Terms of Service

Welcome to PermitSnag. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the PermitSnag website (permitsnag.com) and mobile application ("Services") operated by 4Whys LLC ("we," "our," or "us"), doing business as PermitSnag. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

1. Description of Services

PermitSnag is a permit monitoring and notification service. We help you track availability for backcountry permits, wilderness permits, and related outdoor recreation reservations across federal and state systems. Our Services include:

• Real-time monitoring of permit availability
• Push notifications and SMS alerts when openings occur
• Calendar synchronization for permit deadlines and trip dates
• Suggested alternate permits based on your preferences
• Group coordination features for lottery applications
• Direct links to official booking websites ("Fast Lane")
• A read-only connector that AI assistants and agents can use to look up permit and campground information (see Section 18)

2. Important Disclaimers

We Do Not Guarantee Permits

PermitSnag is a monitoring service, not a booking service. We alert you to openings, but we cannot guarantee you will secure a permit. Permit availability changes rapidly, and multiple users may receive alerts for the same opening. Success depends on your speed, the booking system, and factors outside our control.

Third-Party Booking Systems

When you use our Fast Lane feature or follow links to book permits, you are interacting with third-party government systems (Recreation.gov, Reserve California, Utah State Parks, BLM, etc.). We are not affiliated with these agencies. Your booking transactions are governed by their terms and conditions.

The iPhone app can open a reservation site's own page inside itself and keep you signed in to that site between visits. That account is yours and theirs, not ours: we never see your password, we cannot book on your behalf, and signing out of PermitSnag does not sign you out of them. You remain bound by their terms, and you are responsible for following the reservation rules of the agency you are booking with.

Accuracy of Information

We strive to provide accurate permit rules, dates, and availability information. However, agencies may change rules without notice, and our automated systems may occasionally have delays or errors. Always verify critical information (lottery dates, permit requirements, fees) on official agency websites before making plans.

3. Account Registration

To use most features of PermitSnag, you must create an account. You agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information
• Maintain the security of your account credentials
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized access
• Accept responsibility for all activity under your account

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account and use our Services.

4. Subscription and Payment Terms

Free Tier

Free accounts can browse permits, view rules and dates, and set calendar reminders. Some free accounts also include one availability alert, on a single permit or a single campsite. Your account shows whether yours does. Once that free alert has been used, it is used for good. Deleting the alert does not give it back. Unlimited tracking and alerts need a paid plan.

Subscription Plans

Subscription plans ($9.99/month or $79.99/year) provide unlimited permit tracking, real-time alerts, similar-permit suggestions, lottery pools, and SMS notifications. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the renewal date.

Price Changes

We may change subscription prices. If we do, we will email every account holder at least 14 days before the new price takes effect. If you have an active subscription when a price change takes effect, you keep the price you signed up at for as long as that subscription stays active. Canceling and subscribing again starts a new subscription at the price in effect on that day.

Tests and offers

We sometimes try different features, plans and offers with different groups of visitors, to learn what works best. What applies to your account is what we showed you when you signed up or bought. A test never changes the price of a plan you already pay for, and never takes away a free alert your account already has.

A La Carte Purchases

A la carte purchases ($19/permit) provide tracking for a single permit until your trip dates pass, plus lottery pool creation for that permit (friends join free). A la carte purchases do not include similar-permit suggestions. A la carte purchases are non-refundable, with one exception. If the permit you bought does not open for the season at all, we will refund that purchase on request. If the permit opens, the purchase is not refundable. Outside that exception we may still issue a refund at our sole discretion. This exception covers purchases made on this website. A purchase made in the iPhone app is refunded by Apple through Apple's own process, not by us. If you already hold an a la carte purchase and an active alert, you can add another permit for $5.

Purchases through the App Store

You can subscribe or buy a permit either on our website or inside the iPhone app.

• Prices differ between the two, and the price you pay is the one shown at the moment you buy. In the app, that is the App Store's own price for your country.
• A purchase made in the app is billed by Apple to your Apple Account, not by us. Subscriptions renew automatically unless you turn renewal off at least 24 hours before the renewal date, and you manage or cancel them in your Apple Account settings, not here.
• Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple, not by us. We cannot issue them. Request one through Apple's own refund process.
• What you buy is the same either way. Your account carries the entitlement, so a purchase made in one place works in the other.

Billing and Refunds

Payments made on this website are processed through Stripe. Refund requests for subscriptions are handled according to our refund policy. We do not offer refunds for successfully secured permits or for unused subscription time if you cancel mid-period.

5. Lottery pools and trip sharing

Our Services let you share trips and run lottery pools with other users. By using these features:

• You authorize us to share your trip information with users you invite
• Invited members can view (and in some cases modify) shared trips
• Only the trip creator needs a paid plan; invited members participate free
• You are responsible for inviting only people you trust
• Group lottery coordination requires all members to submit their own applications on official systems; PermitSnag facilitates coordination but does not submit applications on your behalf

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use automated systems, bots, or scripts to access our Services (except as we explicitly provide, such as the AI assistant connector in Section 18, used within its documented limits)
• Attempt to circumvent permit system rules or use our Services to gain unfair advantage
• Resell, redistribute, or commercially exploit our Services without permission
• Interfere with or disrupt our Services or servers
• Impersonate others or provide false information
• Use our Services for any illegal purpose
• Violate any applicable laws or regulations

7. Intellectual Property

The PermitSnag name, logo, website, and all related content are owned by 4Whys LLC and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.

Permit information, rules, and availability data originate from government agencies and are generally public domain. Our presentation, organization, and analysis of this data are proprietary.

8. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PERMITSNAG SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR:

• FAILURE TO SECURE A PERMIT, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE
• MISSED ALERTS DUE TO DEVICE SETTINGS, NETWORK ISSUES, OR SYSTEM OUTAGES
• INACCURATE OR OUTDATED PERMIT INFORMATION
• ACTIONS TAKEN BY THIRD-PARTY BOOKING SYSTEMS
• ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
• TRAVEL EXPENSES, LOST DEPOSITS, OR OTHER COSTS RELATED TO TRIP PLANNING

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that our Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure. We do not warrant that alerts will be delivered instantly or that availability information will be 100% accurate.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless 4Whys LLC (doing business as PermitSnag), its officers, members, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from your use of our Services, violation of these Terms, or infringement of any third-party rights.

11. Account Termination

You may delete your account at any time through the app settings. We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms or engage in conduct that harms our Services or other users.

Upon termination, your right to use our Services ceases immediately. Data deletion follows our Privacy Policy.

Deleting your account removes it from PermitSnag. It does not cancel a subscription billed by Apple (cancel that in your Apple Account settings), and it does not touch any account you hold with a reservation agency.

12. Changes to Terms

We may modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by email or through the app at least 30 days before they take effect. Your continued use of our Services after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

13. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of our Services shall be resolved through binding arbitration in accordance with the American Arbitration Association rules. You waive any right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.

14. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

15. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and 4Whys LLC (doing business as PermitSnag) regarding your use of our Services.

16. SMS Messaging Terms

By providing your phone number and opting in to SMS alerts, you agree to the following:

Consent

You expressly consent to receive recurring automated text messages from PermitSnag at the phone number you provide. Consent is not a condition of purchase. You can use PermitSnag without SMS alerts enabled.

Message Types

Messages may include permit availability alerts, lottery reminders, trip notifications, and account verification codes. Messages are sent only for the permits and trips you are actively tracking.

Message Frequency

Message frequency varies based on permit availability and your tracking preferences. You may receive up to 10 messages per week depending on your tracking activity. High-demand permits during peak season may generate more frequent alerts.

Opt-Out

You may opt out at any time by replying STOP to any message. After opting out, you will receive a single confirmation message and no further SMS messages will be sent. You can also disable SMS alerts in your account notification settings. Opting out of SMS does not affect push notifications or email alerts.

Help

For assistance with SMS alerts, reply HELP to any message or contact us at support@permitsnag.com.

Costs

Message and data rates may apply. PermitSnag does not charge for sending SMS alerts, but your mobile carrier may apply standard messaging rates. Check with your carrier for details.

Requirements

You must be 18 years or older to use SMS services. You must be the account holder for the phone number provided or have authorization from the account holder to receive messages at that number.

Carrier Disclaimer

PermitSnag is not responsible for delayed or undelivered messages due to carrier issues, network outages, or device settings. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. SMS delivery is not guaranteed, and you should not rely solely on SMS alerts for time-sensitive permit opportunities.

Privacy

Your phone number will not be sold, rented, or shared with third parties for marketing purposes. See our Privacy Policy for complete details on how we handle your information.

17. License to use the app

These Terms govern the service. Your license to use the PermitSnag iPhone app itself is governed by Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement, at apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/. Where that agreement and these Terms conflict on the license to the app itself, that agreement applies. Nothing in Section 15 is intended to displace it.

18. Using PermitSnag Through an AI Assistant

We offer a connector that AI assistants and agents ("assistants"), such as Claude or ChatGPT, can call to search permits and campgrounds, read permit rules and key dates, read the openings our scans recorded together with when we recorded them, and get a link to the official booking page. The public connector is free, needs no PermitSnag account, and is read-only. Where linking is available, you can also link your PermitSnag account to an assistant, as described under Linking Your Account below. Technical details, limits and changes are published at permitsnag.com/developers. Setup steps for individual assistants are at permitsnag.com/connect. These Terms apply to your use of the connector, whether you call it yourself or an assistant calls it for you.

You Stay Responsible

An assistant you connect to PermitSnag acts on your instructions. You are responsible for what you ask it to do, for what it does on your behalf, and for any decision you make or booking you attempt based on its answers.

Answers Are Records, Not Live Inventory

Availability answers come from observations we stored earlier, and each one states when we made it. They are not a guarantee of what is available now. An opening we recorded may already be gone, and a date we did not observe is unknown rather than unavailable. The agency's booking system is the only source of truth for what you can book, and its rules apply.

No Booking, Payment, or Lottery Entry

Through an assistant, PermitSnag does not book, reserve, hold, or pay for anything, does not enter or manage a lottery, and does not create alerts unless you have linked your account as described under Linking Your Account below. The connector returns information and links. You complete any booking or application yourself on the agency's own site, under that site's terms.

The Company That Runs Your Assistant

Your assistant is operated by a separate company, not by us. That company receives what you type and what we return, and it processes both under its own terms and privacy policy. We do not control how it stores, uses, summarizes, or presents that information, and we are not responsible for it.

No Warranty on Assistant Output

An assistant may shorten, misquote, combine, or add to what we return. We make no promise about anything an assistant says, including when it attributes the statement to PermitSnag. Sections 8 and 9 apply in full to the connector and to any assistant output based on it. Check dates, rules, and fees on the agency's website before you rely on them.

Acceptable Use of the Connector

When you or an assistant use the connector, you agree not to:

• Try to get around our rate limits, for example by spreading requests across many addresses or clients, or keep sending requests after we answer that you are over a limit
• Copy our catalog, recorded availability, or booking-system data in bulk, or use the connector to build or feed a competing dataset or service
• Poll the connector repeatedly to monitor availability in place of an alert
• Send content designed to make the service, or an assistant reading our answers, ignore its instructions or reveal or do something outside the documented tools (prompt injection)
• Probe the service for security weaknesses, except by reporting a suspected weakness to us at support@permitsnag.com
• Use the connector to get around an agency's booking rules or limits

We may block or limit traffic that breaks these rules, or that puts the service or the agency booking systems at risk, without notice.

Linking Your Account

Where linking is available, you can link your PermitSnag account to an assistant. Before anything is linked, we show you a screen that names the app as it names itself (we do not check that name), the website your browser returns to, and what the app will be able to do. Nothing is linked unless you choose Allow. If you do:

• The assistant can do only what that screen listed: see your PermitSnag alerts, and, if listed, create and cancel alerts when you ask it to.
• You are responsible for every alert the assistant creates, for what you ask it to do, and for anything you do or fail to do because of an alert. The free-alert and plan limits apply to those alerts as they apply to alerts you create yourself, and an alert an assistant creates can use your free alert, if your account has one. We may also limit how many alerts assistants can create for one account.
• Linking does not let an assistant book or pay for anything, or change or cancel your plan. Canceling an alert turns off that alert only. It does not cancel a booking or a subscription.
• The company that runs the assistant receives what the assistant reads from your account, including your alerts, and handles it under its own terms and privacy policy.
• You can remove any linked assistant at any time on the Connected assistants page in your account. A removed assistant can no longer use your account.

On the same page you can create an API key for your own tools. A key is a secret, like a password: anyone who holds it can do what you allowed it to do. Keep it private, do not share or publish it, and remove it if you think it has leaked. You are responsible for what is done with a key you create. Sections 8 and 9 and the rules for acceptable use above apply to linked assistants and API keys.

Changes to the Connector

We may rate-limit, change, version, suspend, or retire the connector or any of its tools. We announce removals and incompatible changes on permitsnag.com/developers at least 30 days before they take effect. We may suspend a tool or the whole connector immediately when that is needed to protect people, the service, or the agency booking systems.

19. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms:

• 4Whys LLC, doing business as PermitSnag
• Email: support@permitsnag.com
• Website: permitsnag.com