Terms governing access to and use of the 10 Seconds messaging service.
The 10 Seconds service is operated by Sterling and Pierce Holding L.L.C-FZ, established at Meydan Grandstand, 6th Floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai, United Arab Emirates ("10 Seconds", "we", "us", or "our"). Further company and contact information is available in our Legal Notice.
These Terms govern access to and use of the service by consumers and business users. They must be made available before acceptance and accepted through an affirmative action in the registration or ordering process. Merely visiting our public website does not constitute acceptance of a paid subscription.
The applicable Terms must be available in a form that users can retain and reproduce. Where required by law, contractual confirmation is supplied on a durable medium.
The Terms of Sale govern purchases and billing. The Refund Policy governs refunds, subject to mandatory law. The Acceptable Use Policy forms part of the rules governing use of the service where properly disclosed and incorporated into the contract.
The Privacy Policy explains personal data processing. Acceptance of these Terms does not constitute consent to all processing, advertising, or non-essential tracking. Any consent required by law is requested separately.
A separately negotiated business agreement takes precedence only for the matters and parties it expressly covers. It does not remove mandatory rights of other users.
10 Seconds is a hosted messaging service designed for private, prearranged communications between two participants. Participants arrange to access the same private chat. The service does not provide unsolicited incoming chat messages, audio calls, or video calls.
The service is available for lawful personal and professional use. Individual subscriptions (Clear Trail / Ghost Protocol) and Enterprise packs (5 to 1000 seats) are available to both consumers and business customers.
The features, supported environments, technical requirements, duration, and limits applicable to an offer are disclosed before purchase. Material technical restrictions are not introduced solely through documentation made available after purchase.
10 Seconds is not an emergency communications service or an archival service. Use of the service does not, by itself, establish legal privilege or satisfy professional recordkeeping, confidentiality, or sector-specific compliance requirements.
The service uses end-to-end encryption and strict session-expiry mechanisms. The following behaviour applies to the standard service and reflects the actual technical implementation; full details are maintained in the Security documentation.
Removal from the chat interface, expiry of a message, and destruction of the server-side session are distinct operations. The periods above apply to the standard service; any additional or different behaviour (attachments, undelivered messages, administrative access in Enterprise packs) is described in the Security documentation and Privacy Policy.
Message expiry does not prevent a recipient from photographing, recording, screen-capturing, copying, downloading where permitted, or otherwise retaining information before it disappears from the interface. We cannot guarantee deletion of copies independently retained by another participant.
Encryption does not eliminate risks arising from compromised devices, exposed credentials, malicious software, or disclosure by another participant. The service does not guarantee absolute anonymity, untraceability, or immunity from lawful investigation.
These limitations do not reduce any express security commitment forming part of your contract or exclude responsibility for our own breaches of applicable obligations.
You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity required to enter into the contract under applicable law. If you act on behalf of an organisation, you must have authority to bind it.
You must provide accurate information where requested for account administration, billing, or a lawful verification requirement. The information actually collected and its purposes are explained in our Privacy Policy. A pseudonymous chat identifier does not imply that no personal data is processed elsewhere in the service.
You must take reasonable care to protect your credentials, devices, and any chat access information. Do not disclose access credentials to unauthorised persons. Notify us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access.
We do not make you automatically responsible for every action performed through your account regardless of its cause. Responsibility depends on the circumstances and applicable law.
Password loss is irrecoverable by design: your password is used to locally encrypt your private cryptographic key, which the Publisher cannot decrypt or reset. Restoring account access does not restore cryptographic keys or expired messages.
Paid access is supplied for the period and under the conditions stated in your order confirmation and the Terms of Sale. Prices, applicable taxes, payment methods, and any renewal arrangements are disclosed before purchase.
These Terms do not independently authorise recurring charges. Automatic renewal applies only where clearly disclosed and validly accepted, with any legally required reminders and cancellation methods.
Cancelling renewal, terminating access, and obtaining a refund are separate actions. Applicable rights are explained in the Refund Policy. Activation or login does not, by itself, waive statutory rights.
Price changes do not retroactively alter a period already purchased. Changes for a future renewal are notified and implemented in accordance with the contract and applicable law, with an opportunity to prevent renewal before the new price takes effect.
Enterprise packs (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 or 1000 seats) provide multiple accesses within the limits stated in the relevant offer. They are not reserved for businesses. Consumer or business status depends on the actual purpose and circumstances of the purchase, not the pack name.
A pack administrator (master account) may create or allocate sub-accounts only through the features and within the permissions supplied with the pack. Each authorised user receives the applicable usage rules before using the service.
Administrative permissions do not, by themselves, confer a right to read private communications or access another user's credentials. The master account can create, rename, and reset sub-account passwords, but cannot access sub-accounts' private cryptographic keys or chat content.
Enterprise packs do not automatically include resale, white-label, sublicensing, or public redistribution rights. Any such rights require a separate agreement.
Changes between offers depend on available functionality and the applicable commercial terms. No change, migration, or new registration requirement removes statutory rights or amounts already lawfully owed.
For the duration of your authorised access, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive right to use the service for its intended lawful purposes, subject to these Terms and the relevant offer. This right may be suspended or terminated only as provided in these Terms and applicable law.
Rights in the service, website, branding, and documentation belong to Sterling and Pierce Holding L.L.C-FZ or the relevant owners and licensors. Access does not transfer ownership. Third-party components remain subject to their applicable licences, as described on our Licences page.
You must not unlawfully copy, distribute, modify, resell, or circumvent access controls. Restrictions on reverse engineering, observation, testing, or decompilation do not apply to the extent that mandatory law or an applicable third-party licence expressly permits the activity.
You retain any rights you hold in information you communicate. You authorise only the technical processing necessary to provide the requested service, subject to applicable law and our Privacy Policy. These Terms do not grant us a general right to publish or commercially exploit your private communications.
You must comply with applicable law and the Acceptable Use Policy. In particular, you must not use the service to:
Security research must remain within any express authorisation or rights provided by applicable law. Security concerns can be reported to contact@10seconds.io.
Privacy tools (VPN, Tor) may be used where lawful in the user's jurisdiction, but do not authorise unlawful conduct. Users' obligations do not transfer our own regulatory obligations to users.
We will provide the service with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with applicable contractual and statutory requirements. This includes applicable obligations concerning conformity, security, and necessary updates.
We do not promise uninterrupted availability unless expressly stated in an applicable service-level agreement. Maintenance, security incidents, and circumstances outside our reasonable control may affect availability.
Where reasonably practicable, we provide advance notice of planned maintenance that materially affects access and take reasonable steps to limit disruption.
No availability limitation removes mandatory remedies for failure to supply or non-conformity, including correction, price reduction, termination, or reimbursement where applicable.
Changes may be necessary to address security threats, comply with legal requirements, maintain compatibility with supported technologies, correct defects, or improve functionality. These reasons do not give us an unrestricted right to remove essential features from an existing paid contract.
Changes are made only as permitted by the contract and applicable law. Where required, we explain their nature, timing, and consequences reasonably in advance on a durable medium. Urgent security or legal measures may require shorter notice.
Where applicable EU rules permit a modification beyond what is necessary to maintain conformity (Directive 2019/770), the contractual and statutory conditions must be satisfied, including a valid reason and no additional cost for that modification.
Where such a modification negatively affects access or use by more than a minor amount, the consumer may have the right to terminate without charge within 30 days of receiving the notice or implementation of the change, whichever is later. Any statutory exception, including the option to retain an unchanged, conforming service without additional cost, applies only under the conditions established by law.
We do not treat continued use alone as acceptance of a change where affirmative agreement is legally required. A mandatory acknowledgment screen does not remove rights to reject a change, terminate, or obtain a legally required refund. Changes do not retroactively remove accrued rights.
You may stop using the service and exercise cancellation, non-renewal, or termination rights through the applicable procedures or by contacting contact@10seconds.io. Any legally required online cancellation method is also available.
We may restrict access where reasonably necessary because of a material breach, substantiated security or fraud concerns, non-payment, or a legally binding requirement. Measures must be proportionate to their grounds and scope.
Where practicable and appropriate, we provide notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy a breach. Immediate action may be taken where delay would create a serious risk, the breach cannot reasonably be remedied, or the law requires it.
Unless legally prohibited or incompatible with a justified security requirement, we explain the restriction and provide a means to request review by contacting support. Unjustified restrictions are lifted without undue delay.
A payment dispute or chargeback does not automatically establish misconduct or justify suspension. Exercising a statutory complaint or privacy right is not, by itself, a breach of these Terms.
If we discontinue a paid service for reasons unrelated to your breach, we provide reasonable notice where practicable and refund prepaid amounts attributable to the unprovided period, without limiting any additional rights required by law.
Termination for breach does not automatically entitle us to retain all prepaid amounts. Any retention or claim must be lawful, justified, and consistent with applicable refund rights.
When access ends, your right to use the service ends, subject to any transition or retrieval rights required by law or expressly agreed. Account closure does not restore expired messages or information that is no longer available.
Personal data is deleted, anonymised, or retained according to the Privacy Policy and applicable law. Account closure does not require immediate deletion of invoices, transaction records, or records necessary for legally justified claims (notably accounting records retained for 10 years under applicable tax law).
Where law requires retrieval or portability of available data or user-provided content, we provide the applicable assistance, subject to lawful exceptions and actual availability.
Our Privacy Policy describes data collection, purposes, legal bases, recipients, retention, processing locations, transfers, and available rights. Hosting information is provided in the Legal Notice.
Technical, payment, and support providers (notably Stripe and CoinPayments) may process information necessary for their functions as disclosed in the Privacy Policy. We do not describe the service as involving no third-party processing merely because message content is encrypted.
Payment and billing information may be subject to proportionate verification by us or relevant providers where legally justified. These Terms do not authorise unlimited identity collection or unnecessary disclosure.
Requests from authorities are assessed under applicable law, including jurisdiction, validity, scope, and applicable restrictions on disclosure or international transfers. We provide information only where legally permitted or required and to the extent it is available.
No term promises that data can never be disclosed or that information not held by us can be recovered. Further information is available in our Law Enforcement information.
Purchasing or using the messaging service is separate from participating in an affiliate or referral programme. Participation is optional and governed by separately disclosed and accepted terms, where the programme is lawfully available.
These Terms do not independently establish commission amounts, referral levels, eligibility criteria, payment schedules, or commission rights for Enterprise packs. Those matters are governed by the applicable Affiliate Terms or Introducer Agreement.
No income, profitability, or recurring earnings are guaranteed. Any compensation must relate to qualifying genuine transactions under the applicable programme and must not reward recruitment alone. Participation must not involve artificial purchases or misleading representations about earnings or the service.
Affiliates must disclose their commercial relationship where required and may not make unauthorised security, anonymity, legal-immunity, or earnings claims.
An account change does not retrospectively extinguish commissions already lawfully earned, subject to valid refund, fraud, and adjustment provisions in the relevant agreement.
Each party is responsible for breaches attributable to it under applicable law. The ephemeral nature of the service and the limitations disclosed before purchase are relevant to assessing what was promised, but do not excuse our failure to deliver contractual obligations.
For consumers, these Terms do not impose a contractual monetary cap on remedies that applicable consumer law protects. No provision excludes statutory guarantees or remedies for non-supply, non-conformity, or unlawful personal data processing.
For business customers only, and subject to the exceptions below, our aggregate liability arising from the affected service is limited to the fees paid or payable for that service during the 12 months immediately preceding the event giving rise to liability. A separately negotiated agreement may provide a different allocation.
For business customers only, we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses to the extent this exclusion is enforceable under the applicable law.
These limitations do not apply to fraud, wilful misconduct, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, mandatory refund obligations, or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. They do not restrict the rights of third-party data subjects or the powers of regulators.
Device compromise or a third party's conduct does not automatically exempt us from responsibility where our own breach contributed to the harm.
Questions and complaints may be sent to contact@10seconds.io, which is the single point of contact for all matters. We handle requests without undue delay and within any applicable statutory deadline. Contacting us first is not a mandatory prerequisite to exercising legal rights unless applicable law requires it.
Subject to mandatory applicable rules, these Terms are governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates. This choice does not deprive a consumer of non-waivable protections under otherwise applicable law, including those of the country of habitual residence where the relevant conditions are met.
For business disputes, the competent courts of Dubai have jurisdiction to the extent a jurisdiction agreement is legally effective, unless a separate agreement provides otherwise.
Consumers retain access to any court, regulator, or mandatory dispute-resolution mechanism available under applicable law. These Terms do not impose mandatory arbitration or a class-action waiver.
If a provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply where the contract can lawfully continue. An invalid provision is not automatically rewritten to impose the maximum restriction on the consumer.
Failure to enforce a provision on one occasion does not, by itself, waive the right to enforce it later. Any transfer of the contract by us must preserve existing rights and satisfy applicable notice and consent requirements.
Mandatory law takes precedence over inconsistent contractual wording. Information and translations required by applicable local law must be provided. No language-precedence provision overrides mandatory consumer protections.
Version 2026.12 · October 21, 2026.
Published by Sterling and Pierce Holding L.L.C-FZ, Meydan Free Zone, Dubai (UAE).
Contact: contact@10seconds.io — single point of contact for all matters.