Terms of Service

Effective date: August 1, 2026

Acceptance of Terms

By downloading, installing, or using BBQAdvisor (the "app," "we," "us," "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the app.

These Terms govern your use of BBQAdvisor on iOS, Android, and our website at bbqadvisor.app. They form a binding agreement between you and Christopher Hilmoe (the app's owner). Please read them carefully.

Description of Service

BBQAdvisor is a smoking coach for low-and-slow barbecue. It generates cook plans (timelines, temperature targets, scaled seasoning recipes, wood pairings), mid-cook check verdicts, and finished-cook diagnoses based on the cuts, details, and photos you submit.

The service is provided "as is." See the Food Safety, Generated Advice, and Disclaimers sections below for important limits on what the app's output represents.

Food Safety

BBQAdvisor displays USDA-recommended safe minimum internal temperatures for every cut. These safe temperatures come from a fixed reference table in the app — they are never generated, estimated, or improvised.

You acknowledge and agree that:

  • Safe temperature guidance is informational, not supervisory. You are responsible for verifying doneness with an accurate thermometer and for safe food handling — storage, thawing, cross-contamination, holding temperatures, and serving.
  • Doneness choices below the USDA guideline are your decision. For steak-style cuts (such as tri-tip and prime rib), the app lets you choose a doneness target, always displays the USDA guideline alongside, and flags considerations such as blade-tenderized or injected meat. Choosing a target below the guideline is your informed choice and your responsibility, particularly when serving guests who are pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or children.
  • BBQAdvisor covers hot smoking only. The app does not provide guidance for curing, cold smoking, fermentation, or preservation, and its output must not be relied on for those activities. For kit-based smoked sausage, follow your kit manufacturer's instructions for cure usage — the app only coaches the smoke itself.
  • Timelines are estimates. Cook times vary with equipment, weather, and the meat itself. The app's hold-buffer design exists because barbecue is variable — plan accordingly.

Accounts

Creating an account

You can use BBQAdvisor's free tier without creating an account. To save your cook library, keep custom rubs, or access Pro features, you'll need to sign in.

Sign-in uses passwordless email magic links — you enter your email address, we send a one-time link valid for 15 minutes, and tapping the link signs you in. Sign in with Apple is also supported as an alternative.

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. By creating an account, you confirm you meet this age requirement.

Account security

You're responsible for keeping access to your sign-in email account secure. Anyone with access to your email inbox can sign in to your BBQAdvisor account by requesting a magic link.

If your email is compromised, secure your email account first, then secure your BBQAdvisor account by signing out or deleting the account (Library tab).

Pro Subscriptions and Billing

Billing and renewal

BBQAdvisor offers Pro subscriptions at $39.99 USD per year or $4.99 USD per month. Prices in other currencies are set by Apple or Google at platform-mapped rates and may differ from a direct USD conversion.

Subscriptions are billed by Apple (App Store) or Google (Play Store), not by us directly. By subscribing, you authorize the platform to charge your stored payment method for the subscription period and any auto-renewals.

Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period (annual or monthly) at the then-current price unless you cancel before the renewal date. Apple and Google will notify you in advance of any price change in accordance with platform policy; you may cancel before the change takes effect to avoid being charged the new price.

Cancellation

You can cancel a Pro subscription at any time through your Apple App Store or Google Play Store account settings:

  • iOS: Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → BBQAdvisor → Cancel Subscription
  • Android: Play Store → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → BBQAdvisor → Cancel subscription

Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. You retain Pro access until that period ends. We do not have the ability to cancel platform subscriptions on your behalf — only Apple and Google can.

Refunds

Refunds for App Store subscriptions are handled by Apple under their Media Services Terms (reportaproblem.apple.com). Refunds for Play Store subscriptions are handled by Google under their refund policy (play.google.com/store/account).

We do not issue refunds directly. If you believe a refund is warranted (accidental purchase, technical issue preventing use, etc.), contact Apple or Google support — they have full authority over platform-billed subscription refunds.

Acceptable Use

You agree to use BBQAdvisor only for its intended purpose: planning, checking, and improving your own cooking. Specifically, you agree NOT to:

  • Submit photos containing nudity, violence, or other inappropriate content (these will be rejected by the processing layer and may result in account suspension)
  • Submit photos, recipes, or other content belonging to others without permission
  • Reverse engineer, scrape, automate, or attempt to extract bulk data from the app or website
  • Use the app to harass, abuse, or harm any person
  • Resell or sublicense access to BBQAdvisor or your Pro subscription
  • Attempt to bypass tier limits or otherwise interfere with the app's normal operation
  • Use the app for any purpose that violates applicable laws

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

Your Content

Ownership

You retain ownership of the photos you upload, the custom rubs you build, the cook notes you write, and the cooks you save. Your content is yours.

License to us

To provide the BBQAdvisor service, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, store, process, transmit, display, and modify your submitted content (cook details, photos, custom rubs, notes) solely for the purpose of operating the BBQAdvisor service for you.

This license covers sending your content to our processing partner (Anthropic) for analysis, storing your content in our backend infrastructure (Cloudflare), and displaying your content back to you within the app.

This license does NOT cover: using your content for AI model training, selling your content to third parties, or displaying your content publicly without your explicit permission. If you delete specific content or your account, this license terminates with respect to that content.

Generated Advice

BBQAdvisor's free cook plans — timelines, temperature targets, and scaled seasoning amounts — are computed deterministically from a curated reference dataset. The Pro Check and Log features use artificial intelligence (Anthropic's Claude API) to read your photos and cook details and generate verdicts and diagnoses.

You acknowledge that:

  • Generated output is advice, not authority. While we use validation layers (deterministic safe-temperature enforcement, numeric sanity checks, escalation to higher-capability models for uncertain cases), the analysis can still be incorrect, incomplete, or surprising.
  • BBQAdvisor is not a substitute for your own judgment — especially on food safety, allergies, and equipment operation. Your smoker's manual and a good thermometer outrank any app.
  • Following BBQAdvisor's advice is your choice. Outcomes — a tough brisket, a dry turkey, a cook that runs long — are not warranted by us.
  • Pro photo analysis requires sending your photos to Anthropic's servers. See our Privacy Policy for what data is shared, how it's protected, and your rights to access or delete it.

Intellectual Property

BBQAdvisor (the app, the website, the smokestack logo, the Plan / Check / Log mode names, and all original UI/UX) is the intellectual property of Christopher Hilmoe. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works of these elements without written permission.

The seasoning profiles bundled in the app (Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, and others) are original formulations derived from aggregate analysis of traditional regional styles. You may cook from them freely but may not republish them as your own work.

Third-party trademarks (Apple, Google, Anthropic, Cloudflare, RevenueCat, Resend, and others) belong to their respective owners and are used here under standard nominative-use principles.

Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Warranty disclaimer

BBQADVISOR IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE APP WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT GENERATED ADVICE IS ACCURATE, RELIABLE, OR SUITABLE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC COOKING NEEDS.

Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL BBQADVISOR OR ITS OWNER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM (A) YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE APP; (B) GENERATED ADVICE, PLANS, OR PREDICTIONS; (C) FAILED COOKS, INGREDIENT WASTE, OR FOODBORNE ILLNESS ARISING FROM YOUR OWN FOOD HANDLING; OR (D) ANY OTHER MATTER RELATING TO THE APP.

OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF BBQADVISOR SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US FOR PRO SUBSCRIPTIONS IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) $100 USD.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations of liability; in those jurisdictions, the above limitations apply to the extent permitted by law.

Termination

You can terminate your relationship with BBQAdvisor at any time by deleting the app from your device and deleting your account in the app (Library tab → Delete account), or by requesting deletion per the Account Deletion section of our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or terminate your access to BBQAdvisor at any time if you violate these Terms, if your account is used for fraud or abuse, or if continued operation poses risk to other users or our infrastructure. We will notify you of termination via your account email when reasonably possible, but reserve the right to terminate immediately in cases of serious violation.

Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of BBQAdvisor shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

If you reside in a jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer protection laws provide rights that override this choice (for example, certain EU consumer-law provisions), those rights apply notwithstanding this section.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as the app evolves. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and notify active account holders by email (using the address associated with the account). Continued use of BBQAdvisor after an update means you accept the revised Terms.

If you do not agree with the revised Terms, your remedy is to stop using the app and (optionally) delete your account.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Get in touch:

Email: privacy@bbqadvisor.app