Using Nitrate
There is no Nitrate account. You do not register, and you give us no credentials — the app runs on your device and uses your existing Apple Account for iCloud sync and for any purchase. You are responsible for the security of that Apple Account and for activity carried out through it on your devices.
Nitrate is licensed to you, not sold. You get a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the apps on devices you own or control, subject to these terms and to Apple's own licensed-application terms.
The catalog
Every title in the catalog is free to watch. Most are, to the best of our research, in the public domain in the territories where we offer them. The rest are still in copyright but are distributed under a licence that permits free viewing — a Creative Commons licence, or the rights holder's own grant. Where a title carries a licence, that licence travels with the film and its terms apply to you as a viewer.
We claim no copyright in the films themselves, and we did not scan, restore, or transfer them. Nothing in the catalog is sold, rented, or locked behind a payment.
Public-domain status varies by country, and a licence can be changed or withdrawn by the party that granted it. Titles may therefore appear or disappear as our research continues.
What is ours, and stays ours, is the software: the Nitrate apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, their design and interface, the Nitrate name and mark, and our curation — the selection, arrangement, categorisation, and written descriptions that make up the catalog. None of that is public domain, and none of it comes with the films.
What you may do
Watch anything in the catalog, as often as you like, on your own devices, for personal, non-commercial viewing — including at home with family and friends. Where a film's own licence grants you more than that, take it: our terms restrict the app, not your rights in a public-domain or freely licensed film.
What you may not do
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or redistribute the Nitrate apps themselves
- Scrape or bulk-copy the catalog, its metadata, artwork, or descriptions for another service
- Circumvent membership checks, ad delivery, or any other technical limit in the app
- Resell, sublicense, or charge others for access to Nitrate
- Use automated tools that place unreasonable load on the service
Note the distinction: a public-domain film is free for you to obtain and use from any source — the app that presents it is not. Source your own copy if you want to redistribute a title.
Ads
Nitrate is free to use. On iPhone and iPad, one full-screen ad may play on the way into the player for viewers who are not members; films are never interrupted mid-playback. The Mac and Apple TV apps show no ads. Active members of The Nitrate Society see no ads on any platform. Ad delivery and the consent it requires are described in the Privacy Policy.
The Nitrate Society
The Nitrate Society is an optional auto-renewing subscription. It is not required to watch anything — the entire catalog is available without it.
What it includes
- No ads, on every platform, for as long as the membership is active
- Support for the running costs of building and maintaining the apps
Plans, billing, and renewal
| Plans | Monthly and yearly. Current prices are shown in the app before you buy, in your local currency, and are set in the App Store. |
|---|---|
| Payment | Charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. All billing is handled by Apple; we never receive your payment details. |
| Renewal | Renews automatically at the same price unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged within 24 hours before the period ends. |
| Free trial | Where an introductory offer is available and your Apple Account is eligible, the app says so before purchase. Any unused portion of a free period is forfeited if you buy a subscription during it. |
| Changing plan | Switching between monthly and yearly is handled by the App Store, which prorates and schedules the change itself. |
| Cancelling | Manage or cancel at any time in your Apple Account settings. Cancelling stops the next renewal; the membership runs to the end of the period already paid for. |
| Refunds | Refunds are issued by Apple under its own policies, not by us. Requests go through Apple's Report a Problem. |
If prices change, the change applies from your next renewal and only after Apple has notified you and, where required, obtained your consent to continue.
Purchases restore automatically on any device signed into the same Apple Account, and can be restored manually from the membership screen in Settings.
Availability & condition of prints
These are surviving prints of films up to a century old, digitised by archivists and volunteers rather than by a studio restoration department. Density shifts, splices, missing frames, soft focus, and variable audio are inherent to the source elements. They are properties of the film, not defects in the service, and we do not apply AI sharpening or denoising to hide them.
Streaming depends on network conditions and on services outside our control. We aim for continuous availability but cannot guarantee uninterrupted streaming, and a title may become temporarily or permanently unavailable without notice.
Rights & takedown
We include titles only where our research indicates the film is in the public domain or is freely licensed for viewing. Research can be wrong, and rights differ by territory.
If you hold rights in a film listed in Nitrate and believe it should not be there, write to support@nitrate.info with the title, the basis of your claim, and the territory concerned. We will review it promptly and take the title out of the catalog while we do.
Disclaimer & liability
Nitrate is provided as is and as available. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, and we do not warrant that the app will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any particular title will remain available.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, and our total liability in connection with Nitrate is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim — which, for a viewer who is not a member, is nothing.
Nothing in these terms limits rights you have as a consumer under the mandatory law of the country you live in.
Ending your use
You can stop at any time by deleting the app; there is no account to close. If you are a member, delete the subscription separately in your Apple Account settings — removing the app does not cancel billing.
We may restrict or block access where the app is being used to attack the service, scrape the catalog, or circumvent its technical limits. Where the cause is fixable, we will say so first.
Changes to these terms
If we change these terms materially, we will update the effective date above and notify you in the app before the change takes effect. Continuing to use Nitrate after that means you accept the revised terms.
Contact
Questions about these terms — support@nitrate.info.