Terms of Use

Last updated · 26 October 2026

1. Who we are and what you are agreeing to

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your use of Hela. Hela is operated by Cistema Pte. Ltd. ("Cistema", "we", "us"), a company incorporated in Singapore with UEN 202405162W and registered office at 160 Robinson Road, #26-03, SBF Center, Singapore 068914.

"Hela" or the "Service" means the Hela mobile applications for iOS and Android, the website at hela.org, and all content, features and services we make available through them.

By creating an account or using Hela, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Hela. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal data; your consent to that processing is asked for separately when you sign up.

These Terms are an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (India) and the rules made under it, and are published in accordance with Rule 3(1) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. They are generated by a computer system and do not require a physical or digital signature.

2. Eligibility and your account

You must be at least 18 years old to use Hela. By using Hela you confirm that you are 18 or older and legally able to enter into a binding contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 or the law of the place where you live. We do not knowingly allow anyone under 18 to use Hela, and we will close any account we find belongs to a person under 18.

Hela is built for medical students and medical professionals in India preparing for examinations. You may use it from elsewhere, but we make no promise that it is available, lawful or suitable outside India.

You sign in to Hela with a Google account or, on iOS, with Sign in with Apple. When you do, you authorise that provider to share your name, email address and profile picture with us. During onboarding we ask for your medical college and admission year. You agree to give accurate information and to keep it up to date.

You may hold one account only, and it is personal to you. You are responsible for everything done through your account and for keeping your device and sign-in provider secure. Tell us at the grievance address in Section 13 as soon as you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

3. The Service

Hela provides study material, multiple-choice questions, progress tracking and moderated comments to help you prepare for medical examinations.

Hela is an educational tool only. Nothing in Hela is medical advice, diagnosis or treatment guidance, and nothing in it should be relied on for clinical decisions about any patient. Hela is not a substitute for your curriculum, textbooks, official syllabus or the guidance of your institution and examining body. Medical knowledge, guidelines and examination patterns change; content may be out of date or contain errors despite our care.

We do not guarantee examination results. Your results depend on many factors outside our control.

We try to keep content accurate and current, but we give no warranty that it is complete, correct or error-free. If you find an error, tell us at the grievance address in Section 13.

Hela is currently free. We may introduce paid features in future. Before we charge you for anything, we will show you the price in Indian Rupees inclusive of applicable taxes, the billing period, and the cancellation and refund terms, and we will ask for your separate agreement. Purchases made through the Apple App Store or Google Play are also governed by those stores' terms. Any paid offering to users in India will comply with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

Hela is at an early stage. We may add, change, suspend or withdraw features at any time. Where a change materially reduces what Hela does, we will give you reasonable notice in the app or by email.

4. Our content and your licence to use it

All study material, questions, explanations, images, software, design, logos and trademarks in Hela ("Hela Content") belong to Cistema or to the third parties who license them to us, and are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual-property laws of Singapore, India and other countries.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to access and use Hela Content for your own non-commercial study, on devices you control and, for the iOS app, on Apple-branded devices as permitted by the App Store Usage Rules, while you comply with these Terms. We keep all rights not expressly granted.

You must not:

• copy, reproduce, download, screenshot in bulk, distribute, publish, sell or sub-license Hela Content, in whole or in part;
• use scrapers, bots, scripts or any automated means to access Hela or extract Hela Content;
• use Hela Content to build, train or improve any question bank, dataset, machine-learning or artificial-intelligence model, or any competing product;
• reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any part of Hela, except where the law expressly allows it;
• remove or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notice;
• circumvent any access control, licence check or security feature; or
• share your account or let anyone else use your licence.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, you agree that we may use them freely, without any obligation to you.

"Hela" and "Cistema" and their logos are trademarks of Cistema Pte. Ltd. You may not use them without our prior written consent.

5. Your content: comments

Hela lets you post comments ("Your Content"). Comments are published with your first and last name as received from your sign-in provider; Hela does not currently offer anonymous posting or a separate display name. You keep ownership of Your Content. You grant Cistema a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, store, reproduce, display, format and distribute Your Content within Hela, and to use it to operate, moderate and improve the Service. When you delete a comment or your account, we remove the comment or strip your name from it, except where we must keep a copy under Section 5.6.

5.1 You are responsible for Your Content. You confirm that you have the right to post it and that it does not break these Terms or any law.

5.2 Comments are moderated. We review comments before or after they appear. We may decline to publish, edit for formatting, hide or remove any comment at any time, with or without notice, and we are under no obligation to publish anything.

5.3 Prohibited content. In line with Rule 3(1)(b) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, you must not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any content that:

• belongs to another person and to which you have no right;
• is defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable, relating to or encouraging money laundering or gambling, promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or caste with intent to incite violence, or otherwise inconsistent with or contrary to the laws in force;
• is harmful to a child;
• infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right;
• violates any law for the time being in force;
• deceives or misleads the addressee about the origin of the message, or knowingly and intentionally communicates any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature;
• impersonates another person;
• threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence, or prevents investigation of any offence, or is insulting to any other nation;
• contains software viruses or any other computer code, file or program designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource; or
• is patently false and untrue, and is written or published in any form with the intent to mislead or harass a person, entity or agency for financial gain or to cause any injury to any person.

In addition, you must not post leaked or confidential examination material, content that helps anyone cheat in an examination, advertising or spam, reproductions of copyrighted textbooks or question banks, another person's personal information, or medical claims presented as professional advice.

5.4 Reporting content. Anyone may report a comment to our Grievance Officer at the address in Section 13. We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days. Where the complaint asks us to remove content that breaches Section 5.3, we act on it within 72 hours. Content that shows a person's private area, nudity or a sexual act, or that impersonates a person, is removed within 24 hours of a complaint from that person or someone acting for them.

5.5 Removal and appeals. If we remove Your Content or restrict your account for breaching this Section, we will tell you why, unless the law prevents us. You may appeal to our Grievance Officer within 7 days of our notice. If you are in India and are not satisfied with the Grievance Officer's decision, you may appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee constituted under the IT Rules, 2021 within 30 days of that decision.

5.6 Records. Where we remove content under this Section, or where the law requires it, we may keep the content and related records for up to 180 days, or longer if a court or government authority requires, for investigation purposes.

6. Acceptable use

When using Hela you must not:

• break any applicable law, or use Hela for any unlawful purpose;
• access or try to access another user's account or data;
• interfere with, overload, probe or disrupt Hela or the servers and networks that run it;
• upload or transmit malware or any harmful code;
• misrepresent who you are or your affiliation with any institution;
• collect, harvest or store other users' personal information;
• use Hela to cheat in, or to help anyone cheat in, any examination;
• use Hela for any commercial purpose, including reselling access or content; or
• help or encourage anyone else to do any of the above.

We may investigate suspected breaches and may suspend or close accounts that breach this Section (see Section 9).

7. Third-party services and app stores

Hela relies on services from third parties, including Google (Google Sign-In, Firebase authentication, analytics, crash reporting and push notifications), Apple (Sign in with Apple and the App Store) and Amazon Web Services (hosting in Mumbai, India). Your use of those services is also subject to their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for third-party services or for links to third-party websites.

Apple App Store. If you downloaded Hela from the Apple App Store, the following also applies. These Terms are between you and Cistema only, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for Hela. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple gives no warranty for Hela; if Hela fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund any purchase price paid for Hela, and Apple has no other warranty obligation. Apple is not responsible for addressing any claim by you or any third party relating to Hela, including product-liability claims, claims that Hela fails to conform to any legal or regulatory requirement, or consumer-protection claims. Apple is not responsible for investigating, defending, settling or discharging any claim that Hela infringes a third party's intellectual-property rights. You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

Google Play. If you downloaded Hela from Google Play, the Google Play Terms of Use also apply.

8. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why, where it is stored, who we share it with, and the rights you have under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act 2012. It is available at hela.org/privacy and in the app. Our processing of your personal data rests on the consent you give at sign-up and on the legitimate uses described in the Privacy Policy, not on these Terms.

9. Suspension, termination and account deletion

Ending it yourself. You may stop using Hela at any time. You can delete your account from inside the app (Settings → Account → Delete account). Deletion is permanent. You can also request deletion without the app at hela.org/delete-account. What happens to your data after deletion is set out in the Privacy Policy; in short, we delete your personal data within 30 days, keep anonymised study statistics, and keep a minimal registration record for 180 days as the IT Rules, 2021 require.

Suspension or termination by us. We may suspend or close your account, remove Your Content, or restrict features if:

• you breach these Terms, including Sections 4, 5 and 6;
• we are required to do so by law, a court or a government authority;
• your account has been inactive for more than 36 months, after we have given you at least 30 days' notice by email; or
• we discontinue Hela or a part of it, after giving you reasonable notice where practical.

Where we close your account for breach, we will tell you the reason unless the law prevents it, and you may appeal under Section 5.5.

Survival. Sections 4 (licence restrictions), 5.6, 10, 12, 13 and 14, and any other term that by its nature should survive, continue to apply after your account ends.

10. Disclaimers, limitation of liability and indemnity

10.1 Disclaimer. Hela is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement. We do not warrant that Hela will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, or that content is accurate, complete or current.

10.2 Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Cistema and its directors, employees and contractors are not liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill or examination opportunity, arising from or connected with Hela or these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, even if we were told such loss was possible. Our total liability to you for all claims arising from or connected with Hela in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for Hela in that period and (b) INR 1,000.

10.3 What we do not exclude. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (Singapore) or any other applicable law.

10.4 Indian consumers. If you are a consumer resident in India, nothing in these Terms takes away any right or remedy you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 or any other Indian law that cannot be waived by agreement. Sections 10.1 and 10.2 apply to you only to the extent Indian law allows.

10.5 Indemnity. You agree to compensate Cistema for any loss, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) that we incur because of a third-party claim arising from Your Content, your breach of these Terms, or your misuse of Hela, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

11. Changes to the Service and to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example when we add features, introduce paid plans, or when the law changes. The current version is always at hela.org/terms and in the app, with its effective date at the top.

If a change is material, we will give you at least 7 days' notice in the app or by email before it takes effect. If you keep using Hela after the new Terms take effect, you accept them. If you do not accept them, stop using Hela and delete your account before the effective date. Changes required by law or to address security may take effect immediately. As the IT Rules, 2021 require, we will also remind you at least once a year of the rules in Sections 5 and 6 and of our right to end your access to Hela if you break them.

12. Governing law and disputes

12.1 Governing law. These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising from or connected with them or with Hela, are governed by the laws of Singapore.

12.2 Talk to us first. If you have a complaint, please raise it with our Grievance Officer under Section 13 before starting any formal proceedings. Most issues can be resolved this way.

12.3 Courts. Subject to Section 12.4, the courts of Singapore have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from or connected with these Terms or Hela.

12.4 Rights of users in India. If you are a consumer resident in India, nothing in this Section 12 deprives you of the protection of any provision of Indian law that applies to you regardless of the governing law and cannot be waived by agreement, including the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000. You may bring a complaint before the District, State or National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the Data Protection Board of India, or any other forum that those laws make available to you, and we will not object to that forum on the ground of this Section.

12.5 Third-party rights. Except for Apple under Section 7, no person other than you and Cistema has any right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 2001 (Singapore) to enforce any term of these Terms.

13. Grievance Officer and complaints

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000, the IT Rules, 2021, the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, we have appointed a Grievance Officer, who also acts as our Data Protection Officer under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act 2012.

When you write to us, include your registered email address, a description of the problem, and any screenshots or links that help us find the content or issue. We handle complaints within the following times:

Each complaint receives a ticket number so you can track it. If we need longer for a complex matter, we will tell you why and when to expect an answer.

14. General terms and contact

Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Cistema about Hela and replace any earlier terms.

Severability. If any part of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest continues to apply, and the invalid part is replaced by a valid term that comes closest to its intent.

No waiver. If we do not enforce a term, that does not mean we have waived it.

Assignment. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to an affiliate or to a successor in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, and will tell you if we do. You may not transfer yours.

Events outside our control. We are not responsible for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including network or hosting outages, acts of government, or natural disasters.

Notices. We may send notices to the email address linked to your account or inside the app. You may send notices to us at the addresses in Section 13.

Language. These Terms are written in English. We will provide translations in Indian languages where the IT Rules, 2021 require them. Any translation is for convenience only; the English version prevails.

Contact. Cistema Pte. Ltd., UEN 202405162W, 160 Robinson Road, #26-03, SBF Center, Singapore 068914. Support: alisyah@designmed.org. Website: hela.org.