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Legal notice for the Home Connect app

Here you can find the legal notice for the provider, the Terms of Use and the Data Privacy Policy for the Home Connect app.

Terms of Use for the Home Connect app

1. Basis of the agreement

Home Connect GmbH, Carl-Wery-Strasse 34, 81739 Munich, Germany (hereinafter referred to as the "Operator") hereby provides you with the Home Connect app free of charge for installation and use on your mobile devices.

These terms of use ("Terms of Use") shall enter into force between you as the user of the Home Connect app and the Home Connect GmbH as the Operator of this app. Once you have completed registration, these terms shall form the binding contractual basis for using the Home Connect app. You can view and save these Terms of Use in the Home Connect app under "Settings".

2. Functions and services provided by the Home Connect app

The Home Connect app is used to control home appliances that are compatible with Home Connect ("Appliances") and to provide other services (e.g. tips for using certain Appliance programs, recipe suggestions or suggestions to increase energy efficiency) in connection with your Appliances.

The functions offered by the Home Connect app vary depending on the specific type of device. Explore the Home Connect app to see which specific functions are available to you.

For security reasons, some Home Connect functions require not only a command prompt via the Home Connect app, but also manual confirmation and/or manual activation on the Appliance itself. The Home Connect app informs you of such a requirement accordingly.

Your user ID, information on your Appliance and your control commands are transmitted to a server ("Home Connect Server") via the data connection; the server transmits your control commands. You can refer to the Data Privacy Policy for further information on how data is handled.

You may only use the full functionality of the Home Connect app if you are logged into your Home Connect user account, if your Appliances are assigned to your Home Connect user account and if your Appliances and the Home Connect app have established a data connection with the Home Connect Server.

If you disconnect your Appliance from the Home Connect Server in the Home Connect app, you will only be able to use a limited range of functions and services visible in the Home Connect app within the Wi-Fi network to which the Appliance is connected (Wi-Fi-only use). For security reasons, we discourage managing an Appliance through the Wi-Fi-only setting for a long period of time as this will prevent you from receiving any available, security-relevant software updates for your Appliance.

If you deactivate your Appliance's Wi-Fi connection in the Home Connect app, your Appliance will not be able to establish a connection to the Home Connect Server. Moreover, deactivating this connection also means that the Home Connect app cannot be used to control your Appliance.

3. Registration process

Use of the Home Connect app requires the creation of a user account (registration). Registration generally requires, as a minimum, your first name and surname, the location of the Appliance (country), your e-mail address (user ID) and a personal password. The information requested may vary depending on the region.

Once you have successfully registered for the Home Connect app, you will receive an e-mail confirmation and your user account will be activated. This e-mail will contain a link that you must click on to confirm registration.

4. Logging into your user account

You should keep your password secret and not pass it on to third parties. If you lose your password, or if you suspect that a third party has gained access to it, you are obliged to notify the Operator immediately using the contact information provided in the Home Connect app and to change your password. Use the "Change password" function and/or the "Forgotten your password?" function in the Home Connect app to change your password or create a new one.

You are required to log into your user account in order to use most of the functions and services provided by the Home Connect app. For security reasons, you will be automatically logged out of your user account no later than 24 hours after logging in. If you activate the "Remain logged in" function, you will not be automatically logged out of your user account for three (3) months. Please note that despite its convenience, using this function increases the risk of third parties who have access to your mobile device using the Home Connect app without authorisation. You are liable vis-à-vis the Operator for any form of misuse by third parties. In order to deactivate the "Remain logged in" function, simply log out of your user account. Closing the Home Connect app has no impact on your user account login status.

5. Requirements for use

To allow you to use the part of the Home Connect app which requires registration, the following conditions must be met:

  • You are a private consumer and are at least 18 years old,
  • You have set up a user account as part of the registration process,
  • You operate your Appliance in a country where the Operator offers the Home Connect app (list of available countries may be retrieved from the Home Connect app).

In order to use the Home Connect app, it has to be installed on a web-enabled, mobile device that runs a supported operating system (see www.homeconnect.com) for a list of supported mobile devices. The mobile device and the Appliance must be provided by you and connected to a Wi-Fi network via an appropriately configured router. Outside the range of the Wi-Fi network to which the Appliance is connected, your mobile device will require another data connection. During offline operation, the device may be operated as an "unconnected" Appliance. If the Wi-Fi connection is deactivated or if the mobile device is outside the range of a Wi-Fi network, the Appliance cannot be controlled via the Home Connect app. You shall be responsible for bearing any costs arising from the data connection. The Operator shall not be liable for the availability and/or quality of the data connection.

6. Use of the Home Connect app by multiple users

In accordance with the scope specified under Item 9, the Home Connect app may be used by multiple users, whereby each user must have their own user account. If multiple users add the same Appliance to their user accounts (e.g. in a family or flat share), the user who first added the Appliance to their user account ("Main User") shall be entitled to remove the Appliance from the accounts of users who added it at a later stage. The Main User may assign their Main User privilege to another user. All users of an Appliance can see the relevant device status in the Home Connect app and issue control commands where applicable.

The use of third-party services (see Item 7) shall generally only affect the account of the user who chooses to engage such services ("Third-Party Service User"). The data sent to the third-party provider may contain data pertaining to the usage behaviour of other Appliance users. The Third-Party Service User undertakes to inform the other Appliance users about the purpose and scope of data collection and the further processing and use of data by the provider of the third-party service before they actually use this service.

7. Third-party services

Services of third-party providers integrated into the Home Connect app and services of third-party providers which enable external access to the Appliance from the third-party application (e.g. from a third-party provider app) extend the options available with the Home Connect app. The use of such integrated and/or external services generally requires your Home Connect user account to be connected to an existing user account held with the third-party service provider. Any special terms of use defined by the Operator which apply to the use of third-party services that are either integrated into the Home Connect app or offered externally can be found under "Integrated services" and must be accepted separately. Only the special terms of use governing third-party services which have been linked to your user account shall apply here. Please note that besides the Operator's general terms of use and the special terms of use for integrated and/or external services, terms of use provided by the third-party service provider may also apply. The third-party service provider shall be solely responsible for the latter.

The integration of third-party services in the Home Connect app and/or linking to external services constitutes additional functionalities, the availability of which the Operator shall not be held responsible for and the provision of which the Operator may, in principle, discontinue at any time without warning. As a general rule, the Operator is not able to check the data transmitted by the third-party service provider in terms of accuracy and completeness and therefore assumes no liability to this extent.

8. Software updates

The complete operability and functional reliability of the Home Connect app in connection with your Appliances can only be ensured if the updates made available for the Home Connect app are installed promptly; the same applies to any updates to the Appliance made available by the manufacturer. The Operator shall not be held responsible for errors affecting the Home Connect app or for any damage arising from the fact that you have not or not fully downloaded and/or installed available updates.

9. Rights of use

The Home Connect app and the services, data and information that can be used and accessed via the app are all copyright protected.

For the term of this user agreement, you shall be granted a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable and revocable right of use to utilise the Home Connect app free of charge exclusively for the purposes agreed in these Terms of Use and in accordance with these Terms of Use and applicable law. In particular, you may not copy, edit, revise, amend, decompile (reverse engineering) or convert the Home Connect app – unless otherwise permitted by mandatory law.

10. Availability of functions and services

The Operator undertakes to take reasonable efforts to make available all functions and services of the Home Connect app, as well as to integrate and link these with third-party services. However, technical difficulties may mean that the availability is interrupted temporarily. You cannot derive any claims against the Operator based on the interruption of availability.

11. Relocation/onward sale/third-party use

Should you relocate your Appliance to a different country, i.e. not the country where it was originally put into operation, you are obliged to change the country settings in your user account accordingly. Please note that using the Home Connect app in another country may be subject to other terms of use and other data privacy policies. If your new country does not feature in the list of supported countries, you will not be permitted to continue using the Home Connect app. The use of the Home Connect app together with an Appliance which is not permitted to be used in the respective country is prohibited. In case of doubt, please contact the manufacturer of your Appliance.

If your mobile device is sold or passed on to a third party on a permanent basis, you must first ensure that you log out of your user account and delete the Home Connect app. It will then no longer be possible to (re)assign the mobile device to your user ID or Appliance. If you sell the Appliance, be sure to restore the factory settings. This will cancel the connection between the Appliance and your user account.

If you purchased your Appliance second-hand, check the account settings in the Home Connect app to make sure that no unknown users are linked to the Appliance. In case of doubt, be sure to restore the factory settings. Refer to the Data Privacy Policy for further information on data protection.

If, contrary to the stipulations under Items 4 and 6 of these Terms of Use, you allow third parties to use your Home Connect app via the mobile device on which the app is installed, you shall be responsible for ensuring that the Home Connect app is used in accordance with these Terms of Use and the applicable laws.

12. Liability

The Operator shall be liable to you, without limitation, for any loss or damage caused by the Operator or its legal representatives or agents where this is due to intent and/or gross negligence. In the case of slight negligence, the Operator shall be liable to you, without limitation, for any injury to life, limb or health. Beyond this, the Operator shall be liable to you only insofar as it has violated an integral contractual obligation without which the proper performance of this agreement would not be possible and upon the fulfillment of which you, as the contractual partner, usually rely and may rely on. In such cases, liability shall be limited to compensation for the foreseeable, typical damage. The Operator's no-fault liability for damages for defects already existing upon conclusion of the contract shall be excluded to the extent permitted by mandatory law. The liability of the Operator in accordance with the provisions of product liability law shall remain unaffected by the above provisions.

13. Amendments to the Terms of Use

The operator is entitled to amend the Terms of Use.

We will generally notify you via the Home Connect app and/or by e-mail of any changes to the Terms of Use which impact the contractual relationship at least six weeks before the time at which the change comes into effect. This notification will also contain information about your right to refuse changes to the consequences thereof. We ask you to grant your consent to the amended Terms of Use by the date on which the change comes into effect at the latest. You have the option to give your consent and continue to use the Home Connect app in accordance with the amended Terms of Use, or to refuse your consent. In the case of the latter, the Operator is entitled to terminate their user agreement upon the change coming into effect and to block their user account.

14. Termination of the user agreement

The Operator is entitled to ordinary termination of their user agreement with you with a notice period of six weeks or less in the event that the Operator decides to cease operating the Home Connect app. In all other respects, the right of both contracting parties to terminate the agreement for good cause shall remain unaffected. Good cause for the Operator shall exist in particular if you infringe any essential obligations of these Terms of Use (e.g. Item 5, 6 or 9).

15. Applicable law/jurisdiction

The mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which you normally reside shall apply. In all other respects, the law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply. The provisions of the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods shall not apply regardless of the applicable law. Munich, Germany, shall be the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with these Terms of Use. Any mandatory statutory places of jurisdiction shall remain unaffected.

Last revised: August 2016

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