These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the My Story app and the My Story School Edition app for iPhone and iPad (the "iOS app"), the My Story web app (the "web app"), the mystory.co website, and related services (together, the "Services"). All are provided by My Story LLC ("My Story," "we," "us").
Please read these Terms carefully. By creating an account, or by downloading or using the Services, you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services. Most of these Terms apply to both editions. Where a term applies to only one, it says so under the heading "iOS app" or "Web app & accounts."
My Story is designed for children roughly ages 3 to 11, and children cannot enter into a binding contract. If you are under 18, you may use the Services only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian, and that adult must accept these Terms on your behalf.
If you are a parent or guardian, you accept these Terms for yourself and on behalf of any child you allow to use the Services. You are responsible for the child's use of them, including any purchase made on your device or under your account.
If you are a teacher, school, or district, you accept these Terms on behalf of your institution. You confirm that you are authorised to do so, and that you have any parental notice or consent your institution is required to obtain.
Only adults create accounts. To create a My Story account you must be 18 or older and the parent or legal guardian of the children who will use it, or a teacher acting with your school's authority. When you sign up, you confirm this and agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy, including the parental consent described there. Children may not create accounts. They use My Story under the adult's account and with the adult's supervision.
You are responsible for your account. This includes:
Tell us straight away at support@mystory.co if you think someone has used your account without permission. An account is for one adult and the children or students in their care. Please don't share it with or sell it to anyone else.
iOS app. The iOS app does not currently use accounts, and the account terms in this section do not apply to it. If we introduce accounts to the iOS app, this section will apply to them. We will give notice before that happens.
We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue parts of the Services at any time. We may also update these Terms. Each version is identified by its effective date, in the form YYYY-MM-DD, shown at the top of this page. When we update them, we will post the revised Terms here with a new date. If a change is material, we will give reasonable notice before it takes effect, and account holders will be notified in the web app or by email. Continuing to use the Services after a change takes effect means you accept the revised Terms. If you don't accept them, you can stop using the Services and delete your account.
Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Services for your own personal, non-commercial use, or, for schools, for educational use within your institution.
You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, decompile, resell, rent, lease, sublicense, or create derivative works of the Services or their software, except to the extent applicable law expressly permits it despite this restriction. You may not use bots, scrapers, or other automated means to access the Services or to generate Magic AI results.
The stories, drawings, photographs, and voice recordings created in My Story belong to the person who made them. We do not claim ownership of them, and nothing in these Terms transfers ownership to us. As between you and us, we also do not claim ownership of results you create with Magic AI features. Similar results may be created for other users, and the law on ownership of AI-generated material is still developing.
To operate the Services, we need a narrow permission to handle that content. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, copy, transmit, display, and format your content solely to the extent needed to provide the features you actually use, namely:
This licence ends when you delete the content or your account, or stop using the relevant feature. We may keep backup copies for the limited period described in our Privacy Policy, and we cannot recall copies other users downloaded while a story was published.
We will not use your content for advertising, marketing, or promotional purposes without asking you separately and getting your agreement first. We will not sell your content. We will not use children's stories, drawings, photographs, or voice recordings to train artificial intelligence or machine-learning models, and we require our AI providers to do the same. See our Privacy Policy for the detail.
The Community Library lets you choose to publish a finished story for other My Story users to read. Publishing is never automatic. It requires a deliberate choice by an adult for each story.
Before you publish, please review the story. Do not publish content that contains a child's full name, school, home address, face, or other identifying details, and review any photograph or voice recording it contains. Once a story is public, other users may read and download it. Stories are shown under an automatically generated pen name.
You are responsible for content you publish, share, or comment. You confirm that:
Published stories are reviewed by our team before they appear. Comments are filtered automatically and moderated after posting. We may remove any published story or comment, restrict publishing or commenting, or suspend access, at our discretion and without prior notice. We will do so where we believe content is unsafe, inappropriate for children, contains personal information about a child, infringes someone's rights, or breaches these Terms. You can unpublish your own story in the app at any time, or write to privacy@mystory.co for help.
Anyone who has a share link can view the story it points to, so share links carefully.
You agree not to use the Services to create, publish, or transmit anything that:
We may suspend or terminate access for anyone who breaches this section (section 13). Where a breach involves child safety or is otherwise required by law, we may report it to the relevant authorities.
Magic AI features use artificial intelligence provided by third parties to create pictures, text, narration, music, animation, and 3D models. AI results can be unexpected or inaccurate, and our content filters, while designed to keep results age-appropriate, will not catch everything. Please review results before sharing, publishing, or printing them, and report anything inappropriate to us. Some Magic AI features cost Story Sparks (section 9), and may not be available in every edition or region.
The My Story app is a free download with optional in-app purchases, which may include Story Sparks. The School Edition is a one-time purchase and contains no in-app purchases. All App Store and in-app purchases are processed by Apple under Apple's terms and are subject to Apple's refund policy. To request a refund for an App Store purchase, contact Apple. We do not receive or store your payment card details. In-app purchases are placed behind an adult gate. Schools and districts purchase the School Edition through Apple School Manager and Apple's volume purchasing program, subject to Apple's terms for those programs.
What Sparks are. Story Sparks are a virtual currency used to pay for Magic AI features in the web app. You buy them in bundles through our payment processor, Stripe, at the price shown at checkout, plus any applicable tax. We may also give you Sparks at no charge, for example when you first sign in. By buying Sparks you confirm that you are the account holder, or are authorised by them, and are authorised to use the payment method.
No cash value. Sparks give you a limited, revocable licence to use Magic AI features in the Services. Sparks are not money or property. They:
Sparks bought in the web app and Sparks bought in the iOS app are currently kept in separate balances and can't be moved between them.
Using Sparks. Sparks are consumable. The number of Sparks a Magic AI action costs is shown in the app before you use it, and Sparks are used up when the action returns a result. If an action fails to return a result, you are not charged Sparks for it. We may change the Sparks price of a feature from time to time, but a change never reduces the Sparks already in your balance. Sparks do not expire while your account is open.
Refunds. Except where the law requires otherwise, Sparks purchases are final and non-refundable once the Sparks have been added to your balance. If you were charged in error, or a purchase was made without your permission, contact support@mystory.co within [[PLACEHOLDER: refund-request window, e.g. 30 days]] and we will investigate and, where appropriate, refund the purchase and remove the corresponding Sparks. If you are a consumer in the EU or UK, you have a 14-day right to withdraw from a purchase of digital content. When you buy Sparks, you ask us to add them to your balance immediately and acknowledge that you lose that withdrawal right once they are added. Nothing in these Terms limits refund rights you have under applicable law. If you dispute a payment with your bank instead of contacting us, we may suspend the account while the dispute is resolved.
Your Sparks balance when an account closes. If you delete your account, or we terminate it for a breach of these Terms, any Sparks remaining in your balance are forfeited and are not refunded, except where the law requires otherwise. If we discontinue Magic AI features or the web app entirely, we will give reasonable advance notice so you can use your remaining Sparks. [[PLACEHOLDER: counsel to decide whether unused purchased Sparks are refunded if the service is discontinued]]
Finished stories can be ordered as printed physical books. By placing an order you confirm that you are an adult authorised to use the payment card. Payment is processed by Stripe, and printing and shipping are carried out by Lulu Press, Inc. (lulu.com) as our print partner.
[[PLACEHOLDER: Note for counsel — subscriptions are planned but not yet built. Before any subscription launches, add subscription and auto-renewal terms (including state automatic-renewal law disclosures and cancellation). Remove this note before publishing.]]
The Services rely on third parties. These include Apple, Google (including Sign in with Google), Stripe, our print partner Lulu, our AI providers, and providers of stock imagery, animated images, videos, and 3D models offered inside the app (Giphy, Unsplash, Pexels, and Sketchfab). Your use of those third-party offerings, and of content from them, may also be governed by their own terms and licences. We are not responsible for third-party content or services, and including them is not an endorsement. Our Privacy Policy lists the service providers that process personal information for us.
The Services themselves are owned by My Story LLC or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. This includes the software, artwork, characters, stickers, templates, music, text, designs, trademarks, and the look and feel of the app, web app, and website. Except for the licence in section 4, no rights in them are granted to you. Stickers, artwork, and music provided in the Services may be used within stories you create, but may not be extracted, redistributed, or used separately from a story.
We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content available through the Services infringes your copyright, send a notice to our copyright agent containing:
Copyright agent: copyright@mystory.co
We terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances. If you are unsure whether your rights have been infringed, consider taking legal advice before sending a notice.
By you. You can stop using the Services at any time.
By us. We may suspend or terminate your account or access to all or part of the Services if:
Where it is reasonable and lawful, we will tell you before we act and explain why, and give you a chance to respond or to export your content. We may act immediately, without notice, where child safety, security, or a legal requirement makes that necessary. If you think we suspended or terminated your account by mistake, contact support@mystory.co.
What happens on termination.
Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including sections 5, 9 (as to refunds and Sparks), 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.
This section applies only to the iOS app obtained from Apple's App Store. It does not apply to the web app or the website.
For the iOS app, these Terms are between you and My Story LLC only, not with Apple, and Apple is not responsible for the iOS app or its content. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for the iOS app. If the iOS app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the iOS app.
My Story, not Apple, is responsible for addressing any claim by you or a third party relating to the iOS app or your possession and use of it. This includes product liability claims, claims that the iOS app fails to conform to a legal or regulatory requirement, and claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation. My Story, not Apple, is also responsible for investigating, defending, settling, and resolving any third-party claim that the iOS app or your use of it infringes that third party's intellectual property rights.
You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties. You must also comply with any applicable third-party terms when using the iOS app. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms as they relate to the iOS app, and may enforce them against you.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT MAGIC AI RESULTS WILL BE ACCURATE OR SUITABLE, OR THAT CONTENT MODERATION WILL IDENTIFY EVERY PIECE OF INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you, and you may have additional rights under your local consumer law that these Terms do not affect.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MY STORY LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, CONTENT, PROFITS, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless My Story LLC and its officers, members, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, and reasonable legal fees arising out of content you publish, your breach of these Terms, or your misuse of the Services. This does not apply to claims arising from our own acts or omissions, and nothing in this section limits any right you have as a consumer under applicable law.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Mexico, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You and My Story agree that the state and federal courts located in New Mexico have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services, and you consent to their jurisdiction. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction whose law gives you the protection of mandatory local consumer rules, nothing in these Terms deprives you of that protection, and you may bring proceedings in your local courts.
If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be limited or removed to the minimum extent necessary and the remaining provisions will stay in force. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and My Story regarding the Services. Section headings are for convenience only.
Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect in the iOS app and the web app, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights parents, guardians, and schools have over a child's information. It is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Because My Story is used by young children, we encourage every parent and teacher to read it.
Questions about these Terms? Email support@mystory.co, write to My Story LLC at [[PLACEHOLDER: My Story LLC business postal address]], or use the support widget on this site.