These terms cover your use of Bubbles, the macOS app you get from bubbles.soluneal.com, and the website itself. They exist because we have to have them. We've kept them short, honest, and in language a human can read.
1. Who you're dealing with
Bubbles is made by Penumbreal, a one-person software business (a sole proprietorship, eenmanszaak) registered in the Netherlands under KvK number 42159345, at De Nieuwe Erven 3, Unit 15248, 5431 NV Cuijk, The Netherlands. Soluneal is the trade name Penumbreal publishes its macOS apps under. For the purposes of these terms, "we", "us", "Soluneal", and "Penumbreal" all mean that same business. Our email is [email protected], a real person answers.
Your purchase is processed by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the Merchant of Record. That means Lemon Squeezy (not us) is your contracting counterparty for the payment itself. They handle VAT, sales tax, invoicing, chargebacks, and refunds. We remain the licensor of the software and the party you contact for support, license activation issues, and anything to do with the app itself.
Order confirmations and your license key arrive by email from Lemon Squeezy on our behalf. Product-update emails are separate and only sent if you opted in; every one has an unsubscribe link, and opting out changes nothing about your license. The Privacy page has the details.
2. What you're buying
You're buying a perpetual, non-exclusive license to run the Bubbles macOS application on your own computers. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. One purchase unlocks:
- Activations on the number of Macs your license key allows (shown with your order), on Macs you personally own or use.
- All future updates released under the current major version (1.x).
- Unlimited license duration: the license does not expire.
Bubbles runs on Macs with Apple Silicon and macOS 14.2 or later.
You do not receive the source code. You do not own the software; you own a license to use it.
3. The 7-day free trial
You can use Bubbles free for seven days on each Mac (each user account on it) before buying. The seven days start when you accept these terms in the app. No credit card is required to start the trial. When the trial ends, your bubbles stay hidden until you enter a license key. Ending the trial deletes nothing: your bubbles, notes and pasted images stay on your Mac (a bubble you set to be forgotten at a certain time is still forgotten then), Settings stays open to you, and Bubbles can still show you the folder that holds your notes and images. The trial is provided "as is" with no guarantee of continued availability.
4. Pricing, payments, and taxes
The price listed at the point of purchase is the price you pay. Local sales tax, VAT, or GST (where applicable) is added automatically by Lemon Squeezy according to your jurisdiction and is shown at checkout. All prices are in US Dollars unless the checkout displays otherwise.
5. Refunds
We want you to be happy. If Bubbles doesn't work for you within the first 14 days of purchase, email [email protected] with your order number and we'll authorize a full refund, no interrogation, no justification required.
Because Lemon Squeezy is the Merchant of Record, refunds are processed through them. You can also reach Lemon Squeezy directly at [email protected] and they'll handle it per their standard refund policy.
After 14 days, refunds are at our discretion but we are generally reasonable about defects, upgrade-breakages, and situations that are clearly our fault.
6. What you can and can't do with Bubbles
You may:
- Install and run Bubbles on any Mac you personally own or use, up to the number of Macs your license allows.
- Use it for personal or commercial purposes (keeping work files in bubbles counts).
- Remove the license from a Mac in Bubbles' Settings to free it for another Mac. Email us and we'll help if the app can't do it for you.
You may not:
- Share your license key with other people or publish it anywhere.
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the app, except to the extent that local law specifically permits it (e.g. interoperability under EU Directive 2009/24/EC).
- Resell, relicense, rent, lease, or sublicense the software.
- Strip out or modify the license check mechanisms.
- Use the software to harm others, violate their privacy, or break any law.
7. Updates
We ship updates when they're ready. Bubbles checks for them through Sparkle. Minor updates (bug fixes, small improvements, new features within 1.x) are included with your purchase. A future major version (2.0) may be a paid upgrade, but existing users will always get a fair upgrade path and will never lose access to their current version.
8. Third-party services
Bubbles relies on a handful of external services. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them. Use of those services is governed by their own terms.
- Lemon Squeezy: runs the checkout and issues your license key. When you enter a key, Bubbles sends it to Lemon Squeezy's license service together with your Mac's name, so the activation shows which Mac it belongs to. Bubbles checks the key again once two weeks have passed since the last check, when it starts or while it runs. A license that moves to another Mac, for example with Migration Assistant, is activated there as one of your Macs. Removing the license in Settings frees that Mac; if Bubbles can't reach Lemon Squeezy at that moment, you can free it from your Lemon Squeezy order page or email us. Privacy details are on the Privacy page.
- Sparkle + Apple notarization: update checks read the update feed from our own site, each update is signed so Bubbles only installs builds we made, and Apple validates each build's notarization ticket when it lands.
- Cloudflare: serves this website, the download, and the update feed.
If one of these services is down or changes in a way that breaks Bubbles, we'll fix it as quickly as we reasonably can, but we can't guarantee uptime for something we don't control. A license you already activated keeps working while Bubbles can't reach Lemon Squeezy. If Lemon Squeezy reports the key as no longer valid (for example after a refund), Bubbles removes it from that Mac.
9. Ownership
We own Bubbles. The source code, icon, branding, design, name, and website content are the property of Penumbreal and protected under international copyright and trademark law. Your license under these terms does not transfer any of that ownership to you.
10. What you keep in Bubbles
The files, notes, images, and links you keep in Bubbles are yours. We claim no rights in them, and they stay on your Mac: Bubbles does not send them anywhere.
A file bubble points to the original file; it is a reference, not a copy. Bubbles never moves or deletes the original. Dragging a bubble out always hands over a copy and leaves the original where it was, and forgetting a file bubble only removes the bubble.
Notes you type, and images and text you paste or drop onto Bubbles, are saved by Bubbles itself, in its own folder in Application Support on your Mac. When you forget one, including one forgotten after you drag it out, Undo can bring back your recent forgets until you quit Bubbles. A bubble whose forget time has passed is removed, together with Bubbles' own copy of its image, and Undo can't bring it back. Bubbles also keeps a copy of its list of bubbles, including the text of your notes, once a day and keeps the seven newest copies, so a forgotten note's text can stay in those copies for up to seven more days.
Bubbles is a place to keep things close at hand, not a backup. Keep your own backups of anything that matters.
11. Warranty and liability
Bubbles is provided "as is". We've tested it carefully, but we can't promise it will be bug-free, compatible with every future version of macOS, or suitable for every use case. To the fullest extent allowed by law, we disclaim all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
Our total liability to you for anything arising out of these terms or your use of Bubbles is capped at the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, incidental, special, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost data, or a note you meant to keep, even if we were warned they were possible.
None of this limits rights that cannot lawfully be waived under consumer-protection law in your jurisdiction.
12. Termination
You can stop using Bubbles at any time. Your license continues to be valid as long as you follow these terms. If you materially breach them (for example, redistributing cracked keys), we can terminate the license and deactivate the associated key. In that case, you agree to stop using the app. Your files, notes, and images stay on your Mac either way.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time to reflect new features, new services, or changes in law. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect the current version. For material changes that affect your rights, we'll post a notice on this page and in Bubbles' release notes before the new version takes effect, and Bubbles may ask you to accept the new terms when it next starts. Continuing to use Bubbles after an update means you accept the updated terms.
14. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Disputes that cannot be resolved by friendly email will be brought before the competent court in the Netherlands. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction whose consumer-protection laws cannot be contractually waived, your mandatory local rights continue to apply regardless of this clause, including any right to bring a claim before the courts of your own country of residence.
15. Severability
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable by a court, the rest keeps working. We'll interpret the invalid clause in the way that comes closest to its original intent within the bounds of the law.
16. Contact
Questions, complaints, ideas, or gentle disagreements about anything on this page, email [email protected]. We read every message.
