Terms of use
These terms govern your use of FamilyStories. You can read them here in full before accepting them when you create your account.
Show the contents of these terms
Effective from: Version: 2026-09-09
At a glance
- Your family content remains yours. You only grant us the rights technically needed to provide the private service.
- Only invite people you trust, and treat invitation and guest links like private keys.
- Purchases and subscriptions are handled through Apple. Deleting your account does not cancel a subscription.
- Minors must meet the age and parental-consent requirements that apply where they live.
Provider and scope
These terms of use apply to the FamilyStories consumer app, answering through private guest links, and the related accounts and services. The provider and contracting party is FamilyStories UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Gewalterberg 1, 45277 Essen, Germany, represented by its managing director, Vedad Taranin.
Apple's Standard End User License Agreement also applies to the iPhone and iPad app. The service agreement is between you and us. These terms govern your account, family circle, family content, and the services we provide in particular. Apple's terms govern the App Store, the app licence, purchases made through Apple, and their payment processing.
Age and forming the agreement
The legal age limits and rules on capacity to enter into a contract where you live apply to your use of the service. If you are a minor, your parent or legal guardian must consent or act on your behalf where the law requires it. This also applies to purchases and participation through a guest link.
The free service agreement begins when you create an account and accept these terms. For a paid offer, the paid features are activated once Apple confirms the successful purchase to us. You complete the purchase through Apple under the App Store terms. Before that, you will see the price, term, and specific features included.
The service
FamilyStories lets families collect memories using guided questions, text, voice recordings, and photos, share them in a private family circle, and keep them in sync across authorised devices. Invited people can also answer selected questions without an account through a private guest link.
Some features require an internet connection, a supported device, available storage, and a current app version that is compatible with the service. The free and paid features currently offered are described in the app.
Account, family circle, and invitations
Keep access to your account and devices secure, and do not share sign-in codes or sign-in links. Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access.
Only invite people you trust. Anyone who has a complete guest link can read and edit the content made available through it. Members can see and edit content according to the permissions set in the family circle. Content already downloaded to an authorised device cannot be remotely deleted from that device merely by removing the member later.
Anyone who manages a family circle is responsible for assigning invitations and permissions carefully. Each person remains responsible for their own actions.
Your family content
You retain all rights in the stories, answers, recordings, photos, and other content you contribute. Other contributors retain their rights in the content they contribute. We do not acquire ownership of it or use it for advertising or to train artificial intelligence models.
To the extent you are entitled to do so, you grant us, for as long as the relevant content remains stored in the service based on your choices or the rules of the family circle, only the non-exclusive right limited to operating the services to store in encrypted form, transmit, technically copy, and make that content available to the people you choose. Where end-to-end encryption means we process only unreadable data, this right covers only its technical transport and storage.
You may only upload content and depict people where you have the right to do so. Take particular care with the privacy of living people and confidential information about other family members.
Permitted use
FamilyStories is intended for personal and family use. You may not resell, commercially reproduce, or automatically scrape the service without our prior permission.
- Do not upload unlawful or abusive content, or content that infringes the rights of others.
- Do not try to bypass accounts, guest links, permissions, encryption, or technical safeguards.
- Do not transmit malicious software or deliberately disrupt or overload the service.
- Do not use the service to deceive, threaten, or harass people, or to collect personal data without authority.
Encryption, devices, and backups
Family content is end-to-end encrypted on the devices. Only you and the people you authorise can read, listen to, or view it. We possess neither your family-circle keys nor the secret parts of private guest links and cannot decrypt this content. Account and operational data are separate and described in the privacy policy.
Keep at least one authorised, working device and any private guest links safe. If all authorised devices, keys, and links are lost, we may be unable to recover encrypted content. Use the available export and backup options if you want to keep an additional copy of important memories.
Free features, plans, and storage
FamilyStories may offer free features, paid plans, and additional storage packages. The number of members, storage, export options, and other features included in the selected offer are shown in the app before purchase. An offer labelled Lifetime is a one-time, non-renewing purchase with the scope shown there. Access has no fixed expiry date and no recurring fee. You can use the features included in your purchase for as long as we operate the service. Your statutory rights remain unaffected.
If a paid entitlement ends or a storage limit is exceeded, new media transfers may pause and features may be limited to the free offering. Existing content is handled under the periods and safeguards explained in the privacy policy. Your statutory rights are unaffected.
Purchases, subscriptions, and trials
Purchases are processed through the Apple App Store and assigned to your family circle after successful verification. Apple charges the payment method connected to your App Store account. We do not receive your complete payment details.
A subscription renews automatically for the period shown unless you cancel it in your App Store account at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Apple may charge your account within 24 hours before the current period ends. The price, billing period, and any trial terms are shown before you confirm.
If you do not cancel in time during a trial, the displayed subscription continues on a paid basis. You can use the restore feature with the same Apple account. Assignment to a family circle remains necessary to prevent the same purchase from being assigned more than once.
Cancellation and refunds
Cancelling stops automatic renewal. Paid access normally continues until the current billing period ends. Deleting the app or your FamilyStories account does not cancel an Apple subscription.
Apple handles refund requests for App Store purchases under its applicable rules. Any mandatory rights of withdrawal, conformity, warranty, or refund remain unaffected.
Availability, updates, and service changes
We work to provide a reliable and secure service but cannot promise uninterrupted availability. Maintenance, security measures, network or service-provider outages, and events outside our control may temporarily restrict use.
We provide required updates, including security updates, and will tell you when you need to act. If you do not install a properly supplied required update within a reasonable time, we are not responsible for a lack of conformity caused solely by that failure, provided we informed you about the update and the consequences of not installing it.
We may change the service where this is necessary and proportionate to comply with new legal or security requirements, respond to a new technical environment or substantially changed service demand, or preserve the service's functionality, compatibility, or security. Changes will not cost you extra. If a change negatively affects your access or use by more than a minor amount, we will inform you clearly and in good time on a durable medium about its features, timing, and your right to end the agreement free of charge within 30 days after receiving the notice or after the change takes effect, whichever is later. Mandatory statutory rights take priority.
Ending use, suspension, and account deletion
You can stop using the service at any time and delete your account in the app. The effects, periods, and exceptions are set out in the privacy policy. Save or export content you wish to keep first. Contributions in a continuing family circle may remain there in encrypted form while the link to your account is removed.
We may temporarily suspend access or end the agreement for an important reason, including a serious or repeated breach of these terms, danger to other people or the service, fraudulent use, or a binding legal order. Where safe and reasonable, we will tell you beforehand and provide an opportunity to remedy the issue. Statutory termination rights remain unaffected.
Rights in the app and service
The app, design, software, trade marks, and questions and materials we provide are legally protected. Subject to these terms, you receive a personal, non-exclusive, and non-transferable right to use the app and service for private purposes. Your rights in your own family content are unaffected.
You may voluntarily send us feedback and suggestions. We may use the general ideas we learn from them to improve the service without disclosing confidential information or exploiting your family content.
Conformity, warranty, and liability
Statutory conformity and warranty rights apply to digital products and services. Nothing in these terms limits mandatory consumer rights.
We have unlimited liability for intent and gross negligence, injury to life, body, or health, under the German Product Liability Act, and to the extent of an express guarantee. For a slightly negligent breach of an essential contractual duty, liability is limited to damage that was foreseeable and typical when the agreement was formed. Liability for other slight negligence is excluded to the extent permitted by law.
Keep device access and guest links secure, and make your own export or backup of especially important memories. This recommendation does not alter our statutory duties.
Privacy
Our privacy policy explains how we process personal data, which content is end-to-end encrypted, and how you can exercise your rights. It is always available on the website and through the links provided in the app.
Changes to these terms
We may amend these terms for the future where the law authorises us to do so or where an amendment is purely editorial and does not affect your contractual rights or obligations. Changes to existing contractual rights or obligations take effect only with your express agreement unless the law provides a specific authority to make the change.
We will tell you in good time about material changes in the app or by email and ask for your express agreement. Your silence or mere continued use of the service does not constitute agreement. The applicable terms, date, and version remain available on our website.
Governing law and disputes
German law applies, excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another country, the mandatory protections of that country remain unaffected. We do not agree an exclusive place of jurisdiction for consumers.
We are not obliged or willing to participate in dispute-resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. You can always contact us directly with a question or complaint.
Contact
FamilyStories UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Gewalterberg 1, 45277 Essen, Germany. Represented by its managing director, Vedad Taranin. Email: support@familystories.love.