Translation for your convenience — the German version is the binding one.
These terms apply to the Zählwerk app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. They explain what the trial includes, what the purchase unlocks and how the subscription for cloud recognition works. (How we handle your data is described in the app privacy policy; the provider details are in the legal notice.)
The short version
- 7-day trial from the first launch, including 50 photos for cloud recognition.
- After the trial, nothing is lost without a purchase — viewing, editing, deleting, exporting and backing up keep working. Only creating new entries is locked.
- You buy the app once as the Starter package with one address and up to four active meters. Three add-on packages build on it — no account, no recurring cost.
- Cloud recognition is a subscription — monthly, the first month is free, cancel any time in your store. Without it everything stays usable except photo recognition in the cloud.
- You pay the store (Apple or Google). Invoices, refunds and cancellation go through the stores. We never see your payment details.
- Check every recognised reading. The app makes a suggestion; what you confirm is what gets stored.
Provider and scope
The provider is Stefan Dolfen, Kurt-Stöbe-Str. 45, 50181 Bedburg, Germany — e-mail hello@zaehlwerk.app, phone +49 179 3935742. Full details in the legal notice.
These terms apply to the Zählwerk app that you download from the Apple App Store or Google Play, and to the purchases and subscriptions it offers.
The terms of your store apply in addition: Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement, or the Google Play Terms of Service. Where they conflict, the store's terms prevail for purchase, payment, invoicing and refunds — the purchase contract is concluded with the store, not with us.
What Zählwerk is
Zählwerk is an app for recording and analysing meter readings for electricity, gas and water. It runs locally on your device: no account, no Zählwerk server holding your data.
Photo recognition in the cloud is an optional extra and an online service — the individual photo is sent to our recognition service and discarded there after analysis. Details in the app privacy policy.
A recognised reading is a suggestion. The app shows it for you to check; what you confirm is what gets stored. Please look at every recognised value before you accept it — even good recognition misreads, especially decimal places.
Forecasts, costs and comparisons are estimates. They are calculated from your readings and the prices you entered. Your supplier's bill is always what counts.
Trial
A trial of 7 days starts with the first launch. During this time everything is free: any number of addresses and meters, every analysis. For cloud recognition, a total of 50 photos is available during the trial. Once they are used up, the trial simply continues — just without cloud recognition; on-device recognition and manual entry remain.
If the trial ends without a purchase, your data is kept in full. You can still view, edit, delete, export and back it up. Only creating is locked: new readings, new meters, new addresses and importing new rows from a CSV file.
If you buy during the trial, the trial ends with the purchase: from then on your package's limits apply, and cloud recognition needs the subscription (the first month is free). What you created during the trial is kept.
The trial is available once per device.
One-time purchase
You buy Zählwerk once — then it is yours, with no account and no recurring cost. The purchase consists of four building blocks that stack; you buy as much as you need and can upgrade at any time:
- Starter — 1 address, up to 4 active meters
- Second address — 2 addresses, up to 8 meters
- Third address — 3 addresses, up to 12 meters
- Unlimited — any number of addresses and meters
The add-ons build on the Starter; on their own they unlock nothing. Active meters are what counts — if you replace a meter, the retired generation no longer takes up a slot, and its readings are kept.
Prices are shown in the app. They come from the store and apply in your country and currency; we deliberately name no amounts here so that nothing goes out of date.
The purchase is tied to your store account, not to the device. On another device with the same account you get it back with “Restore purchases” — the button is in the app under Settings.
“Cloud recognition” subscription
Photo recognition in the cloud is a monthly subscription. It requires the purchase, and its tier follows your package.
- Term and renewal: The subscription runs for one month and renews automatically for another month each time until you cancel.
- Cancellation: at any time in your store's subscription settings (Apple: Settings → your name → Subscriptions; Google Play: Menu → Payments & subscriptions). It takes effect at the end of the paid month — until then you can keep using cloud recognition. If you cancel during the free month, nothing is charged.
- First month free: The first month costs nothing. The offer applies once per store account; after that the subscription costs the price the store shows.
- How many photos: depending on the tier 20, 40 or 60 cloud photos per month, with Unlimited 5 photos per active meter. On top there is a daily cap of 60 photos per device — it protects the service from abuse and is far above what a household needs.
- Without the subscription everything stays usable, only photo recognition in the cloud does not: on-device recognition, manual entry, your own AI access and the local source in your home network keep working.
Changes to the service: The recognition service is an online service. We may develop it further, change the model used or discontinue it. If we discontinue it, the subscription ends with it — nothing further is charged. Your app, your data and all other features are unaffected.
Payment, invoices, withdrawal and refunds
Purchase and subscription run through the Apple App Store or Google Play. The purchase contract is concluded with the respective store; we receive no payment details — neither card number nor billing address.
Invoices are issued by the store; you find them in your store account. Refunds are also handled by the store (Apple: reportaproblem.apple.com; Google Play: order history → Report a problem). Money we never received we cannot pay back.
Withdrawal: As a consumer you have a 14-day right of withdrawal for digital content. It expires once performance has begun and you have expressly agreed to this and confirmed that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal. The store obtains this consent at checkout — that is why the purchased feature is available to you immediately. Independently of that, the stores often refund as a courtesy; ask there.
Fair use
The app and your data belong to you. For the recognition service we ask for the following:
- No automated bulk use. The service is meant for meter photos from the app. The daily cap of 60 photos per device ensures that nobody drives up the costs for everyone.
If the service is clearly being abused, we may block access to it. Your app and your data on the device are unaffected.
Your data
Your meters, readings, photos, contracts and addresses stay on your device. What the app processes in detail — and what is sent to our recognition service at purchase, during the trial and while a subscription is running — is described in the app privacy policy.
Availability and liability
The app works without the internet: recording, analysing, exporting and on-device recognition need no network.
The recognition service is an online service. We do not guarantee a particular availability; maintenance or outages at the data centre provider or the AI model in use may make it temporarily unavailable.
Liability: For damage arising from injury to life, body or health, in cases of intent and gross negligence, and under the German Product Liability Act, we are liable without limitation. In cases of slight negligence we are liable only if we breach an obligation whose fulfilment you may rely on and which makes this contract possible in the first place — and then limited to the damage that is typically foreseeable. Otherwise liability is excluded.
We are expressly not liable for additional payments, wrongly reported meter readings or follow-up costs that result from a recognised or entered value being wrong and not checked — checking the reading remains your responsibility. And please back up your data: the app offers export and cloud backup for that.
Changes to these terms
We may change these terms, for example when features are added or legal requirements change. The current version is published on this page. For a one-time purchase, the version in force at the time of purchase applies. If something material about the subscription changes — price, scope or term — we announce it beforehand in the app, and the store informs you as well; you can then cancel before the change takes effect.
Applicable law and dispute resolution
German law applies. If you live as a consumer in another country, the mandatory consumer protection rules of your country of residence remain unaffected.
We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Contact
Write to us at hello@zaehlwerk.app.
Last updated: 13 September 2026. If the terms change, we publish the new version here.