1. Who we are & agreeing to these terms
PC Tether is a Windows and Android app that lets you see and control your own PC from your own phone. It's made and operated by an independent developer based in Canada ("PC Tether", "we", "us"). "You" means the person using the app or this website.
By downloading, installing, or using PC Tether, or by using pctether.com, you agree to these Terms of Use and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use PC Tether.
You must be old enough to agree. By using PC Tether, you confirm that you're at least 16 (or the age of majority where you live, if that's higher) and that you're legally able to enter into this agreement. If you're not, please don't use PC Tether.
2. Early software & invite codes
PC Tether is a young product, still being actively developed. Licence or free invite code, the same things apply:
- It's provided "as is" and "as available": features may change, pause, or break, and there may be bugs.
- We don't promise any particular uptime, speed, or that it will be error-free.
- We may add, change, or remove features at any time. See section 4 for what early access means.
- Invite codes are free early-access passes, and they're for you. Please don't share, sell, or publish them. We may close or reset the invite programme at any time; that doesn't affect a licence you bought.
3. Your licence to use PC Tether
We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use PC Tether on devices you own or control, for your own use. You don't buy the software itself: you get permission to use it under these terms. You may not rent, resell, sublicense, or offer PC Tether as a service to others.
4. Getting a Tether code
Tether is free while we are in early access. You ask for a code by email, we send you one, and that code unlocks the app. Here is how it works:
- Early access is free, and each code lasts 30 days from the day we send it. If your code runs out while early access is still on, ask for another and we will send you a new one. We have not set an end date for early access itself, and we will say so on the website before that changes.
- There is nothing to cancel and no card on file, because we never took one. If early access ends, or a code is withdrawn, remote access (reaching your PC away from your own network) switches off and same-network use keeps working.
- The code is the licence. It arrives by email and it is the only copy, so keep that email. There is no account and no password behind it. What the code switches on is reaching your PC when you are away from your own network. On your own network Tether needs no code at all.
- A code covers 2 computers and 2 phones you own or control, at any one time, for reaching your PC from away. On your own network there is no limit, because that never touches our servers. It isn't locked to particular hardware: you can swap devices freely, with nothing to register or deactivate. It's for your personal setup, not for sharing access with the public or reselling.
- The app confirms your licence is valid each time it connects. That is a licence check, not tracking.
- Because it is early software, features may change, and we may add, alter or remove them as we go.
If we start charging later, we will say so on the website first. Nothing here turns into a bill by itself: a price could only ever apply to something you choose to buy at that point.
5. Payments
We do not take payments. While Tether is in early access there is no price, no checkout and no card details, so nothing here is a sale and there is no payment processor between us.
If that ever changes, this section will name whoever handles the money before a single payment is taken, and the website will say so first.
6. Refunds
There is nothing to refund. Tether is free during early access, so no money changes hands. Our Refund Policy page says the same thing, and will carry the real policy on the day there is one to have.
7. Acceptable use
PC Tether gives you full control of a PC, so use it responsibly. You agree that you will not:
- Use PC Tether to access or control any computer you don't own or don't have clear permission to use;
- Use it to spy on, monitor, or harm other people;
- Use it for anything illegal, or to break someone else's rights;
- Try to break, bypass, or defeat PC Tether's security or its licence checks;
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or copy the app, except where the law specifically allows it;
- Resell, redistribute, or commercially offer access to PC Tether; or
- Use PC Tether to distribute malware or to interfere with others' use of it.
8. Your responsibilities & security
You're responsible for the devices you connect and for what you do over your own connection. That includes keeping your phone and PC locked and updated, keeping your invite and licence codes to yourself, and making sure you're allowed to control the computer at the other end. PC Tether encrypts your connection, but it can't protect a device that someone else already has their hands on.
Encryption & export. PC Tether uses strong encryption to protect your connection, and encryption software is regulated in some countries. By using PC Tether you agree to follow the export-control and sanctions laws that apply to you: you confirm you are not located in a country subject to a Canadian or other applicable government embargo, and that you are not on a restricted- or denied-parties list. Please don't use PC Tether where the law doesn't permit strong encryption.
9. Our intellectual property
PC Tether (including the app, the "tether" name, our logo and marks, the website, and its design) belongs to us and is protected by intellectual-property laws. Your licence to use PC Tether doesn't transfer any of that ownership to you. Please don't use our name or branding in a way that suggests we endorse you without our permission.
10. Third-party services
PC Tether relies on a few outside services to work: for example, Cloudflare for hosting and the connection relay, an email provider to send you your code, and the app stores or operating systems you install it through. Your use of those services is also subject to their own terms and policies, which we don't control.
11. No warranty ("as is")
To the fullest extent allowed by law, PC Tether is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We don't warrant that PC Tether will be uninterrupted, secure against every threat, error-free, or that it will meet your specific needs. Some places don't allow certain warranties to be excluded, so parts of this may not apply to you.
12. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent allowed by law, PC Tether and its developer won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, or business, arising from your use of (or inability to use) PC Tether. Our total liability for any claim relating to PC Tether is limited to the amount you actually paid us for it in the 12 months before the claim, which during early access is nothing at all.
Nothing in these terms limits any rights you have that can't be limited by law, including mandatory consumer protections in your country. If the law says a limit can't apply to you, it doesn't.
13. Suspending or ending access
You can stop using PC Tether at any time and uninstall it. We may suspend or end your access if you break these terms, misuse the app, or if we need to for legal or security reasons, and we may end the invite programme itself. The sections that by their nature should survive (like ownership, disclaimers, and limits of liability) will continue to apply after your access ends.
14. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any disputes will be handled by the courts located in that province, and you agree to that jurisdiction, except where the mandatory consumer laws of your own country give you the right to bring a claim locally. Those rights always come first.
Langue / Language. A French version of these terms is available at pctether.com/legal/terms-fr. If you are a consumer in Quebec, the French version applies to you. Une version française est disponible.
15. Changes to these terms
As PC Tether grows, we may update these terms. When we do, we'll change the "Effective date" at the top and, for significant changes, make a reasonable effort to let users know. If you keep using PC Tether after an update, that means you accept the updated terms.
16. Contact us
Questions about these terms? Email support@pctether.com. A real person will read it.