Terms of use
Nibblings is made by Florian Mueller, who publishes apps as Lit Dog Labs, Muehlenstr. 62, 10243 Berlin, Germany (contact@lit.dog; "we", "us"). Your use of the app is governed by Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the standard EULA) together with these additional terms. If they conflict, these terms apply where the law allows. Our privacy policy explains how we handle data.
1. The app
Nibblings is a virtual pet game. Your hamsters, items, rooms and Seeds are game content: we grant you a personal, non-transferable licence to use them in the app. They are not property, and they exist only inside Nibblings. We keep improving the game and may change, add or retire features and content. We will not take away items you bought with Seeds without replacing them or giving the Seeds back, unless they were obtained against these terms.
2. Seeds and Seed bags
- Seeds are an in-game currency. You earn them by playing, or buy them in Seed bags through the App Store.
- Seeds have no cash value. They can't be exchanged for money, paid out, or transferred outside the app, and they are never refunded in cash by us.
- Seed bags are consumable purchases handled by Apple. Refunds go through Apple. If a purchase is refunded or reversed, the Seeds from it are taken back, and your balance can go below zero until you earn them again; while it does, the adoption board is closed to you.
- Seeds and everything bought with them belong to your account. Sign in with Apple keeps them safe if you change phones. Deleting your account deletes unspent Seeds.
- Seeds buy things you can see. Nothing in Nibblings is a random reward for money.
3. The adoption board
- The adoption board lets players rehome grown-up hamsters to other players for Seeds, at a fixed price within a range the app shows. There are no auctions or offers.
- Rehoming costs a small listing fee in Seeds, which is not returned. When a hamster is adopted, part of the price is kept as a fee and removed from the game; the rest goes to the player who rehomed it.
- Listings show the hamster's looks, DNA name, generation and price, never its custom name or its owner.
- You need to be 13 or older to use the board, and to Sign in with Apple to rehome a hamster. Limits on listings and adoptions apply, with lower limits for players aged 13 to 15.
- No trading for real money. Selling or buying hamsters, Seeds or accounts for money or anything outside the app, arranging trades off the board, or using several accounts to move Seeds is not allowed.
- Adoptions are final, except that we may reverse a trade that involved fraud, a stolen account, a refunded purchase or a mistake on our side.
4. The Nibblings Shelter
The Nibblings Shelter is run by us and takes part in the adoption board in the open, always under its own name. It lists hamsters you can adopt for Seeds, with new arrivals regularly, and it may adopt hamsters that players rehome when no player has adopted them after some hours, at a price up to a limit it sets from what players have recently paid. The shelter is never obliged to adopt a hamster, never poses as a player and never makes fake adoptions. Seeds the shelter pays are game currency like any other Seeds.
5. Meetups and pups
Meetups happen between phones that are physically close, with both people agreeing. Pups appear by chance under the game's rules; nothing you buy changes that chance. Only meet people you know and trust.
6. Fair play
Please don't cheat, tamper with the app or our server, use bots or automation, exploit bugs, impersonate others, or give hamsters names that are hateful, sexual, harassing or that reveal someone's personal details. Report names that break this in the app. We may rename a hamster, remove listings, reverse trades, adjust balances, or suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, in proportion to what happened. If we close an account for a serious breach, unspent Seeds are lost; if you disagree, write to us.
7. Ages
Nibblings is rated 13+. Players under 13 who use the app anyway get a restricted mode without Seed bags or the adoption board. If you are under the age of majority where you live, please use Nibblings with the permission of a parent or guardian.
8. Availability
Parts of Nibblings, such as Seeds, the board and the shelter, need our server and an internet connection. We work to keep them running but can't promise they will always be available. If we ever shut Nibblings down, we will announce it in the app well ahead of time and stop selling Seed bags first.
9. Liability
We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and under the German Product Liability Act. For slight negligence we are liable only for breaches of essential obligations, limited to the damage typical and foreseeable for this kind of contract. Otherwise our liability is excluded. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected.
10. Changes and law
We may update these terms when the game changes. We will show important changes in the app before they take effect. German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods; if you are a consumer, the mandatory consumer protection rules of the country where you live also apply. The EU online dispute resolution platform has been discontinued; we are not obliged to and do not take part in dispute resolution before a consumer arbitration board.
11. Contact
Florian Mueller (Lit Dog Labs), Muehlenstr. 62, 10243 Berlin, Germany · contact@lit.dog