Terms of use

English first; the Italian version follows. In case of doubt the Italian version prevails. Prima l'inglese; segue la versione italiana. In caso di dubbio prevale la versione italiana.

1. Who we are. FoldEngine is published by Alessandro Pedretti, individual developer, Italy («the publisher»). Address: Via Giuseppe Verdi 67, 25034 Orzinuovi (BS), Italy. Telephone: +39 328 572 6032. E-mail: support@foldengine.science. Questions, complaints and claims about FoldEngine go to these contacts. FoldEngine is free of charge and complete: all its features stay free.

1-bis. Optional support and in-app purchases. In the app you can leave a tip (one-off consumable purchase) or subscribe to the optional "Supporter" subscription. Neither tips nor the subscription unlock any feature or content: the subscription's only effect is a thank-you on the "Support FoldEngine" screen. Tips are not donations to a charity and give no right to tax receipts. Purchases are made through Apple's App Store, with your Apple Account and under the Apple Media Services Terms. The publisher never receives or stores your payment details. The subscription renews automatically at the end of each period (month or year) at the price shown in the app when you subscribed, unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You manage and cancel it in your Apple Account settings, also from the "Support FoldEngine" screen. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period already paid. Refunds. Apple handles refunds: request them at reportaproblem.apple.com or from your account's purchase history. If you are a consumer in the European Union, your statutory rights remain unaffected, including the right of withdrawal under the Apple Media Services Terms.

2. Licence. The publisher grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to install and use FoldEngine on Apple devices you own or control, as permitted by the App Store Usage Rules when obtained from the App Store. The source-code licence of FoldEngine, when published, is stated in the LICENSE file shipped with the app; third-party components keep their own licences (Settings › Privacy & licences › Third-party licence notices), and nothing in these terms limits the rights those licences give you.

3. Scientific use only. FoldEngine is a tool for scientific research and education. Its predictions, simulations, credits and reports are computational results: they can be wrong, and they must be validated independently before you rely on them. FoldEngine is not a medical device and must not be used for diagnosis, treatment, patient-specific decisions or any other clinical or regulated purpose. Do not process data of identifiable persons (for example sequences derived from a patient's genome).

4. No warranty on results. To the extent permitted by law, FoldEngine and its results are provided «as is», without warranty that they are accurate, complete, fit for a particular purpose or uninterrupted. External services (ESM Metagenomic Atlas, AlphaFold DB, UniProt, RCSB PDB, InterPro, Europe PMC, Zenodo, iCloud, the Hive coordinator) may change or stop at any time and are governed by their own terms. Nothing in this section limits the legal guarantees that consumers have and that cannot be waived (Italian Consumer Code, including Arts. 135-octies and following on digital content and services, where applicable).

5. Contribute (the Hive). Contributing computing power is voluntary and can be switched off at any time. The Mac takes tasks only under the conditions shown on the Contribute screen (power, idle time, temperature); a task already started is completed. Running tasks uses electricity and wears hardware like any computation: you decide whether and when to contribute. Tasks are signed descriptions of a simulation, not programs: the app checks the project's signature before running them.

6. Credits have no value. Credits, points, levels, talents and achievements measure verified scientific work. They have no monetary value, cannot be bought, sold, exchanged, transferred or converted into money, goods, services or cryptocurrency, and give no right to any reward. The publisher may recompute them under the public rules, for example after a verification error.

7. Your conduct. Do not attempt to interfere with the coordinator, submit false results, replay or forge signed requests, or use FoldEngine against the law or the terms of the services it connects to.

8. Your content. Your projects and files stay yours. When you deposit to Zenodo, you choose the licence of the record and publish it yourself on Zenodo; FoldEngine never publishes. Results computed by the Hive network are released by the project under CC BY 4.0, without personal data.

9. Liability. The publisher is not liable for indirect damages or for loss of data or results arising from use of FoldEngine, except in cases of wilful misconduct or gross negligence (Italian Civil Code Art. 1229), for death or personal injury, or where liability cannot be limited under the Italian Consumer Code (Arts. 33, 36 and 135-vicies-bis). Keep your own backups.

10. Changes and termination. The publisher may update FoldEngine and these terms; material changes will be shown in the app with their date. You may stop using FoldEngine at any time and delete your data as described in the Privacy notice.

11. Law and courts. These terms are governed by Italian law. If you are a consumer, you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of your country of residence, and the court of your residence or domicile in Italy is competent where the law provides so (Italian Consumer Code Art. 66-bis). If you are not a consumer, the Court of Brescia (Italy) has exclusive jurisdiction.

12. If you obtained FoldEngine from the App Store.

(a) Parties. You and the publisher acknowledge that these terms are concluded between you and the publisher only, not with Apple, and that the publisher, not Apple, is solely responsible for FoldEngine and its content. These terms do not provide usage rules that conflict with the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.

(b) Scope. The licence in section 2 is limited to a non-transferable licence to use FoldEngine on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules of the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, except that it may also be accessed and used by other accounts associated with the purchaser via Family Sharing or volume purchasing.

(c) Maintenance and support. The publisher alone provides any maintenance and support, as stated in these terms or required by law. Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish maintenance and support for FoldEngine.

(d) Warranty. The publisher is solely responsible for any product warranty, express or implied by law, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If FoldEngine fails to conform to an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the app, if any; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are the publisher's sole responsibility.

(e) Product claims. The publisher, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim by you or a third party relating to FoldEngine or your possession or use of it, including product liability claims, claims that it fails to conform to a legal or regulatory requirement, and claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar legislation. Nothing in these terms limits the publisher's liability to you beyond what applicable law permits.

(f) Intellectual property. If a third party claims that FoldEngine, or your possession and use of it, infringes its intellectual property rights, the publisher, not Apple, is solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of that claim.

(g) Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that 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 that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties. Nothing in these terms limits the rights that the mandatory law of your EU country of residence grants you as a consumer.

(h) Third-party terms. When you use FoldEngine you must comply with the terms of the third-party services it connects to (section 4) and of your own network provider.

(i) Third-party beneficiary. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms and, once you accept them, may enforce them against you as third-party beneficiaries.