Terms of Service
Effective October 21, 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of Whole Wide World, at wholewideworld.app, including any copy installed to a home screen (the "Service"). The Service is operated by the operator of Whole Wide World ("we," "us," or "our").
By using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.
1. The Service
Whole Wide World is a free app for learning where the world's places are, by finding them on a globe. It is provided for personal, educational, and non-commercial use.
2. An independent project
The Service is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the United Nations, any government, or the providers of the map data it uses.
3. Maps, borders, and names
The maps are a learning aid, not an authority. Outlines, borders, names, and the lists of places in each deck are simplified, may be out of date, and may not match every source or every point of view.
Where a border or a territory is disputed, how the Service draws and names it is not a statement about its legal or political status. The Frequently Asked Questions, in Settings, explain how places are chosen. Don't rely on the Service for navigation, travel, legal, or any official purpose.
4. Your progress and your data
Your progress, settings, and field notes are stored only on your device, in your browser's storage. We can't see them, and we can't recover or restore them.
They can be lost if your browser clears its storage, if you clear your browser's data, or if you lose your device. Export Progress & Data, in Settings, saves a copy you can import later. Keeping backups is up to you.
5. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Interfere with or disrupt the Service, or the servers and networks it runs on.
- Try to reach any system or data you aren't authorized to reach.
- Copy or scrape the Service in bulk by automated means, or send it an unreasonable volume of requests.
- Use the Service in a way that breaks any law, or help anyone else do so.
- Suggest that you speak for us or for the Service, or that we endorse you, without our permission.
6. Our intellectual property
The Service's original elements, including its design, code, writing, suggested field notes, and mark, belong to us. We give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable right to use the Service under these Terms, and no other right to them.
7. Map data, fonts, and other credits
The outlines come from Natural Earth, which is in the public domain. The typefaces are used under the SIL Open Font License, and the Service is built with open-source software used under its own licenses. Those licenses, not these Terms, govern those materials.
A link to another website takes you to a site we don't control, under that site's own terms.
8. Changes and availability
We may change, suspend, or discontinue all or part of the Service at any time, without notice, including any deck or feature. A copy on your device may keep working offline for a while after a change, and then update itself.
9. Service provided "as is"
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement. We don't promise that the Service will be accurate, complete, available, or free of errors, or that your progress will never be lost.
10. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, we won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, progress, or goodwill, arising from or related to the Service. Our total liability for any claim related to the Service is limited to the greater of what you paid us for the Service in the twelve months before the claim, or US $50.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your unlawful use of the Service or your breach of these Terms.
12. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. The updated Terms will be posted in the Service with a new effective date, and continuing to use the Service after that means you accept them.
13. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts in New York County, New York, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction. Nothing in this section takes away a protection that the consumer laws where you live give you and that can't be waived by agreement.
14. Severability
If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
15. No waiver
If we don't enforce a part of these Terms, we haven't given up the right to enforce it later.
16. Entire agreement
These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service.
17. Contact
Questions about these Terms? Write to us at [email protected].