The long version
Balise Terms of Use
Last updated 17 August 2026 · Publisher: BRK (Groupe Tamara)
Product: Balise · usebalise.com. Publisher: BRK, the public brand of Groupe Tamara · groupe-tamara.com. Contact: apps@groupe-tamara.com (subject “Balise terms”).
1. Agreement
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Balise mobile application, related TestFlight builds, and associated Balise cloud services (together, the “Service”).
The Service is published by BRK, the public brand of Groupe Tamara (“we”, “us”, “our”). By creating an account, downloading, installing, or using Balise, you agree to these Terms and to the Balise Privacy Policy (or the privacy URL published for the build you use).
If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
Where you obtained Balise from Apple’s App Store or TestFlight, Apple’s Licensed Application End User Licence Agreement (or Apple’s applicable beta terms) also applies. In case of conflict on Apple-mandated topics (for example Apple’s role as distributor), Apple’s terms control for those topics; otherwise these Terms control your relationship with us.
2. Definitions
- Connected library means a photo or media library you authorize Balise to read. Today this means Apple Photos via PhotoKit. Other libraries (for example Adobe Lightroom) may be offered later and will require separate authorization.
- Workspace means the Balise account space that holds your structured knowledge and settings. In the current product, each user has one personal workspace.
- Structured knowledge means observations, facts, domain records, search indexes, preferences, provenance, and related derived data Balise stores for your workspace — not your Apple Photos originals.
- Inference render means a bounded, temporary, downsized image derivative created on your device for cloud vision processing (not a full-resolution archive of your original). Inference renders are short-lived and are not retained as a photo archive.
3. The Service (what Balise is and is not)
3.1 What Balise does
Balise helps you turn photographs from Connected libraries into structured personal knowledge you can search, review, correct, and use with Balise features (including insights and agent-style assistance where offered).
Typical flow:
- You authorize Photos access (full or limited) and choose how many photos and which period Balise should consider.
- Balise processes the selected assets (an onboarding batch and later rounds you send, or automatic pick-up of new photos if you turn “Keep up as you shoot” on).
- For eligible assets, Balise uploads short-lived Inference renders to Balise infrastructure for vision analysis.
- Structured knowledge is stored for your Workspace. Originals remain in Apple Photos (or another Connected library). Balise keeps no image archive; every image copy Balise holds is deleted within about one day, as described in the Privacy Policy.
Capture-and-forget. Balise is designed so you can keep using the system Camera. Balise processes library content you authorize. Automatic processing of newly added photos is off unless you turn it on, may depend on an entitlement, and may be incomplete in a given build — do not assume every new photo is ingested automatically unless the app UI for your build clearly states that it is on and working.
3.2 What Balise is not
Balise is not:
- a photo backup, sync, or archive service for your originals or for display copies;
- a face-recognition or people-identity product (we do not build a biometric identity graph of people);
- a guarantee of complete, correct, or exhaustive extraction from your library;
- legal, medical, tax, immigration, insurance, or other professional advice.
To see the pictures themselves, you resolve back to Apple Photos on your device (and/or another Connected library you control). Balise’s durable product asset is Structured knowledge, not an image archive.
4. Eligibility and accounts
You must be at least 16 years old to create a Balise account and use the Service (or the higher age of digital consent required where you live). Where local law allows a lower age with verifiable parental consent (for example 13+ in some jurisdictions), we may permit that only if we have implemented an appropriate parental-consent flow; until then, 16+ is the default eligibility rule. The Service is not directed at children under these thresholds (see Privacy Policy).
Authentication uses Clerk, with Sign in with Apple and the other methods offered on the sign-in screen. You are responsible for keeping your Apple ID / authentication methods secure and for activity under your account, except where caused by our breach of these Terms.
We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or create risk to the Service or other users.
5. Licence to use Balise
Subject to these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the Balise app on Apple devices you own or control, solely as permitted by Apple’s App Store / TestFlight rules and these Terms.
You may not:
- reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code except to the limited extent mandatory law allows;
- redistribute, rent, sublicense, or provide the Service to third parties as a hosted service;
- remove proprietary notices;
- misuse the Service (abuse APIs, circumvent rate limits or access controls, interfere with security, or use the Service to violate law);
- use automated means to scrape or overload the Service beyond ordinary app use.
The Balise app, brand, software, models configuration, and related IP remain owned by Groupe Tamara and its licensors. No rights are granted except as expressly stated.
6. Your content and responsibilities
6.1 Your rights in photos and knowledge
You retain whatever rights you already have in your photographs and in the Structured knowledge derived from them for your personal use. You grant us a limited licence to host, process, and transmit short-lived Inference renders and to host, process, transmit, and display Structured knowledge solely to provide the Service for your Workspace, including security, debugging, and support you request.
We do not claim ownership of your Apple Photos originals. We keep no image archive (see §8).
6.2 No training on your content
We do not use your photos, Inference renders, Structured knowledge, or other customer content to train machine-learning models. We instruct our AI subprocessors (Vertesia, and OpenAI, Google Vertex AI / Gemini and xAI as used through Vertesia) not to use Balise inference content to train their models. Providers process content only to deliver inference and related Service features for your Workspace.
6.3 Your responsibilities
You agree that:
- Authority. You only authorize Balise to process photos and libraries you have the right to use for this purpose (including photos that depict other people, including children).
- Third parties. Photos may depict other people. You are responsible for how you use Balise with such content and for complying with applicable privacy and publicity laws. Balise does not obtain consent from people who appear in your photos.
- Expected personal use. Parents photographing their own children for personal knowledge (for example watching a child grow up) is an expected personal use of Balise. The way to “see the pictures” remains resolving back to Apple Photos (or another Connected library), not Balise becoming a photo archive.
- Review and correction. Automatic extraction can be wrong, incomplete, or misleading. You should review, correct, or delete Structured knowledge you do not want kept. Do not rely on Balise outputs as the sole basis for important decisions.
- Sensitive content. You understand that processing may surface sensitive or private information present in your library. Use limited Photos access, the period and count controls, the screenshot switch, and deletion tools to reduce that risk.
- Lawful use. You will not use the Service to violate law, infringe others’ rights, or process content you are forbidden to process.
6.4 Feedback
If you send feedback or suggestions, you grant us a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual licence to use them to improve our products without obligation to you. Feedback must not include others’ confidential information. Feedback licences do not authorize training on your private library content.
7. Photos access and Connected libraries
7.1 Apple Photos
With your permission, Balise uses Apple PhotoKit to read assets you authorize. You may grant full or limited Photos access. Hidden albums and shared albums are always excluded; screenshots are excluded unless you turn them on. Limited Photos access restricts which assets Balise can see; the Service will only process what the system makes available under your authorization.
Nothing in these Terms requires you to grant library access. Without it, library-dependent features will not work.
7.2 Future Connected libraries
We may add other Connected libraries. Connecting an additional library is optional and will require its own authorization. Product marketing may refer to “Connected libraries”; that language does not promise that a particular third-party library is available today.
8. Cloud processing, image copies, and knowledge storage
8.1 Temporary Inference renders
For assets eligible under your choices and our processing rules, Balise uploads Inference renders to Balise / Google Cloud infrastructure so vision models can extract Structured knowledge. Those temporary objects are deleted when their batch completes, with a lifecycle backstop of about one day for interrupted or abandoned batches. Exact timings may change for reliability and cost; the Privacy Policy describes the current practice.
8.2 No image archive
Balise keeps no archive of your images. Originals stay in Apple Photos (or another Connected library). A same-size display copy may back the evidence tile in the app for at most one day when the original is not reachable on your device; it is deleted on the same one-day schedule and immediately when you delete all Balise data. Structured knowledge (text / facts and related derived data) is what Balise stores in your Workspace.
We may later offer optional longer retention of display-sized previews that you explicitly choose to keep. That feature is not available today, will be off by default if offered, will require a separate explicit opt-in, and will be described in an updated Privacy Policy / Terms before it ships.
8.3 Structured knowledge
We store Structured knowledge associated with your Workspace (for example observations, facts, domains, search indexes, preferences). That may include structured descriptions of photos that depict children or other people when you included those photos — but not durable image files of those photos.
8.4 Face / people identity
Balise does not provide face recognition as a product feature for identifying people and does not build a cloud biometric identity graph. On-device face detection reports only counts, positions and head angles. The app builds a single self-reference vector from your own selfies, on device, so it can mark whether you appear in a photo; that vector is stored in your Workspace and deleted with it, and is never used to identify anyone else. See the Privacy Policy §4.6.
9. Beta status, the free plan and pricing
Balise is currently offered as a beta (including TestFlight). Features may change, break, be incomplete, or be withdrawn. Processing coverage (including any automatic ingest of new photos) may be limited. In TestFlight builds any purchase runs in Apple’s sandbox and no money changes hands.
Free plan and introductory period. For the first fourteen (14) days after you first sign in, Balise reads up to 2,500 photos of history at no charge. After that period the account continues on the free plan, under which Balise keeps the most recent 250 photos it has read available to browse and ask about and does not process further photos. No fees are charged by us for the introductory period or the free plan, so there are no refundable Balise charges attributable to us for them, and nothing converts to a paid plan automatically.
Paid plans (“Balise Plus”). Beyond the free plan, continued processing requires a paid subscription, purchased through Apple’s in-app purchase, in tiers set by the size of the photo library Balise reads for you (currently up to 10,000, 25,000 or 50,000 photos of history), billed monthly or yearly. Current prices are shown on usebalise.com/pricing and in the App Store before you buy; Apple shows you the price again before you confirm. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled in your Apple ID settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Cancellation stops renewal; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for. Apple’s payment terms apply to App Store purchases. Refunds, if any, follow Apple’s and applicable consumer-law rules.
What happens when a plan lapses. If no plan is chosen at the end of the introductory period, the account moves to the free plan described above and no data is deleted on that account. If a paid subscription ends and is not renewed, we keep the Workspace data Balise has produced for ninety (90) days so you can reactivate without re-processing; after that period the account returns to the free plan and Workspace data beyond what the free plan keeps is deleted, subject to §8 and the Privacy Policy. Deleting your Balise data does not cancel an Apple subscription; that is done with Apple.
Sharing. Plans are per Balise account and are not available through Apple Family Sharing. Using Balise on a second device signed in with the same Apple ID is permitted.
Beta access does not create a commitment that any feature will ship in a final release. The Service, in the no-charge period and under a paid plan alike, is provided as described in §14 (“as is”, “as available”).
10. Acceptable use — AI and outputs
You may not use the Service to:
- attempt to re-identify strangers or build unlawful surveillance dossiers;
- upload or process content you do not have rights to process;
- probe, scrape, or attack our systems or those of our processors;
- circumvent safety, rate limits, or workspace isolation;
- misrepresent Balise outputs as verified facts about third parties.
We may suspend processing or accounts to protect the Service, users, or legal compliance.
11. Privacy
Our processing of personal data is described in the Balise Privacy Policy. That policy is incorporated by reference. If these Terms and the Privacy Policy conflict on a privacy topic, the Privacy Policy controls for that topic.
12. Third-party services
The Service depends on third parties. Our public cloud / AI subprocessors for Balise are listed in the Privacy Policy and currently include Clerk (authentication); Google Cloud (Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, Memorystore Redis, Cloud SQL, Secret Manager, Artifact Registry, and Vertex AI / Gemini where used via Vertesia); Vertesia (durable knowledge, search, agents / workflows, and inference orchestration); OpenAI (vision / model inference via Vertesia); and xAI (text-only model inference via Vertesia for domain screen design). Apple provides platform services (Sign in with Apple, PhotoKit, push notifications, StoreKit, App Store / TestFlight) and is not a Balise AI subprocessor. The usebalise.com website runs on Cloudflare.
Your use of Apple’s platforms remains subject to Apple’s terms. We are not responsible for third-party outages or changes outside our reasonable control, but we remain responsible to you for the Service under these Terms and mandatory law.
13. Support; relationship with Apple
Groupe Tamara, not Apple, is responsible for maintenance and support of Balise. Support is best-effort via apps@groupe-tamara.com and the publisher support page at groupe-tamara.com/support.html (or successor URL). No service level is guaranteed during beta.
This agreement is between you and Groupe Tamara only, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to furnish maintenance or support. If Balise fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple for a refund of the purchase price (if any) as permitted by Apple; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation regarding Balise. Groupe Tamara, not Apple, is responsible for addressing claims relating to Balise, including product liability, legal compliance, and consumer-protection claims, and claims that Balise infringes third-party intellectual property. Apple and Apple’s subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of this section and related Apple-required clauses, and may enforce them against you.
14. Disclaimer of warranties
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service — including the free TestFlight / beta — is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind. We disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, or statutory, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, quiet enjoyment, accuracy, and non-infringement.
Without limiting the above:
- Structured knowledge may be inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or embarrassing;
- library coverage and automatic ingest may be incomplete;
- we do not warrant uninterrupted, secure, or error-free operation;
- we do not warrant that Balise will find everything of interest in your library;
- you use beta features at your own risk.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions; in those places, exclusions apply only to the extent permitted, and mandatory consumer warranties remain.
15. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law (including French and EU consumer law where it applies):
- Groupe Tamara and its directors, officers, employees, and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; or for loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, business opportunity, or substitute services; arising from or related to the Service or these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility.
- Free beta. During any period in which you pay us no fees for Balise (including free TestFlight / beta access), our aggregate liability arising out of or related to the Service or these Terms is limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and — where a contractual monetary cap is enforceable — will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts (if any) you paid us for Balise in the twelve (12) months before the claim, or (b) zero (EUR 0), because no Balise fees were paid. If a court finds a zero cap unenforceable, liability is limited to the minimum amount that court will enforce.
- If you later pay fees for Balise under a paid plan, and a contractual monetary cap is enforceable, our aggregate liability will not exceed the amounts you paid us for Balise in the twelve (12) months before the claim — or such other amount mandatory law requires.
- Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law (including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence where such exclusion is forbidden, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and non-waivable consumer rights under French / EU law).
You acknowledge that Balise outputs are assistive only and that you remain responsible for decisions you make.
16. Indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you will defend and indemnify Groupe Tamara against third-party claims arising from (a) your misuse of the Service, (b) your processing of photos you lacked rights to process, or (c) your violation of these Terms, except to the extent caused by our willful misconduct or breach of these Terms.
17. Suspension and termination
You may stop using Balise at any time by deleting the app, deleting all Balise data from the app (Profile → Balise data → “Delete all Balise data”), and, if you wish, asking us by email to close the sign-in account (see Privacy Policy §10).
We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service. We will try to give reasonable notice when practicable.
Upon termination we will delete or anonymize Workspace data as described in the Privacy Policy, subject to legal retention obligations (for example a minimal deletion audit entry).
18. Changes to the Service or Terms
We may change features during beta. We may update these Terms by posting a revised version at the published URL with a new date. Material changes will be highlighted in-app, by email, or in release notes when practicable. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance, except where mandatory law requires affirmative consent.
If you do not agree to updated Terms, stop using the Service and delete your data / request deletion of your account.
19. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of France, without regard to conflict-of-law rules that would apply another law, except that mandatory consumer-protection rules of your country of residence may still apply if you are a consumer in the EEA/UK or another jurisdiction that forbids such a choice.
Subject to mandatory consumer venue rights, courts of Paris, France shall have jurisdiction. Consumers in the EEA may bring proceedings in the courts of their place of residence where mandatory law so provides. You may also have access to the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform or mediation mechanisms; we are not required to participate in mediation unless mandatory law says otherwise.
20. General
- Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us regarding Balise, superseding prior conflicting informal statements about Balise (marketing pages, the FAQ and the “in plain words” tiles above are descriptive; these Terms control).
- Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder stays in effect.
- No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.
- Assignment. You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them to an affiliate or successor in connection with a reorganization or sale of assets related to Balise.
- Language. These Terms are in English. A French translation may be provided for convenience.
21. Contact
BRK · Groupe Tamara
Email: apps@groupe-tamara.com (subject “Balise terms”)
Publisher: groupe-tamara.com · Product: usebalise.com
Questions, problems, leaving
Something broke, or you have a question: apps@groupe-tamara.com. A person answers, usually Eric.
Leaving: delete the app; in the app, Profile → Balise data → Delete all Balise data; email us with subject “Balise delete my account” to close the sign-in itself. Your Apple Photos never changed.