Thank you for using WaniKani! We’re happy you’re here. Please read this Terms of Service Agreement carefully before accessing or using WaniKani. Because it is such an important contract between us and our users, we have tried to make it as clear as possible. For your convenience, we have presented these terms in a short non-binding summary followed by the full legal terms.
| Section | What can you find there? |
|---|---|
| A. Definitions | Some basic terms, defined in a way that will help you understand this Agreement. Refer back up to this section for clarification. |
| B. Account Terms | These are the basic requirements of having an account on WaniKani. |
| C. Acceptable Use | These are the basic rules you must follow when using your WaniKani account. |
| D. User-Generated Content | You own the content you post on WaniKani. However, you have some responsibilities regarding it, and we ask you to grant us some rights so we can provide Services to you. |
| E. Copyright & DMCA Policy | This section talks about how WaniKani will respond if you believe someone is infringing your copyrights on WaniKani. |
| F. Intellectual Property Notice | This describes WaniKani’s rights in the Website and Service. |
| G. API Terms | These are the rules for using WaniKani’s APIs, whether you are using the API for development or data collection. |
| H. Advertising on WaniKani | If you want to promote your content on WaniKani, this section lays out some rules you must follow. |
| I. Payment | You are responsible for payment. We are responsible for billing you accurately. |
| J. Cancellation and Termination | You may cancel this Agreement and close your account at any time. |
| K. Communications with Tofugu | We only use email and other electronic means to stay in touch with our users. We do not provide phone support. |
| L. Disclaimer of Warranties | We provide our Service as is, and we make no promises or guarantees about this Service. Please read this section carefully; you should understand what to expect. |
| M. Limitation of Liability | We will not be liable for damages or losses arising from your use or inability to use the Service or otherwise arising under this Agreement. Please read this section carefully; it limits our obligations to you. |
| N. Release and Indemnification | You are fully responsible for your use of the Service. |
| O. Changes to These Terms | We may modify this Agreement, but we will give you 30 days notice of changes that affect your rights. |
| P. Miscellaneous | Please see this section for legal details including our choice of law. |
Effective date: May 25, 2023
Short version: We use these basic terms throughout the Agreement, and they have specific meanings. You should know what we mean when we use each of the terms. There’s not going to be a test on it, but it’s still useful information.
Short version: A human must create your account; you must be 13 or over; and you must provide a valid email address. You alone are responsible for your account and anything that happens while you are signed in to or using your account. You are responsible for keeping your account secure.
You must provide a valid email address in order to complete the signup process. Any other information requested, such as your real name, is optional, unless you are accepting these terms on behalf of a legal entity (in which case we need more information about the legal entity) or if you opt for a paid account, in which case additional information will be necessary for billing purposes.
We have a few simple rules for accounts on WaniKani’s Service.
You are responsible for keeping your account secure while you use our Service.
In some situations, third parties’ terms may apply to your use of WaniKani. For example, you may download an application that integrates with WaniKani. Please be aware that while these Terms are our full agreement with you, other parties’ terms govern their relationships with you.
Short version: While using the Service, you must follow this Acceptable Use Policy, which includes some restrictions on content you can post, conduct on the Service, and other limitations. In short, be excellent to each other.
Your use of the Website and Service must not violate any applicable laws, including copyright or trademark laws, export control laws, or other laws in your jurisdiction. You are responsible for making sure that your use of the Service is in compliance with laws and any applicable regulations.
You agree that you will not under any circumstances upload, post, host, or transmit any content that:
While using WaniKani, you agree that you will not under any circumstances:
You agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service without Tofugu’s express written permission.
Scraping refers to extracting data from our Website via an automated process, such as a bot or webcrawler. It does not refer to the collection of information through WaniKani’s API. Please see Section G for our API Terms. You may scrape the Website for the following reasons:
You may not scrape WaniKani for spamming purposes, including for the purposes of selling WaniKani users’ personal information, such as to advertisers, recruiters, or job boards.
All use of WaniKani data gathered through scraping must comply with the WaniKani Privacy Policy.
Misuse of WaniKani Users’ Personal Information is prohibited.
Any person, entity, or service collecting data from WaniKani must comply with the WaniKani Privacy Policy, particularly in regards to the collection of our Users’ Personal Information (as defined in the WaniKani Privacy Policy). If you collect any WaniKani User’s Personal Information from WaniKani, you agree that you will only use the Personal Information you gather for the purpose for which our User has authorized it. You agree that you will reasonably secure any Personal Information you have gathered from WaniKani, and you will respond promptly to complaints, removal requests, and “do not contact” requests from Tofugu or WaniKani Users.
If we determine your bandwidth usage to be significantly excessive in relation to other WaniKani customers, we reserve the right to suspend your account or throttle your access until you can reduce your bandwidth consumption.
You agree not to engage in activity that significantly harms our Users. We will resolve disputes in favor of protecting our Users as a whole.
Short version: You own content you create, but you allow us certain rights to it, so that we can display and share the content you post. You still have control over your content, and responsibility for it, and the rights you grant us are limited to those we need to provide the Service. We have the right to remove content or close accounts if we need to.
You may create or upload User-Generated Content while using the Service. You are solely responsible for the content of, and for any harm resulting from, any User-Generated Content that you post, upload, link to or otherwise make available via the Service, regardless of the form of that Content. We are not responsible for any public display or misuse of your User-Generated Content.
We do not pre-screen User-Generated Content, but we have the right (though not the obligation) to refuse or remove any User-Generated Content that, in our sole discretion, violates any Tofugu terms or policies.
You retain ownership of and responsibility for Content you create or own (“Your Content”). If you’re posting anything you did not create yourself or do not own the rights to, you agree that you are responsible for any Content you post; that you will only submit Content that you have the right to post; and that you will fully comply with any third party licenses relating to Content you post.
Because you retain ownership of and responsibility for Your Content, we need you to grant us — and other WaniKani Users — certain legal permissions, listed in Sections D.4–D.5. These license grants apply to Your Content. If you upload Content that already comes with a license granting Tofugu the permissions we need to run our Service, no additional license is required. You understand that you will not receive any payment for any of the rights granted in Sections D.4–D.5. The licenses you grant to us will end when you remove Your Content from our servers.
We need the legal right to do things like host Your Content, publish it, and share it. You grant us and our legal successors the right to store, parse, and display Your Content, and make incidental copies as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service. This includes the right to do things like copy it to our database and make backups; show it to you and other users; parse it into a search index or otherwise analyze it on our servers; share it with other users; and perform it, in case Your Content is something like music or video.
This license does not grant Tofugu the right to sell Your Content or otherwise distribute or use it outside of our provision of the Service.
You retain all moral rights to Your Content that you upload, publish, or submit to any part of the Service, including the rights of integrity and attribution. However, you waive these rights and agree not to assert them against us, to enable us to reasonably exercise the rights granted in Section D.4, but not otherwise.
To the extent this Agreement is not enforceable by applicable law, you grant Tofugu the rights we need to use Your Content without attribution and to make reasonable adaptations of Your Content as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service.
If you believe that content on our Website violates your copyright, please contact us in accordance with our Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy. If you are a copyright owner and you believe that content on WaniKani violates your rights, please contact us by emailing copyright@wanikani.com. There may be legal consequences for sending a false or frivolous takedown notice. Before sending a takedown request, you must consider legal uses such as fair use and licensed uses.
We disable and terminate the accounts of users who may infringe upon the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Tofugu or others, in appropriate circumstances and at our sole discretion.
Short version: We own the Service and all of our content. In order for you to use our content, we give you certain rights to it, but you may only use our content in the way we have allowed.
Tofugu and our licensors, vendors, agents, and/or our content providers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights of any kind related to the Website and Service. We reserve all rights that are not expressly granted to you under this Agreement or by law. The look and feel of the Website and Service is copyright © Tofugu, LLC. All rights reserved. You may not duplicate, copy, or reuse any portion of the HTML/CSS, Javascript, or visual design elements or concepts without express written permission from Tofugu.
This Agreement is licensed under this Creative Commons Zero license. For details, see our site-policy repository.
Short version: You agree to these Terms of Service, plus this Section G, when using any of WaniKani’s APIs (Application Program Interface), including use of the API through a third party product that accesses WaniKani.
No Abuse or Overuse of the API
Abuse or excessively frequent requests to WaniKani via the API may result in the temporary or permanent suspension of your account’s access to the API. Tofugu, in our sole discretion, will determine abuse or excessive usage of the API. We will make a reasonable attempt to warn you via email prior to suspension.
You may not share API tokens to exceed WaniKani’s rate limitations.
You may not use the API to download data or Content from WaniKani for spamming purposes, including for the purposes of selling WaniKani users’ personal information, such as to recruiters, headhunters, and job boards.
All use of the WaniKani API is subject to these Terms of Service and the WaniKani Privacy Policy.
Tofugu may offer subscription-based access to our API for those Users who require high-throughput access or access that would result in resale of Tofugu’s Service.
Short version: We generally prohibit the use of WaniKani for advertising, so it does not become a spam haven. No one wants that.
Advertising Content is limited to the promotion of personal projects or personal professional development. Any advertising for a business entity is prohibited without approval by Tofugu.
Any Advertising Content, like all Content, must not violate the law or these Terms of Use, such as the restrictions on appropriate use of WaniKani. We reserve the right to remove any advertisements that, in our sole discretion, violate any Tofugu terms or policies.
Short version: You are responsible for any fees associated with your use of WaniKani. We are responsible for communicating those fees to you clearly and accurately, and letting you know well in advance if those prices change.
Our pricing and payment terms are available at wanikani.com/account/subscription. If you agree to a subscription price, that will remain your price for the duration of the payment term; however, prices are subject to change at the end of a payment term. Decreases in a subscription price may be applied in the middle of a payment term.
By agreeing to these Terms, you are giving us permission to charge your on-file credit card or other approved methods of payment for fees that you authorize for WaniKani.
You are responsible for all fees, including taxes, associated with your use of the Service. By using the Service, you agree to pay Tofugu any charge incurred in connection with your use of the Service. If you dispute the matter, contact our support team. You are responsible for providing us with a valid means of payment for paid accounts. Free accounts are not required to provide payment information.
Short version: You may close your account at any time. If you do, we’ll treat your information responsibly.
You can cancel your subscription at any time via the subscription settings. Your access to paid content and features will remain in effect until the end of your current billing period. At the end of the billing period, access to paid content and features will be revoked, though your account will still be accessible and you can re-subscribe at any time. As part of keeping your account accessible, we will retain your data indefinitely, or until such time that you request an account deletion.
It is your responsibility to properly delete your account with WaniKani. You can delete your account at any time by going into your settings in the global navigation bar at the top of the screen and then navigating to the “Danger Zone” section. The Danger Zone screen provides a simple account deletion link, though email confirmation of the action is required. We are not able to delete accounts in response to an email or phone request.
We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our Agreements, but barring legal requirements, we will delete your full profile immediately. Note that some information may remain in secure backups. This information can not be recovered once your account is deleted.
We will not delete Content that you have contributed to the community forums, but it will be publicly anonymized.
Upon request, we will make a reasonable effort to provide an account owner with a copy of your lawful, non-infringing account contents before account cancellation, deletion, termination, or downgrade.
Tofugu has the right to suspend or terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. Tofugu reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.
All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
Short version: We use email and other electronic means to stay in touch with our users.
For contractual purposes, you (1) consent to receive communications from us in an electronic form via the email address you have submitted or via the Service; and (2) agree that all Terms of Service, Agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that those communications would satisfy if they were on paper. This section does not affect your non-waivable rights.
Communications made through email or WaniKani Support’s messaging system will not constitute legal notice to Tofugu or any of its officers, employees, agents or representatives in any situation where notice to Tofugu is required by contract or any law or regulation. Legal notice to Tofugu must be in writing and served on Tofugu’s legal agent.
WaniKani only offers support via email, in-Service communications, and electronic messages. We do not offer telephone support.
Short version: We provide our Service as is, and we make no promises or guarantees about this Service. Please read this section carefully; you should understand what to expect.
Tofugu provides the Website and the Service “as is” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind. Without limiting this, we expressly disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied or statutory, regarding the Website and the Service including without limitation any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, security, accuracy and non-infringement.
Tofugu does not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements; that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; that the information provided through the Service is accurate, reliable or correct; that any defects or errors will be corrected; that the Service will be available at any particular time or location; or that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components. You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from your downloading and/or use of files, information, content or other material obtained from the Service.
Short version: We will not be liable for damages or losses arising from your use or inability to use the Service or otherwise arising under this Agreement. Please read this section carefully; it limits our obligations to you.
You understand and agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for any loss of profits, use, goodwill, or data, or for any incidental, indirect, special, consequential or exemplary damages, however arising, that result from:
Our liability is limited whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damages, and even if a remedy set forth in this Agreement is found to have failed of its essential purpose. We will have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond our reasonable control.
Short version: You are responsible for your use of the Service. If you harm someone else or get into a dispute with someone else, we will not be involved.
If you have a dispute with one or more Users, you agree to release Tofugu from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
You agree to indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless from and against any and all claims, liabilities, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website and the Service, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement, provided that Tofugu (1) promptly gives you written notice of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding; (2) gives you sole control of the defense and settlement of the claim, demand, suit or proceeding (provided that you may not settle any claim, demand, suit or proceeding unless the settlement unconditionally releases Tofugu of all liability); and (3) provides to you all reasonable assistance, at your expense.
Short version: We want our users to be informed of important changes to our terms, but some changes aren’t that important — we don’t want to bother you every time we fix a typo. So while we may modify this Agreement at any time, we will notify users of any changes that affect your rights and give you time to adjust to them.
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to amend these Terms of Service at any time and will update these Terms of Service in the event of any such amendments. We will notify our Users of material changes to this Agreement, such as price changes, at least 30 days prior to the change taking effect by posting a notice on our Website. For non-material modifications, your continued use of the Website constitutes agreement to our revisions of these Terms of Service.
We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Website (or any part of it) with or without notice.
Except to the extent applicable law provides otherwise, this Agreement between you and Tofugu and any access to or use of the Website or the Service are governed by the federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of Oregon, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You and Tofugu agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts located in Portland, Oregon.
Any contests, sweepstakes or other promotions (collectively, “Promotions”) made available through the Service may be governed by rules that are separate from these Terms. If you participate in any Promotions, please review the applicable rules as well as our Privacy Policy. If the rules for a Promotion conflict with these Terms, the Promotion rules will apply.
Tofugu may assign or delegate these Terms of Service and/or the WaniKani Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent, including the license grant in Section D.4. You may not assign or delegate any rights or obligations under the Terms of Service or Privacy Statement without our prior written consent, and any unauthorized assignment and delegation by you is void.
Throughout this Agreement, each section includes titles and brief summaries of the following terms and conditions. These section titles and brief summaries are not legally binding.
If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion of the Agreement will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent. The remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. Any failure on the part of Tofugu to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of our right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement will survive any termination of this Agreement.
This Agreement may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized representative of Tofugu, or by the posting by Tofugu of a revised version in accordance with Section O. Changes to These Terms. These Terms of Service, together with the WaniKani Privacy Statement, represent the complete and exclusive statement of the Agreement between you and us. This Agreement supersedes any proposal or prior Agreement oral or written, and any other communications between you and Tofugu relating to the subject matter of these terms including any confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements.
Questions about the Terms of Service? Contact us.