Terms of Service

Effective: June 12, 2026

1. Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and The Naperville Doula LLC (“HiDoula,” “we,” “us”) and govern your use of the HiDoula service at hidoula.app and any related applications. By creating an account, accepting an invitation, or using HiDoula, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

You accept these Terms through an affirmative act: checking the agreement box when you create an account or accept an invitation (a “clickwrap” acceptance). We keep a record of that acceptance, including the version of the Terms accepted and when. If we update these Terms, continuing to use HiDoula after we give notice and the updated Terms take effect also constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms (see Section 15).

2. What HiDoula is, and is not

HiDoula is a support and coordination tool for doulas and the families they work with. It offers shared planning, scheduling, messaging, birth preferences, and a user-entered contraction timing log so a support team can stay on the same page.

HiDoula is not medical care, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is not a medical device, not an electronic health record (EHR) system, not a clinical monitoring tool, and not an emergency communication or alert system. HiDoula never assesses whether someone is in labor and never advises when to go to a hospital or birth location. For urgent concerns, always contact your care provider or local emergency services directly. See our Disclaimer for details.

3. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 16 years old to use HiDoula.
• You must provide accurate information and keep your sign-in credentials secure.
• You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account.
• If you enter information about another person, you are responsible for having their permission to do so.
• Doulas are responsible for the accuracy of information they enter about their practice and the people they support.

4. Billing

HiDoula is a recurring subscription billed to the doula. A doula pays $20 USD per month, and that one subscription covers their whole practice, every birth and every family they support. Families never pay. Payments are processed by Stripe; HiDoula does not see or store your card details. Creating an account and exploring is free, and every doula's first month is free before billing begins. The subscription renews automatically each month until it is canceled.

You can cancel any time from your settings, and you keep access through the end of the period you have already paid for. Charges already billed are non-refundable, except where a refund is required by applicable law. If something goes wrong with a payment, such as a duplicate charge or a technical failure, contact us at hello@hidoula.app and we will make it right. We may change the price for future billing periods and will give notice before any change takes effect.

EU/UK right of withdrawal. If you are a consumer in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you have a statutory right to withdraw from a purchase within 14 days without giving a reason. Because the subscription unlocks immediate access to digital content and services, you may be asked to acknowledge that performance begins right away and that your withdrawal right ends once it has fully begun, to the extent permitted by law. Where the right still applies, email hello@hidoula.app within 14 days and we will process the withdrawal. Nothing here limits any non-waivable consumer right you have under EU or UK law.

HiDoula is not a money transmitter or a payment processor, and it never holds, moves, or settles funds between you and anyone else. Any money that changes hands between a doula and a family passes directly through the doula's own payment arrangements, never through HiDoula.

5. Acceptable use

• Do not use HiDoula for any unlawful purpose, or to harass, harm, or deceive others.
• Do not attempt to access accounts, care spaces, or data that are not yours.
• Do not probe, disable, overload, or interfere with the service or its security features.
• Do not resell the service or misrepresent your relationship with HiDoula.
• Do not rely on HiDoula for urgent or emergency communication. Messages can be delayed or fail.

6. HIPAA

HiDoula is a consumer support tool. It is not currently offered as a HIPAA-compliant service, and we do not enter into Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). Covered entities and business associates under HIPAA, including hospitals, clinics, OB practices, health systems, payors, and birth centers, must not use HiDoula to create, receive, maintain, or transmit protected health information (PHI) absent a separate written BAA with us, which we do not currently offer. Doulas working independently are generally not covered entities, but each user remains responsible for their own professional and legal obligations.

7. Your content and encryption

You and the people in your care space own the content you create in HiDoula. You grant us a limited license to store, transmit, and display that content solely to operate the service for you. We do not sell your content or health-related information.

HiDoula is designed to minimize our access to user-created care content. Where supported, messages, birth plan text, and notes are encrypted on your device before they sync, using keys held on your devices; we do not intend to store or read those conversations in plaintext. A practical consequence: if the encryption keys on your devices are lost and no recovery method is available, the encrypted content may be unrecoverable, by you or by us. Certain operational information (such as timestamps, due dates, appointment times, names, and labor-status category) is processed by our systems so the service can function; our Privacy Policy describes this in detail. No encryption system eliminates all risk.

8. Termination

You may stop using HiDoula and request account deletion at any time (see the Privacy Policy for how). We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, create risk for other users, or are required to be closed by law. Where reasonable, we will tell you why. After termination you may request an export of your available data within 30 days; content encrypted with keys we do not hold can only be exported in the form we have it.

9. Disclaimers

The service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-interruption. We do not warrant that the service will be error-free or always available. Doulas on HiDoula are independent professionals, not our employees or agents, and we do not supervise or vouch for any practitioner.

10. Acknowledgment and assumption of risk

By creating an account, accepting an invitation, or using HiDoula, you acknowledge and agree that:

• HiDoula is not medical care, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment; it is not a medical device; and it is not an emergency communication, alert, or monitoring system;
• contraction timing and related information in HiDoula are user-entered and informational only; they are never a clinical assessment or a judgment about labor;
• decisions about your care, including whether and when to seek medical attention, rest solely with you and your licensed care providers; and
• to the extent permitted by applicable law, you assume the ordinary risks of relying on a coordination tool, including the possibility of delays, outages, message failures, and data loss.

Nothing in this section waives rights or protections that cannot be waived under applicable law.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Naperville Doula LLC and its owners, operators, and personnel from and against third-party claims, damages, and reasonable costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of (a) your misuse of the service, (b) your violation of these Terms, or (c) your violation of another person's rights, including privacy and intellectual-property rights. We will notify you promptly of any claim subject to this section and may participate in its defense with counsel of our choosing. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim arises from our own conduct, and it does not limit any non-waivable rights you have under applicable law.

12. Limitation of liability

To the extent permitted by applicable law: (a) neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages; and (b) our total liability arising out of or relating to the service is limited to the greater of the amounts you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or $100 USD. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or where consumer-protection law provides rights that cannot be waived. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

13. Binding arbitration and class-action waiver

You and The Naperville Doula LLC agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service that we cannot resolve informally will be resolved by binding arbitration between you and us on an individual basis, seated in Illinois, rather than in court. The arbitration will be administered by a recognized arbitration provider under its consumer rules, before a single arbitrator, and the arbitrator's decision will be final and binding except to the extent review is permitted by law.

Class-action waiver. Disputes will be arbitrated only on an individual basis. Neither you nor we may bring or participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action, and the arbitrator may not award relief to anyone other than the individual parties to the arbitration.

What this section does not cover. Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court instead of arbitrating it. Either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court to protect intellectual property or to address abuse of the service's security. And nothing in this section waives rights or remedies that applicable law does not allow to be waived or arbitrated.

30-day right to opt out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement and class-action waiver entirely, with no effect on the rest of these Terms or your use of the service, by emailing hello@hidoula.app with the subject line “Arbitration opt-out” within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Include the email address on your account.

If the class-action waiver above is found unenforceable as to a particular dispute, that dispute will proceed in court rather than in arbitration, and the remainder of this section remains in effect.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and nothing in them limits any non-waivable rights you have under the consumer-protection laws of the place where you live. Disputes are resolved as described in Section 13 unless you opt out or the dispute falls outside that section. Before bringing a formal claim, please contact us at hello@hidoula.app. Most concerns can be resolved quickly and informally.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as the service evolves. For material changes we will give notice by email or in-app message before the changes take effect. Continuing to use HiDoula after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms: hello@hidoula.app. Privacy questions: hello@hidoula.app.