Referral programme terms

Who can take part

Anyone with a Cal 3D account can share their invite code. You need an account for a reward to be credited to — until you have one, a code you were given is kept on your device and applied as soon as you sign in.

Two things worth saying plainly. The reward goes to the person whose code was used — entering a code gives you no discount, no free time and no reward, and entering one is entirely optional: the setup screen lets you skip it. And the programme is run under German law by the provider named at the bottom of this page; the tax note and the payout rules below are written for Germany. If you live elsewhere, the rewards still work, but what you owe on them is decided where you live.

What earns a reward

A reward of $5 is earned when someone enters your code during setup and then buys a paid Cal 3D subscription.

When you can use it

A reward becomes available 30 days after your friend pays. The wait covers the period in which their payment can still be refunded or reversed — including the 14-day right of withdrawal you have as a consumer in the EU. Until then it is shown as part of your balance but cannot be redeemed.

Cancelling never takes it back

If your friend later cancels their subscription, your reward stays. It is only reversed if their payment is refunded or charged back — in that case no money was ever received, so there is nothing to share.

How many

Up to 12 rewarded referrals per calendar year, per account. Two reasons, and the second is the one that sets the number: it keeps the programme at a comfortable distance from the German tax-free threshold for occasional income (see Tax), and it caps what a single abusive account can take at $60 instead of leaving it open-ended.

Rewards belong to the account that earned them. A balance cannot be transferred, sold or merged into another account.

How to use your balance

From $5 you can turn your balance into free Cal 3D Pro time — the same subscription the App Store lists as Cal 3D Premium; the app shows reward time under the shorter name. Every $5 is at least 15 days of Pro — more if your plan costs less per day. Part of a reward counts too, rounded down to whole days. Time is added to what you already have: if your subscription still runs for ten months, it then runs for ten months and fifteen days.

Apple limits how often a running subscription can be extended: at most 90 days per request, and at most two requests per year. One redemption can therefore hold up to $30 of Pro time, and you have two of them in a calendar year. Twelve rewards are $60 — exactly two full redemptions, which is why the programme is built around collecting rather than redeeming each reward on its own.

Redeem in whole $30 steps if you can. If you use both requests on small amounts, the rest of your balance stays in your account but cannot become Pro time until the next calendar year. It does not expire — it waits.

One exception from Apple’s side: a subscription that is still in a free trial or an introductory period cannot be extended. A redemption made then waits and is carried out once the paid period begins. Nothing is lost while it waits.

Your balance becomes Pro time and nothing else. There is no voucher and no cash payout — not through the app, and not on request either. That is a deliberate choice and it works in your favour: a reward that cannot be paid out stays a benefit in kind under § 8 (1) sentence 3 of the German Income Tax Act, so there is no name and address to hand over, no age limit, and nothing to declare. You can turn your balance into Pro time at any age you are allowed to use the app.

Your balance never expires. The one thing that ends it is deleting your Cal 3D account: rewards belong to the account that earned them, so deleting it deletes them with it. If you have a balance you want to keep, redeem it first. The other way round nothing happens to you — if a friend you referred deletes their account, the reward they earned you stays.

What does not count

Referring yourself, accounts created to redeem your own code, and codes posted to coupon or deal sites are excluded, and rewards from them are removed. One code per account, and a code can only be entered once — during setup.

Also excluded: buying or selling codes, bulk or automated sign-ups, and accounts created by bots. And to be explicit, because it is the line Apple and Google draw hardest — a reward is never given for a rating, a review or a download. It is earned only when someone who entered your code actually pays for a subscription.

What your friends see

Nothing about you beyond the code you gave them. In your own list, people who used your code appear as “Friend 1”, “Friend 2” and so on, with the date and the amount — never their name, email or anything else about them.

You send the invitation yourself. Tapping share opens your phone’s own share sheet, and the message goes from your account in whichever app you pick. We never send anything to anyone you name, and we never ask for or store a friend’s phone number or email address.

Changes

We can change the programme or bring it to an end, but not on a whim. A change needs a reason that has actually arisen — a change in the law or in tax treatment, a store rule, abuse, or costs that make the programme unsustainable — and it must be reasonable for you. We announce it at least 30 days in advance, by email if you have an account with us and on this page in any case.

What you have earned is safe either way. Rewards already credited stay in your balance and stay redeemable, including after the programme ends. A reward earned during the notice period counts too.

Tax

A word on tax, and it is deliberately careful: we can describe the rules, we cannot give you tax advice.

In Germany, rewards from referral programmes are commonly treated as occasional income under § 22 No. 3 EStG. Such income stays tax-free as long as it is below €256 in a calendar year — and because that is a threshold rather than an allowance, reaching €256 makes the whole amount taxable, not just the part above it. Whether the rule applies to a referral reward at all is not settled: the Federal Ministry of Finance has taken the view that such premiums are regularly not taxable, while tax commentary and a tax court have applied § 22 No. 3.

Two things worth knowing either way. The €256 apply to you, once a year, across everything of this kind — not per provider, so our yearly limit keeps our own contribution small (twelve rewards are $60, far below the threshold whichever way the exchange rate moves) but cannot decide the question for you. And because a balance never expires, several years’ worth can reach you in a single year if you redeem them together. If you are anywhere near the threshold, ask someone who does this for a living.

Provider and contact

The programme is run by:

Questions about the programme: support@cal3d.app