Article 1 — Introduction & acceptance
1.1 The SentinElles application
SentinElles is a mutual-aid app for women and people from gender minorities, published by the SentinElles Association, a non-profit governed by the French law of 1 July 1901, RNA W751284130, with registered office at WILLA, 6 rue du Sentier, 75002 Paris, France.
Legal notice. Publication director: Luiza Drummond, legal representative of the SentinElles Association. A registered association under the French law of 1 July 1901, RNA W751284130, SIREN 108289307 (head-office SIRET 10828930700010). Hosts: services and data are hosted in the European Union on Google Cloud Platform (region europe-west1, Belgium), operated by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (+353 1 436 1000); the app's content updates (OTA) transit via Expo, Inc. (EAS), 650 Castro Street, Suite 400, Mountain View, CA 94041, USA; the app is distributed via the App Store (Apple Distribution International Ltd, Hollyhill Industrial Estate, Cork, Ireland) and Google Play (Google Ireland Limited, same address). Contact: contact@sentinellesapp.fr.
The app allows its users to:
- Report situations experienced along the way (verbal or physical harassment, following situations, poor lighting, presence of a dangerous animal, sense of discomfort) — on the street as well as on public transport (at station or line level);
- View community-reported zones on a map with their intensity, along with places recommended by other users (an attributed positive testimony — never a safety label, see Article 3.7);
- Receive proximity alerts when approaching a reported zone during an active journey session;
- Plan a route that takes recent reports into account — and, at night, street lighting where that information exists — with detours always suggested, never imposed;
- Declare a public-transport journey (line and direction) so reports and alerts adapt to the transit context;
- Become visible to other users during a session ("I'm here") and exchange ephemeral direct messages, under the conditions of Article 3.6;
- Access an anonymous chat space with other users who have been in the same zones;
- Log, if she wishes, her mood at the end of a session (a personal record of how the journey felt, never public).
1.2 Acceptance of the Terms
Using SentinElles implies full acceptance of these Terms. By creating an account or using the app, you declare that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms in full.
If you do not accept them, you must stop using the app immediately and delete your account.
1.3 Modification of the Terms
SentinElles reserves the right to modify these Terms at any time. In case of substantial change, you will be notified:
- By an in-app notification, at least 15 days before the changes take effect;
- By any other available means of communication (email if provided).
Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. The current version is always available in-app and on this website.
Article 2 — Access & eligibility
2.1 Eligibility criteria
Access is restricted to people meeting all of the following:
- Be a woman or a person from a gender minority;
- Be 18 years of age or older (or the age of majority in your country of residence if higher);
- Have a valid mobile phone number for account verification;
- Not have been the subject of a permanent SentinElles suspension or deletion.
SentinElles is designed as a non-mixed mutual-aid space. This access restriction is a legitimate and necessary measure given the app's purpose, in line with French legal exceptions for services aimed at remedying factual inequalities.
2.2 Account creation
The account is phone-based (no email is requested): creation requires a valid mobile number, verified by an OTP (One-Time Password) sent by SMS. By creating your account, you declare on your honor that you meet the eligibility criteria above. Entry into the community then follows one of the two paths described in Article 2.3.
You are responsible for the confidentiality of your credentials and for any activity from your account. You must immediately report any unauthorized use to contact@sentinellesapp.fr.
2.3 Joining the community: sponsorship or free signup
SentinElles is built on a chain of trust: nobody joins by accident. Entry happens through one of two paths:
- By invitation (sponsorship). You hold a single-use invitation code issued by an existing member. After the identity verification (below), your sponsor confirms your entry from her app. If she remains silent for an extended period, your request is taken over and handled by the SentinElles team.
- Free signup (no code). You sign up without an invitation. Your application is then systematically subject to a human review by the SentinElles team, which confirms (or declines) your entry. This path can take longer than an invited entry.
Identity verification. On both paths, signup includes an identity verification (ID document + selfie with liveness detection) operated by our processor Didit. Processing of this biometric data (GDPR Art. 9) relies on your explicit consent and is described in the Privacy Policy §9 bis; this data is never visible in the app. You can follow the progress of your application from the app, which also provides a status page you can open in a browser.
Inviting in turn. Any member can issue invitation codes; the number of active invitations per member is capped and can be adjusted on request. The sponsorship link exists for trust at the door, not for surveillance: your sponsor sees neither your journeys nor your reports.
2.4 Free of charge
The SentinElles app is free for its users — no paid tier, no "premium" features: every feature described in Article 1.1 is available to everyone, for as long as the SentinElles Association is its publisher.
The association is funded through donations (French law-1901 association tax regime) and through separate offers aimed at companies and public-sector bodies, governed by their own terms of sale available on this website. Those offers never concern your individual use of the app: they cover services provided to organizations or aggregated and irreversibly anonymized data (see Privacy Policy), never your individual data. Use of the app by an employee whose employer has subscribed to an offer remains governed by these Terms and stays strictly optional. No advertising, no third-party tracking pixels.
Article 3 — Usage rules
3.1 General commitments
By using SentinElles, you commit to:
- Use the app in good faith and consistent with its mutual-aid purpose;
- Only post reports that are truthful, based on lived or observed facts;
- Respect other users and their anonymity;
- Not attempt to bypass security or anonymization measures;
- Report any inappropriate behavior via the built-in moderation tools;
- Not use the app for commercial, advertising or solicitation purposes.
3.2 Report content
Reports must correspond to real, lived or directly-observed unsafe situations. Allowed:
- Verbal harassment (insults, sexist or sexual comments, whistling);
- Physical harassment (non-consensual touching, intentional shoves);
- Following or stalking situations;
- Safety-related infrastructure issues (lack of lighting, isolated locations);
- The presence of a dangerous animal;
- General sense of discomfort in an area.
3.3 Zone chat rules
The zone chat is an anonymous mutual-aid space for users who have been in the same zone. The following rules apply strictly.
Encouraged: sharing useful info about the zone (risky hours, context); offering support and listening; pointing to nearby help resources; offering to walk together if you're in the area.
Prohibited:
- Posting information that identifies a physical person (victim or alleged offender);
- Sharing photos, videos or audio recordings of third parties without consent;
- Using the chat for harassment, insults or threats;
- Promoting commercial services, non-partner associations or political content;
- Posting medical, legal or safety information likely to mislead;
- Attempting to identify or trace other users.
Chat messages are automatically deleted 48 hours after sending. SentinElles cannot restore deleted messages.
3.4 Moderation
SentinElles operates the following mechanisms:
- Reporting: any user can flag an inappropriate message via long-press;
- Auto-hide: a message with 3+ reports is automatically hidden pending review;
- Human review: hidden messages are reviewed by the SentinElles team within 24 business hours;
- Permanent removal and reporting to authorities if content is unlawful (Article 6-I of the French LCEN law).
3.5 Community standards (Trust & Safety)
To keep a safe, non-discriminatory mutual-aid space, the following rules and mechanisms apply:
- Subjective testimonies, never a verdict about a place. A report is shown as a dated, attributed testimony from a user ("reported by a user · X min ago · ~Y m away"), never as an established fact about a location. The app never issues a verdict about a place — neither negative (a place cast as inherently to-be-avoided) nor, conversely, reassuring (a place cast as inherently without risk). The map is ephemeral: a report disappears when its lifetime expires.
- Behaviour-anchored wording. Describe a lived or observed behaviour, not a person's appearance, origin or assumed identity. When a free-text description names an identity without a behaviour, the app suggests a rewording (a nudge, never a block).
- Discrimination flag. You can flag any discriminatory content; such a flag is routed to a priority human review queue.
- Moderation and hold. Content matching a coordinated-abuse signature may be temporarily hidden (from map and alerts) pending human review; it is not deleted merely for that reason, and unreviewed content automatically reappears so a real alert is never buried.
- Spread your signals out. Concentrating many reports in one area does not increase their weight; the real-time proximity alert is always delivered, but excessive concentration stops feeding a report's durability.
- Alerting is not detouring. For routes, the app may alert you near a report without changing your path: you stay in charge. Only severe or corroborated reports may trigger a reroute.
3.6 "I'm here" presence and direct messages
These optional features follow structural reciprocity and ephemerality:
- Presence. You are visible on the map only if you enable it, under a session pseudonym and avatar, at an approximate position (~150 m). You see others only while your own presence is active (no "ghost" watching).
- Direct messages. Opening a conversation requires both users to have an active presence and to have made themselves contactable; an anonymous profile cannot be contacted. Threads are anchored to the session and close when either party disconnects; messages are ephemeral (48 hours at most). No location transits in a message; push notifications never carry message content.
- Any meetup is solely at the users' initiative: the app never suggests a rendez-vous.
3.7 Recommended places
You can recommend a place (a welcoming shop, a reassuring spot…) where you have actually been. A recommendation is an attributed positive testimony ("N users recommend"), never a safety label: the app never presents any place as inherently safe. Recommendations are subject to the same truthfulness requirements and the same moderation as reports; commercial, advertising or coordinated recommendations are removed and may lead to suspension. No establishment can buy its presence, its prominence or a label on the map.
Article 4 — Liability limitation
4.1 Nature of the service
SentinElles is a collaborative information-sharing platform. Reports are user-generated and reflect their subjective perception of unsafe situations. SentinElles does not guarantee:
- The accuracy, completeness or freshness of published reports;
- That unreported zones are necessarily safe;
- That a suggested route or a recommended place is free of risk — a route is a decision aid based on available reports, a recommendation is user testimony: neither is a safety guarantee;
- That proximity alerts will trigger in all cases on all devices;
- Continuous availability of the app or its features.
4.2 SentinElles' liability
SentinElles uses all reasonable means to ensure quality and reliability. However, SentinElles cannot be held liable for:
- Direct or indirect damage from using or being unable to use the app;
- Decisions made by users based on information available in the app;
- Content posted by users, subject to its host responsibility under the LCEN law;
- Service interruptions caused by factors outside our control (network, force majeure);
- A proximity alert not firing due to system restrictions (battery saver, permissions not granted).
4.3 User liability
Each user is solely responsible for the content she posts, the decisions she makes based on information available, and the consequences of her use of the app.
For false or defamatory reports causing harm to a third party, the user incurs civil and potentially criminal liability under articles 1240 of the French Civil Code and 226-10 of the French Criminal Code (false accusation).
Article 5 — Intellectual property
5.1 SentinElles' property
The SentinElles app, source code, design, algorithms, brand and all constitutive elements are the exclusive property of the SentinElles Association and protected by French and international intellectual property law. Any reproduction, modification, distribution or exploitation without express authorization is prohibited.
5.2 User-published content
You retain intellectual property rights to the content you post (reports, descriptions, chat messages). By posting, you grant SentinElles a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable license to:
- Display your content to other authorized users in anonymized form;
- Irreversibly aggregate and anonymize your data to produce statistics and safety mappings;
- Share or commercially valorize this aggregated and irreversibly anonymized data with institutional or private partners (local authorities, law enforcement under formal agreements, research, urban planning, prevention) — exclusively for public-interest or societal purposes, never in personally-identifying form, never at the level of an individual trajectory.
This license is limited to the data retention period defined in our Privacy Policy. It does not under any circumstances allow SentinElles to commercialize your content individually, to identify you in external publications, or to sell your data in personally-identifying form.
5.3 Brand usage
The SentinElles brand, logo and visual elements are trademarks registered with INPI (French IP Office). Their use without prior written authorization from the SentinElles Association is strictly prohibited, including for informal partnerships.
Article 6 — Suspension & account deletion
6.1 Temporary suspension
SentinElles may temporarily suspend an account in case of:
- Posting reports or messages in breach of these Terms;
- Suspicious behavior suggesting non-compliance with eligibility (Article 2.1);
- Repeated user reports;
- Attempts to circumvent security or anonymization.
The user is notified in-app and has 7 days to contest at moderation@sentinellesapp.fr.
6.2 Permanent deletion
SentinElles permanently and immediately deletes an account, without notice, in case of:
- Posting unlawful content (incitement to hatred, sexual content involving minors, threats);
- Identity theft or false eligibility declaration;
- Using the app to locate, stalk or harass another user;
- Repeat offense after a prior temporary suspension;
- Court order requiring suspension or revocation of access.
Permanent deletion entails removal of all account-related data within the timeframes defined in our Privacy Policy.
6.3 User-initiated deletion
You can delete your account at any time from in-app settings. Deletion entails the permanent and irreversible removal of all associated personal data within 30 days, except data that must be kept under legal obligation.
Reports and chat messages posted before deletion are anonymized and may be retained in aggregated form in platform statistics.
Article 7 — Personal data
Processing of your personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy, available in-app and on this website. It forms an integral part of these Terms.
Article 8 — Service availability
SentinElles strives to maintain 24/7 availability. Interruptions may occur for maintenance, updates or force majeure. For planned interruptions, SentinElles will notify users in advance where possible.
SentinElles cannot be held liable for the consequences of unplanned interruptions. We reserve the right to evolve, modify or discontinue any features for technical, regulatory or strategic reasons, with reasonable notice except in emergencies.
Article 9 — Governing law & jurisdiction
9.1 Governing law
These Terms are governed by French law. In case of conflict between the French version and any translation, the French version prevails.
9.2 Amicable settlement
In case of dispute, the parties commit to seek an amicable solution within 30 days of the notification. Any complaint must be addressed to contact@sentinellesapp.fr.
9.3 Jurisdiction
Failing amicable settlement, any dispute falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Paris courts, notwithstanding multiple defendants or third-party claims.
Article 10 — Miscellaneous
10.1 Severability
If any provision is declared null or unenforceable by a competent court, the remaining provisions remain fully in force.
10.2 No waiver
SentinElles' failure to enforce any breach does not constitute a waiver of the right to enforce subsequent breaches.
10.3 Entire agreement
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, form the entire agreement between the SentinElles Association and the user. They supersede any prior oral or written agreement on the same subject.
10.4 Contact
- General: contact@sentinellesapp.fr
- Moderation: moderation@sentinellesapp.fr
- Personal data: privacy@sentinellesapp.fr
- Technical security: security@sentinellesapp.fr
- Postal address: SentinElles Association, WILLA, 6 rue du Sentier, 75002 Paris, France