Terms of use

Bilitly helps international students in Europe work out where they can go, roughly what a trip would cost, and what there is to see, and it lets them share places and meet up. That is all it is.

It is not an immigration authority and its answers are not a decision. The entry verdict on a card is our reading of published rules and an open dataset; the money is an estimate. Only the destination's own embassy or immigration service can tell you whether you may enter. Always check with them before you book anything. If a rule on Bilitly turns out to be wrong, we are sorry and we will fix it, but we cannot pay for a flight, a fee, a fine or a refused entry.

Bilitly takes no bookings and handles no money. When you tap through to a flight, hotel, train or tour site, your contract is with them, under their terms, not ours. See Where our data comes from for what every number on a card is based on.

• You must be 16 or older to make an account.
• An account is for one person. Do not share it, and do not make one in somebody else's name.
• Keep your password to yourself. Anything done from your account counts as done by you, so if you think somebody else has got in, change your password straight away.
• Use a real way to be reached: an email address you actually own.
• You can close your account whenever you like, from Settings. It deletes your profile, your postcards, your comments and your meetups, and it cannot be undone. If Settings tells you that deleting is not switched on yet, write to us and we will do it by hand.

Post your own photos of places, and write about them honestly. That is the whole idea. What is not allowed:

• Somebody else's photo. Post pictures you took, or that you clearly have the right to post.
• Photos of people who did not agree to be posted, and anything that would show where a person lives, studies or works without their say.
• Photos whose subject is a child. Do not post one, and do not post somebody who asked not to be posted. Anyone can report "I am in this photo and I did not agree".
• Anything illegal, or anything that helps somebody break the law.
• Hate, harassment, threats, or attacks on people for who they are.
• Sexual content, nudity, and anything at all involving minors.
• Spam, scams, bulk advertising, and links that are there to sell rather than to help.
• Pretending to be somebody else, or presenting an invented place or review as real.

What you post stays yours. By posting it you give Bilitly a free, non-exclusive permission to show it inside the app, to the people you chose for it, for as long as you leave it up. That includes showing it as a trip idea on the page of the place it names, on Can I go?, in the Day planner and in the list of members' places in its country. Next to it, Bilitly may add a way to get there, such as directions, a train, a flight search or an entry ticket for that place. Bilitly adds those links, not you. Some of them earn Bilitly a commission. You are not paid for it, and your postcard is not presented as your recommendation of the seller. You can switch trip ideas off in Settings. Delete a postcard and the permission ends. Bilitly uses a postcard outside the app only if you switch that on for that postcard.

A pin puts a postcard on your travel map and on the page of that place, where other members read it as somebody who was there. So: pin a postcard only to a place you have really been, with a photo you took or may post.

Tag only people who are fine with being named on that postcard, and remove a tag when you are asked to. A tag puts somebody else's name on your photo, which is a thing you are doing to them and not only on your own page. They can remove it themselves at any time, and once they have, it cannot go back on that postcard.

We can remove a postcard, a comment, a photo or a meetup that breaks the rules above, and we can close an account that keeps doing it or that does something serious once. Where we reasonably can, we will say why. If you think we got it wrong, write to us and we will look again. While we look at a report about a postcard, we stop suggesting it as a trip idea, and we tell you.

Reporting. Every postcard, comment, profile and meetup can be reported from inside the app. Reports go to us, not to the person you reported, and we read them. Bilitly is new enough that a report may still come back saying reporting is not switched on yet; if it does, write to us instead and it reaches the same person. If somebody is in danger, call the emergency services first: we are not a service that can help in the moment.

A meetup on Bilitly is one member inviting others. Bilitly does not check, verify or vet anybody. A name, a photo and a bio on a profile are whatever that person typed, and we have not confirmed any of it.

• Meet in a public place, especially the first time.
• Tell somebody you trust where you are going.
• A host decides who joins. Nobody sees the exact spot until the host lets them in.
• You take part at your own risk, and you are responsible for your own safety and behaviour.
• If somebody makes you uncomfortable, leave, and report them.

The meetup chat is for arranging the meetup. No harassment, no spam, and no sharing of other people's private details, the exact place of somebody else's meetup included. Messages can be reported, and we may read reported messages.

Some links on Bilitly carry a tag that tells the partner site the visit came from us, and we may earn a commission if you book there. It costs you nothing, and it does not change what we recommend or in which order: the ranking is computed from your passport, your budget and the place, never from what pays. Where a link is attributed, the app says so next to it.

Bilitly is free and is offered as it is. We do not promise that it will always be available, that a figure is accurate, or that a destination is right for you. Entry rules, prices and opening times change constantly and we may not know yet.

As far as the law allows, we are not liable for loss that follows from using the app: a trip that did not work out, a booking made on an estimate, a refused entry, or content another member posted. Nothing here limits liability that cannot legally be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for our own fraud. If you are a consumer, your rights under Dutch and EU consumer law are untouched by anything on this page.

We may change these terms as the app changes. The date at the top says when they last changed, and a change that matters will be signposted in the app rather than slipped in. Carrying on using Bilitly after a change means the new terms apply.

You can stop using Bilitly at any time by deleting your account. We can suspend or end an account that breaks these terms, or stop running the service altogether, in which case we will give whatever notice we reasonably can.

These terms are governed by Dutch law, and disputes go to the competent court in the Netherlands. If you are a consumer, you can also bring a case in the country where you live.

We do not have a public inbox yet, so for now please reach us through whoever shared Bilitly with you. This page will carry an address as soon as there is one to publish.

See also: Privacy and Where our data comes from.