Terms of Service

The short version

This summary is part of the Terms. The full Terms below give the details.

• Ruebex helps you practise for IELTS. It is not the official IELTS test.
• You must be 13 or older. If you are under 18, you need permission from a parent or guardian. If the law where you live sets a higher minimum age, you must meet it (see 2.2).
• Practice estimates are not official scores. If you take a full-length Listening or Reading section (where Ruebex offers one), or get Speaking feedback, any estimated band is a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score, and it does not promise any exam result (see 4.3 and 4.4). AI feedback can be wrong.
• Ruebex Plus renews automatically until you cancel. You can cancel within 14 days for a refund minus the days used.
• Nothing in these Terms takes away your legal rights.

1. About these Terms and who we are

1.1 Who we are

Ruebex is a trading name of Optamix Tech Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales.

• Company number: 17202050
• Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom
• Email: info@ruebex.com

"We", "us" and "our" mean Optamix Tech Ltd. "You" means the person using Ruebex.

1.2 What makes up our agreement

Our agreement is made up of these Terms, our Community Rules (ruebex.com/community-rules) and, if you buy Ruebex Plus, our Subscription, cancellation and refund policy (ruebex.com/refunds). If the refund policy and these Terms differ, the version better for you applies. Our Privacy Policy is not part of this contract.

1.3 When you agree to these Terms: the sign-up box

You agree to these Terms by ticking the sign-up box, which is never ticked in advance:

☐ I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

By ticking it, you:

1. accept these Terms, including the Community Rules and the refund policy, and confirm that you have read our Privacy Policy;
2. confirm that you are 13 or older and, if you are under 18, your parent or guardian has agreed to you using Ruebex. If the law where you live sets a higher minimum age, you also tick "I am 18 or older." (see 2.2);
3. agree that your practice answers, AI Coach messages and some study details are processed by our external AI provider, outside the UK;
4. agree that your Speaking recordings are saved to your account and transcribed by AI (see 4.1).

We keep a record of which wording you ticked, the version of these Terms and of the Privacy Policy, the date and time, your country and the page language.

Older accounts. If your account was created before this box existed, you are asked to tick it when you next sign in, and AI features stay off until you do. If you don't agree, you can download your data and ask us to delete your account in Profile and settings → Your data (see 18.1).

1.4 Language

These Terms are written in English.

2. Who can use Ruebex

2.1 You must be at least 13

Ruebex is not for children under 13. If we learn that someone under 13 has an account, we will close it and delete their data.

2.2 If you are under 18

You need permission from a parent or guardian to use Ruebex, or we may suspend or close the account. If the law where you live sets a higher minimum age, you must meet it and tick "I am 18 or older." at sign-up. If we learn that an account belongs to someone below the minimum age that applies where they live, we will close it within 7 days and refund any Ruebex Plus in full.

2.3 Parents and guardians

If you let your child use Ruebex, you agree to them using it under these Terms.

2.4 Buying Ruebex Plus

You must be 18 or over to buy Ruebex Plus and pay with your own payment method. For a learner under 18, a parent or guardian must buy it; they are then the customer, and the rights in sections 9 and 10 are theirs. Ruebex Plus may not be available in every country; checkout tells you if it cannot be bought with your billing address.

2.5 Personal use only

Ruebex is for your own personal study, not for groups or organisations.

3. Your account

3.1 Creating and protecting your account

Use your own email address and confirm it. Each account is for one person; keep your password secret and do not share it. If you sign in with Google, keep your Google account secure: anyone using it can sign in to your Ruebex account. You are responsible for use of your account if you did not keep your password or Google account safe, but not for misuse that was not your fault.

3.2 Devices

A free account can be signed in on 1 device (one browser) at a time and a Plus account on 2 devices. If you sign in on more, the device used least recently is signed out.

3.3 Emails from us

We send the service emails you need, such as receipts and important account news.

4. What Ruebex is, and what it is not

4.1 What Ruebex gives you

Ruebex is a website for IELTS self-study. It includes lessons; Reading and Listening practice; Writing and Speaking practice with optional AI feedback; timed mock sessions, including a "three-skill mock" (Listening, Reading and Writing) and, where Ruebex offers them, full-length exam sections; the Ruebex AI Coach; AI translation; study tools; Community; and an optional leaderboard.

Ruebex is designed for computers; some features may not work well on phones or older browsers. Listening audio uses your device's own text-to-speech voice.

Speaking recordings are saved to your account by default for 30 days and transcribed. If you choose "Keep them on this device instead" on the Speaking page, nothing is uploaded and you get no transcripts or AI feedback.

4.2 Ruebex is not the official IELTS test

IELTS is a registered trade mark of the IELTS Partners: the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Ruebex is an independent product of Optamix Tech Ltd. It is not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by them.

4.3 Practice results and AI feedback are study guidance

• Reading and Listening marks are scores on Ruebex's own practice tasks, not official IELTS scores.
• A full-length Listening or Reading section can also show an estimated band. If you take a full-length Listening or Reading section (where Ruebex offers one), Ruebex can turn your score out of 40 into an estimated band. It is a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score. It uses Ruebex's own formula, not an official conversion table, so your real band can be different. Short practice sets never show a band.
• AI feedback is study guidance, not an official band score. Writing feedback gives no band.
• Speaking feedback includes an estimated band. It is a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score, based only on the transcript, and it can be wrong.
• Mock sessions use original Ruebex practice tasks: short sets, or full-length exam sections where Ruebex offers them. They are not official IELTS papers or the official test.
• Model answers and other AI-written examples are teaching examples, not examiner-marked, and not guaranteed to reach any band.

4.4 No guaranteed results

We do not promise any band score, university place, visa, job or other outcome. A practice estimate on Ruebex, for Speaking or for a full-length Listening or Reading section, is not a promise or a forecast of your official result.

4.5 Our practice content is original

Our lessons and tasks are original Ruebex material, written with help from AI tools, not real or official IELTS test material. They have not yet been reviewed by a qualified IELTS teacher, unless a lesson or task says so. Pictures of learners on Ruebex are illustrations made with AI, not photos of real learners.

5. The free plan

5.1 Free means free

The free plan costs nothing and is not a trial. We charge you only if you choose Ruebex Plus and pay for it.

5.2 Free plan limits

5.3 How limits are counted

• A practice or mock session counts when you start a new one. Retakes count; continuing started work does not.
• A Speaking session (one part or a full test) counts once, when you start it. Recording an answer again does not count.
• If you take full-length exam sections (where Ruebex offers them), one sitting counts as one mock session, whether you choose one, two or all three sections.
• AI feedback counts when it is delivered. A request that fails because of a problem on our side does not count.
• Daily limits reset at 00:00 UTC. Weekly limits reset on Monday at 00:00 UTC. Monthly limits reset on the 1st of the month at 00:00 UTC.

5.4 Fair use and safety limits

Hourly safety limits (for example on AI requests and posts) stop automated, abusive or unusually heavy use.

5.5 Changes to free limits

We may change the free plan limits. We will tell you in the app at least 14 days before we reduce them, unless we need to act faster for security, legal or abuse reasons.

6. Ruebex Plus

6.1 Prices

You pay the full price for each billing period at its start.

6.2 What Plus includes

Everything in the free plan, plus:

• AI feedback for each billing period: 100 (1 month), 300 (3 months) or 600 (6 months), given at its start, up to 10 a day.
• When your allowance runs out, you still get 2 AI feedback a day (shared between Writing and Speaking) until your next billing period starts. Unused allowance does not roll over.
• No weekly or monthly limit on practice or mock sessions (fair use applies, see 6.3).
• Up to 25 AI Coach questions, 25 AI translations and 60 AI requests in total a day.
• Step-by-step writing hints, model answers and example answers in AI feedback.
• All six colour palettes and 2 signed-in devices.

6.3 Fair use

Plus is for one person's own study. If your use looks automated, shared or abusive, we may limit it. We will not reduce the features in 6.2 during a paid period unless we must for security or legal reasons or to stop abuse; if that significantly affects you, you can cancel for a refund of the unused part.

6.4 The price you pay

The price shown before you pay is the total price; no tax or other charge is added. We charge in US dollars, and your bank may add conversion fees.

6.5 Payments

Our payment processor handles payments. When you subscribe, you allow us to charge your payment method at the start of each billing period until you cancel.

6.6 How buying Plus works

1. The "Review and subscribe" screen shows your plan, price, renewal date, how to cancel and your 14-day cancellation deadline. Until you confirm the payment, you can go back and change your choices.
2. You choose your billing country. Plus may not be available in every country.
3. You tick one box: "I am 18 or over, or the parent or guardian of the learner aged 13 to 17. I agree to the Terms of Service and want Plus to start now." By ticking it, you confirm the age rule in 2.4, accept these Terms and expressly ask us to start Plus straight away (see 9.3).
4. You pay on our payment processor's secure page. You are charged only when you confirm the payment there.
5. Our contract and Plus start when your payment is confirmed.
6. We email you a confirmation with your plan, the 14-day cancellation information and a link to these Terms.

6.7 If a payment fails

If a renewal payment fails, our payment processor retries for a short time. Until it goes through, your Plus features are paused and the free limits apply. If every attempt fails, Plus ends and you are not charged for that period.

6.8 When Plus ends

Your account goes back to the free plan, with your saved work.

7. Automatic renewal and how to cancel

7.1 Plus renews automatically

At the end of each billing period, Plus renews for the same length and price (unless we have told you of a price change, see 8.1) until you cancel. We will send you any reminder before a renewal that the law requires.

7.2 How to cancel your renewal

Cancel at any time in Profile and settings → Membership → Subscription & billing → Manage billing, or email info@ruebex.com from your account email. You keep Plus until the end of the paid period and are not charged again. We confirm by email; if you do not get a confirmation, contact us.

7.3 What cancelling does not do

Cancelling your renewal does not by itself refund the current period (see sections 9 and 10). Deleting your account ends Plus (see 18.1).

8. Price changes and changes to Plus

8.1 Price changes

We may change the price for future billing periods. We will email you at least 30 days before your first payment at the new price, and you can cancel before it applies. The price of a paid period never changes.

8.2 Changes to what Plus includes

If we plan a change that significantly reduces what Plus gives you, we will tell you at least 30 days before it affects you, or as soon as we can if it is urgent for legal, safety or security reasons. You can then cancel, and we will refund the unused part of your billing period.

9. Your 14-day right to cancel

9.1 Who has this right

If you buy Plus for your personal use, UK law gives you the right to cancel within 14 days. We give this right to every Plus customer, wherever they live.

9.2 When it applies

You can cancel until the end of 14 days after the day you subscribe, for each new subscription. The right does not start again when a plan renews (but see 10.3).

9.3 Starting Plus straight away

By ticking the checkout box and paying, you make an express request for us to start Plus during the 14 days, under regulation 36 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If you then cancel within 14 days, we refund what you paid, minus an amount for the days you had Plus, worked out as our refund policy (section 5) explains. If we did not record your request at checkout, we refund you in full.

9.4 How to cancel within 14 days

Tell us clearly that you want to cancel, before 23:59 UK time on the 14th day after the day you subscribed:

• by email to info@ruebex.com;
• by a private support request from Contact us in Ruebex; or
• by post to Optamix Tech Ltd, 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.

You can use the model cancellation form in our refund policy (section 12), but you do not have to. Cancelling your renewal in Manage billing is not a 14-day cancellation.

9.5 Your refund

We refund you within 14 days of the day you tell us, to the payment method you used, with no fee. Plus then ends.

10. Refunds and your legal rights

10.1 Your legal rights

Under the law (in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015), our service must be provided with reasonable care and skill and as described, and digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. If it is not, you may be entitled to a repair or replacement or, failing that, a price reduction or refund. Nothing in these Terms affects your legal rights.

10.2 Other refund requests

Outside the 14-day period and your legal rights, refunds are at our discretion. We look at each request fairly.

10.3 Renewals you did not mean to keep

Contact us as soon as possible. We decide as in 10.2, considering how soon you contacted us and whether you have used Plus since.

10.4 How to ask for a refund

Email info@ruebex.com with your account email, the payment date and what happened. Never send your card number.

10.5 Mistakes in charges

If we charge you the wrong amount, we will refund the difference.

10.6 Disputes with your bank

Please contact us before disputing a payment with your bank. If a payment is reversed, your Plus may end.

11. AI features

11.1 How we use AI

Ruebex uses AI models through one external AI provider for feedback, transcripts, the AI Coach and translations. The AI Coach is a computer program, not a person or a teacher. It cannot help with emergencies: if you feel unsafe, talk to an adult you trust or call your local emergency number.

11.2 AI can be wrong

AI can make mistakes. Its output is study guidance, not an official IELTS score, and not advice on immigration, admissions, legal, medical or other important matters. Check it yourself.

11.3 What to put into AI features

Do not type or say private or sensitive personal information (such as your address, health details, ID numbers or other people's details) in answers, recordings or Coach messages.

11.4 Using what the AI gives you

You may use AI output for your own learning. Do not present it as an official result, or use our AI to create harmful or illegal content or to cheat.

11.5 If AI gets it wrong

Use "Does this feedback look wrong?", "Report this feedback" or "Report this reply".

11.6 When AI is unavailable

AI features may sometimes pause for everyone. A failed request does not use your allowance.

12. Your content

12.1 What "your content" means

Anything you create or add in Ruebex.

12.2 You own your content

You keep ownership of your content.

12.3 Permission you give us

You give Optamix Tech Ltd a non-exclusive, worldwide, free permission to host, store, copy, display, adapt and process your content only as needed to run Ruebex and comply with the law. It ends when you delete the content or your account, except for backups kept up to 35 days and records we must keep by law or for a legal claim or safety report.

12.4 No AI training

This permission does not include training AI models on your content.

12.5 Who can see your content

Your answers, feedback, notes and Coach chats are private. Community posts can be seen by all signed-in learners, with your display name. If you join the leaderboard, signed-in learners see your public name, city (if added) and XP.

12.6 Deleting your content

You can delete your own Community posts. A reported post, or one we must keep for safety or legal reasons, may be kept while we look into it. Other content is deleted with your account.

12.7 Your responsibility

Only add content you have the right to share. Do not post other people's photos, personal details or work without permission.

12.8 Reviews

If you send us a review, you choose whether we may publish it and your photo (photos only if you are 18 or over). We check reviews before publishing. A certificate image is used only to check your review and is never published. You can withdraw your review at any time in My review.

12.9 Ideas and suggestions

We may use ideas you send us without paying you.

13. Rules for everyone

You must not:

1. share your account, resell access, or create extra accounts to get around limits;
2. use bots or scrapers, or get around limits, payments or security;
3. hack, attack or overload Ruebex, spread malware, or copy our software except where the law allows;
4. access another person's account or data;
5. try to make the AI produce harmful, illegal, sexual or abusive content, or ignore its instructions;
6. use Ruebex to cheat in a real exam, or to make or trade fake certificates or results;
7. post anything that breaks our Community Rules, anywhere in Ruebex, including names, photos and reviews;
8. pretend to be someone else, including Ruebex staff or an IELTS official;
9. break the law, or help anyone else to;
10. manipulate XP or the leaderboard. XP has no money value.

Reporting harmful content to us is always allowed.

14. Community Rules and safety

14.1 About Community

Before your first post or reply, you tick "I agree to the Community Rules". Posts are text only and visible to all signed-in learners. Our Community Rules (ruebex.com/community-rules) form part of these Terms and set out what may be posted, how we moderate, and how reporting, appeals and complaints work.

14.2 Never allowed, for anyone of any age

Never post or link to: sexual content involving children, or grooming; pornography; content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders; intimate images shared without consent, including fake ones, or threats to share them; terrorist content; bullying, harassment, threats or hate; serious violence or dangerous challenges; illegal goods or services, sexual services, fraud or scams; deliberately harmful false information; or anything else illegal.

14.3 Keep personal details private

Do not share anyone's contact details or location, or ask others to talk on other apps.

14.4 Keep exams honest

Do not share real or "leaked" IELTS material, or help anyone cheat.

14.5 Be kind and helpful

Be respectful. No spam or adverts.

14.6 If you are struggling

Community is not a crisis service. If someone is in danger, call your local emergency number.

14.7 How to report something

Press Report on any post or reply; reports are private. Intimate images: if you are shown in an intimate image shared without consent, or act for the person shown, press Report and choose "Intimate image shared without my consent", or email info@ruebex.com with the subject "Intimate image report". We take it down, with any copies we find, as soon as we can and within 48 hours of your report at the latest.

14.8 How we moderate

• People decide. A person makes every moderation decision. Our only automatic checks are a word and pattern check that blocks display names and leaderboard names containing contact details, links or staff-like names, and a limit on how often you can post.
• Speed. We look at every report within 24 hours, the most serious first.
• Serious harm. We take illegal content down swiftly once we know about it. We report child sexual exploitation and abuse content to the UK National Crime Agency, and terrorist content and threats to life to the police.
• Action. We may hide or remove content, warn you, hide you from the leaderboard, or suspend or close your account, in proportion to the problem.

14.9 If we take action on your content or account

We will tell you what we did, which rule we applied and how to appeal, unless that would put someone at risk, harm an investigation or break the law.

14.10 Appeals

Within 30 days of our notice, press "Ask for a review" or email info@ruebex.com with "Appeal" in the subject. We aim to answer within 7 days, and restore your content or account if we got it wrong.

14.11 Complaints about safety in Community

Email info@ruebex.com with the subject "Safety complaint". Our Community Rules explain how we handle it, including how to tell Ofcom.

15. Our content and intellectual property

Ruebex and its content belong to us or our licensors. You may use it for your own personal, non-commercial study. Unless the law allows it, you must not copy, share, sell or publish it, or use it to train AI models. If you think something on Ruebex uses your work without permission, email info@ruebex.com.

16. Keeping Ruebex running, and changes

16.1 Availability

We cannot promise Ruebex will always be available.

16.2 Changes to Ruebex

We may add, change or remove features, subject to 6.3 and 8.2.

16.3 Events outside our control

We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control. If one lasts a long time, you can cancel Plus and we will refund the unused part.

16.4 If we close Ruebex

If we close Ruebex or stop offering Plus, we will give you at least 30 days' notice where we can and refund the unused part of any paid Plus period.

16.5 Inactive accounts

If you do not sign in for 2 years, we will delete your account after two warning emails. If you never confirmed your email address, we delete it after 6 months without a sign-in, after one warning email.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may change these Terms, for example to reflect changes to Ruebex, our prices or the law. Small changes (such as clearer wording) can take effect straight away. For important changes, we will tell you at least 30 days before they take effect. If you have Plus and an important change is worse for you, you can cancel before it takes effect for a refund of the unused part. If you do not agree, you can stop using Ruebex. We keep every version of these Terms; you can ask us for the one you accepted.

18. Closing or suspending accounts

18.1 If you want to leave

You can delete your account in Profile and settings → Your data, or by emailing info@ruebex.com. We delete it within one month of your request.

If you have Plus, a deletion request ends it. We cancel your subscription within 7 days and refund the unused part of your paid period, pro rata, worked out as in 9.3. If you would rather keep Plus until the paid period ends, tell us in writing; we then delete your account at that point, with no refund.

18.2 If we suspend or close your account

We may suspend or close your account if you seriously or repeatedly break these Terms, to protect others or Ruebex from harm, if we suspect fraud or payment abuse, or if the law requires it. We usually warn you first, unless the problem is serious or urgent, and tell you how to appeal (see 14.10).

If you have Plus, we do not charge a renewal during a suspension, and we add or refund days lost to a suspension that is lifted. If we close your account or end Plus early, we refund the unused part, unless we acted because of fraud or payment abuse.

18.3 What continues after your account ends

Sections 12.3 (only as described there), 15, 19 and 21 continue to apply.

19. Our responsibility to you

19.1 What we are responsible for

We are responsible for foreseeable loss or damage you suffer because we break these Terms or fail to use reasonable care and skill. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is obvious it would happen, or if you and we both knew it might happen when you started using Ruebex. We are not responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable.

19.2 What we never limit

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our responsibility for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
• breaking your legal rights as a consumer;
• damage to your device or digital content caused by faulty digital content we supplied without reasonable care and skill;
• anything else the law does not allow us to limit or exclude.

19.3 Business use

If you use Ruebex for a business purpose, we are not responsible to you for loss of profit, business, business opportunity or business interruption.

19.4 Official tests and decisions by others

We are not responsible for the official IELTS test, its marking, or decisions by universities, employers or immigration authorities. This does not affect our responsibility if our own service is faulty or we have been careless.

19.5 Keep copies of important work

Please keep your own copy of anything important. You can download your data in Profile and settings → Your data.

20. Complaints

20.1 How to complain

Email info@ruebex.com with the subject "Complaint". We usually reply within 24 hours and aim to resolve your complaint within 14 days. Our Complaints and your rights page (ruebex.com/complaints) explains every route.

20.2 Special types of complaint

• Community and safety: see 14.10 and 14.11.
• Privacy: see our Privacy Policy. In the UK, you can also complain to the Information Commission (formerly the ICO, ico.org.uk).

20.3 If we cannot agree

If we cannot resolve your complaint, we will tell you in writing. You can then go to court (see section 21).

21. Which law applies, and where you can go to court

• These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
• You can bring legal proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring them there.
• If you live outside the UK, you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer laws where you live, and may be able to bring proceedings in your local courts.

22. Other important points

• Transfer. We may transfer this agreement to another organisation, for example if our business is sold, and will tell you. If you have Plus, you can then cancel for a refund of the unused part. You may not transfer your account.
• Only you and we have rights under these Terms.
• If part of these Terms is found invalid, the rest still applies.
• If we do not enforce a rule straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• Notices. We contact you at your account email.

23. Contact us

Email info@ruebex.com, use Contact us in the app, or write to Optamix Tech Ltd, 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom.

We usually reply within 24 hours.