Host agreement

Version 2026-10-29. Last updated October 29, 2026.

1. About this agreement

This agreement is between you and Parker Throneberry, an individual doing business as PocketShare (“PocketShare”, “we”), and applies when you enroll a hub or list a phone. It adds to the Terms of Service, which also apply to your account. By hosting you also accept the Acceptable Use Policy and the Privacy Notice. You must be at least 18 and able to enter into contracts. If you host for an organization, you accept this agreement for it.

During the beta every new account can host, and every phone is reviewed before it is listed. We may decline or end any host’s participation.

2. Your equipment and authority

You confirm that:

• you own the phones and the hub computer you connect, or are authorized by their owner;
• the phones are dedicated spare devices: factory reset, signed out of all personal accounts, without your photos, messages or apps, and without a SIM card;
• you have checked that your internet provider’s terms and any lease or building rules that apply to you allow you to use your connection this way;
• batteries are in good condition. Don’t connect a phone with a swollen, damaged or overheating battery.

3. Setting up and running a hub

• Install only official PocketShare software from getpocketshare.com, and let the hub update itself. The hub installs signed updates when no phone is rented or being cleaned.
• Use a computer dedicated to hosting, not one you use for personal files or work. Don’t open ports or allow remote access to the hub for anyone else.
• Put hosted phones on a guest network or separate VLAN that reaches only the internet and the hub, never your own devices. This is required, not a recommendation: see section 6.
• Keep phones connected, charged, in a cool ventilated place, and out of reach of others.
• Don’t install other software on hosted phones, sign in to accounts on them, change their settings, or interfere with the PocketShare device agent, the hub or cleanup.

4. What PocketShare does with your phones

When you enroll a hub and connect phones, you allow PocketShare, through the hub and the device agent, to:

• check each phone’s setup and record its model, Android version and build, and a hashed form of its serial number (the serial itself never leaves your hub);
• install and update the PocketShare device agent, keep the screen on and unlocked during rentals, turn automatic system updates off while the phone is listed, and record and restore the settings it changes;
• report the phone’s and hub’s health (battery, temperature, charging, storage, connectivity) every 30 seconds, and pause a phone that is too hot until it cools down;
• give renters ADB and screen access for the length of their rentals (section 5);
• after every rental, remove what the renter added, restore settings, reboot the phone and check it against its starting state. A phone that can’t be confirmed clean is quarantined until it is fixed and reviewed;
• list a phone only after we review it, and pause or remove a phone or hub, or end a rental, for safety, security, quality or a breach of our terms.

5. What renters can and can’t do

During a rental a renter can install and run apps, use the phone’s shell as Android’s unprivileged shell user, control the screen, transfer files and forward ports to the phone. They can’t get root, use your SIM (there must be none), or reach your hub computer through ADB.

Honest limits: a renter’s shell can change some settings, such as turning off Wi-Fi or USB debugging, which can take your phone offline until you reconnect it. Cleanup is designed for test use and is not forensic erasure. These protections are still being hardened during the beta.

6. Your network and renter traffic

During the beta, apps a renter runs on your phone reach the internet through your network connection. Their traffic appears to come from your internet connection, like any other device on your network. PocketShare forbids renters from misusing this (see the Acceptable Use Policy), limits new accounts, and can identify which rental was using a phone at a given time, but it cannot prevent every misuse while this lasts. We plan to send rented phones’ internet traffic through PocketShare’s own network instead and will tell you when that changes.

Because of this:

• keep hosted phones on a guest network or VLAN (section 3);
• if you receive a complaint or notice about traffic from your connection that may come from a rented phone, forward it to [email protected] with the time. We will investigate, tell you what we can about the rental involved, end the renter’s access where the complaint is credible, and give records to authorities as the law requires.

7. Respecting renters

• Don’t watch, photograph, record or interfere with a phone’s screen or use during a rental, or try to access a renter’s apps or data. You will be able to see the screen if you are near the phone; look away and leave it alone.
• Don’t try to find out who renters are. PocketShare doesn’t tell you, and renters aren’t told who you are.
• Don’t misrepresent a phone (for example by connecting an emulator or a different model).
• If you ever see child sexual abuse material on a phone’s screen, don’t copy it: report it to [email protected] and to NCMEC’s CyberTipline (report.cybertip.org) right away.

8. Prices and earnings

• You set each phone’s hourly price within the bounds the Service shows, or list it for free. We may suggest a price. A change applies to new rentals, never to a running one.
• You earn the host share of the phone-time charges for completed rentals of your phones, shown in your dashboard (60% during the beta). Bandwidth charges belong to PocketShare. Taxes collected from renters are not part of the charges.
• Earnings are pending for 14 days and then become payable, after any adjustments. If a rental is credited back to the renter because your side ended it (the phone or hub disconnected, or you paused the phone) or because we refunded it, or if a renter’s card payment is charged back, the host share for that money is reversed. We may deduct a reversal from your later earnings.
• Payouts are made monthly, for the previous month’s payable earnings of at least $10, to the Stripe account you connect through the Service. Stripe’s Connected Account Agreement applies to that account, and Stripe may need identity and tax information from you. We’ll tell you when automatic payouts start; until then we pay hosts’ payable earnings manually.
• There is no guaranteed income. A listed phone nobody rents earns nothing.
• You are responsible for your own taxes on earnings. Stripe may send you tax forms (such as a Form 1099-K) where U.S. law requires.

9. Costs and risks you carry

You provide and pay for your equipment, electricity and internet connection. Phones that run for long periods wear, and batteries age; the hub pauses hot phones but can’t prevent a battery failure. Check that your home or business insurance covers equipment you leave running. PocketShare is not responsible for wear, damage, loss or theft of your equipment, or for data you leave on a phone.

10. Reporting abuse

Report suspected abuse by a renter to [email protected]. We will investigate and may end rentals and suspend the renter.

11. Suspension and ending this agreement

• You can stop hosting at any time: pause or remove phones and hubs from your dashboard. To close your account, first unlist your phones; closing waits until your payable earnings are settled.
• We may pause or remove phones and hubs, or suspend your account, for safety, security, repeated failed cleanups, misrepresentation, a breach of this agreement or the Acceptable Use Policy, or if we end the Service. Rentals on your phones then end and are credited to the renters.
• Earnings already payable when hosting ends are paid out under section 8, less adjustments.

12. Your relationship with PocketShare

You are an independent host, not an employee, agent or partner of PocketShare. You decide whether, when and which phones to host and at what price within the bounds.

13. Disclaimers and liability

To the extent the law allows, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied. PocketShare is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or business. PocketShare’s total liability for all claims relating to hosting is limited to the greater of the host share paid to you in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or $100. These limits don’t apply to liability the law doesn’t allow us to limit, such as for fraud or willful misconduct.

14. Changes, governing law and contact

Sections 16 to 19 of the Terms of Service (changes, governing law and disputes, general terms and contact) apply to this agreement too. Changes to this agreement are announced at least 30 days ahead, as there.