This is a translation. In case of discrepancies, the German version prevails.

Terms of Use

1. Scope and contracting party

These terms of use govern the use of "before" by guests: the web app you open at the door of an evening via a QR code, the app and the website app.before.social. The provider and your contracting party is Thomas Gnahm, Mainzer Str. 44, 12053 Berlin (hereinafter "we"). The contract is concluded when you accept these terms of use when signing in.

Organizers who use before for their evenings are subject to separate agreements (section 11). The joint controllership arrangement under Art. 26 GDPR governs data protection and does not replace any service terms.

2. What before is

before is software for organizers of evenings where people meet. The organizers are our customers; for you as a guest, before is free of charge. There are no subscriptions and no tickets for guests on before.

As a guest, you get from us:

• Check-in via QR code: At the door you open a web app under the organizer's brand, sign in and are checked in.
• Photo exchange, if you want: At or after check-in you can share a photo of yourself. In the afterparty you then see the photos of the other guests who also take part, and they see yours. If you do not share a photo, you see no photos and cannot send or receive wishes to meet again; your check-in still counts. You can leave at any time; if you leave the photo exchange, your wishes to meet again from this event and the resulting chats end as well (sections 6 and 7).
• Afterparty for ten hours: The afterparty usually opens at 10 a.m. Berlin time after the event ends, but no later than 24 hours after it ends, and runs for ten hours, so as a rule until 8 p.m.; the app shows the exact period. When it opens, we send you an email on behalf of the organizer if you have provided an address.
• See each other again, if you both want to: In the afterparty you can send a wish to meet again to other guests whose photo you see in the photo exchange (section 7). Only if the wish is mutual are both of you informed, and a chat opens at the end of the afterparty. Wishes to meet again are part of our service; with the switch "Wishes to meet again" in the settings you turn them off and on again at any time. We delete pending wishes after the afterparty ends.
• Chats: Either side can end a chat at any time; it then disappears right away for both participants, the other side can still report it to us by email for 24 hours, and a copy of the messages is kept for this for no more than 25 hours (section 6). After 90 days without a message, counted from the last message or, if no message has been sent, from creation of the chat, we delete it for both participants. We do not currently offer a separate permission to show your photo in a chat.

before does not suggest anyone and does not sort. We do not run any evenings ourselves.

Role of the organizer: The organizer alone is responsible for the evening itself, that is venue, programme, admission, house rules and on-site safety. They see the guest list of their evening with name and check-in time, but no photos, wishes or chats. They and their team do not take part in the photo exchange of their own evening. Reports are handled only by us.

There is no entitlement to a wish being returned or to a meeting taking place. A wish that reaches a person while they have turned wishes to meet again off, or that already exists when they turn them off, never leads to a chat, even if they turn them back on before the end of the afterparty; you do not learn who has turned them off.

3. Requirements and account

• Minimum age: Use is only permitted from the age of 18. By ticking "I'm 18 or older and accept the terms of use" you confirm that you are an adult and accept these terms of use. We do not check any ID.
• Truthful details: Use your own name. A photo in the photo exchange must show you yourself, current and recognisable; other people's pictures, pictures of other persons and edited pictures intended to deceive are not allowed.
• Account: You sign in with email and a one-time code or with Apple or Google. Do not create several accounts to get around suspensions or blocks.
• Protect your access: Keep your access (for example one-time codes and your signed-in device) protected from others.

4. Rules for dealing with each other

before depends on everyone feeling safe. In particular, the following is not allowed:

• harassment, threats, insults, hate speech and discrimination
• unwanted contact, including outside the app, and any attempt to get around a block
• saving, photographing, sharing or publishing other guests' photos
• pretending to be someone else
• sexual, violent or illegal content, in particular any form of sexualised depiction of minors
• advertising, spam and commercial requests
• interfering with the technology, for example automated scraping or circumventing protective measures

5. Your content

• Rights: Your photo and your messages remain your content.
• Licence: You allow us to store them and display them as the features provide and as you have chosen: your photo to the other participants in the photo exchange during the viewing period; messages to the person you are writing to. The licence is non-exclusive, free of charge and limited to providing before. We do not use your photo for advertising.
• End: The licence ends when the content is deleted or you end the respective permission, at the latest when your account is deleted.
• Responsibility: You are responsible for ensuring that your content does not infringe the rights of third parties.

6. Reporting, blocking and our measures

• Blocking: You can block any person at any time. You then no longer see each other and cannot write to each other. The blocked person can still report a chat between you that ends this way to us by email for 24 hours (section 4.9 of the privacy policy).
• Withdrawing a wish and ending a chat: You can withdraw a pending wish at any time; it is then deleted. You can end a chat at any time; it then disappears right away for both participants, and the other person can still report it to us for 24 hours, by email to contact@before.social. Messages that were selected in a report before then remain in that report together with their context; a copy of all other messages is kept separately for no more than 25 hours after the chat was ended and is then deleted, even if a report comes in during that time. If you want to report something from a chat, report it before you end the chat. If you delete your participation in an event or leave the photo exchange, we delete your wishes from that event, and the resulting chats end in the same way.
• Reporting: You can send content or behaviour that violates these terms of use or the law to us at contact@before.social or via the contact form. In the app you can also report a person, on the person and in conversations: you choose a reason from a fixed list and, in a conversation, can select up to ten messages from that person. You cannot add your own description in the app, and you cannot report evenings or individual photos in the app; for these and for anything else, write to us by email or via the contact form. When reporting illegal content there, you identify the specific content, explain the suspected violation of law, give your name and email address and confirm that your information is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge. For the offences listed in Art. 16(2)(c) DSA, you do not need to give your name or email address. This is only possible by email, because the contact form currently requires both; an email, however, always reaches us with its sender address.
• Handling: Reports are reviewed manually by the operator, not by the organizer. Indications of danger to persons and of risks to minors are handled with priority.
• Measures: Depending on severity, we may remove content, restrict features, temporarily suspend an account or permanently exclude it. In case of urgent danger, we suspend immediately once we become aware of it. If a suspension or other restriction turns out to be unfounded, we lift it. In doing so, we take into account the circumstances of the individual case and the legitimate interests of everyone involved.
• Reasons and review: If we restrict content or your account, we send you, where we have your electronic contact details, a specific statement of reasons by email no later than when the restriction starts: the measure, its scope and duration, the facts relied on, whether automated means were used, the relevant legal or contractual ground and available redress. The statement of reasons does not name the reporter; any disclosure is made only where legally required. Where electronic contact details are available, we acknowledge receipt to reporters by email without undue delay and also communicate our decision by email without undue delay, including any automated means used and available options for redress. Reporters and affected persons may request a further review at contact@before.social. Judicial remedies remain available.

7. Data protection

How we process your data is set out in the privacy policy. For check-in and the guest list, we are jointly responsible with the organizer; the essentials are set out under Joint controllership.

The photo exchange is voluntary and is based on your separate consent, not on these terms of use; accepting these terms of use is not such consent. Without this consent you can check in and enjoy the evening; you then simply do not take part in the photo exchange and cannot send or receive wishes to meet again. Wishes to meet again, by contrast, are part of the service under these terms of use; the switch "Wishes to meet again" is on unless you turn it off. Meeting again only comes about if both of you take part in the photo exchange with a photo at the end of the afterparty.

If you turn wishes to meet again off, we delete your pending wishes and you cannot send new ones; a wish to you that reaches you while the switch is off, or that already exists when you turn it off, never leads to a chat, even if you turn it back on before the end of the afterparty. Nobody sees whether you have turned it on or off. Your existing chats remain; you end any chat you no longer want individually (section 6).

You can withdraw any consent at any time: the photo exchange under "End the photo exchange"; "Delete my participation in this event" also ends the photo exchange for the event. If you leave the photo exchange or delete your participation in the event, we delete your wishes from this event, and the resulting chats disappear right away for both participants. The other person can still report such chats to us by email for 24 hours (section 4.9 of the privacy policy); for this a copy of the messages is kept separately for no more than 25 hours and is then deleted. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing insofar as it was based on valid consent. Details are set out in the privacy policy, sections 4.5 to 4.10.

8. Availability and changes to the service

• We strive for reliable operation but cannot promise uninterrupted operation. Maintenance and disruptions may lead to temporary unavailability.
• We keep developing before. We only change features for a valid reason, namely because of legal requirements, to fix security vulnerabilities or to adapt to a changed technical environment, and at no additional cost to you. We make changes only for these specific reasons and insofar as they are reasonable taking your interests into account; this does not permit arbitrary restrictions of promised core features. We inform you clearly and comprehensibly about every such change.
• For more than minor impairments of your access or of usability, we notify you sufficiently in advance on a durable medium of the changes, their timing and your right to terminate free of charge, including the deadline, by email if we have an address for you. You can then end the contract free of charge within 30 days of this information or, if later, of the change (§ 327r BGB); regardless of this, you can delete your account at any time.
• We do not shorten an ongoing afterparty without good cause, for example to avert a danger or because of a legal obligation.
• If we discontinue before entirely, we will announce this with reasonable notice.

9. Liability

• We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and insofar as we have given a guarantee.
• In the case of slight negligence, we are only liable if we breach a material contractual obligation, that is an obligation whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely. In this case, liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract.
• These rules also apply to our vicarious agents.
• Mandatory statutory liability, in particular under Art. 82 GDPR, remains unaffected.
• Other guests are themselves responsible for the content they post and for their behaviour. For our own obligations, such as handling reports, we are liable in accordance with the rules above. The organizer is responsible for the evening itself (section 2).

10. Term, termination and deletion

• The contract runs for an indefinite period. You can end it at any time by deleting your account in the settings.
• You can delete your account in the settings without undue delay. Account deletion is final; your account cannot be restored. Section 8 of the privacy policy explains legally permitted exceptions for separately retained records and report evidence.
• We may terminate the contract with two weeks' notice if there is a legitimate reason. The right to terminate for good cause, for example in the case of serious or repeated violations of these terms of use, remains unaffected.

11. For organizers

These terms of use only apply to guests. Organizers use before on the basis of a separate agreement with us, which also governs prices and services; these terms of use do not create any payment obligation for organizers. Before the first evening, organizers also confirm the joint controllership arrangement under Art. 26 GDPR and provide their legal name and a contact option for the door page. Organizers are responsible for running their evenings, including admission, house rules, on-site safety and compliance with youth protection, and may only use the guest list for their evening. They and their team do not take part in the photo exchange of their own evenings. Organizers can use before for any lawful evening for adults, including singles evenings and evenings for a particular group, for example people of a particular sexual orientation. Permission for these formats does not replace any exception required under Art. 9(2) GDPR for the individual processing operations.

12. Changes to these terms of use

A change to these terms of use only takes effect if you expressly agree to it, for example by confirming it in the app. Silence or simply continuing to use the service does not count as agreement. We announce material changes to you beforehand, with a notice in the app before your next use and by email if we have an address for you. We keep earlier versions and send them to you on request. If you do not agree, the previous terms continue to apply; we may then terminate the contract under section 10. A change does not create any payment obligation for guests either.

This version: Guest accounts from the previous system do not move to the new system (privacy policy, section 4.18); anyone using the new app creates a new account and accepts this version when doing so. For accounts that were carried over to the new system: you may use the new features introduced by this version after expressly accepting it. If you do not accept, existing contractual usage rights remain in force until the contract is validly amended or terminated. Data protection rights, withdrawal of consent and account deletion remain available at all times (privacy policy, section 9). We will terminate the contracts of use for accounts that remain in the previous system under section 10 in good time before it is shut down.

13. Dispute resolution

We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

14. Final provisions

• The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies. If you are a consumer, you retain the protection of the mandatory provisions of the country in which you have your habitual residence.
• Should individual provisions be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.
• The place of jurisdiction for merchants (Kaufleute within the meaning of the German Commercial Code), legal entities under public law and special funds under public law is Berlin.

Last updated: 20 October 2026

Contact

Thomas Gnahm

Mainzer Str. 44

12053 Berlin

Email: contact@before.social

Contact form: before.social/contact