Last updated: October 3, 2026
These terms govern your use of Driftbottle. By creating an account, you agree to them.
Driftbottle is operated by Cipher Haus, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("we", "us"). You can reach us at [email protected].
You must be at least 13 years old to use Driftbottle. If you're under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live), you may only use Driftbottle with the permission of a parent or legal guardian, who agrees to these terms for you. Sign-up asks for the month and year you were born, to check your age (we don't keep them). By creating an account, you confirm that you meet these requirements and that the information you provide is accurate. We delete accounts we learn belong to someone under 13.
Apple's App Store and Google Play can also share an age range for the account the app was installed from. Where they do, we use it to check the same thing, and we keep only whether it cleared the age requirement — not the range itself (see our Privacy Policy). Where nothing is shared, the birth month and year you enter decide on their own. Permission from a parent or guardian for a child to use an app is given and recorded at the app store, not here: what we do is check what the store tells us and apply the limits your device reports. If a parent withdraws that permission for Driftbottle, the account stops working until the store tells us the age again.
Driftbottle lets you drop virtual "message bottles" — a voice recording, photo, or text message — at a real place, for other users who go there to find. Bottle sizes and daily drop bundles are earned with in-app coins, a virtual currency usable only within the app. Coins are earned through gameplay. Coin purchases with real money may be offered in the future through Apple's or Google's in-app purchase system; if they are, those purchases will be processed and billed entirely by Apple or Google — we never see or store your payment details — and subject to their respective refund policies rather than ours. Coins, however obtained, have no real-world monetary value and can't be redeemed for cash, exchanged, or transferred outside the app.
Driftbottle uses your device's precise location to show you the bottles you can pick up where you are, and to leave a bottle near where you are when you drop one. We don't store your location. The only places we keep are where bottles are, and a bottle you drop (or leave with "Drop here") isn't kept at your exact spot, but at an approximate one within 40 metres of it (see our Privacy Policy). Other players never see coordinates, a map, how far away anything is, or when a bottle was dropped, but finding a bottle means being close to it (within its pickup radius of 50 to 100 metres), so:
Don't drop bottles somewhere that reveals where you live, go to school or spend your time unless you're comfortable with strangers knowing, and don't drop or look for bottles in places that aren't safe or appropriate to visit (private property, restricted areas, hazardous locations). Use good judgment, and never meet up with another user in person based on bottle activity without normal in-person-meeting safety precautions — we have no way to verify who's on the other end of a bottle. If you're under 18, don't meet up with anyone you know only from Driftbottle.
You keep ownership of what you create on Driftbottle — your recordings, text messages, labels, bottle names, bottler name and social links. You grant Cipher Haus, LLC a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, display and deliver that content to other users, only in order to operate Driftbottle. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except where the law requires us to keep it or our Privacy Policy says we keep a copy (of reported content, for example), and except for copies other users already received or kept before then (for example, a label another player saved as a keepsake). You confirm that you have the rights needed to post what you post.
You're responsible for what you post. You agree not to use Driftbottle to:
We have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. You can report any bottle you find from within the app, its label included — and the label on a labeled bottle in your inventory — and block whoever dropped the bottle (so neither of you sees the other's bottles again) or drew the label (so they don't see yours). A label someone else put on a bottle of yours goes to whoever finds it next, not to you, so it's theirs and our moderators' to act on rather than yours. We review reports promptly — aiming to act within 24 hours — and may remove content, restrict features, or suspend or delete accounts that violate these terms, at our discretion. Staff can view any bottle's content, and where it is, for moderation.
You can delete your account at any time from within the app (the account icon at the top right, then Account › Danger Zone › Delete Account) — in-app account deletion is provided in accordance with Apple's and Google's app store guidelines — or by emailing us (see Delete your Driftbottle account). We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or that we reasonably believe pose a safety risk to other users.
Driftbottle is provided "as is." We don't guarantee the app will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any particular bottle, location, or piece of content will remain available. Location accuracy depends on your device and isn't guaranteed to be exact.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Cipher Haus, LLC is not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the app, including anything arising from in-person interactions or meetups connected to app activity.
These terms, and any dispute arising from them or your use of Driftbottle, are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any such dispute will be heard in the state courts in Los Angeles County, California, or the federal courts for the Central District of California, and you and we agree to those courts' jurisdiction. This doesn't take away any protection the law where you live gives you that can't be waived by agreement, including any right it gives you to bring a claim in your local courts.
If we make material changes, we'll update the "last updated" date above. Continued use of the app after a change means you accept the updated terms.
Questions about these terms: [email protected]. Help with the app: Support.