this verification, all other core components and features of the Ruoma platform are entirely free to use. There are no ongoing subscriptions, hidden costs, or recurring fees.
• Strict No-Refund Policy: All payments made to Ruoma are final and strictly non-refundable. Because the verification fee is immediately consumed by the third-party processing costs of validating your identity, no refunds will be issued under any circumstances. This includes, without limitation, instances where a User fails the identity verification process, is denied access to the platform, or has their account terminated for violating these Terms.
• Discretionary Fee Waivers: We reserve the right, at our sole and absolute discretion, to waive the $175 identity verification fee for students, individuals who have been pre-vetted by members of the Ruoma team, or for any other discretionary reason. A fee waiver granted to one User does not entitle any other User to a waiver, nor does it establish a binding precedent or obligation for future waivers.
• Future Changes: While Ruoma is firmly committed to this single-fee architecture, we reserve the right to introduce optional premium features or adjust our pricing structure in the future, upon providing reasonable notice on our platform.

10. Intellectual Property

The Ruoma name, branding, logos, applications, website layout, code, designs, graphics, content (excluding Your Content), and all related intellectual property are the exclusive property of Ruoma Canada Inc. or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to access and use the Service for its intended personal matchmaking purpose. You may not copy, modify, distribute, reverse engineer, scrape, frame, mirror, or create derivative works of any part of the Service without our express prior written consent.

11. Privacy

Your privacy is of paramount importance to us. The collection, use, and disclosure of your personal data are governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Service, you consent to the data collection and processing practices detailed in the Privacy Policy.

12. Suspension and Termination

You may stop using Ruoma at any time and may request the deletion of your account from within the application settings or by contacting support@ruoma.ca.

We reserve the right to suspend, restrict, or permanently terminate your account and remove Your Content at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe you have breached these Terms, if your conduct poses a legal or reputational risk to Ruoma, or if required to do so by law. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution) will continue in full force.

13. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RUOMA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE.

RUOMA DOES NOT WARRANT OR REPRESENT THE CONDUCT, IDENTITY, COMPATIBILITY, CRITICAL BACKGROUND, OR TRUE INTENTIONS OF ANY USER. ANY DECISION TO COMMUNICATE WITH, MEET, OR PURSUE A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER USER IS MADE ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL RUOMA, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR RELATIONSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU TO RUOMA IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE CANADIAN DOLLARS (CAD $175).

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Ruoma, its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal and attorneys' fees) arising out of or resulting from:

1. Your use of and access to the Service.
2. Your breach or violation of any provision within these Terms.
3. Your Content submitted to the platform.
4. Your interactions, conduct, or disputes with any other User, whether occurring on or off the Service.

16. Updates to These Terms

We reserve the right to modify or update these Terms at any time to reflect platform changes, legislative updates, or shifting business requirements. If we make material modifications, we will provide you with reasonable notice (such as via email or an in-app notification) before the changes become effective. Your continued use of Ruoma after the effective date of the revised Terms constitutes your explicit acceptance of them. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, your sole remedy is to discontinue using the platform and close your account.

17. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by, interpreted, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of law principles.

In the event of a dispute, the parties agree to first attempt to resolve the matter informally through good-faith discussions for a period of at least thirty (30) days. If the dispute remains unresolved, the parties agree to submit the matter to confidential mediation administered by the Canadian Arbitration Association, to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, with mediation fees shared equally. If mediation fails to resolve the dispute within an additional thirty (30) days, the matter shall be finally settled by binding arbitration before a single arbitrator under the commercial rules of the Canadian Arbitration Association in Ottawa, Ontario. Nothing in this section shall restrict either party from seeking urgent injunctive or provisional relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.

18. Notices

We will transmit all official notices to you via the email address tied to your Ruoma account or through clear in-app messaging. It is your sole responsibility to keep your registered email address accurate and up to date. Notices are legally deemed received at the timestamp they are transmitted by us.

19. Force Majeure

Neither party will be held liable or responsible for any failure or delay in fulfilling its obligations under these Terms due to causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of God, natural disasters, strikes, lockouts, riots, acts of war, epidemics or pandemics, government regulations, or severe disruptions to utility, internet, telecommunications, or app store infrastructure.

20. Entire Agreement and Severability

These Terms, in conjunction with our Privacy Policy, constitute the complete and exclusive legal agreement between you and Ruoma regarding your use of the Service, overriding all prior or contemporaneous discussions, agreements, or understandings. If any individual provision of these Terms is deemed invalid or unenforceable by an arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction, that specific provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable, and the remaining terms will remain in full force and effect.

21. Contact and Complaints

If you have any feedback, questions, or formal complaints regarding the platform or these Terms, please contact our team directly at support@ruoma.ca.