PennyOS terms
The terms for using this website, the PennyOS software, and the hosted services the project runs. Effective 14 October 2026.
1. What these terms cover
These terms apply to this website, the PennyOS software, and the hosted services the project operates for the software (the Link hub, the News API and the property lookup). By using any of them you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use them.
2. Access to the software
PennyOS is an independent, non-commercial project and is not sold. The source code is shared by request. Access to the repository lets you install and modify PennyOS on devices you own for your own use. It does not grant a right to redistribute the source, publish modified versions, or sell the software unless the project agrees in writing. Third-party components remain under their own licenses.
3. Pre-release software
PennyOS changes often. Releases can contain bugs that cause data loss, a device that will not boot, or unexpected battery drain. Keep backups of anything you cannot lose.
4. Your device, your server, your accounts
- You are responsible for your own hardware, the disk you set up, the server you connect, and the accounts and keys you configure.
- If you encrypt the disk and forget the PIN, the data on it is unrecoverable. There is no reset.
- Messages uses your own Beeper account under Beeper's terms. Sends to WhatsApp are guarded and capped by the app; what the networks do with a message is theirs.
5. Acceptable use
You agree not to use PennyOS or the project's services to:
- stalk, harass, threaten, dox or surveil any person, or to locate a person who does not want to be found;
- break the law, including privacy, anti-stalking, data protection, computer misuse and consumer reporting laws where you live;
- access accounts, systems, networks, radios or data you are not authorised to access, including with Analyze, Mesh, Router or the Terminal;
- overload, scrape or abuse the project's hosted services or any third-party service, or violate a third-party service's terms;
- make decisions about employment, housing, credit or insurance using Search results.
Search only reads public sources and hands out links; it does not make a lawful purpose for you. Analyze takes apart firmware and binaries; use it only on what you are allowed to examine.
6. Third-party services and AI output
PennyOS connects to services it does not control, including Anthropic's Claude, Beeper, Cloudflare, OpenStreetMap, Open-Meteo, BeaconDB, the Internet Archive and public records sources. Your use of each is governed by that provider's terms. Their data can be wrong, incomplete, delayed or unavailable. Answers from Ask, Chat, Research, the Store dig and Search's web pass are produced by AI models and may be inaccurate. Verify anything that matters.
7. Safety information
Field shows emergency numbers and nearby places from static tables and volunteer mapped data. Trip's offline directions are computed from data built on your server and can be wrong or out of date. Do not rely on PennyOS as your only source in an emergency.
8. Hosted services
The project's hosted services are provided free, as a convenience, and may change, rate limit or stop at any time without notice. The project may block channels or reader ids that abuse them.
9. No warranty
The website, the software and the hosted services are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy and uninterrupted operation.
10. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, the project and its contributors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, devices, profits or goodwill, arising from your use of the website, the software or the hosted services, even if advised of the possibility. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid to use them, which is zero.
11. Trademarks
PennyOS is not affiliated with any company named on this site. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners.
12. Changes
These terms may change when the software does. The effective date above is the date of the current version. Continued use after a change means you accept the new terms.
13. Contact
Use the Contact me button on this page.