Terms of use

1. Who we are

Backbench (“Backbench”, “we”, “us”) is a study app for college students, available at joinbackbench.com and as an installable app. It is made and run by Arvelic, an independent studio in India. By creating an account or using Backbench you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy.

2. Your account

• Backbench is made for college students. If you are under 18, use it only with the permission of a parent or guardian.
• Give a real email address you can read, and keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for what happens on your account.
• One person, one account. Making extra accounts to collect credits, referrals or free Pro is not allowed.
• Tell us at support@joinbackbench.com if you think someone else has got in. You can also sign out every device from You → Log out everywhere.

3. Your content

Everything you put into Backbench — your semester, notes, files, questions and posts — remains yours. You give Arvelic a limited permission to store, copy, process and display it, only to run Backbench for you: to sync it to your devices, to show it to the people you share it with (your class, Circle, buyers of your listing), and to process it with AI when you ask an AI feature to.

Only upload what you have the right to share. Textbook scans, other students’ notes, leaked papers that are not public, or anything that infringes someone’s copyright may be removed, and repeated abuse can end your account. To report content, use Report in the app or write to us.

4. Fair use

Do not use Backbench to:

• break the law, harass or threaten anyone, or post hateful, sexual or violent material;
• spam, scam or impersonate another person;
• cheat in an exam while it is being held, or share an exam paper before the exam;
• attack, overload, scrape or reverse-engineer the service, or get round its limits, prices or security;
• farm credits, referrals or free Pro with fake or duplicate accounts.

We may remove content, reverse credits or earnings gained by breaking these rules, and suspend accounts that do.

5. AI features

AI Studio, Ask my notes, Quiz me, AI flashcards, revision sheets and photo scanning send the material you choose to an AI model (Google Gemini) to produce a result. AI can be wrong. A sample paper is a practice paper built from your own material and past questions — it is not the real exam paper and not a promise of what will be asked. Check important answers against your notes and your teachers. Free and Pro limits are shown in the app, and the AI may pause for the day if it reaches its daily budget.

6. Credits

• Credits are a reward for helping other students — for example your notes being accepted, a past paper verified, an answer marked solved, or a friend who stays for a week. The current ways and amounts are shown in the app’s wallet.
• Credits have no cash value. They cannot be bought, sold, transferred, or exchanged for money, and they are not a deposit or a wallet balance in the legal sense.
• You can spend credits inside Backbench on themes, extra AI use and, when available, merchandise.
• There are weekly limits, and new accounts earn at a reduced rate for their first two weeks. Credits obtained by abuse or by mistake may be reversed.
• We may change how credits are earned and what they buy. Credits already spent on an unlock keep that unlock.

7. Backbench Pro

• Pro is sold as a one-time payment for a fixed period: weekly, monthly, or an Exam Pass covering the dates you choose. It never renews automatically and there is nothing to cancel.
• The price, period and what Pro includes are shown in the app before you pay. Payments are processed by Razorpay on the website and by Google Play in the app from the Play Store; we never see or store your card, UPI PIN or bank login.
• Pro starts when the payment is confirmed (an Exam Pass starts on the first day you picked). Buying again while Pro is active adds the new days after the current ones.
• Discount codes and “bring friends” rewards follow the conditions shown with them and can be withdrawn if abused.
• Refunds follow our refund policy.

8. The notes marketplace

Selling

• Sell only material you created yourself. Every listing is reviewed by Backbench before it goes live, and we may reject or remove any listing.
• You set the price within the limits shown in the app (currently ₹10–₹500). Backbench keeps a commission on each sale (currently 30%), which is shown to you before you list and is fixed on each sale when it happens.
• Your earnings wait in Pending for a short hold (currently 3 days) and can then be withdrawn to your UPI ID once they reach the minimum (currently ₹300). Changing your UPI ID needs your password.
• If a listing is taken down for breaking these terms, buyers are refunded and the seller’s earnings from those sales are reversed.
• You are responsible for any tax on your own earnings.

Buying

• You get access to the file in My purchases as soon as the payment is confirmed. Files are for your personal study — do not resell or publish them.
• Digital files are non-refundable except in the cases in our refund policy.

9. Merchandise

When merchandise is offered for credits, we ship within India to the address you give. Your address is used only to deliver that order. If we cannot fulfil an order, we cancel it and the credits return to your wallet automatically.

10. Ending your account

You can delete your account at any time from You → Your data → Delete my account. What is deleted and what we must keep is explained in the privacy policy. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms; where it is reasonable, we will tell you why.

11. Our responsibility

We work hard to keep Backbench accurate, available and safe, but it is provided “as is”. Attendance maths, predictions and AI output are aids, not guarantees — your college’s own records and rules always decide. To the extent the law allows, Arvelic is not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the three months before it. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under Indian consumer law.

12. Changes

We may update these terms as Backbench grows. If a change is significant we will tell you in the app before it applies. Continuing to use Backbench after that means you accept the new terms.

13. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Please write to us first — most problems are solved quickly that way. If a dispute cannot be resolved, it will be handled by the courts of India.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: support@joinbackbench.com. For complaints and grievances, see the contact page.