Effective October 22, 2026
These terms are the agreement between you and BeastWatch Corp, a Florida company ("BeastWatch", "we", "us"), for using BeastWatch: the website at beastwatch.app, the web app, and the iPhone and Android apps. By using BeastWatch you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use it.
BeastWatch is information, not protection. The map shows what has been reported: news coverage, community reports and archived field records. It is never a complete or current picture of where animals are. No marker near you does not mean no animal near you. Never approach, follow, feed or provoke a wild animal to see, photograph or report it. Follow the advice of local wildlife authorities and park staff. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (911 in the United States) first.
You must be at least 13 years old. If you are under 18, you need a parent's or guardian's permission. Species pages, the safety library and links people share with you open without an account; the map, posting, alerts and the Guide need one.
You keep ownership of the reports, photos, videos, comments, posts and messages you share ("your content"). So that BeastWatch can work, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, show, share, resize, translate and otherwise use your content to run, improve and promote BeastWatch, and to let other people view it and share links to it. This license lasts while your content is on BeastWatch, and for content others have replied to or relied on, as described in our Privacy Policy.
You confirm that you have the right to share your content, that a sighting report describes something that really happened as you describe it, and that your photos and videos are your own or that you have permission to post them.
Do not use BeastWatch to:
We may review, label, hide or remove content and suspend or close accounts that break these terms or put people or wildlife at risk. We are not required to watch everything posted, and we do not endorse what users post.
BeastWatch uses AI to screen photos, estimate an animal's size and age, answer questions in the Guide, and translate content into your language. These can be wrong. Treat them as a starting point, not as expert advice, and check anything important with an official source.
Alerts about the areas you watch and the walks you take are offered on a best-effort basis. They can be late, incomplete or not arrive at all: phones, networks and operating systems decide when they are delivered, and an alert can only be as good as the reports behind it. Do not rely on BeastWatch alerts as your only warning. Text messages are covered by our SMS Terms.
News markers summarise and link to coverage by other publishers. Field records, photos and articles come from sources such as iNaturalist, GBIF and Wikipedia under their own licences, which are credited where they are shown. That content belongs to its owners and is offered as found. BeastWatch is not responsible for other websites we link to.
Some videos in BeastWatch come from YouTube and play in YouTube's own player, through YouTube API Services. By using BeastWatch, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Each of these videos belongs to its YouTube channel. Wherever BeastWatch shows one of them or its thumbnail, it is marked "From YouTube", with a link to the video on YouTube. BeastWatch did not make them, and BeastWatch is not made, endorsed or sponsored by YouTube or Google. YouTube's player can show advertisements that YouTube or Google choose. What YouTube and Google collect when a video plays is covered by the Google Privacy Policy (see also our Privacy Policy).
BeastWatch, its name, logo, design and software belong to us and our licensors. These terms do not give you any right to use them beyond using BeastWatch as offered. BeastWatch is free to use today. If we add paid features, such as a subscription or in-app purchases, their price and terms are shown before you buy, and purchases made through the App Store or Google Play also follow that store's rules for billing and refunds. We may change, add or remove features, or stop offering BeastWatch, at any time.
BeastWatch is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises that it will be accurate, complete, current, uninterrupted or error-free, or that it is fit for any particular purpose, including keeping you safe from wildlife.
To the fullest extent the law allows, BeastWatch Corp is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any injury, loss or damage that results from an encounter with an animal, from relying on information in BeastWatch, or from content posted by users or other sources. Where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability to you is limited to US$100. Some places do not allow some of these limits, so they may not all apply to you.
If someone brings a claim against us because of content you posted or because you broke these terms or the law, you agree to cover the reasonable costs of that claim, to the extent the law allows.
If you use the iPhone app, these terms are between you and us, not Apple; Apple has no responsibility for the app or its support, and Apple and its subsidiaries may enforce these terms as third-party beneficiaries. The app stores' own terms also apply to how you get the apps.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute about them or about BeastWatch will be heard in the state or federal courts located in Florida, and you and we agree to those courts' jurisdiction. If you live somewhere whose laws give you the right to bring a claim in your own courts, nothing here takes that right away.
We may update these terms. When we do, we change the date at the top, and for significant changes we tell you in the app or by email before they take effect. Using BeastWatch after a change means you accept the new terms.