Plain-English Terms

Terms.

Buying and using Shiny. The whole agreement, in language you can actually read, with the UK consumer-law detail required of a UK trader.

Last updated: 9 October 2026

1. Who you're dealing with

Shiny is made and sold by TJH/CO LIMITED, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16589593), trading as THEODORE HQ.

Registered office and trading address:
Fairway House, Links Business
Fortran Rd, St. Mellons
Cardiff, CF3 0LT
United Kingdom
Email: support@theodorehq.com

When this document says "we", "us", or "THEODORE HQ", it means TJH/CO LIMITED. When it says "you", it means you, the person buying or using the app.

2. Your licence

To buy Shiny you must be 18 or over, or have the permission of a parent or guardian. When you buy Shiny, you receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to install and use it on up to three Macs that you personally own or use. The licence is yours forever for the major version you bought (e.g. 1.x), including all minor and bug-fix updates. If we ever release a paid major version (2.0, 3.0), you'll be offered an upgrade at a fair existing-customer price; you are never required to upgrade.

3. What you may not do

You may not redistribute, resell, sublicense, rent, or share your licence key publicly. You may not reverse-engineer the app to circumvent licensing. You may take Shiny apart for personal study and curiosity; we just ask that you don't use what you find to harm other users.

If Shiny isn't right for you, email support@theodorehq.com within 14 days of buying and we'll refund you in full.

This sits alongside your legal rights. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have a 14-day right to cancel a digital purchase from a UK trader for any reason. We do not ask you to give that right up: your licence is delivered straight away and you can still cancel within the 14 days. We refund within 14 days of receiving your request.

5. Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015

Separately from any cooling-off right, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you the following statutory rights for digital content. They apply forever, not just for 14 days, and override anything else in this document:

If Shiny falls short on any of those, you are entitled to a repair, replacement, or refund as the law provides (sections 42–46). To make a claim, email support@theodorehq.com describing the issue. We will respond within 30 days.

The newsletter is optional. When you buy, you can tick an optional box to get the THEODORE HQ newsletter. It is unticked unless you tick it. You can also sign up on our website. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying to any of our emails, and every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link.

The newsletter is sent at most a few times a year and covers new versions of Shiny, important changes (security, pricing, or this document), and occasionally other small Mac apps we make. Unsubscribing has no effect on your licence: the app keeps working forever.

We do not sell, rent, share, or trade your email address. Read the Privacy policy for the full data-handling story.

7. Updates

Shiny includes the open-source Sparkle update framework. The app checks for new versions about once an hour while it is open and asks you before installing. Settings has a Check for Updates button but no switch to turn automatic checks off. Updates are signed, and they include security fixes.

8. Tax and VAT

Polar.sh is the merchant of record for your purchase. They calculate, collect, and remit any sales tax, VAT, or GST that applies in your country. The price shown at checkout is the final price you pay; no surprise charges are added later by us.

9. Warranty: what we promise, and don't

We promise Shiny is built with care, signed by Apple's developer programme, and notarized. We test it on every macOS release we support.

However, software is software, and we cannot promise it will be bug-free or that it will solve every memory-pressure scenario on every Mac configuration ever made. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose beyond those given to you by section 5 above. Nothing in this document affects your statutory consumer rights under UK law.

10. Limitation of liability

If something Shiny does, or fails to do, somehow causes you loss, our maximum liability to you is the amount you paid for your licence. This does not limit liability for fraud, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or anything else that UK law does not allow to be limited.

11. Privacy

Privacy has its own document, in plainer English than this one. Read it here: Privacy policy.

12. Termination

You can stop using Shiny anytime by dragging it to the Trash. Your licence remains valid; you can reinstall later.

We may revoke a licence only in cases of fraud, a chargeback raised without first contacting us to resolve the issue, or a wilful breach of section 3. We will email you first wherever possible, so a misunderstanding does not become a revocation.

13. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If we ever disagree about something this document covers, we'll first try to resolve it by email like grown-ups; failing that, the courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction. Nothing here removes any right you have to bring proceedings in the country where you live, if local consumer-protection law gives you that right.

14. Changes

If we change these terms, we'll update the date at the top and notify customers by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Any change that materially reduces your rights will not apply to you retroactively.

15. Contact

All questions about this document or anything else: support@theodorehq.com.