Terms of Use

Effective 13 October 2026

These terms apply to the Carve app for iPhone and CarPlay and for Android and Android Auto, to your Carve account, and to the Carve Apex subscription (together, “Carve”), provided by Chris Aston Chen (“we”). By using Carve you agree to them. On iPhone, Carve is distributed through the App Store, so Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies; on Android, it's distributed through Google Play, under the Google Play Terms of Service. Where they differ, these terms govern your relationship with us, and Apple's or Google's govern your relationship with them.

1. Drive safely — Carve is an aid, not a driver

Routes, road paths, turn instructions, elevation data, traffic, and maps come from third-party data and may be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. Roads close, signs change, and GPS drifts. You are responsible for driving safely, obeying traffic laws, road signs, and conditions, and using your own judgement at all times. Set up a route before you drive, let a passenger handle the phone, and never interact with the app — on the phone or the car's screen — in a way that takes your attention from the road. Other drivers' positions in Group can be delayed, out of date, or missing when anyone loses signal; never rely on them to keep your distance or to know where someone is. Carve is not a substitute for emergency services.

2. What Carve does

Carve plans a route along the waypoints you choose and guides you along it. By design it never replaces your route with a faster one; if you leave the route it helps you back to the route you defined. Offline features depend on map data you download beforehand, on device storage, and on limits set by our map provider; a route downloaded earlier may need to be re-downloaded. GPS accuracy varies with terrain, weather, and hardware.

3. Your account

Some features — driving, recording, and keeping routes in sync — need a Carve account, which you create by signing in with Apple or Google. Keep access to that sign-in secure; you're responsible for what's done with your account. Your username and profile picture are visible to other Carve users, so don't choose ones that impersonate someone, mislead, or offend; we may change or reclaim a username that does. You can delete your account at any time in the app under Me, which erases it and your routes from our servers, as described in the Privacy Policy.

4. Your routes and sharing

You own the routes you create. Each route in your account has a link; anyone with the link can open the route, and you're responsible for where you send it. Don't share routes that are unlawful, that direct people onto private property, or that infringe someone else's rights. You may import routes from other services only where their terms allow it.

Route photos. You can add a photo to a route you made. Only add photos you took or have the right to use. You keep the rights to them, and you let Carve store them, show them on your route to anyone it's shared with, and make the copies needed to do so, until you remove them. Photos are checked automatically before anyone else sees them, and can be reported. Don't add photos that are sexual or explicit, violent or gory, hateful, harassing or threatening, that advertise, or that show someone's private information. We may remove any photo that breaks these terms, and suspend the account that added it.

Group. When you turn on Group for a route, the people sharing the same route near you see your position, display name and profile picture until the drive ends, as described in the Privacy Policy. Use it only to drive with people, never to follow, track, harass or intimidate anyone. You can hide or report any driver; we may suspend Group, or the account, of anyone who misuses it.

5. Carve Apex

Plan. Carve Apex is an auto-renewable subscription, yearly at US $29.99 per year or monthly at US $4.99 per month. Prices are shown in your local currency in the App Store or Google Play and may vary by region; taxes may apply.
Free trial. The yearly plan includes a 7-day free trial for new subscribers; the monthly plan has no trial. When the trial ends, the yearly subscription begins and you're charged through the store you subscribed in unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it ends.
Renewal and cancellation. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each period unless cancelled at least 24 hours before. Manage or cancel any time — on iPhone in Settings › your Apple Account › Subscriptions; on Android in the Play Store › Payments & subscriptions › Subscriptions. Cancelling keeps Carve Apex until the end of the current period.
Refunds. Purchases are made through Apple or Google, and refunds are handled by them under their policies — Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com, Google through Google Play's refund process.
Your account, your store. Carve Apex belongs to the Carve account you were signed in to when you subscribed, on the platform you subscribed on: a subscription bought in the App Store unlocks Carve Apex on iPhone, and one bought on Google Play unlocks it on Android. Use Restore Purchases in Carve, signed in to the same account, to bring it back on another device.
Changes. We may change Carve Apex's price or features for future periods; the store will notify you before a price change takes effect, and you can cancel before it does.

6. Acceptable use

Don't use Carve to break the law, to endanger anyone, to interfere with the app or the services it relies on, or to extract map data beyond what the app provides for your own use. Map, search and routing data are licensed from third parties (including Mapbox and Apple) and remain theirs.

7. Availability and changes

Carve depends on third-party services and on Apple's and Google's platforms, including CarPlay and Android Auto; features may change, be limited, or become unavailable. We may update the app, and some updates may be required to keep using it. We may discontinue features or the app with reasonable notice.

8. Disclaimer and limitation of liability

Carve is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and accuracy of maps, routes, or directions. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for any loss, injury, damage, fine, or cost arising from your driving or from reliance on Carve, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations, in which case they apply to the extent permitted.

9. Ending use

You can stop using Carve at any time by deleting your account or the app; cancel any subscription through the store you bought it in — deleting the app or your account doesn't cancel it. We may suspend or end access for misuse of the app or these terms.

10. General

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, and disputes will be brought in the courts located there, unless the law where you live requires otherwise. If part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest still applies. We may update these terms; the effective date above will change and material changes will be noted in the app.

Contact

[email protected]