Terms of Service

Last Updated: June 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Bolt ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

Bolt is offered under the Bolt brand as a product of the Lightning Field Systems brand. Lightning Field Systems is currently used as a brand name and does not, by itself, indicate a separate incorporated legal entity. References to "we," "us," and "our" mean the operator of the Service.

2. Service Description

Bolt is a field tracking and mapping service for storm spotters, storm chasers, meteorologists, weather teams, and other severe-weather observers. The Service may provide live location sharing, mapping, field history, PlaceHub overlays, reporting tools, third-party relay features, subscription features, and related functionality.

Bolt is not an emergency service, dispatch system, public warning system, life-safety system, or substitute for official weather information, emergency alerts, emergency services, radio communications, situational awareness, or personal judgment.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may only use the Service with the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian.

By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements and that your use of the Service is lawful where you are located.

4. User Accounts

Access to Bolt may require an account and may be limited by invitation, approval, subscription status, or other access controls. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account.

You agree to provide accurate account information, keep your account information reasonably current, and promptly notify us if you believe your account has been accessed without permission. You may not sell, transfer, sublicense, or share your account access except as expressly permitted by us.

5. Location Tracking and Data Sharing

Bolt is built around location sharing. By using the Service, you acknowledge and agree that:

• Your device may transmit location, motion, timestamp, battery, device, network, and related telemetry while the Service is active.
• Your live or historical location may be stored, processed, displayed, replayed, or otherwise used to provide the Service.
• Your location may be visible to other registered users, users with access to shared links, administrators, or other audiences depending on Service settings and features.
• If you enable third-party relay, export, placefile, API, or integration features, your data may be transmitted to third-party services according to the settings you choose.
• Location data is sensitive. You should not use Bolt if you are unwilling for your shared location data to be processed, stored, or displayed as part of the Service.

We may retain location history, outing history, reports, logs, and related records for operational, safety, abuse-prevention, debugging, analytics, billing, legal, and product-improvement purposes. We may delete, aggregate, archive, or anonymize data at our discretion, subject to applicable law and any separate Privacy Policy we provide.

6. User Content

You may submit, create, upload, or transmit content through the Service, including but not limited to reports, comments, labels, outing names, profile information, custom placefiles, URLs, map data, and other materials ("User Content").

You retain ownership of your User Content. By submitting User Content to the Service, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, transmit, process, modify for technical purposes, and otherwise use that User Content as needed to operate, protect, improve, and provide the Service.

You represent that you have the rights necessary to submit your User Content and that your User Content does not violate the rights of others, these Terms, or applicable law.

7. Ownership and Intellectual Property

The Service, software, design, branding, documentation, features, and related materials are owned by the Service operator or the applicable rights holders. Bolt and Lightning Field Systems are used as product and business brands.

These Terms do not grant you ownership of the Service, its software, its branding, or any data, feeds, code, systems, or materials made available through the Service except for the limited right to use the Service according to these Terms.

8. Bolt Pro and Paid Features

Bolt may offer paid features, including a Bolt Pro subscription. Paid features, pricing, limits, and included benefits are described on the applicable billing, upgrade, checkout, or plan pages.

Unless otherwise stated at checkout, subscriptions renew automatically until canceled. By purchasing a subscription, you authorize us and our payment processors to charge the applicable recurring fees, taxes, and other charges using your selected payment method.

You may cancel your subscription according to the cancellation options provided through the Service or payment processor. Cancellation generally prevents future renewal charges but does not necessarily provide a refund for the current billing period. Unless otherwise stated or required by law, paid fees are non-refundable, and Pro access may continue until the end of the paid billing period.

We may change paid features, plan limits, pricing, or subscription terms from time to time. Material changes to pricing or recurring billing terms will apply prospectively. We may suspend or terminate paid features if payment fails, a charge is disputed, fraud is suspected, or these Terms are violated.

9. Commercial and Organizational Use

Commercial, organizational, professional, media, educational, and volunteer use of Bolt is permitted, subject to these Terms and any technical limits, account limits, rate limits, attribution requirements, or plan limits that apply to the Service.

Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing, use of Bolt by a business, organization, media outlet, public agency, weather team, fleet, dispatch operation, or other professional user does not create a service-level agreement, uptime guarantee, support obligation, data-delivery guarantee, exclusivity arrangement, partnership, agency relationship, endorsement, or warranty.

You may not resell access to the Service, sell Service data as a standalone product, sublicense the Service, bypass technical limits, scrape the Service, or operate a competing data feed from Service data without written permission.

10. Mobile Device and Field Safety

Bolt must not be used while operating a moving vehicle or other equipment. Users agree to pull over safely before interacting with any features of the Service, including maps, radar products, GPS tools, reporting tools, PlaceHub overlays, settings, outing controls, or field-history features.

The Service is provided by the Service operator, who is not responsible for accidents, injuries, citations, property damage, vehicle damage, data loss, route decisions, missed warnings, or other damages resulting from distracted driving, unsafe field behavior, improper use of the Service, or reliance on information provided through the Service.

Users are responsible for following all traffic laws, emergency-scene regulations, road closures, private-property restrictions, radio and communications rules, and directions from law enforcement, emergency management, public safety officials, and other lawful authorities.

Severe weather, storm spotting, storm chasing, travel, and field operations are inherently risky. Users are solely responsible for their own decisions, situational awareness, route choices, communications, equipment use, and safety practices.

11. Data Accuracy and Availability

We strive to provide useful tracking, mapping, and data features, but we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, availability, or reliability of any location, map, overlay, report, third-party data, alert, placefile, route, replay, or other information provided through the Service.

GPS signals, network conditions, device limitations, weather, terrain, software bugs, third-party systems, user error, caching, outages, and other factors may affect the Service. You should verify important information using official and independent sources.

12. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any illegal, harmful, fraudulent, abusive, or deceptive purpose.
• Harass, stalk, threaten, impersonate, dox, or harm other users or third parties.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, systems, servers, APIs, or data.
• Interfere with, overload, scrape, reverse engineer, bypass limits on, or disrupt the proper operation of the Service.
• Submit malware, exploit code, unlawful content, infringing content, or content that violates the rights of others.
• Use the Service to track any person without lawful authority and appropriate consent.
• Misrepresent your affiliation, identity, credentials, organization, role, or authority.
• Use the Service in a way that creates unreasonable risk to other users, the public, or the operation of the Service.

13. Third-Party Services and Data

The Service may integrate with, link to, display, relay data to, or receive data from third-party services, data providers, payment processors, mapping providers, weather services, APIs, or user configured endpoints. We are not responsible for third-party services, third-party data, or their accuracy, availability, privacy practices, policies, or terms.

If you enable a third-party integration, you are responsible for ensuring that your use complies with the applicable third-party terms and laws.

14. Service Changes, Suspension, and Termination

We may modify, limit, suspend, discontinue, or remove any part of the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate your account or access to the Service at any time if we believe you have violated these Terms, created risk for the Service or others, failed to pay required fees, bypassed Service limits, or used the Service in a harmful or unlawful way.

You may stop using the Service at any time. Termination may not automatically delete all historical records, logs, backups, billing records, abuse-prevention records, aggregated data, or records we are required or permitted to retain.

15. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, availability, reliability, and security.

16. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, data, location history, business opportunity, or other intangible losses arising from or related to your use of, or inability to use, the Service.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from or related to the Service will not exceed the greater of: (a) the amount you paid to us for the Service during the three months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) $100.

17. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Service operator, the Bolt brand, the Lightning Field Systems brand, and any contractors, service providers, or representatives from and against claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees, arising from your use of the Service, your User Content, your violation of these Terms, your violation of law, or your violation of the rights of another person or entity.

18. Changes to These Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date. Continued use of the Service after updated Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

19. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. To the extent permitted by law, disputes arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Michigan.

20. Contact

For questions about these Terms, please contact the Service administrator through the contact methods provided on the Service website.