Terms of Service
These terms govern your use of the Lupa app (“Lupa: Rock & Mineral ID” for iOS), built and operated by Zakhar Sazanavets, an independent developer. By using the app you agree to them. If you downloaded Lupa from the App Store, Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies to the extent it isn't covered here.
What Lupa is — and is not
Lupa suggests candidate identifications for rocks, minerals, and fossils from a photo, together with field checks that can help narrow them down. Identifications are produced by an AI model working from a photograph. They are informed suggestions, not expert determinations, and they can be wrong. Lupa is not a substitute for professional geological, safety, or medical advice.
Safety
- Never taste, lick, or deliberately inhale dust from any specimen, regardless of what the app says it is.
- Some minerals are genuinely hazardous — asbestiform, radioactive, or containing arsenic, mercury, or lead. Lupa flags known hazards on a best-effort basis, but the absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety.
- Field checks (scratching, streak, acid tests) are performed at your own risk. Handle acids and unknown specimens with appropriate care and keep them away from children and pets.
- When in doubt, consult a professional mineralogist or your local geological survey.
Collecting responsibly
You are responsible for making sure any collecting you do is legal and permitted — land ownership, protected areas, national park rules, and local regulations vary widely. Lupa does not tell you where collecting is allowed.
Subscription
Lupa offers a free tier with a monthly quota of identifications and a paid subscription, Lupa Pro ($34.99/year, or the equivalent in your region's pricing), which unlocks unlimited identifications, the geology layer, data export, and the yearly retrospective. New subscribers get a 3-day free trial. The subscription renews automatically through your Apple ID until cancelled — you can cancel anytime in your device's subscription settings, at least 24 hours before renewal to avoid the next charge. Payments and refunds are handled by Apple under their terms. The free tier's quota may change.
Acceptable use
Don't abuse the service: no automated or bulk identification requests, no attempts to extract, overload, or reverse-engineer the identification service, no use of the app for anything unlawful.
Your content and our content
Your photos and collection data are yours. You grant us only the limited right to transmit and process a photo (and one coordinate) for the purpose of producing the identification you requested. The app, its design, and its reference content are ours or used under license. Identifications draw on open scientific data sources, including RRUFF, Wikidata, the Paleobiology Database, and Macrostrat; Lupa is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
Disclaimer and limitation of liability
The app is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy of identifications, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted availability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the app — including damages resulting from reliance on an identification, from handling specimens, or from collecting activities. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law, including your statutory rights as a consumer.
Termination and changes
We may suspend service for abuse of the acceptable-use rules. We may update these terms; material changes will be posted here with an updated effective date, and continued use after that constitutes acceptance.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Poland, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence.