Legal

Terms and conditions.

The terms that govern your use of Gathered Hands.

Last updated: October 12, 2026

These Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Gathered Hands website at gatheredhands.com, the Gathered Hands app for iPhone (the “App”), and our other applications and services (collectively, the “Platform”) operated by Gathered Hands (“Gathered Hands,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By creating an account, purchasing a membership, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

1. About the Platform

Gathered Hands is a two-sided membership platform that connects families seeking household and childcare help with independent nannies and caregivers. We provide tools for profiles, search, messaging, job posting, and applications. We do not employ nannies, place caregivers, or supervise any arrangement between families and nannies. Gathered Hands is not an employer, employment agency, or staffing agency, and is not a party to any agreement reached between members.

The Platform includes the App. These Terms apply in the same way whether you use the website or the App, and your account, membership, and content are the same in both.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a legally binding contract to use the Platform. By using the Platform, you represent that you meet these requirements and that all information you provide is accurate and current. We may refuse, suspend, or terminate access at our discretion.

3. Accounts and Memberships

3.1 Account Types

The Platform offers two account types: family accounts and nanny accounts. Family accounts may browse profiles, post jobs, and initiate contact with nannies. Nanny accounts may build a profile and apply to posted jobs. Messaging is one-directional: families initiate contact with nannies, and nannies may apply to jobs but cannot initiate contact with families.

3.2 Membership and Activation

Access to core features requires a paid membership billed as a recurring subscription. A family account opens when the family has completed its profile, saved a payment card, and published its first job. Its membership, and any free period offered at sign up, begins that day, and saving a card does not by itself open the account or start a charge. A family that subscribes in our iPhone app through the Apple App Store starts its membership there instead of saving a card. That membership, and any free trial the App Store offers with it, begins on the day of purchase, is billed by Apple, and is canceled from the subscription settings of the family's Apple account, as Section 4.2 describes. The family account still opens when the family publishes its first job. Nanny accounts require completion of onboarding, a background check, and administrative review before becoming visible and able to apply to jobs. Submitting payment does not guarantee approval of a nanny account.

3.3 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use.

4. Fees, Billing, and Cancellation

Memberships are billed in advance on a recurring basis. How a membership is billed, renewed, cancelled, and refunded depends on where you bought it: on our website, or in the App through the Apple App Store. Fees are stated at the point of purchase and may change on prospective notice.

4.1 Memberships Bought on Our Website

A membership bought on our website is billed by our third-party payment processor, Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method on each renewal date until you cancel. You manage this membership in your account settings, on the website or in the App, not in your Apple Account.

  • Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled through your account settings.
  • Cancellation stops future charges and takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
  • Except where required by law, fees already paid are non-refundable, including for partial billing periods.
  • Some nanny memberships include the cost of an initial background check in the first billing period; this portion is non-refundable once the check has been initiated.

4.2 Subscriptions Purchased Through the Apple App Store

If you subscribe in the App, you buy your membership through the Apple App Store, and the following applies in place of Section 4.1:

  • Apple bills the subscription to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. Gathered Hands does not bill it and never sees your payment details.
  • Your subscription renews automatically each month, and your Apple Account is charged for the next month within the 24 hours before the current period ends, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period.
  • You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings: on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then tap Subscriptions. Cancelling stops the next renewal, and your membership continues until the end of the period you have paid for. Deleting the App or your Gathered Hands account does not cancel an App Store subscription.
  • Where the App Store offers a free trial, its length is shown before you confirm, and the subscription is charged when the trial ends unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it does. Where applicable, any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription.
  • Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple under Apple’s own policies. To ask for one, contact Apple, for example through reportaproblem.apple.com. We cannot issue refunds for purchases Apple billed.

5. Background Checks

Nanny accounts are subject to a background check conducted by an independent third-party consumer reporting agency before the account may apply to jobs. By submitting to a background check, you authorize the agency to obtain and report relevant information and acknowledge that screening is governed by applicable law, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act and equivalent state laws. A clean result is required to apply to jobs.

Family accounts are not background-checked. Gathered Hands does not independently verify the identity, character, or fitness of families, and background screening of nannies is not a guarantee of any individual’s suitability, conduct, or safety. Members are solely responsible for their own due diligence.

6. Member Conduct

You agree not to:

  • Provide false, misleading, or impersonating information.
  • Use the Platform for any unlawful, discriminatory, or harmful purpose.
  • Harass, abuse, threaten, or endanger any other member.
  • Circumvent fees, scrape data, or use the Platform to build a competing service.
  • Post content that is obscene, defamatory, infringing, or that you do not have the right to share.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Platform or other accounts.

6.1 Objectionable Content and Abusive Members

We have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive members. You may not post, send, or share anything that harasses, bullies, or threatens another person; that promotes hate or violence against any person or group; that is sexually explicit; that sexualizes a minor in any way; or that is a scam, including a request for money or an attempt to obtain someone’s personal or financial information. This applies everywhere on the Platform, including profiles, photos, recordings, job posts, messages, and community posts and comments.

To enforce this rule:

  • Messages, community posts and comments, job posts, applications, reviews, and profile text are checked automatically before they are sent or go up, and anything that fails the check is turned back for the member to reword.
  • You can report a profile, a conversation, or a community post from the page itself, on the website or in the App.
  • You can block another member, as our Safety Policy describes. A member you block can no longer see you or reach you.
  • A person on our team reviews every report within 24 hours. We remove content that breaks these rules and suspend or remove the member responsible, and we cooperate with law enforcement where the law requires or permits.

7. Relationship Between Members

Any arrangement, agreement, employment relationship, or payment between a family and a nanny is solely between those parties. Families are responsible for understanding and complying with their obligations as household employers, which may include wage, tax, insurance, and labor-law requirements. Gathered Hands is not responsible for, and disclaims all liability arising from, any interaction or arrangement between members.

7.1 We Are Only a Platform; No Employment or Agency Relationship

Gathered Hands is solely a technology platform that allows families and nannies to find and connect with one another. We do not employ, hire, engage, place, supervise, direct, or control any nanny or caregiver, and we do not employ or act on behalf of any family. We are not an employer, joint employer, employment agency, staffing agency, recruiter, or babysitting or childcare service. Nannies are not our employees, agents, contractors, or representatives. We are not a party to, and assume no responsibility for, any communication, decision, agreement, hiring, employment, engagement, or arrangement between members. The decision to contact, meet, hire, work for, or allow any person into your home or near your family or children is made by you alone, at your own discretion and risk.

7.2 No Guarantee of Safety, Identity, or Suitability

Gathered Hands arranges background checks for nanny accounts through an independent third-party consumer reporting agency. A background check is a limited screening based on available records as of a point in time. It is not a guarantee, warranty, or assurance of any person’s safety, honesty, character, fitness, qualifications, identity, or future conduct. Background checks can be incomplete or inaccurate, may not surface all relevant information, and cannot predict how any person will behave. Gathered Hands does not independently verify the identity, statements, credentials, references, or conduct of any member, and does not endorse, recommend, or vouch for any family or nanny. You are solely responsible for conducting your own interviews, reference checks, and due diligence before entering into any arrangement, and for supervising any arrangement once it begins.

7.3 Assumption of Risk

You understand and agree that using the Platform to connect with other members, communicate with them, meet them in person, hire them, work for them, allow them into your home, or entrust them with the supervision of children involves inherent risks. You knowingly and voluntarily assume all such risks. Gathered Hands is not responsible or liable for the acts, omissions, conduct, negligence, or misconduct of any member or other third party, whether online or offline, including any harm, injury, illness, death, abuse, neglect, theft, property damage, financial loss, emotional distress, or other loss suffered by any child, nanny, family member, or other person in connection with any introduction or arrangement made through the Platform.

7.4 Release of Claims

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you, on behalf of yourself and anyone claiming through you, including your children, household members, heirs, and representatives, release and forever discharge Gathered Hands and its owners, officers, employees, and affiliates from any and all claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses of every kind, whether known or unknown, arising out of or relating to any interaction, communication, meeting, hiring, employment, or arrangement with any other member, or to the conduct of any member. This release does not apply where, and only to the extent that, applicable law does not permit it, including claims arising from a party’s own gross negligence or willful misconduct.

8. Content You Provide

You retain ownership of the content you submit, including profile text, prompt responses, photos, and audio. You grant Gathered Hands a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, display, and use that content as needed to operate and promote the Platform. You are responsible for ensuring you have the rights to any content you upload, and we may remove content that violates these Terms.

9. Listing Freshness and Removal

To keep the Platform current, inactive or stale listings and job posts may be automatically deactivated or removed. We may also remove profiles, listings, or accounts that violate these Terms or that we determine, in our discretion, are not appropriate for the Platform.

10. Intellectual Property

The Platform, including its design, software, text, graphics, logos, and the Gathered Hands name and marks, is owned by Gathered Hands or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from the Platform without our prior written consent.

11. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Gathered Hands disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any member will meet your expectations.

Without limiting the foregoing, Gathered Hands makes no representation or warranty regarding the safety, identity, character, honesty, background, qualifications, or conduct of any family, nanny, or other member, and disclaims any duty to screen, monitor, supervise, or protect any member. We are not responsible for and provide no warranty as to anything that happens to any child, nanny, family member, or other person before, during, or after any introduction or arrangement made through the Platform. Any reliance you place on background checks, profiles, prompts, or other information available through the Platform is at your own risk.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Gathered Hands and its officers, employees, and affiliates will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Platform or any interaction with another member. Our total aggregate liability for any claim relating to the Platform will not exceed the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Gathered Hands from any claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your use of the Platform, your content, your interactions with other members, or your violation of these Terms or applicable law.

14. Termination

You may stop using the Platform and deactivate your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms or for any other lawful reason. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will continue to apply.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

16. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree that any dispute arising from these Terms or the Platform will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in New York, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts, except where applicable consumer-protection law provides otherwise.

17. The App and Apple

This section applies when you download the App from the Apple App Store. The minimum terms Apple requires of an app’s license agreement, set out in Apple’s Licensed Application End User License Agreement, are incorporated into these Terms by reference, and the points below state them for the App. Where they differ from the rest of these Terms for the App, this section controls.

  • Acknowledgement. These Terms are between you and Gathered Hands only, not Apple Inc. (“Apple”). Gathered Hands, not Apple, is solely responsible for the App and its content. Apple is not a party to these Terms.
  • Scope of license. We grant you a limited, non-transferable license to use the App on any Apple-branded product you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, except that the App may also be used by other accounts associated with you through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
  • Maintenance and support. Gathered Hands alone is responsible for providing any maintenance and support for the App, as these Terms describe or as the law requires. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for the App.
  • Warranty. Gathered Hands alone is responsible for any product warranties, whether express or implied by law, to the extent they are not effectively disclaimed. If the App fails to conform to any warranty that applies, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the App, if any, to you. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation of any kind for the App, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses caused by a failure to conform to a warranty are the responsibility of Gathered Hands.
  • Product claims. Gathered Hands, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim by you or a third party relating to the App or your possession and use of it, including product liability claims, any claim that the App fails to conform to an applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar laws. These Terms do not limit our liability to you beyond what the law permits.
  • Intellectual property. If a third party claims that the App, or your possession and use of it, infringes their intellectual property rights, Gathered Hands, not Apple, is solely responsible for investigating, defending, settling, and discharging that claim.
  • Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo or that the U.S. Government has designated as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  • Contact. Questions, complaints, and claims about the App go to Gathered Hands, by email at hello@gatheredhands.com or through the contact form on the Platform.
  • Third-party terms. When you use the App, you must also comply with any third-party terms that apply to you, such as your wireless data provider’s.
  • Third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms as they relate to the App. Once you accept these Terms, Apple has the right, and will be deemed to have accepted the right, to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be directed to Gathered Hands at the contact details published on the Platform.