Terms of Service

Effective date: 6 July 2026

1. Agreement to These Terms

Forte is a music practice app. These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a legal agreement between you and SaxApp Pty Ltd (“we”, “us”, or “our”) that governs your use of:

  • the Forte iOS app (the “App”), including its widgets; and
  • our website at https://getforte.app, including public profile-link pages at getforte.app/u/<username> (the “Website”)

(together, the “Services”). By downloading or using the App, creating a Forte account, purchasing a subscription, or using the Website, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services.

These Terms are an agreement between you and SaxApp Pty Ltd only — not with Apple Inc. (“Apple”). Apple’s role is described in sections 8 and 23. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information when you use the Services; please read it as well.

2. Who We Are

3. Summary of Key Points

This summary is provided for convenience. It is not a substitute for the full sections below, which govern if there is any difference.

  • You must be at least 16 to create a Forte account or use its social features. Accounts held by 16 and 17 year olds stay private until they turn 18.
  • Forte Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription billed by Apple. You can cancel any time in your App Store subscription settings; cancelling stops the next renewal.
  • You own your content. You give us the limited permission we need to run the Services — for example, to show your profile and practice statistics to other users according to your visibility settings.
  • Be respectful. Offensive or unlawful usernames, display names, or other content are not allowed, and we can remove content and suspend or close accounts that break the rules.
  • Nothing in these Terms takes away consumer rights that the law does not allow us to exclude, including under the Australian Consumer Law and the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act.
  • These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. If you have a problem, contact us first — we want to fix it.

4. Age and Eligibility

You may use the App’s on-device tools without an account. To create a Forte account or use any account or social feature, you must be at least 16 years old — or older if a higher minimum age applies where you live. By creating an account, you confirm that you meet this requirement and that the date of birth you provide is accurate.

  • If you are 16 or 17: your account is created as private and cannot be made public until you turn 18. You confirm that a parent or guardian has reviewed these Terms and consents to your use of the Services.
  • Parental consent through Apple. In regions where app-store age-assurance or parental-consent laws apply, Apple may manage parental consent for minors’ app use. If Apple notifies us that a parent or guardian has withdrawn consent for a minor’s use of Forte, we will act on that withdrawal — for example, by signing the account out and restricting access. We may also require renewed consent or acknowledgment before continued use where a significant change to the App triggers that requirement under applicable law.
  • Misstated ages. If we learn that an account holder is under the applicable minimum age, we will restrict and then close the account, as described in our Privacy Policy.

5. Your Account

  • You agree to provide accurate information when creating your account and to keep it up to date.
  • You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for activity that happens under your account. Use a strong, unique password. Tell us promptly at contact@getforte.app if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.
  • Your account is personal to you. You may not sell, transfer, or share it, and you may not use another person’s account without their permission.
  • You may not impersonate any person or organisation, or choose a username or display name that misleads others about who you are.
  • Usernames are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, but we may reclaim, change, or release a username where it breaches these Terms, infringes someone else’s rights, was registered to squat or deceive, or belongs to an account that was never completed or verified.
  • You can delete your account at any time in the App (Settings → Account → Delete Account). Deletion is described in our Privacy Policy.

6. The Services and Forte Pro

Forte provides music practice tools — including a tuner, a metronome, a keyboard, training exercises, practice tracking, and optional social features such as profiles, following, a friend activity feed, and profile search. Some features work without an account; creating an account adds syncing and social features.

Some tools and advanced features — currently including metronome setlists, certain ear and note training exercises, and home screen widgets — require a paid Forte Pro subscription (“Forte Pro”). The features included in the free tier and in Forte Pro are shown in the App and may change over time as described in section 15.

The Services are practice aids for general informational and educational use. They are not a substitute for professional music instruction, and we do not guarantee any particular musical outcome. The tuner, metronome, and related tools are designed for practice use, not for professional calibration or measurement.

7. Subscriptions, Billing, and Refunds

  • Billing by Apple. Forte Pro subscriptions (currently offered as monthly and annual plans) are purchased through Apple’s in-app purchase system and billed to your Apple Account. We never receive your full payment card details. The price is shown in the App before you buy; Apple handles any applicable taxes under its own terms.
  • Auto-renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends. You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time in your App Store subscription settings (Settings → your name → Subscriptions on your device). Deleting the App does not cancel a subscription.
  • Free trials. Where a free trial is offered, the trial converts to a paid subscription at the price shown unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends.
  • Price changes. If the price of Forte Pro changes, Apple will notify you and, where required, ask for your consent before charging the new price. If you do not agree to a price increase, you can cancel before it takes effect.
  • Cancellation effect. Cancelling stops the next renewal. You keep access to Forte Pro until the end of the period you have paid for, and no further amounts are charged.
  • Refunds. Purchases made through Apple are refunded (if at all) by Apple under its policies — you can request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com. Nothing in this section limits any refund or remedy you are entitled to under consumer laws that apply to you, including the Australian Consumer Law (see section 17).
  • Restoring purchases. You can restore an existing subscription on a new device using the Restore option on the paywall.

8. Your Licence to Use the App

We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the App on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, for your personal, non-commercial use, as permitted by the Usage Rules in Apple’s App Store terms (except that the App may be accessed and used by other accounts associated with you via Family Sharing or volume purchasing, where Apple makes those available).

Your download of the App from the App Store is also subject to Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the “Apple EULA”). If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and the Apple EULA about the licence to the App itself, the Apple EULA prevails to the extent of the inconsistency; these Terms otherwise govern the Services.

Except where the law gives you a right we cannot exclude, you must not:

  • copy, modify, distribute, sell, rent, lease, or sublicense the App or any part of the Services;
  • reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the App, or attempt to extract its source code;
  • remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices; or
  • use the Services to build a competing product or service by systematically extracting their content or functionality.

9. Your Content

“Your Content” means the material you submit to the Services — for example your username, display name, instrument names you type, practice session data synced to your account, and feedback or support messages you send us.

  • You own Your Content. These Terms do not transfer ownership of Your Content to us.
  • Licence to us. So that we can operate the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt (for technical purposes such as formatting), publish, and display Your Content — only as needed to provide, secure, and improve the Services and only in accordance with your visibility settings and our Privacy Policy. This licence ends when Your Content is deleted from the Services, except for limited periods in backups and where retention is required by law.
  • Visibility. What other users can see of your profile and practice information is controlled by your account privacy settings, as described in our Privacy Policy. You are responsible for the visibility choices you make and for anything you choose to share outside the Services (for example, sharing your profile link).
  • Your responsibility. You are responsible for Your Content. You confirm that you have the rights needed to submit it and that it complies with section 10.
  • Not a backup service. The Services are not a general backup or archival service. Keep your own copies of anything important. Deleting your account permanently deletes your synced data as described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Community Rules and Acceptable Use

Forte is a place to practise music, not to harm or harass anyone. We have no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive behaviour. When using the Services you must not:

  • submit content (including usernames, display names, and instrument names) that is unlawful, defamatory, threatening, harassing, hateful, discriminatory, sexually explicit, exploitative of minors, or otherwise objectionable;
  • impersonate any person or organisation, or misrepresent your affiliation with them;
  • infringe anyone else’s intellectual property, privacy, or other rights;
  • stalk, harass, or abuse other users, or use the Services to collect information about other users beyond what the Services intentionally make visible to you;
  • use the Services to send spam or unsolicited promotion;
  • access or attempt to access another user’s account, our systems, or non-public parts of the Services without authorisation;
  • probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems, circumvent rate limits or other security or anti-abuse measures, or interfere with the operation of the Services;
  • use bots, scripts, scrapers, or other automated means to access the Services or create accounts, or misuse features such as search, following, or feedback through automated or bulk activity;
  • circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, the age requirement, age-based protections, blocking, or any enforcement action we have taken; or
  • use the Services in breach of applicable law, or encourage or help anyone else to do any of the above.

11. Moderation, Enforcement, and Reporting

  • Moderation. We may (but are not obliged to) review, refuse, restrict the visibility of, or remove any content that we reasonably believe breaches these Terms or the law, and we may reclaim, change, or remove usernames, display names, and other names you enter (such as custom instrument names) that do so.
  • Enforcement. We may warn, restrict, suspend, or terminate accounts as described in section 21.
  • Blocking. You can block other users in the App. Blocking hides each of you from the other and removes follow relationships and social notifications between you.
  • Reporting. To report offensive content or an abusive user, contact us at contact@getforte.app (or use Help & Feedback in the App) with the username and a description of the problem. We review reports promptly and act on confirmed violations, prioritising reports of objectionable content.

12. Feedback and Suggestions

We welcome feedback. If you send us ideas, suggestions, or other feedback about the Services, you agree that we may use them to operate and improve the Services without restriction or payment to you. This does not affect any rights you have in Your Content or under the Privacy Policy.

13. Our Intellectual Property and Third-Party Software

The Services — including the App, the Website, and their software, design, graphics, text, audio content, and the Forte name and branding — are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. Apart from the licence in section 8 and Your Content, these Terms do not give you any rights in the Services.

The App includes third-party open-source software and resources (such as audio libraries, fonts, and notation software). Their copyright notices and licence terms are listed in the App’s Legal / Open Source Licenses screen in Settings, and those components remain governed by their own licences.

14. Third-Party Services and Links

The Services rely on third parties — for example, Apple for App Store distribution, payments, and push notifications, and our infrastructure providers described in the Privacy Policy. Your use of third-party services (including the App Store) is governed by their own terms, and you must comply with applicable third-party terms when using the Services. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control, and links to third-party websites do not mean we endorse them.

15. Changes to the Services

We are a small team and the Services will evolve. We may add, change, or remove features, and we may release updates that you need to install to keep using the App. We may also suspend parts of the Services temporarily for maintenance, security, or technical reasons. Where a change materially reduces the core functionality of Forte Pro during a period you have already paid for, we will tell you in advance where reasonably practicable, and you may cancel your subscription; your statutory rights, including under the Australian Consumer Law, are not affected. We do not guarantee that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available in every country, and online features depend on your device, settings, and internet connection.

16. Practise Safely

Please use the Services sensibly. Prolonged listening at high volume can damage hearing — set device and instrument volumes at safe levels. The optional metronome flash feature produces repeated flashes of your device’s torch; do not use it if you are sensitive to flashing light. Always remain aware of your surroundings while practising.

17. Your Consumer Rights

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies any right or remedy you have under law that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted, or modified — including your rights as a consumer. Sections 18, 19, and 20 apply subject to this section.

Australia. Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with a service, you are entitled to cancel your contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract. Where the Australian Consumer Law permits us to limit our liability for a failure to comply with a consumer guarantee (other than guarantees that cannot be limited), our liability is limited, at our option, to resupplying the affected services or paying the cost of having them resupplied, where it is fair and reasonable to do so.

New Zealand. If you acquire the Services for personal, domestic, or household use, nothing in these Terms limits your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or the Fair Trading Act 1986. If you acquire the Services for business purposes, you agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply to the extent permitted by law.

United States. Some U.S. states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or of incidental or consequential damages, or give you specific statutory rights that cannot be waived. If those laws apply to you, some or all of the disclaimers, exclusions, and limitations in sections 18 and 19 may not apply to you, and you may have additional rights; those sections apply to you only to the maximum extent permitted by the law of your state. Nothing in these Terms limits any non-waivable right you have under your state’s consumer protection laws.

Canada. If you are a consumer in Canada, these Terms do not limit any rights you have under applicable federal or provincial consumer protection legislation (including, in Quebec, the Consumer Protection Act), and the disclaimers and limitations in sections 18 and 19 apply only to the extent that legislation permits.

Other places. If the consumer protection laws of your country, state, or province give you rights we cannot exclude, those rights prevail over these Terms to the extent of any inconsistency, and the disclaimers, exclusions, and limitations in these Terms apply to you only to the extent those laws permit.

18. Disclaimers

Subject to section 17, the Services are provided “as is” and “as available”, and we make no warranties or representations beyond those expressly stated in these Terms or implied by laws we cannot exclude. Without limiting section 17, we do not warrant that the Services will meet your requirements, be accurate, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that defects will be corrected.

19. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for:

  • death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
  • fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
  • failure to comply with a consumer guarantee or other statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited (section 17); or
  • any other liability that cannot be excluded by law.

Subject to the paragraph above, to the maximum extent permitted by law:

  • we are not liable for loss of profits, revenue, business, or goodwill, or for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, arising out of or in connection with the Services or these Terms;
  • we are not liable for loss or damage arising from events outside our reasonable control, from your breach of these Terms, or from your device, third-party services, or internet connectivity; and
  • our total aggregate liability to you arising out of or in connection with the Services or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the amounts you paid us for Forte Pro in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the liability and (b) AUD $100.

20. Your Responsibility for Misuse

If a third party brings a claim against us arising from your unlawful use of the Services, Your Content infringing their rights, or your deliberate or grossly negligent breach of these Terms, you agree to compensate us for the losses and reasonable costs we incur as a direct result — but only to the extent the claim was not caused by us, and this does not apply to your ordinary, good-faith use of the Services. This section does not limit any rights you have under consumer law.

21. Suspension and Termination

By you. You can stop using the Services at any time and can delete your account in the App (Settings → Account → Delete Account). Deleting your account does not by itself cancel an App Store subscription — manage that in your App Store subscription settings (section 7).

By us. We may restrict, suspend, or terminate your account or access to some or all of the Services if:

  • you materially or repeatedly breach these Terms;
  • your use is unlawful or creates genuine risk or harm to other users, third parties, us, or the Services (including abuse, security threats, or attempts to circumvent our protections);
  • we are required to do so by law, by a regulator or court, or by a parental-consent withdrawal or similar signal under applicable law (section 4); or
  • we discontinue the Services or a part of them (section 15).

Where reasonably practicable and lawful, we will give you notice and the reason before or when we act, and for less serious problems we will generally warn you and give you a chance to fix the issue first. We may act immediately and without prior notice where the breach is serious, the risk is urgent, or the law requires it. If you believe we have acted in error, contact us at contact@getforte.app and we will review it.

Effect. On termination, your licence under section 8 ends and your access to your account stops. Amounts already paid are handled under section 7 and section 17 — if we terminate without cause, or you terminate because of our material breach, nothing in this section prevents you from receiving any refund you are legally entitled to. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including sections 9 (licence tail for backups), 12, 13, and 17–26) survive.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time — for example, to reflect changes in the Services, our practices, or the law. The “Effective date” at the top shows when they were last revised. If we make material changes, we will provide prominent notice (for example, in the App or on the Website) and, where applicable law requires advance notice or consent, we will provide or obtain it before the changes take effect. Changes do not apply retroactively. If you do not agree to updated Terms, stop using the Services and, if applicable, cancel your subscription before the changes take effect; continuing to use the Services after the changes take effect means the updated Terms apply to you.

23. Apple App Store Terms

This section applies because the App is distributed through Apple’s App Store, and is included for Apple’s benefit as well as yours:

  • Acknowledgement. These Terms are concluded between you and SaxApp Pty Ltd only, not with Apple. We, not Apple, are solely responsible for the App and its content.
  • Scope of licence. The licence granted to you for the App is limited to a non-transferable licence to use the App on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules set out in the App Store terms, except that the App may be accessed and used by other accounts associated with you via Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
  • Maintenance and support. We, not Apple, are solely responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the App. Apple has no obligation to furnish any maintenance and support services for the App.
  • Warranty. We are solely responsible for any product warranties, whether express or implied by law, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any) you paid for the App. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the App, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are our responsibility.
  • Product claims. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the App or your possession and use of it, including (i) product liability claims, (ii) any claim that the App fails to conform to an applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (iii) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation.
  • Intellectual property claims. If a third party claims that the App or your possession and use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement, and discharge of that claim.
  • Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country, and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  • Developer contact. Questions, complaints, or claims about the App can be directed to SaxApp Pty Ltd at the contact details in section 2.
  • Third-party terms. You must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the App.
  • Third-party beneficiary. Apple and Apple’s subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary.

24. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we each submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them. If the consumer laws where you live give you the right to have disputes handled under your local law or in your local courts, nothing in this section takes that right away.

If you have a problem or dispute, please contact us first at contact@getforte.app with a description of the issue — most problems can be resolved quickly and informally, and we will genuinely try. Each of us agrees to attempt to resolve a dispute informally in good faith before starting formal proceedings, except where urgent relief is needed or the law provides otherwise.

25. General

  • Severability. If any part of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that part is severed and the rest continues in effect.
  • No waiver. If we do not enforce a provision of these Terms, that is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.
  • Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account. We may assign these Terms as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets (see the Privacy Policy for how personal information is handled in that case), provided the assignee assumes our obligations and your rights under these Terms are not materially reduced; we will notify you of any such assignment.
  • Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Apple EULA (to the extent it applies under section 8), are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services. This does not exclude or limit any liability or rights arising from statements or conduct that the law does not allow us to exclude (including liability for misleading or deceptive conduct).
  • Privacy. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle personal information. It is provided as a notice rather than as contractual terms, and it does not limit your privacy rights.
  • Interpretation. In these Terms, “including” means “including without limitation”, and headings are for convenience only.

26. Contact Us

For any questions, complaints, or claims about the Services or these Terms, contact: