Module 1 · Chapter 1
Consumer Terms for Apps: What a Trainee Drafts
An app that sells to the public must tell its customers the deal in words they can read. This chapter shows why, what each side wants, and who is who in the case.
In this chapter
- Why a business that sells to the public must spell out the deal, on paper and on screen
- Why apps sell subscriptions with a free trial, and what each side wants
- Who is who, and how the launch runs from the first draft to a price rise
1.1Consumer terms in one paragraph
A business that sells to the public must tell its customers the deal, in words and on screens. In law the business is a trader. A person who buys for their own use, not for a business, is a consumer. Before the customer agrees to pay, the trader must show certain facts: the pre-contract information.
This workbook follows one small app from its first draft terms to its first price rise. You are a trainee at Dallowby Merriston LLP, a law firm in Norwich. You act for Seedlark, the small company that makes the app.
Key point
Customers decide on the screens, so the law checks the screens as closely as the terms.
1.2Why apps sell a subscription with a free trial
Many apps charge a small sum every month instead of one price up front. A free trial lets people use the app before they pay. The model suits both sides:
- The business gets a steady income it can plan around.
- Customers can try the app before they pay anything.
- Once people pay, few of them leave in any one month.
That steady income lasts only while customers trust the deal. A trial that turns into payments nobody expected brings refunds and complaints. So the words around that moment matter most.
Many apps are paid for through an app store. Seedlark’s app runs in the browser, so Seedlark sells the subscription and makes any refunds itself. Its own terms and screens carry the whole deal.
1.3A gardening app gets ready to charge
Seedlark Limited is based in Norwich. Its app plans a vegetable garden from two facts: the size of the plot and the first half of the postcode.
In March 2027 the app will start to charge. A new customer gets a free trial of 7 days, then pays £6 a month, including VAT. A customer may also buy a Garden Plan, the design for one garden bed, for £10.
Hester, the founder, instructs your firm in January. She has drafted terms of her own, copied from a big American app. Reuben, the head of growth, has designed the sign-up screen, the cookie banner and the emails. These are the people in the case:
| Who’s who | What they do |
|---|---|
| Seedlark Limited (“Seedlark”) | A small company in Norwich that makes a gardening app. Your firm’s client, and the trader. |
| Hester Wrenhurst | Seedlark’s founder. She decides. |
| Reuben Caldworth | Seedlark’s head of growth. He designs the screens, the cookie banner and the emails. |
| Dallowby Merriston LLP | Your firm, a law firm in Norwich. |
| Rhiannon Teversall | A senior associate in the commercial and technology team. She supervises you. |
| You | A trainee in the commercial and technology team. You have never written a customer’s terms. |
Your work has three parts. You mark up Hester’s draft and write the Legal Pack, the set of documents a customer can read. Then you check Reuben’s screens against the Pack. The first clause of the Terms says what the Pack holds:
We are Seedlark Limited, a company registered in England and Wales. These Terms are our contract with you. Our Privacy Notice, Cookie Notice and Reviews Policy sit beside them in our Legal Pack. They explain how we use your data and how we handle reviews, and they are not part of the contract.Read in the Legal Pack →
So only the terms are the contract. The other documents tell the customer things, and ask for no agreement.
A privacy notice tells customers what a business does with their data, and why the law allows it. A cookie is a small file that an app stores in the customer’s browser. The cookie notice says which cookies the app uses, and which need the customer to agree.
The Pack has five parts:
- the terms: the contract, from the free trial to complaints
- the privacy notice: what Seedlark does with customers’ data
- the cookie notice: each cookie in the app, and what it does
- the reviews policy: how Seedlark asks for and publishes reviews
- the screens and messages: the words customers actually read
1.4What each side wants from the words
Seedlark needs the launch to pay. It wants:
- trials that turn into paying customers
- few refunds and few complaints
- a list of people it may email
- customers who trust it enough to stay
Its customers want something else:
- to try the app before they pay
- the full price at the start, with nothing added later
- an easy way to leave
- no tracking unless they choose it
The two lists fit together better than they look. A customer who sees the full price and an easy exit is more likely to trust the app and stay.
Two regulators watch launches like this one. The Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) enforces consumer law. Since April 2025 it can fine a business directly, without going to court first. Subscription traps and fake reviews are among its targets.
The Information Commission (the ICO) enforces the rules on data and cookies. The initials come from its old name, the Information Commissioner’s Office. It has made cookie banners one of its targets.
The case follows the launch and the year after it:
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| The Pack | You mark up Hester’s draft and write the terms, the notices and the screens. |
| Launch | The app starts to charge, with its sign-up screen and free trial. |
| A refund | A customer wants her money back for a Garden Plan she has already opened. |
| Cookies | Reuben’s cookie banner is checked against the cookie rules. |
| Emails | Reuben wants to email people who tried the app but never paid. |
| Reviews | An agency offers to sell five-star reviews, and Hester has an idea of her own. |
| A price rise | Seedlark puts up its monthly price. |
1.5Your job
Rhiannon asks you to start a list of every screen and message a customer will meet. Start from Reuben’s designs. For each one, record:
- Its name, and when the customer meets it.
- What it tells the customer: prices, dates and choices.
- What it asks the customer to do, if anything.
- Which part of the Pack backs it.
- Any point where the screen and the Pack say different things.
Keep the list up to date as the year runs. Each later problem in the case starts with a screen on the list.
Key takeaways
- A trader must tell consumers the deal, in words and on screens they can read.
- The pre-contract information comes before the customer agrees to pay.
- Only the terms are the contract; the notices and the policy tell, and ask for no agreement.
- Seedlark sells in the browser, so its own terms and screens carry the whole deal.
- The CMA can fine a business without going to court, and the ICO targets cookie banners.