Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legally binding agreement between you and Zypher LLC ("we", "us", "our"), the operator of the Rishta matrimonial application and website (collectively, the "Service"). By downloading, registering, or using Rishta, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

To use Rishta you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Be legally eligible to marry under the laws applicable to you.
• Not be currently married (unless you are legally divorced or widowed).
• Not be prohibited from using the Service under any applicable law.
• Not have had a prior Rishta account permanently banned.

By registering, you represent and warrant that all of the above are true. We reserve the right to terminate accounts where eligibility cannot be confirmed.

3. Account Registration and Security

You must provide accurate, complete, and truthful information when creating your account. Impersonating another person, providing false identity information, or uploading photos that are not of you are grounds for immediate permanent ban.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account. Rishta uses OTP (one-time password) via SMS for authentication — we will never ask for your OTP by phone, email, or chat. Do not share your OTP with anyone.

Notify us immediately at support@rishtaapp.in if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.

4. Profile Verification

All users are required to complete a facial liveness check during onboarding. This check confirms that a real person is registering and that the uploaded profile photo matches the person completing registration. Attempting to bypass or spoof this check is a serious violation and will result in a permanent ban.

Birth data (date, time, and place of birth) provided during onboarding is permanently locked once verified. It cannot be edited after this point. Submit accurate information — contact support if you made a genuine error before completing verification.

5. Subscription Plans and Billing

Free trial

New users receive a free trial period that grants access to core features. No payment method is required to start a free trial. At the end of the trial period, continued access to premium features requires an active paid subscription.

Subscription plans

Rishta offers paid subscription plans on a monthly and annual basis. Current pricing is displayed in the app at the time of purchase and may vary by region. All prices are inclusive of applicable taxes where required by law.

Billing

Payment is charged to your chosen payment method at the start of each billing period. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period unless cancelled. You authorise us to charge your payment method for the applicable subscription fee on a recurring basis until you cancel.

Payments are processed by Stripe Inc.. We do not store your card details. By subscribing, you also agree to Stripe's terms of service.

Price changes

We may change subscription prices with at least 30 days' notice. If you do not cancel before the price change takes effect, your continued use of the Service constitutes acceptance of the new price.

6. Cancellation and Refund Policy

Cancelling your subscription

You may cancel your subscription at any time from the app (Profile → Subscription → Cancel). Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you retain access to premium features until then. We do not pro-rate partial periods.

Refunds

To request a refund, contact support@rishtaapp.in with your registered email and transaction reference. Refunds, where applicable, are processed within 7–10 business days to the original payment method.

7. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Provide false, misleading, or fraudulent information about yourself.
• Impersonate any person or entity.
• Upload photos of anyone other than yourself, or photos that contain nudity, violence, or prohibited content.
• Harass, threaten, abuse, stalk, or intimidate other users.
• Solicit money, goods, or financial information from other users.
• Advertise any product, service, or third-party app to other users.
• Collect or harvest personal data of other users.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or exploit the app or its APIs.
• Use bots, scripts, or automated tools to interact with the Service.
• Create multiple accounts to evade a ban or restriction.
• Share another user's personal information, messages, or photos outside the app without their explicit consent.
• Engage in or facilitate any activity that is illegal under Indian law or the laws of your jurisdiction.

Violation of these rules may result in a warning, temporary suspension, or permanent ban at our sole discretion. We are not obligated to provide a warning before taking action where the violation is severe.

8. User Content and Content Standards

You retain ownership of content you post (bio, photos, messages). By posting content on Rishta, you grant Zypher LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to store, display, and reproduce that content solely to provide the Service. This licence ends when you delete the content or your account.

All content you post must:

• Be accurate and genuinely represent you.
• Not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.
• Not contain hate speech, discrimination based on religion, caste, gender, or ethnicity, or content that incites violence.
• Not contain sexually explicit material.
• Comply with all applicable Indian laws, including the IT Act 2000 and its rules.

We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these standards without notice.

9. Moderation and Safety

Rishta has a dedicated admin team that reviews reports, moderates content, and enforces these Terms. You can report any user or message directly within the app.

We take reports of harassment, fraud, and impersonation seriously and aim to investigate all reports within 48 hours. We cooperate with law enforcement where legally required.

Rishta provides a platform to connect people — we are not responsible for the conduct of users outside the app or in person. Exercise appropriate caution when meeting anyone you have connected with through Rishta. We recommend meeting in public places for initial meetings.

10. Intellectual Property

All rights in the Rishta application, website, brand, logo, compatibility algorithms, AI narratives, and underlying technology are owned by Zypher LLC or its licensors. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use the Rishta name, logo, or trademarks.

The spiritual compatibility systems (Kundli engine, natal chart synastry, Manzil al-Qamar matching) and the AI narrative generation system are proprietary to Rishta. You may not copy, reproduce, or commercialise any output from these systems without written permission.

11. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

No guarantee of match

Rishta provides a platform to facilitate connections — we do not guarantee that you will find a suitable match, establish a relationship, or get married as a result of using the Service.

Astrological compatibility

Compatibility scores, Kundli analyses, natal chart synastries, and AI-generated narratives are provided for informational and reflective purposes only. They do not constitute professional advice of any kind — medical, legal, psychological, or otherwise. You should not make significant life decisions based solely on these outputs.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Zypher LLC shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Service, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of goodwill, or emotional distress.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 3 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded by law.

12. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Grievance first

Before initiating any formal proceedings, you agree to first raise your concern with our Grievance Officer (Section 13). Most issues can and should be resolved this way.

Arbitration

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service that cannot be resolved through the grievance process shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (India). The arbitration shall be conducted in English. The seat of arbitration shall be New Delhi, India. The award of the arbitrator shall be final and binding.

Consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms limits your rights as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (India) or the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

13. Termination

You may delete your account at any time from the app. Upon deletion, your access to the Service ends immediately and your personal data is handled per our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms, if we are required to do so by law, or if continuing to provide the Service to you would create legal risk. Where we terminate without cause, we will provide a pro-rated refund for any unused paid subscription period.

Sections 10, 11, 12, and 14 survive termination of these Terms.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via in-app notification and email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The updated Terms will be published at rishtaapp.in/terms with a revised effective date.

If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and delete your account before the effective date. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

15. Grievance Officer

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and IT Rules 2011, the following officer is designated to receive and address user complaints about the Service:

For general support, contact support@rishtaapp.in.