One Step
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Terms of use

Effective date: October 24, 2026 | Last updated: October 24, 2026

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the One Step mobile application (the "App") and this website (the "Site"), provided by Kazoo Labs Inc., a New York corporation ("we," "us," or "our"). By downloading, installing, or using the App, or by using the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the App or the Site.

1. Not an emergency or rescue service

One Step is not an emergency service. If a person is hurt or in danger, call 911. Do the same if an animal is in live traffic, shut in a hot car, or putting someone in danger.

One Step is not a rescue service either. We do not collect animals. The App helps you reach the people who do.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age (16 in the EEA) to use the App. If you are between the applicable minimum age and 18, you represent that you have your parent's or legal guardian's permission. The App is not intended for users below the applicable minimum age.

Volunteering has its own minimum ages. You must be at least 16 to check the directory's phone numbers, and at least 18 to drive animals to rehabilitators or to answer reports as a dispatcher.

3. No account

The App does not ask you to create an account or to sign in. The first time it connects to our servers, it is given an anonymous identifier through Firebase Anonymous Authentication, so the server knows which reports are yours and which cases you may follow. The identifier is not your name, your email address or your device ID.

4. The guidance is general information

The guidance in the App is written for common situations in New York City. It is general information, not veterinary, medical or other professional advice, and it cannot see the animal in front of you. If a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, a vet, Animal Care Centers of NYC or the police tell you something different, follow them.

Handling an animal can be dangerous. Animals bite and scratch, and some carry diseases, including rabies. Do not touch an animal the App tells you not to touch. You decide what to do, and you are responsible for your own safety and for following the law, including New York State rules on handling wildlife.

The App's guess at what kind of animal is in a photo is a suggestion made on your phone, and you confirm or change it.

The places and phone numbers in the App are checked, but they change. We do not run them, cannot speak for them, and cannot promise they will answer or take an animal.

5. Reports and dispatch

When a report goes to a dispatcher, a person reads it and tries to find someone to help. Dispatch is run by a small team and is not staffed at all hours. We cannot promise that anyone will respond to a report, how quickly, or that a rescue will be found. The App shows you what to do yourself in the meantime, and who to call.

One Step covers the five boroughs of New York City. Reports from outside the city are not sent (the App's check is a rectangle around the five boroughs, so a report from just across the border may be), and the guidance and places in the App are for New York City. Elsewhere they may be wrong.

6. Acceptable use

When you send a report, a photo or a message, you confirm that what you report is true, as far as you know, and that the photo is yours or you have the right to share it. You agree not to:

  • Use the App or the Site for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law.
  • Send false, joke or misleading reports, or reports made by a program.
  • Use reports or messages to harass, threaten or expose anyone, or to send people somewhere under false pretenses.
  • Attempt to circumvent rate limits or security measures, including by tampering with App requests.
  • Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code of the App or our backend services.
  • Use automated scripts, bots, scrapers, or other tools to access the App's services.
  • Impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity or affiliation.
  • Attempt to access another person's reports, messages or data.
  • Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems.
  • Interfere with the normal operation of the App or impair another person's use of it.
  • Resell, sublicense, transfer, or commercially exploit the App.
  • Upload content you do not have the right to provide, or content that infringes any third party's intellectual-property, privacy, or other rights.

There is no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. We may ignore or delete any report or message, stop responding to anyone who breaks these Terms, and stop their phone from sending reports and messages.

7. Reporting and blocking

  • Reporting a message. You can report any message a dispatcher sends you in the App: hold the message down, or tap the "…" beside it, and choose Report this message. A report goes to the people at One Step who review them, never to the dispatcher. The message is hidden from you once you report it.
  • Stopping a dispatcher. From the same place you can stop a dispatcher's messages. They can then no longer write to you about any of your reports. They can tell that someone on your case stopped them, but not why. Another dispatcher takes over your case, and your report is still handled. Until then, the App shows who to call.
  • Messages are checked. Every message a dispatcher writes to you is checked automatically before you see it. A message that may be abusive or sexual, asks personal questions, or shares contact details or links outside One Step is held for someone at One Step to read instead. A photo a dispatcher adds to the end of your case is looked at by someone at One Step before you see it.
  • Dispatcher conduct. Dispatchers, many of them volunteers, agree to keep every message about the animal and the case: no personal questions the case does not need, no phone number, email or social media of their own, and nothing rude or sexual. We remove any dispatcher who breaks this.
  • Reporters. A dispatcher can flag a reporter who is abusive or sends false reports, and we may then stop that phone from sending reports and messages, as Section 6 allows.
  • We act on every report of a message within 24 hours: we remove a message that breaks these Terms, and remove the dispatcher who sent it. If you or anyone else is in danger, call 911. To tell us about a dispatcher in any other way, email hello@onestepnyc.org.

8. User content

  • You retain ownership of the reports, photos, notes and messages you send through the App, and anything you send through the Site's forms (collectively "User Content").
  • By sending User Content, you grant us a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, process, transmit, and display User Content solely as necessary to provide the App's features: to get the animal help, including passing your report to the rescue or rehabilitator who takes the case; to keep a record of the case and show you how it ended; to keep the service working and free of abuse; and to give counts and short descriptions of cases, as described in our Privacy Policy. This license lasts for as long as the User Content is kept, and ends when it is deleted.
  • You represent and warrant that you have the rights necessary to send User Content and that User Content does not violate any law or third-party right.
  • We do not sell User Content, use it for advertising, or make reports public.
  • You can delete User Content as described in Section 13.

9. Intellectual property

  • The App and the Site, including their design, source code, features, branding, logos, graphics, and all content other than User Content, are owned by Kazoo Labs Inc. and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. The "One Step" name and logo are trademarks of Kazoo Labs Inc.
  • Some photos in the App's guide and on the Site belong to their photographers and are used under Creative Commons licenses. They are credited where they appear.
  • Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the App on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, solely for your personal, non-commercial use.
  • You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works based on the App without our prior written consent.

10. Apple-specific terms

You acknowledge that these Terms are between you and Kazoo Labs Inc., not Apple Inc., and that Apple is not responsible for the App or its content. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support services for the App. In the event the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any) for the App; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the App. Apple is not responsible for addressing any claims relating to the App or your possession or use of it, including (a) product-liability claims; (b) any claim that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; (c) claims arising under consumer-protection or similar legislation; and (d) claims that the App infringes a third party's intellectual-property rights. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

11. Other services

Calling a place, opening a map or downloading the App involves services we do not run, such as Apple's. Their own terms apply to them.

12. Privacy

Your use of the App and the Site is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, store, and protect your information. By using the App, you consent to the practices described in the Privacy Policy.

13. Deleting your reports and data

  • You can delete a report on its page in the App, or all your reports at once under Your reports on the Profile tab. This removes them from your phone. A report that is still waiting for signal is not sent.
  • A report that has already been sent, with its photo and messages, is kept on our servers while its case is open and for one year after the case closes, then deleted automatically. A case nobody closes is deleted once nothing has happened on it for a year. To have it deleted sooner, email hello@onestepnyc.org. We will respond within 30 days.
  • You can delete everything One Step keeps about you, on our servers and on your phone, under Your reports on the Profile tab: tap Delete everything One Step keeps about me and confirm. It also deletes your anonymous identifier, and the App starts again with a new one. Reports you made about a dispatcher's message are kept for review without it, as the Privacy Policy describes.
  • You can change or remove your optional phone number in the App at any time.
  • Deleting the App removes your reports, photos and notes from your phone. iOS may keep the App's anonymous identifier and your phone number, as the Privacy Policy explains; installing the App again removes the phone number, and deleting everything in the App removes both.

14. Disclaimer of warranties

THE APP AND THE SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE APP OR THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED THROUGH THE APP, INCLUDING THE GUIDANCE, THE APP'S GUESS AT THE KIND OF ANIMAL, AND THE PLACES, HOURS AND PHONE NUMBERS LISTED, OR THAT ANYONE WILL RESPOND TO A REPORT.

15. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL KAZOO LABS INC., ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, VOLUNTEERS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, PERSONAL INJURY, INJURY TO AN ANIMAL, OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE APP OR THE SITE, INCLUDING ANYTHING DONE AFTER READING THE GUIDANCE OR CALLING A PLACE LISTED IN THE APP, A REPORT THAT IS NOT ANSWERED OR IS ANSWERED LATE, AND MISTAKES IN THE GUIDANCE OR IN THE PLACES AND PHONE NUMBERS LISTED, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE APP OR THE SITE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) FIFTY U.S. DOLLARS ($50).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. To the extent any limitation in this Section is prohibited by applicable law, our liability will be limited to the smallest extent permitted.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Kazoo Labs Inc., its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in connection with: (a) User Content; (b) your use of the App or the Site; (c) your violation of these Terms; or (d) your violation of any third party's rights.

17. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the App at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice, including for violation of these Terms. We may also change, suspend, or stop the App, the Site, or dispatch at any time. Upon termination, your right to use the App ceases immediately. Sections 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, and 21 survive termination.

18. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the App will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may bring an action in small-claims court for disputes within that court's jurisdiction.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, by an in-app notice. Your continued use of the App after the change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the App.

20. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

21. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Kazoo Labs Inc. regarding the App and the Site and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.

22. Contact us

Kazoo Labs Inc. (operator of One Step)
Email: hello@onestepnyc.org
Contact form: Contact us

Privacy policy