Terms Protocol
Effective date: July 29, 2026
Acceptance of These Terms
BorderBeat is an iOS geography quiz game made by Tyler Fitch. By downloading, installing, or playing BorderBeat, you agree to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree with them, please do not use the app. These terms sit alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers what data the app handles, and alongside Apple's own App Store Terms of Service, which govern your purchase and download of the app itself.
The App Is Provided As-Is
BorderBeat is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind, express or implied. That includes any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not promise that the app will be error-free, that it will run without interruption, that leaderboards or synced profiles will always be reachable, or that every country outline, name, or fact in the game is perfectly accurate. BorderBeat is a game, not a reference atlas — please don't use it as an authoritative source on borders, sovereignty, or geography.
In-App Purchases & Refunds
BorderBeat offers optional, one-time (non-consumable) in-app purchases. Every transaction is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see, collect, or store your payment information, and we cannot process a charge, a refund, or a cancellation on your behalf.
- Purchases are one-time. There is no subscription, no recurring charge, and nothing expires. Unlocks are tied to the Apple ID that bought them and can be restored on your devices through the App Store's normal restore-purchases flow.
- Refunds go through Apple. If you want a refund, request it from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple's refund policy applies, and the decision is Apple's, not ours.
- Problems we can help with. If a purchase completed but the unlock isn't showing up in the app, email us — that's a bug on our side and we'll help. See Support for troubleshooting steps.
What Stays Free
The daily Quotidian puzzle and Chill Mode are free, uncapped, and not paywalled. There is no cap on how much you play them, no energy timer, and no advertising anywhere in the app. In-app purchases only affect the competitive roguelike side of the game — things like removing the daily run cap on ARCHITECT, unlocking additional modifier options, or replaying archived daily puzzles as practice. We reserve the right to change what the app offers over time, but the intent behind the free tier is stated here on purpose.
Acceptable Use
Play fairly. Specifically, you agree not to:
- Use automation, scripts, bots, emulators, or any external tool to answer questions or generate scores.
- Modify, reverse-engineer, or tamper with the app, its data files, or its network traffic in order to change scores, unlock purchases you didn't buy, or affect leaderboard standing.
- Submit scores you did not earn through normal play, or exploit a bug to place on a leaderboard instead of reporting it.
- Choose a username that is abusive, hateful, impersonating, or that contains someone's real-world personal information. Usernames are visible to other players on leaderboards.
- Interfere with other players' use of the app or with the services BorderBeat depends on.
We may remove leaderboard entries, retire a username, or block access to online features when we believe these rules have been broken. Honest bug reports are always welcome and are never treated as violations — email us instead of exploiting it.
Game Center & iCloud Features Depend on Apple
Leaderboards, achievements, username reservation, and cross-device profile sync are built on Apple Game Center and Apple iCloud (CloudKit). We do not run our own servers. These features require an Apple account, a network connection, and Apple's services being available — and they are subject to Apple's terms and to changes Apple makes. If Apple changes, limits, or discontinues a service, the corresponding feature in BorderBeat may change or stop working, and that is outside our control. Everything else in the app — including the daily puzzle and Chill Mode — is designed to keep working offline.
Intellectual Property
BorderBeat — the app, its source code, its name, its artwork and interface design, its original soundtrack, and the processed map geometry the game renders — is owned by Tyler Fitch and is protected by copyright. You get a personal, non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use the app on devices you own or control, for your own non-commercial use. You may not copy, redistribute, resell, or create derivative works from the app or its assets without written permission.
The underlying country boundary data comes from public sources and remains the property of those sources — principally the World Bank's Official Boundaries dataset, supplemented by the geoBoundaries global database for small-country detail and RestCountries for country metadata. The public data is theirs; the simplified, tessellated geometry BorderBeat generates from it, and the way the game presents it, is ours. Full credits are listed in the app's Credits screen.
Country names, borders, and territorial designations in BorderBeat follow the source datasets and are used for gameplay. They are not a political statement and do not imply any position on any territorial dispute.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tyler Fitch is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of your use of BorderBeat — including lost data, lost progress, lost leaderboard standing, or device issues. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you actually paid for BorderBeat and its in-app purchases in the twelve months before the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you; nothing here limits rights you have under mandatory consumer-protection law where you live.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time — for example when the app gains a feature or a purchase changes. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date at the top. Continuing to use BorderBeat after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Contact Us
If you have questions about these Terms, or you need to report a problem, please contact us at: