Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your use of the Open Chord mobile application ("the App"), published by OAK TEK - FZCO ("we," "us," or "our"), a free zone company licensed by the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under Trade Licence No. 90142.

By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App and remove it from your device.

1. Who May Use Open Chord

Open Chord is intended for users aged 13 and older. If you are below the age of majority in your country, you may use the App only with the knowledge and agreement of a parent or legal guardian, who accepts these Terms on your behalf and is responsible for your use of the App.

The App requires no account, no registration, and no personal details of any kind.

Where the App Is Offered

Open Chord is offered only in selected countries. It is not offered in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, and you should not use it there. If it is not offered in the country where you live, you should not download or use it.

Sanctions and Export Controls

You may not use the App if you are located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region that is subject to a comprehensive trade embargo, or if you appear on a government list of prohibited or restricted parties. You confirm that you are not in any of those positions. You must comply with the export control and sanctions laws that apply to you.

2. Licence to Use the App

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the App on devices you own or control, for your own private, non-commercial learning.

This licence transfers no ownership. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved. Where we publish source code for the App under an open source licence, that licence governs the source code, and nothing in these Terms limits the rights it gives you.

3. What Open Chord Is, and What It Is Not

Open Chord is a self-guided learning tool. It offers lessons, exercises, chord and scale references, a chromatic tuner, a metronome, practice tracking, and challenges.

It is not a substitute for a qualified guitar teacher, and we make no promise that using it will produce any particular level of skill, speed of progress, or result. Musical progress depends on your own practice.

Nothing in the App is medical, health, or professional advice of any kind, and it should not be relied on as such.

Play Safely

Playing guitar is a physical activity. Please take these points seriously:

• Hearing. The App produces sound, including metronome clicks and note playback. Keep your device and any headphones at a moderate volume. Prolonged exposure to loud audio can cause permanent hearing damage.
• Strain and injury. Stop and rest if you feel pain, numbness, tingling, or persistent discomfort in your hands, wrists, arms, neck, or back. Seek medical advice if symptoms continue. Do not push through pain to keep a practice streak alive.
• Attention. Do not use the App while driving, cycling, or doing anything else that needs your attention.

You use the App at your own risk and are responsible for practising within your own physical limits.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Copy, reproduce, distribute, sell, sublicense, rent, or publicly display the App as distributed through the app stores, or its lesson content, other than for your own personal learning
• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code of the App, except to the extent that restriction is prohibited by applicable law or permitted by an open source licence covering a component of the App
• Modify the App, or create derivative works based on it
• Remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice
• Use automated tools to scrape, extract, or bulk-download content from the App
• Use the App in any way that breaks applicable law, or that interferes with its normal operation for others
• Interfere with, disable, or circumvent any security feature of the App, or generate false advertising impressions or clicks, whether by hand or by automated means

5. Intellectual Property

The App, including its design, layout, artwork, illustrations, icons, lesson text, exercises, challenge structure, original musical exercises, and the Open Chord name and logo, is owned by OAK TEK - FZCO and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

Musical Works

The riffs and songs taught in the App are, to the best of our knowledge, traditional, in the public domain, or original exercises written by us. We do not intend to reproduce, distribute, or teach copyrighted commercial recordings, lyrics, or sheet music. Whether a work is in the public domain can differ from country to country, and if you believe a work in the App infringes your rights, you can tell us as described below.

Open Source Components

The App includes open source software, which remains the property of its respective authors and is used under its own licence terms. Nothing in these Terms limits your rights under those licences, and where an open source licence conflicts with these Terms, that licence prevails for the component it covers. A list of these components and their licences is available on our Open Source Licences page.

Intellectual Property Complaints

If you believe anything in the App infringes your intellectual property rights, please write to us at the address in section 19 with a description of the work, where it appears in the App, and your contact details. We will review and respond promptly.

6. Your Data and Your Device

Your progress, streaks, practice history, and preferences are stored only on your device. We do not hold a backup and cannot restore anything for you.

If you clear the App's data, use "Clear all data" inside the App, uninstall the App, reset your device, or lose your device, that information is gone permanently. You are responsible for keeping any record you wish to retain.

How we handle information is described in full in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

7. Cost, Advertising, and Purchases

Open Chord is free. There are no subscriptions, no premium tiers, no paywalled lessons, and no in-app purchases.

The App is supported by advertising. Adverts are supplied by Google AdMob and appear as a banner at the bottom of the screen. To show adverts, Google collects information from your device, as described in our Privacy Policy, which also explains the choices you have about advertising.

We do not control, endorse, or take responsibility for the content of adverts, the products or services they promote, or any dealings you have with an advertiser. Any such dealing is strictly between you and the advertiser.

8. Internet Connection and Third-Party Services

Most of the App works offline. An internet connection is needed the first time the App downloads its instrument sounds, which are served from a public content delivery network and then cached on your device. Analytics, crash reporting, and advertising also require a connection. You are responsible for any data charges from your mobile operator.

The App links out to our website and social media accounts. We are not responsible for the content or practices of any external site.

9. Availability and Changes

We may update, change, suspend, or discontinue the App or any of its features at any time. We do not promise the App will be available without interruption, or that it will be free of errors or defects.

Updates are delivered through Google Play or the Apple App Store. Some updates may be required for the App to keep working.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties

The App is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the tuner will be accurate on every device or in every acoustic environment, that timing features such as the metronome will be free of drift, that the App will work on every device or Android version, or that any defect will be corrected.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, OAK TEK - FZCO will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, loss of progress, or loss of profits arising out of or connected with your use of the App, whether based in contract, tort, negligence, or any other legal theory, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

Subject to the next paragraph, and because the App is supplied free of charge, our total aggregate liability to you for all claims connected with the App is limited to one hundred United Arab Emirates dirhams (AED 100).

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for our gross negligence, wilful misconduct, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain warranties or liabilities, and where that is the case the exclusions and limitations above apply only to the extent permitted.

If you are a consumer, these Terms do not affect your statutory rights under the consumer protection law of your country of residence.

12. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless OAK TEK - FZCO and its officers and employees from any claim, demand, loss, or expense, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of your misuse of the App or your breach of these Terms. This section does not apply to your ordinary personal use of the App as a consumer.

13. Termination

You may end these Terms at any time by uninstalling the App.

We may suspend or terminate your licence to use the App if you materially breach these Terms. Sections 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, and 17 survive termination.

14. App Stores

The App is distributed through Google Play and the Apple App Store, and your use of each store is governed by its own terms. These Terms are between you and OAK TEK - FZCO only. Google and Apple are not parties to these Terms and have no responsibility for the App or for providing support for it. Any question, complaint, or claim about the App should be directed to us at the address in section 19, not to Google or Apple.

Google Play

Google and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

Apple App Store

If you download the App from the Apple App Store, the following also applies. In this section, "Apple" includes Apple Inc. and its subsidiaries.

• Acknowledgement. These Terms are between you and us, not Apple. We, not Apple, are responsible for the App and its content.
• Scope of licence. The licence we grant is limited to use of the App on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
• Maintenance and support. We are solely responsible for any maintenance and support for the App. Apple has no obligation to provide any.
• Warranty. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. As the App is free, no refund applies. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the App. Any other claim, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense caused by a failure to conform to a warranty is our responsibility.
• Product claims. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claim relating to the App or your possession or use of it, including product liability claims, claims that the App fails to meet a legal or regulatory requirement, and consumer protection or privacy claims.
• Intellectual property claims. If a third party claims that the App infringes its intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement, and discharge of that claim.
• Legal compliance. You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a US government embargo, or designated by the US government as a terrorist-supporting country, and that you are not on any US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
• Third-party terms. You must comply with any applicable third-party terms when using the App, such as your wireless data service agreement.
• Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept them, Apple will have the right, and is taken to have accepted the right, to enforce them against you.
• Contact. Questions, complaints, or claims about the App can be sent to us at the address in section 19.

15. Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in providing the App caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including network or platform outages, failures of third-party service providers, acts of government, natural events, or industrial action.

16. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the federal laws of the United Arab Emirates as applied in the Emirate of Dubai, without regard to conflict of law principles. The courts of Dubai have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these Terms.

If you are a consumer, nothing in this section deprives you of any protection that the mandatory law of your country of residence gives you and that cannot be excluded by agreement.

17. Assignment

We may assign or transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, to any successor in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided your rights under these Terms are not reduced. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms.

18. General

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in full effect. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right. Except for Google and Apple as described in section 14, no third party has any right to enforce these Terms. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the App.

Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page and add an entry to the change history below. Where a change is material, we will tell you in the App where practicable. Continued use of the App after that point constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not accept a change, your remedy is to stop using the App and uninstall it.

Change History

• October 30, 2026. Clarified that App updates are delivered through Google Play or the Apple App Store.
• October 2, 2026. Stated that the App is supported by advertising through Google AdMob. Added the Apple App Store terms, a sanctions and export controls clause, and a statement that the App is not offered in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland. Clarified how open source licences interact with these Terms, and corrected the limitation of liability so that it no longer excludes injury.
• August 6, 2026. Previous version.

19. Contact Us

Questions about these Terms can be sent to:

OAK TEK - FZCO
Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Trade Licence No. 90142, issued by the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority
Email: oaktechnologiesfze@gmail.com

See also our Privacy Policy, our Delete Your Data page, and our Open Source Licences page.