Terms of use and conditions (pilot phase)

Important notice on user-generated content

CooHood is a platform for safe and friendly neighbourhood living. Abusive, inappropriate, offensive, hateful, harassing, or obscene content of any kind is strictly prohibited. Users who violate this policy, harass other neighbours, or post inappropriate content are immediately and permanently banned. By registering, you agree to these terms.

Scope and provider

These terms govern use of the CooHood app and the coohood.ch website. The provider is CooHood Betreiber (see the Impressum). Use is free of charge; there are no in-app purchases, subscriptions, or fees.

CooHood is in a private, non-commercial pilot phase and is designed for addresses in Switzerland. Version of these terms: 2026-09-Safety-and-Sharing.

Account and eligibility

You need a personal account to take part. You can register with email and password, with Apple, or with Google.

• You must be at least 16 years old.
• You provide truthful details of your name and home address and keep them up to date.
• One account per person is permitted. Accounts may not be shared or sold.
• You keep your credentials safe and tell us immediately if you suspect misuse.

Residency verification

Access to the full building and Hood features — chat, notice board, and building basket — requires successful residency verification: a one-time GPS check within 50 metres of your registered address while the app is open. Without verification you can only use CooHood in a limited way, as a guest.

Faking a residence, manipulating GPS data, or registering someone else's address is prohibited and leads to exclusion.

Rules of conduct and prohibited content

CooHood depends on respect between neighbours. The following are prohibited in particular:

• Insults, hate speech, discrimination, threats, bullying, and sexual harassment.
• Pornographic, violence-glorifying, or otherwise offensive material.
• Unlawful content, and infringements of copyright, trademark, or personality rights.
• Publishing other people's personal data, photos, or conversations without their consent.
• Spam, chain letters, scam attempts, pyramid or investment schemes, and unsolicited advertising.
• Automated scraping of the platform and attempts to circumvent security measures.

Reporting, blocking, and moderation

In the app you can report any post and block any person. Reports reach us for review; posts reported several times are hidden automatically until they have been checked.

Where these terms are breached we may remove content, restrict features, suspend the account, or delete it. In serious cases we do so without prior notice and reserve the right to take legal action and report the matter to the authorities.

Your content

You keep the rights to your posts, photos, and messages. You grant us the non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right to store this content, process it technically, and display it to the intended recipients as part of operating CooHood. That right ends when you delete the content — except for anonymised remnants in conversations with other neighbours and for backup copies.

You confirm that you hold the necessary rights to your content and indemnify us against third-party claims arising from a breach of that assurance.

Neighbourly help, building basket, and lending

Lending items, helping each other out, and any other arrangement happen directly between neighbours at their own risk. CooHood merely puts you in touch, is not a party to the arrangement, and owes neither performance nor warranty.

We exclude all liability for damage, loss, theft, or accidents in connection with such arrangements to the extent permitted by law. We recommend holding personal liability and household contents insurance. CooHood is not intended for professional or commercial services.

CooHood helps organise voluntary support between neighbours. The platform is not a substitute for medical, nursing, or professional care and is not an emergency service.

Sharing food

Anyone offering food must follow the information shown in the app about storage, shelf life, and known allergens. The person making the offer remains responsible for the safety and condition of the food and the accuracy of the information.

Free marketplace

On the free marketplace you may only offer items you lawfully own and give away for free. Dangerous, perishable, or legally prohibited items, weapons, medicines, animals, and anything contravening official regulations are not permitted.

Never place items so that they block public space, access routes, or escape routes, and observe your municipality's disposal and placement rules. Leaving waste in public space is not a free offer but illegal dumping.

Official data and third-party content

Waste collection dates, events, maps, and details about places come in part from open government data and other external sources. We give no warranty as to their accuracy, completeness, or timeliness; the official information of the responsible authorities always prevails. Details and sources are listed in the Impressum.

Availability and changes to the service

CooHood runs as a pilot and is under continuous development. There is no entitlement to uninterrupted availability, to particular features, or to a particular scope of features. We may change, restrict, or discontinue features and may end operation with reasonable notice.

Liability

We are liable without limitation for damage arising from injury to life, body, or health, and for intent and gross negligence. Otherwise our liability — in particular for slight negligence, lost profit, data loss, and consequential damage, as well as for the conduct of other users — is excluded to the extent permitted by law.

Term, suspension, and termination

You can delete your account at any time and without giving reasons in the app. What happens to your data is set out in the privacy policy. We may terminate the user relationship with reasonable notice and may suspend it immediately if these terms are breached.

Changes to these terms

We may amend these terms, for example when new features are added or the legal framework changes. We will notify you in the app about material changes and, where necessary, ask for your consent again. If you continue using CooHood afterwards, the new version applies.

Applicable law and place of jurisdiction

Swiss law applies exclusively, excluding conflict-of-law rules and the Vienna Sales Convention. The place of jurisdiction is Zurich, unless mandatory provisions — in particular in favour of consumers — provide for a different venue.

If any provision of these terms is invalid, the remainder is unaffected. We answer questions at hello@coohood.com.