Back to Early Letters

This document is being finalised.

Drafting notice. This document was drafted by an AI (Claude) for review by a licensed attorney. It is not legal advice and is not ready to publish. Placeholders appear in curly braces, for example {PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME}. Notes for counsel appear as [COUNSEL: ...] and must be removed before publication. Law and store rules were checked on 2 October 2026; sources are in Appendix A, open decisions in Appendix B. The consumer-law review for this version is docs/legal/memos/lawyer-1.md.

[COUNSEL NOTE FOR THE FOUNDER. Not part of the Terms; remove before publication.] Updated 3 Oct 2026: the founder decided to publish as an individual with no LLC for now (docs/DECISIONS.md D-004). These Terms limit what a user can claim, but they do not protect you personally: with no entity, every claim is against you and your personal assets. The liability cap (Section 21) and the beta and "it can make mistakes" lines (Sections 11.5, 16.4) reduce exposure; they do not replace an entity. Recommended: price technology errors and omissions (tech E&O) plus cyber liability insurance now, and form an entity and transfer the app before scale (before the public beta link or paid marketing, 1,000 families, $2,000 a month in proceeds, the first hire, or Android). When an entity exists: sign every contract, store account and vendor agreement in its name, use its own bank account, and keep it in good standing. Counsel to confirm the individual's contact address for Section 26.1(h) and notices (a mailing address rather than a home address, where lawful), and coverage limits and exclusions for children's data.

Early Letters Terms of Service

Contents

The short version

This summary is here to help. The full terms below are what count.

  • Early Letters is for adults 18 and over. Children are who the letters are written to, not users.
  • Early Letters is in beta. Features may change or break, so please export a copy from time to time.
  • Your words and recordings are yours. We only use them to run Early Letters for you and the family you invite.
  • We never rewrite your letters. Transcription only fixes microphone and grammar slips, and you can see and undo every fix. Speech recognition can still get things wrong, so please read your letters before you save them.
  • Writing, reading, listening, export and family authors are free, always. Past letters are never put behind a payment.
  • Plus is optional. It renews automatically through Apple or Google until you cancel. We tell you before free months end and before an annual plan renews, and we never raise your price without your agreement.
  • Co-parents are equals. Neither can remove the other or delete the other's letters.
  • If we ever close Early Letters, we will give you at least 90 days' notice and a way to take everything with you.
  • If something goes wrong, contact us first. You can always use small claims court.

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

1.1 Early Letters is made and run by {PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME}, an individual based in California ("we", "us"). Our contact address is {CONTACT_ADDRESS}. [COUNSEL: individual publisher per founder decision of 3 Oct 2026 (D-004); confirm "we" is acceptable and that a successor entity can take over these Terms by assignment under 27.3.]

1.2 These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and us. They cover the Early Letters apps, the family contribution web page, our websites, and any related services (together, the "Service").

1.3 These documents are part of the Terms:

  • the Privacy Policy, which explains what data we collect, why, and who processes it, at {PRIVACY_URL};
  • the Subscription Terms, shown before you subscribe to Plus, at {SUBSCRIPTION_TERMS_URL};
  • the Print Terms, if and when we offer printed books (Section 15). Printed books are not offered yet.

1.4 If you got the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, Section 26 also applies.

1.5 You accept these Terms when you tap to continue on the sign-in screen, where you also confirm you are 18 or older. You also confirm you are 18 or older when you first open the app, before you can use it at all. If you use the Service before creating an account, these Terms apply to that use too. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service. We record which version you accepted and when.

[COUNSEL: A-REQ-034 shows "By continuing, you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy." above the sign-in buttons and stores the version and time. Local use before sign-in has no explicit acceptance step (Section A, F3). Decide whether browsewrap for pre-account local use is acceptable, or whether the story 4 privacy notice should also link these Terms. Web contributors also need an acceptance line on the contribution page before their first letter.]

2. Who can use Early Letters

2.1 Adults only. You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service in any way, including on your phone without an account. The app asks before you can use it, and you confirm it again when you accept these Terms. If you tell us you are under 18, the app stops and keeps nothing. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it. Where the law allows, we will first let them export their letters.

2.2 Children are the subject, not users. Early Letters is a place for adults to write to a child. A child does not create an account, sign in, or send anything through the Service. An adult may read or play letters to a child, for example with Read together. The child is still not a user, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from a child.

2.3 Who can start a book. You may start a book for a child only if you are that child's parent or legal guardian, or you are expecting that child. Anyone else joins a book only when a parent invites them.

2.4 Where you are. You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a US government embargo or designated by the US government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

[COUNSEL: 1.3.0: founder decision 2 Oct 2026 (PRD.md K-07, PRD-REQ-019): no use of any kind under 18, including local-only use; an 18+ entry gate runs before first use, with a stop screen for No. 1.2.0 adds a self-declared 18+ confirmation to the sign-in acceptance line (copy change owned by PRD A, A-REQ-034). It is a declaration, not verification. Confirm it is enough given (a) Texas SB 2420 (App Store Accountability Act), reported in force in 2026 with developer duties to use the store's age category and parental consent signals, and similar Utah and Louisiana laws; and (b) California AB 1043 (Digital Age Assurance Act), under which developers must request an age signal from 1 January 2027. None of these statutes was opened for this draft. A store signal that a user is a minor is actual knowledge and must trigger 2.1. Decide whether to exclude teen parents; this draft does. Also confirm the expecting-parent and guardian wording.]

3. Your account and signing in

3.1 You can start without an account. You can write, save, read and export letters on your phone before you create an account. Those letters live only on that phone until you sign in.

3.2 Signing in. To invite family, back up recordings, or use a second phone, you need an account. You can sign in with Apple or email, and with Google where the app offers it. Apple and Google sign-in are also governed by their own terms.

3.3 Keep it safe. Please keep your phone, your email and your sign-in methods secure. You are responsible for what happens through your account unless it happens because of our mistake. Tell us at {SUPPORT_EMAIL} if you think someone else has used your account.

3.4 Invite links and return links are like keys. Anyone who has an unused invite link or code, or a family member's personal return link for the web page, can use it. Share them only with the person they are meant for. A parent can cancel an invite, and a family member can ask for a new return link, which stops the old one.

3.5 One person per account. An account is for one person. Please use your real relationship to the child (for example "Nani" or "Papa") so the family knows who wrote each letter.

4. Books, roles and who can see what

4.1 Books. Each child has their own book. Letters are sorted by the child's month of age, or into "Before You" if written before birth.

4.2 Roles. There are two roles:

  • Co-parent. Writes, reads the whole book, invites family, and chooses which family letters go in the book. Co-parents in the same book have equal rights.
  • Family. Writes to the child. A co-parent chooses which family letters go in the book. Family members can read other letters in the book only if a co-parent turns that on.

4.3 Private until you choose. A letter is private to its author until the author chooses to add it to the child's book. A family letter goes in the book only when a co-parent adds it. Nobody can edit another person's words.

4.4 Sealed letters. A sealed letter is hidden from other readers in the app until the date you choose. It is a privacy setting, not encryption. We hold the text so we can show it on that date.

4.5 Who sees what is described in more detail in the app and the Privacy Policy. If these Terms and an in-app explanation ever seem to differ about who can see a letter, the more private reading applies.

5. Who owns what

5.1 Your words and recordings are yours. Each author owns the letters, recordings, photos and other things they create in the Service ("Your Content"). That stays true when a letter is in a shared book. Nani owns Nani's letters. Each parent owns their own letters. We do not own Your Content.

5.2 Transcripts. The written version of a recording, and any mechanical fixes to it, are part of the author's content. They belong to the author.

5.3 Our part. We own the Service itself: the app, its design, the book layouts, prompts, illustrations, the Early Letters name and logo, and our software. These Terms give you a personal, non-transferable, revocable right to use the Service as these Terms allow. You may print and share your own book exports for personal and family use, including our book layout around your words.

5.4 More than one voice. If a recording includes other people, such as a partner or your child, the person who saves the letter is its author under these Terms. Please save other adults' voices only with their agreement (Section 10.2).

5.5 Ideas you send us. If you send us suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything. We will never treat Your Content as a suggestion.

6. The permission you give us

6.1 To run the Service, we need your permission to handle Your Content. You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to store, copy, back up, transmit, process and display Your Content only to:

  • operate the Service for you and the people you choose to share with;
  • turn recordings into text and apply the mechanical fixes described in Section 11;
  • sync your letters between your devices and back up recordings if you turn backup on;
  • make book files and exports when you ask (and, once printed books are offered, print files when you order one);
  • keep the Service secure, fix problems, and give you support when you ask for it;
  • meet our legal obligations.

6.2 What we will not do with Your Content.

  • We will not sell it.
  • We will not use it for advertising, or show ads in the Service.
  • We will not use it to train or improve machine learning models, ours or anyone else's.
  • We will not use it in marketing without asking you separately, in writing, each time.
  • We will not read or listen to it, except when you ask us to (for example in a support request), when needed to keep the Service secure or working, or when the law requires.

6.3 Service providers. We use service providers to host data and run parts of the Service. They may handle Your Content only on our instructions and only for the purposes above. Some optional features send text or audio to a provider for processing. We ask before any of your content is sent for that kind of processing, and the Service works if you say no. The Privacy Policy lists these providers.

6.4 When this permission ends. This permission ends when Your Content is deleted from the Service, except for: copies in backups until they are cleared on our normal schedule; copies other people already exported or downloaded (Section 7); and anything we must keep by law.

[COUNSEL: The "no training" promise in 6.2 is a hard commitment. Confirm every AI provider in ARCHITECTURE section 8 (Groq with ZDR on, DeepInfra, Cloudflare) is contractually bound to match it before launch. ADR 0006 default backup mode uses server key escrow, so we can technically decrypt backed-up audio; 6.2 describes a policy limit, not a technical one, and the Privacy Policy must say so plainly.]

7. The permission you give your family

7.1 When you add a letter to a child's book, you give the people who can read that book in the Service a personal, non-commercial permission to read it, play its recording, export it, and, once printed books are offered, include it in printed books for the family, for as long as it stays in the book.

7.2 Copies someone has already exported, downloaded, printed or played may stay on their devices or shelves after you take a letter out. We cannot reach those copies. Those people may keep copies they already made for personal family use, such as a printed book. Please keep this in mind before adding a letter to a shared book.

7.3 Family permission is for family use. No one may sell, publish or post another author's letters or recordings publicly without that author's permission.

8. Leaving, being removed, and deleting

8.1 Leaving a book. Anyone can leave a book at any time. You choose to leave your letters in the book (the default) or take them out. Either way, you can still read and export your own letters.

8.2 Removing a family member. A co-parent can remove a family member from a book. Their letters already in the book stay, unless the co-parent chooses to take them out of the book. Taking letters out sets them aside; it does not delete them, and the author keeps them. A removed family member can still read and export their own letters. Recordings they already played may still be on their phone.

8.3 Deleting a book. Only a sole co-parent can delete a whole book. If there are two co-parents, choosing delete removes only your own letters and you leave the book. A deleted book can be restored for 30 days. If a book with family members is deleted, each family member is offered a way to save a copy of their own letters for 30 days.

8.4 Deleting your account. You can delete your account in the app at any time. We first offer you an export. Deleting your account removes your letters, recordings and backups from every book you wrote in, after a 30-day period in which you can change your mind. Letters other people wrote are not affected. Deleting your account does not cancel a Plus subscription; you cancel that with Apple or Google (Section 14).

8.5 Letters already in someone's hands. Section 7.2 applies to copies others already have.

[COUNSEL: Section B open question 6: account deletion currently removes a co-parent's letters from the shared book, which may surprise the other parent and the child later. A "leave my letters for {child}" option is planned (B-REQ-025, P2) and would need a surviving license grant here. Also decide whether a contributor's account deletion should keep their already-added letters in the book, and how this interacts with privacy-law deletion rights.]

9. If parents separate

9.1 Co-parents in a book are equals. In the Service, neither can remove the other, delete the other's letters, or delete the shared book.

9.2 If parents separate, each can: make their own letters private, one at a time or all at once; leave the book and keep their letters; and export their letters at any time, free.

9.3 We do not decide custody, parenting or family disputes, and we do not take sides. We will not move, hide or hand over one parent's letters at the other's request.

9.4 We will act on a valid court order or other legal requirement that is properly served on us and that we can verify. Where safety is at risk, contact us at {SUPPORT_EMAIL}. After verification we may restrict or remove a member's access to a book.

9.5 Family members belong to the child's book, not to the parent who invited them.

[COUNSEL: Confirm the operational runbook (B F8.3) for court orders, protective orders and subpoenas, including the verification standard, notice to the affected parent where lawful, and whether we need a law-enforcement request policy page.]

10. What you may and may not do

10.1 Your responsibility. You are responsible for Your Content and for having the right to share it.

10.2 Please do not:

  • post anything unlawful, or anything that infringes someone else's rights, including copyright and privacy;
  • start a book, write about, or add photos of a child you are not a parent or legal guardian of, unless that child's parent invited you to that book;
  • post sexual content of any kind involving a child, or anything that exploits or endangers a child;
  • record other people's private conversations without their permission, or upload recordings of other adults who did not agree to be recorded;
  • use the Service to harass, threaten or deceive anyone, including family members, or pretend to be someone else;
  • share invite links, codes or return links with people they were not meant for;
  • try to get into accounts, books or data that are not yours, or test, probe or break our security;
  • copy, scrape, reverse engineer or resell the Service, except where the law allows it despite this term;
  • send spam or malware, or overload the Service.

10.3 Child safety. We report apparent child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) when we become aware of it, as US law requires, and we may suspend the account straight away.

10.4 What we can do. If Your Content or your use breaks these Terms, we may remove the content from shared view, limit features, or suspend or end your account, as Section 18 explains. We do not routinely review letters, and we are not responsible for what other users write.

[COUNSEL: 18 U.S.C. 2258A applies to providers of electronic communication or remote computing services; confirm our reporting duty and evidence-preservation process. Note recording-consent laws (for example California Penal Code 632, not verified for this draft) for the 10.2 recording bullet. Consider a copyright (DMCA) agent registration and notice process; it is not drafted here because sharing is private to invited family.]

11. Our transcription promise, and its limits

11.1 What we promise. We never rewrite your words. When you speak a letter, the Service turns your recording into text. It may then make only these kinds of fixes:

  • remove filler sounds, such as "um" and "uh";
  • remove false starts and accidental repeats, such as "the the";
  • correct a misheard name or word to one you have added to your family words list;
  • add or adjust punctuation, capital letters and paragraph breaks;
  • fix a simple grammar slip in a single word, such as "she have" to "she has".

11.2 The Service does not add, remove or change meaning, reorder your sentences, summarize, translate, or change your recording. Your words stay in the language you said them.

11.3 You can see and undo every fix. We keep the original transcript unchanged. Every fix is shown and can be undone before and after you save.

11.4 The limits. Speech recognition is not perfect. It can mishear words, names and places, and it can struggle with background noise, quiet speech, accents, and families that move between languages in one sentence. It may also miss a fix it could have made. Read together highlights words as the recording plays, and the highlighting can drift or be missing. Please read each letter before you save it, and correct anything that is wrong. Your recording is the original, and it is always kept unless you delete it.

11.5 It can make mistakes, and your review is the final word. What you save is what goes in the book, so please read each letter first. Your letters are a family keepsake, not a medical, legal or other professional record.

[COUNSEL: Section 11 is the product's core public promise and a likely basis for false-advertising or UCL claims if broken. Engineering enforces it in code (packages/core verifier; raw transcript immutable by database trigger). Confirm the list in 11.1 matches packages/core EditType exactly at each release, and keep it versioned with these Terms. The voice guide bars naming the technology in product copy; legal text must still be accurate, so 11 uses "speech recognition". The Privacy Policy must disclose any third-party AI processing per App Review Guideline 5.1.2(i).]

12. Keeping your letters safe

12.1 Where things are kept. Recordings are kept on your phone. When you are signed in, letter text syncs to our servers so it can reach your other devices and your family. Recordings leave your phone only if you turn on backup (part of Plus) or, once the family web page is available, send a letter from it. [COUNSEL: two pending changes. (1) K-33: name cloud transcription (consented) as an exit when it ships (v1.1). (2) If the founder approves "shared voice" (D-032), recordings of letters in a shared book upload, encrypted, so family can hear them, for every user; this sentence changes before publication.]

12.2 Backup. Backed-up recordings are encrypted on your phone before upload. In the standard setting, we can help you recover your backup if you lose your phone and your keys. If you choose Vault mode, only your keys and your Recovery Kit can open your backup. If you lose them, neither you nor we can recover those recordings. The app asks you to confirm this before you turn Vault mode on.

12.3 Export. You can export everything at any time, free, as a file with your letters, recordings and a book PDF. Export works on your phone without a connection.

12.4 Please keep your own copy. We work hard to keep your letters safe, but no service can promise nothing will ever go wrong. Phones are lost and broken. If you use the free plan without backup, recordings that live only on a lost phone cannot be recovered by us. We recommend exporting from time to time and keeping the file somewhere safe.

13. Free, always

13.1 These parts of Early Letters are free and will stay free for as long as we operate the Service:

  • writing and recording letters, spoken or typed, with no limit;
  • reading your letters and playing their recordings;
  • exporting everything, including after a Plus plan ends;
  • inviting co-parents and family, and family letters.

13.2 Past letters are never put behind a payment. If you stop paying for Plus, every letter and recording you already made stays readable, playable and exportable. Recordings already backed up stay stored, can be restored to a new phone, and can be downloaded.

13.3 We will not change Section 13 for people who already use the Service. If we ever close the Service, Section 17 applies.

[COUNSEL: "Free forever" is a binding, advertised promise (C-REQ-017, C-NFR-008). 13.3 makes it non-amendable for existing users, which is deliberate but limits future options. Confirm the scope "for as long as we operate the Service" is the right outer limit, and how it binds a buyer of the business (Section 27.3).]

14. Plus subscriptions

14.1 What Plus is. Plus is an optional subscription that adds extras, such as encrypted backup of recordings, Read together beyond the free tries, books for more than one child, and extra themes. What Plus includes is shown in the app before you subscribe. The Subscription Terms are part of these Terms.

14.2 Prices and trials. At launch, Plus costs US $3.99 a month with a one-month free trial, or US $29.99 a year with a two-month free trial. The price, the length of any free trial and the date by which to cancel are shown in the app before you subscribe, and those are the terms that apply to you. Free trials are for new subscribers, one per person, as the store decides. If you are not eligible, the app shows the price without a trial. Early Letters is offered in the United States.

14.3 Automatic renewal. Plus renews automatically at the end of each period, and at the end of a free trial, at the price shown when you subscribed, until you cancel. The store charges your store account. By subscribing you agree to this, and we keep a record of what you agreed to and when.

14.4 Billing is handled by Apple or Google. If you subscribe in the app, Apple or Google processes the payment, and their terms also apply. We do not see or store your card details.

14.5 How to cancel. You can cancel at any time:

  • iPhone: Settings, tap your name, Subscriptions, Early Letters, Cancel Subscription. Or in Early Letters: Settings, Plan, Manage subscription.
  • Android: Google Play, Payments and subscriptions, Subscriptions, Early Letters, Cancel subscription. Or in Early Letters: Settings, Plan, Manage subscription.

To avoid being charged, cancel at least 24 hours before a free trial or period ends. After you cancel, Plus keeps working until the end of the period you already paid for or the end of your free trial, and then stops. Deleting the app or your account does not cancel a subscription.

14.6 Reminders we send. We tell you, in the app and by email:

  • when a free trial starts: the date it ends, the date to cancel by, the price after, and how to cancel;
  • before a free trial ends: at least 3 days before the last day to cancel; for a free trial longer than one month, also 16 to 21 days before it ends;
  • before an annual plan renews: about 30 days before, and again about 7 days before;
  • at least once a year for every Plus plan, with what Plus is, what it costs, how often you are charged, and how to cancel;
  • before a price change, as described in 14.8.

14.7 Refunds. Refunds for purchases made through Apple are decided by Apple; you can ask at reportaproblem.apple.com or in Early Letters under Settings, Plan, Request a refund. For purchases through Google Play, you can ask Google or contact us, and we will follow Google Play's rules and the law. Unless the law or the store's policy says otherwise, we do not give partial refunds for unused time. A refund ends Plus for that period. It never affects your letters, recordings or existing backups.

14.8 Price changes. We may change the price of Plus. We will tell you 7 to 30 days before a new price applies to you, by email and in the app, with how to cancel. Your plan will not renew at a higher price unless you agree to it. A price change never applies to a period you have already paid for.

14.9 Payment problems. If a renewal payment fails, the store may retry for a while. Plus keeps working during the store's grace period. If payment is not fixed, Plus ends, and your letters are untouched.

14.10 No obstacles to cancelling. We never put an offer or extra step between you and cancelling.

14.11 When Plus ends. Section 13.2 applies. In addition, all your existing books stay fully usable, including extra children's books; creating another book needs Plus again. New recordings stay on your phone instead of being backed up.

14.12 Who Plus covers. Plus applies to the book or books described on the Plus screen when you subscribe, including for the other co-parent in that book. Family Sharing through the App Store is not available for Plus at launch.

14.13 Gifts. A family member may buy a year of Plus for a child's book. A gift does not renew and is never charged again. Any refund of a gift goes only to the person who bought it.

14.14 Lifetime. We may later offer a one-time lifetime option. If we do, its terms will be shown before purchase. A lifetime purchase is a license to use Plus features for as long as we operate the Service, not ownership of software, and Section 17 applies to it.

[COUNSEL: Reminder windows in 14.6 are set to satisfy every state law checked at once (memo finding H1): annual renewal at about 30 days (California 15 to 45 before renewal; New York 15 to 45 before the cancellation deadline; Virginia and Utah 30 to 60 before renewal; Massachusetts 5 to 30 before the cancellation deadline), and the long-trial notice at 16 to 21 days (California 17602(b)(1) and (b)(2), New York 3 to 21 days before the cancellation deadline). PRD C (C-REQ-025, C-REQ-026, section 4.3) still sends 7 and 3 days; it must change before launch or these lines must be cut. Federal: ROSCA (15 U.S.C. 8403) applies; the FTC 2024 Negative Option Rule was vacated by the Eighth Circuit in July 2025, and the FTC issued an ANPRM in March 2026 with no later rule shown on 2 October 2026. 14.8 commits to opt-in consent for every price increase, which avoids New York's 14-day pro-rata refund route that we could not perform for Apple purchases. Confirm that the in-app Manage subscription link to the store's cancel screen meets California 17602(d), Colorado's one-step cancellation and the NYC rule. Plus scope (PRD C OQ3) must match 14.12. Lifetime: California AB 2426 license disclosure on the purchase screen.]

15. Printed books (not offered yet)

Printed books are not part of Early Letters today; the Service is digital only. This section will apply only once we offer them, and we will update these Terms and publish the Print Terms before then.

15.1 We may offer printed books in the future. Printed books are physical goods, so they are not bought through the App Store or Google Play. You pay by card or Apple Pay at a separate checkout.

15.2 Printed books are sold under separate Print Terms that you see and accept before you order. They cover price, shipping, taxes, delivery times, damaged or faulty books, cancellations and refunds. We will show you a full preview and all costs before you pay.

15.3 We use a printing partner to make and ship books. To fill your order, we share with them only the book file and the delivery details they need.

15.4 You may order a printed book only of letters you are allowed to see in the Service, for personal and family use. You confirm you have the right to print any photos you include.

[COUNSEL: Print Terms not drafted. ADR 0007 says we take payment and own refunds and support for print. Consider California SB 478 (all-in pricing) for the checkout, sales tax, and the print partner's content policies. PRD C OQ2 (print credit inside an IAP plan) is unresolved with App Review.]

16. Changes to the Service, and our beta

16.1 We keep improving Early Letters, so features will change. We may add, change or remove features.

16.2 We will not use a change to take away anything in Section 13.

16.3 If we remove or substantially reduce a Plus feature you are paying for, we will tell you in advance. You can cancel, and where the store allows we will help you get a pro-rated refund for an annual plan.

16.4 Beta. Early Letters is in beta. That means we are still building it: features may change, move, pause or sometimes break, and you may find bugs. Please export a copy of your letters from time to time (Section 12.3) and tell us about problems at {SUPPORT_EMAIL}. Being in beta does not change Sections 6, 11.1 to 11.3, 13 or 17.

[COUNSEL: Founder decision 2 Oct 2026 (PRD.md K-13): the beta ends only when the founder says so, with no date or metric trigger. When it ends, 16.4, the in-app label and the store listing change together in one release (see in-app-disclosures.md). A beta label supports, but does not replace, the disclaimers in Section 20; it is not a defense to the binding promises listed in 16.4.]

[COUNSEL: 16.3 pro-rated refund for Apple purchases depends on Apple; we cannot issue Apple refunds directly. Decide whether to commit to a direct refund outside the store in that case.]

17. If we ever close Early Letters

17.1 We are building Early Letters to last for years. If we ever decide to close the Service, or a part of it that stores your letters, we promise:

  • At least 90 days' notice by email and in the app before your letters or backups become unavailable from our servers.
  • Export keeps working. You will be able to export all your letters, recordings and a book PDF during the notice period. Export works from your phone, so letters on your phone stay with you after we close.
  • Backed-up recordings can be downloaded throughout the notice period, including by people whose Plus has ended.
  • No new charges. We will stop new subscriptions and renewals when we give notice, and we will help you get a pro-rated refund of any unused part of an annual plan, where the store allows.
  • Open formats. Exports use common formats (text, JSON, M4A audio, PDF) with a description of what is inside, so other tools can read them.

17.2 If someone else takes over the Service, we will require them to keep Sections 6, 13 and 17, or give you the same notice and export as if we were closing.

17.3 Things outside our control, such as a court order, could shorten this notice. If so, we will give you as much notice as we lawfully can.

[COUNSEL: Competitive research recommends at least 60 days (Lifecake gave 2 months). This draft commits to 90. Confirm 17.2 is enforceable against an asset buyer and what survives in insolvency; consider funding a reserve or escrow for the wind-down period. 17.1 refunds: same Apple caveat as 16.3. With Vault mode, encrypted backups can only be decrypted on the user's devices, so the download must deliver usable files through the app.]

18. Ending your use, and when we may suspend or end an account

18.1 You can stop at any time. You can stop using the Service, leave books, or delete your account at any time (Section 8). Cancel Plus separately with the store (Section 14.5).

18.2 When we may act. We may suspend or end your account, or your access to a book, if: you seriously or repeatedly break these Terms; we must do so by law or court order; or your use creates a real risk of harm to a child, another user, or the Service.

18.3 How we act. Where we can, we will tell you why and give you a chance to fix it first. We will act in proportion, for example by removing one letter from shared view rather than closing an account.

18.4 Your letters after suspension. Unless the law prevents it, or the content is unlawful (for example under Section 10.3), we will let you export your own letters for at least 30 days after we end your account.

18.5 What continues. Sections 5, 7, 8.5, 12.4, 19 to 24 and 27 continue after these Terms end.

19. Other services

The Service works with services we do not control, such as Apple, Google, sign-in providers, email and messaging apps used to share invites, and our printing partner. Their own terms and privacy policies apply to your use of them. We are not responsible for those services.

20. Disclaimers

20.1 We work hard to make Early Letters reliable and to keep your letters safe. But the Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we do not give promises or warranties beyond those written in these Terms, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

20.2 In particular, we do not promise that: speech recognition or the small fixes in Section 11.1 will be accurate (Section 11.5); the Service, which is in beta (Section 16.4), will always be available, uninterrupted or free of errors; or any data will never be lost, especially data not backed up or exported (Section 12.4).

20.3 Early Letters is a memory book. It is not medical, parenting, legal or safety advice, and letters are not a medical, legal or professional record (Section 11.5). Any prompt or resource card in the app is general information only.

20.4 This section does not limit any promise we make elsewhere in these Terms, such as Sections 6, 11.1 to 11.3, 13 and 17, or any right you have by law that cannot be waived.

21. Limits on our liability

21.1 To the extent the law allows:

  • we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits; and
  • our total liability for all claims about the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us, or paid the store for Early Letters, in the 12 months before the claim, and (b) US $50.

21.2 These limits do not apply to liability for: our fraud or intentional misconduct; our gross negligence; our violation of law; death or personal injury caused by our negligence; or anything else that cannot be limited or excluded by law, including under California Civil Code section 1668. They also do not take away any right you have under consumer protection law that cannot be waived by contract, including the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

21.3 Some places do not allow some of these limits. If you live in one of them, some limits may not apply to you, and you may have more rights than these Terms describe.

[COUNSEL: Consider whether a security breach exposing letters should be carved out of the cap or carry a higher cap, given the sensitivity of children's data and the brand promise. The $50 floor was set by the founder for the strongest reasonable protection; it matches Apple's Standard EULA cap for Apple. Confirm the amount, and confirm the cap and the carve-outs in 21.2 remain enforceable under California law (Civil Code 1668; unconscionability under Civil Code 1670.5, not verified for this draft) and Apple minimum term 5 ("may not limit Your liability to the end user beyond what is permitted by applicable law").]

22. If you misuse the Service

If you break Section 10 on purpose and that causes a claim against us by someone else, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of that claim, to the extent the law allows. This does not apply to ordinary use of the Service, or to claims caused by our own fault.

[COUNSEL: Narrow user indemnity, included as an option. Many consumer-first services omit it. Decide whether to keep.]

23. Resolving disagreements

23.1 Talk to us first. Most problems can be fixed quickly. Before starting a legal claim, please email {SUPPORT_EMAIL} with your name, how to reach you, and what went wrong. We will try to resolve it within 60 days. We will do the same before any claim against you. Time limits for bringing a claim pause during these 60 days.

23.2 Small claims court. Either of us may bring an eligible claim in small claims court where you live, or in {COUNTY} County, California. In California, individuals can claim up to $12,500 in small claims court, and lawyers do not represent the parties there.

23.3 Courts. Other claims are decided by the state or federal courts in {COUNTY} County, California, and we both agree to those courts' jurisdiction. If you live outside California, you may also bring a claim in the courts where you live if your local law gives you that right.

23.4 No limit on public injunctive relief. Nothing in these Terms waives your right to seek public injunctive relief where the law allows it.

[COUNSEL: ARBITRATION IS A COUNSEL AND FOUNDER DECISION. This draft defaults to courts plus small claims, which fits the brand's trust promise and avoids mass-arbitration fee exposure. If you choose arbitration instead, replace 23.3 with Option B below.]

Option B (not adopted; for counsel only). "Except for small claims and for claims about intellectual property misuse, any dispute will be resolved by individual binding arbitration administered by {ARBITRATION_PROVIDER} under its consumer rules. We pay all filing and arbitrator fees above $X for consumer claims, on time. You may opt out within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by emailing {SUPPORT_EMAIL}. Claims are brought individually, not as a class. If 25 or more similar claims are filed by the same counsel, they proceed in batches under {PROVIDER}'s mass arbitration rules. A claim for public injunctive relief is decided by a court after the individual claims, and nothing here waives it." Considerations: McGill v. Citibank (Cal. 2017) bars waiving public injunctive relief in any forum; California Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281.97 to 1281.98 set strict deadlines for the business to pay arbitration fees, and their interaction with the Federal Arbitration Act was addressed by the California Supreme Court in 2025 (not verified for this draft); a class waiver needs a clear severability rule; arbitration clauses in app terms surfaced at first launch face assent challenges.

24. Governing law

California law governs these Terms and any dispute about the Service, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If you live outside the United States, you also keep the protection of any mandatory consumer laws of the country where you live.

[COUNSEL: The product targets Indian and Indian-diaspora families, with en-IN and Hindi strings. If the app launches in India, the EU or the UK, review local consumer law, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (parental consent for data about under-18s), and GDPR Article 8. Store availability by country should match what counsel has cleared.]

25. Changes to these Terms

25.1 Versions. Each version of these Terms has a version number and an effective date. Past versions are kept at {TERMS_ARCHIVE_URL}.

25.2 Small changes, such as fixing typos or clarifying wording without changing anyone's rights, may take effect when posted.

25.3 Important changes that affect your rights, prices or how we use Your Content take effect at least 30 days after we tell you, by email and in the app. For some important changes we will ask you to accept them in the app. If you do not agree, you can stop using the Service and export your letters. Changes do not apply to a dispute that started before the change took effect.

25.4 Changes will never take away Section 13 or reduce Section 17 for people who already use the Service.

26. App Store and Google Play

26.1 If you got the app from Apple

These terms apply in addition to the rest of these Terms, and win if there is a conflict about the iOS app ("the App"):

(a) Acknowledgement. These Terms are between you and {PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME} only, not with Apple. We, not Apple, are solely responsible for the App and its content. These Terms do not set usage rules for the App that conflict with the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.

(b) Scope of license. Your license to the App is a non-transferable license to use it on any Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, except that the App may be accessed, acquired and used by other accounts associated with the purchaser through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.

(c) Maintenance and support. We are solely responsible for providing maintenance and support for the App, as described in these Terms or as required by law. Apple has no obligation at all to provide maintenance or support services for the App.

(d) Warranty. We are solely responsible for any product warranties, express or implied by law, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price for the App to you. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the App, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses due to any failure to conform to a warranty are our sole responsibility.

(e) Product claims. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or any third party relating to the App or your possession or use of it, including: (i) product liability claims; (ii) any claim that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (iii) claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar laws. These Terms do not limit our liability to you beyond what the law permits.

(f) Intellectual property. If a third party claims that the App, or your possession and use of it, infringes that third party's intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement and discharge of that claim.

(g) Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country subject to a US government embargo, or designated by the US government as a "terrorist supporting" country; and (ii) you are not listed on any US government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

(h) Developer name and address. Questions, complaints or claims about the App go to: {PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME}, {CONTACT_ADDRESS}, {SUPPORT_PHONE}, {SUPPORT_EMAIL}.

(i) Third-party terms. You must comply with any third-party terms that apply when you use the App, such as your mobile data plan.

(j) Third-party beneficiary. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept these Terms, Apple has the right (and is deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

[COUNSEL: Items (a) to (j) track Apple's "Instructions for Minimum Terms of Developer's End-User License Agreement" in the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, which requires a custom EULA to "include and ... not be inconsistent with" those terms. Two options: (1) use Apple's Standard EULA and publish these Terms separately as the terms of service (Apple's Standard EULA then governs the app license, with California law and a $50 Apple liability cap); or (2) paste these Terms into App Store Connect as a custom EULA (plain text only, HTML is stripped). Either way, Schedule 2 section 3.8(b) requires links to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use inside the app for auto-renewing subscriptions, and the App Store description should carry a Terms of Use link. Item (h) requires a telephone number: {SUPPORT_PHONE} must be a real number.]

26.2 If you got the app from Google Play

Google is not a party to these Terms and is not responsible for the app. Your purchases through Google Play are also governed by Google Play's terms. Section 14 explains how to manage and cancel Plus on Android.

27. General terms

27.1 Whole agreement. These Terms, with the documents in Section 1.3, are the whole agreement between you and us about the Service.

27.2 If part is invalid, the rest stays in effect, and the invalid part is applied as closely to its purpose as the law allows.

27.3 Transfer. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, but only together with our commitments in Sections 6, 13 and 17 (see Section 17.2).

27.4 No waiver. If we do not enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.

27.5 Events beyond control. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, but Section 17 still applies.

27.6 Export laws. You agree to comply with US export and sanctions laws when using the Service.

27.7 Language. If we translate these Terms, the English version controls, unless the law where you live says otherwise.

27.8 Notices. We send notices to the email linked to your account, or in the app. You send notices to {SUPPORT_EMAIL} or {CONTACT_ADDRESS}.

28. Contact us

{PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME} {CONTACT_ADDRESS} Email: {SUPPORT_EMAIL} Phone: {SUPPORT_PHONE}

Notice for California residents. Under California Civil Code section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following notice: the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.

[COUNSEL: Confirm the current address and phone numbers of the Complaint Assistance Unit; they were not verified for this draft.]

Appendix A: Sources

Pages opened on 2 October 2026 unless marked otherwise. "Unverified" means relied on from general knowledge and not opened for this draft.

California

Other states (opened 2 October 2026 for version 1.2.0 unless marked)

Federal

Apple

Google

Internal

  • PRD Sections A, B and C (docs/prd); docs/ARCHITECTURE.md; ADR 0006 (encrypted backup), ADR 0007 (payments and print); docs/research/USER_RESEARCH.md and COMPETITIVE_RESEARCH.md; packages/core/src/types.ts (EditType); supabase/migrations.

Appendix B: Decisions for counsel

  1. Arbitration or courts (Section 23). Draft defaults to courts plus small claims; Option B provided.
  2. Custom EULA or Apple Standard EULA (Section 26.1). Need a real support phone number either way if custom.
  3. Auto-renewal compliance with store billing (Section 14). California ARL duties when Apple or Google is merchant of record; consent records; whether the store-cancel link meets 17602(d), Colorado and NYC; reminder windows set to the overlap of California, New York, Virginia, Utah and Massachusetts (14.6).
  4. FTC status. No negative option rule in force as of 2 October 2026; ROSCA applies. Recheck at launch.
  5. Binding promises. Sections 6.2 (no training, no ads, no sale), 11 (faithful transcription), 13 (free forever, non-amendable), 17 (90-day shutdown notice, successor obligations). Confirm the company can keep them, including in a sale or insolvency.
  6. Account deletion and shared books (Section 8.4; PRD B OQ6).
  7. Children's and minors' data. COPPA scope (adults writing about a child), Apple 5.1.4, India DPDP, GDPR Article 8, California AB 1043 and other age-assurance laws.
  8. Court orders and safety removals (Section 9.4), CSAM reporting (Section 10.3).
  9. Liability cap and carve-outs (Section 21), indemnity (Section 22).
  10. Print Terms to draft before print launch (Section 15).
  11. Product alignment to fix in PRD C (owner: PRD agent): (a) annual renewal notice about 30 days before renewal, plus 7 days; (b) trials over one month: first notice 16 to 21 days before the trial ends; (c) every trial: last notice at least 3 days before the last day to cancel (trial end minus 24 hours), so D-4, not D-3; (d) price-change notice 7 to 30 days before, with opt-in store consent for every increase; (e) log proof of consent for each purchase; (f) trial length comes from the store offer, because the section 8 experiment varies it; (g) monthly renewal receipt email if counsel says Massachusetts applies. Resolved 3 Oct 2026: PRD.md 1.3 K-38 adopts these windows as hard windows (final trial notice at trial end minus 4 days 12 hours; annual renewal inside 30 to 31 days; long trials inside 16 to 21 days); LEGAL-REQ-047 updated.
  12. Shutdown notice period. Resolved in 1.1.0: 90 days everywhere. Privacy Policy section 18 and DELETION_AND_EXPORT_SPEC.md were changed from 60 to 90 days; their owners should confirm.
  13. Entity and insurance. Founder decided 3 Oct 2026 to launch as an individual (D-004); the LLC is no longer a launch condition. Open: insurance for an individual; the trigger for forming an entity and transferring the app; App Review Guideline 5.1.1(ix) risk (apps that "require sensitive user information should be submitted by a legal entity"; D-004 point 4). See the note at the top.
  14. Beta end date (Section 16.4) (founder decided 2 Oct 2026: when the founder says so) and liability cap amount (Section 21.1).

Changelog

Version Date Status Changes
1.4.0 2026-10-03 draft-for-counsel Alignment with PRD.md 1.3 (founder decisions of 3 Oct). Provider is the founder as an individual (1.1, 26.1(a) and (h), 27.8, signature block; placeholders renamed to {PUBLISHER_LEGAL_NAME} and {CONTACT_ADDRESS}); founder note on liability rewritten for an individual; Appendix B items 11 (resolved by K-38) and 13 (entity no longer a launch condition) updated. Google sign-in where offered (3.2; v1.1). Family web page marked as later (12.1, applies_to). Plus remains billed by Apple only at launch; Section 14's Google Play lines apply when Android ships. Pre-publication draft, no users bound; if published, the provider change would be major.
1.3.0 2026-10-02 draft-for-counsel Product alignment with PRD.md 1.2 (founder decisions of 2 Oct). Adults only covers every use, including pre-account use on the phone; age asked at first open (1.5, 2.1; PRD K-07). Printed books marked not offered yet; print clauses apply only once print launches (1.3, 6.1, 7.1, 15; PRD K-32). Beta end note updated (16.4 counsel note; PRD K-13). Pre-publication draft, no users bound; 2.1 would be major if 1.2.0 had been published (POLICY_VERSIONING 2.1 item 9, counsel to classify).
1.2.0 2026-10-02 draft-for-counsel Consumer-law review (docs/legal/memos/lawyer-1.md). 18+ confirmation at acceptance and under-18 handling (1.5, 2.1); more-than-one-voice rule (5.4); family may keep copies already made (7.2); 11.5 and 11.6 merged into one light mistakes line; trial terms follow what the app shows (14.2); consent records (14.3); reminder windows set to the multi-state overlap (14.6); opt-in for every price increase (14.8); no obstacles to cancelling (14.10); CLRA named in 21.2; Apple license scope matched to Apple's minimum terms (26.1(b)); sources L10 to L14. Pre-publication draft, no users bound; if published over 1.1.0 this would be major under POLICY_VERSIONING 2.1 items 6 and 7.
1.1.0 2026-10-02 draft-for-counsel Founder request: added beta section (16.4) and summary line; added "It can make mistakes" (11.6); tightened disclaimers (20.2, 20.3); liability floor lowered from $100 to $50 and carve-outs widened (21); founder note on entity and insurance; shutdown notice aligned at 90 days across legal docs.
1.0.0 2026-10-02 draft-for-counsel First draft, prepared by Claude for counsel review. Based on PRD Sections A, B and C (1 to 2 Oct 2026) and the pricing decision of 1 Oct 2026.