Terms of service

The agreement between you and Empty Bar LLC when you use Lamplight.

Effective date: [confirm: not yet set]. Published by Empty Bar LLC, 18202 Minnetonka Boulevard, Deephaven, MN 55391. Questions: brian@emptybar.llc.

1. Who can use Lamplight

• You must be 18 or older and the parent or legal guardian of any child you set up in the app. The app asks you to confirm this before you sign in, and we store the date you did.
• Children do not have accounts and may not use the app themselves. The app is made for a parent to operate and a child to listen to.
• One account per person. You are responsible for what happens under your sign-in.

2. What the app does

Lamplight writes a short bedtime story from the profile you enter for your child and reads it aloud in a digital copy of your voice. Stories are written by an AI model and reviewed by a second AI model against a set of rules; the voice is an AI copy made from your recording. Both are labelled as such in the app.

You see a summary and the full text of every story before it is read aloud, and you decide whether to play it. Read it first. AI-written text can be wrong, odd, or not what you expected, even after review. If a story is not right, use "Try another" or "Report" in the app.

Lamplight is not a medical, psychological, or educational service and does not diagnose or treat anything. The "working on" topics are story themes, informed by how a school counselor uses stories, and nothing more.

3. Your voice and other people's voices

• Before recording, you agree to the voice release. It is part of these terms.
• Record only your own voice, or the voice of another adult who reads the release, agrees to it on your phone, and speaks the consent line at the start of the recording.
• Never record anyone who has not agreed, anyone under 18, or anyone you are pretending to be. The app does not accept uploaded audio files for this reason.
• A voice copy may only be used to read stories inside your account. It cannot be exported, and we will not use it for anything else.
• We may delete a voice copy and close an account where we have reason to believe a voice was recorded without that person's permission.

4. Plans, credits, and trials

Prices and limits below are the ones planned for launch. [confirm final prices and credit counts before publishing; the spec calls these "proposed"]

• A 5-minute story costs 1 credit, 10 minutes 2 credits, 15 minutes 3 credits. Credits are charged when audio is made, not when text is written. If audio fails, the credit is refunded.
• Writing and rewriting text is free but capped: 3 rewrites per story and 10 story writes a day per account.
• Monthly credits are added on each monthly anniversary of your first payment, on yearly plans as well as monthly ones. Unused credits carry over while your plan is active. [confirm: rollover is a build decision the spec left open]
• During the 7-day trial, 5 credits are available. The rest of the first month's credits are added at your first payment. [confirm: the trial cap is a build addition Brian has not confirmed]
• Replaying a story you already made never costs a credit.
• Credits have no cash value and are not refundable except as described above.

5. Billing and cancellation

• Subscriptions are sold through the Apple App Store or Google Play and billed to the account you use there. We never see your payment details.
• A subscription renews automatically at the end of each period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before it ends. A trial converts to a paid subscription unless cancelled before the trial ends.
• Cancel in your App Store or Google Play subscription settings. Deleting the app or deleting your Lamplight account does not cancel a subscription.
• Refunds are handled by Apple or Google under their policies.
• When a paid plan ends, your account returns to the free plan. Your library stays. Voice copies on a lapsed paid account are deleted after 12 months, as the privacy policy describes.
• We may change prices for future periods with notice through the store. A price change never applies to a period you have already paid for.

6. What you may not do

• Record or clone a voice without that person's permission, or record a minor.
• Try to make the app produce content that is frightening, sexual, violent, hateful, or otherwise unsuitable for a child. The app is built to refuse, and repeated attempts may end your account.
• Enter another family's personal details, or details you do not have the right to share.
• Reverse engineer the app, scrape it, resell access, or use it to build a competing service.
• Use the app for anything other than bedtime stories for children in your own care.

7. Your content and ours

• You own your voice recordings and everything you enter about your family. You give us permission to use them only to run the service for you, as the privacy policy and voice release describe.
• Stories and audio made for you are yours to keep, replay, download, and share within your family. They are not for commercial use. [confirm the licence Brian wants to grant on generated stories]
• The app, its design, its topic library, and its prompts belong to Empty Bar LLC.

8. Reporting a story

Every player screen has a Report button. Tell us what was wrong (scary, not right for the age, names or facts wrong, voice problem, or something else) and add a note if you like. You can have the story removed from your library at the same time. A person reads every report. We keep a copy of the reported story text so the report can be reviewed after you delete the story.

9. Ending your account

• You can delete your account at any time in Settings, or by email. The delete account page says exactly what is removed and what is kept.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, after telling you why, unless the law prevents that. [confirm notice period and appeal path]
• If we shut the service down, we will give at least 30 days' notice and a way to export your stories. [confirm]

10. Disclaimers

The app is provided as is. We do not promise that every story will be suitable, that the voice copy will sound like you, that the service will be available at all times, or that AI output will be free of mistakes. You are the judge of what your child hears. [lawyer to word]

11. Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, Empty Bar LLC is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from use of the app, and our total liability is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Some states do not allow these limits, so they may not apply to you. [lawyer to word]

12. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota. Disputes will be heard in the state or federal courts located in Minnesota, unless the law where you live gives you the right to go elsewhere. [confirm: venue, and whether to include arbitration or a small-claims carve-out]

13. Changes to these terms

When these terms change, the effective date at the top changes, and the app will ask you to accept the new terms if the change is material. Continuing to use the app after that is acceptance. [confirm]

14. Apple and Google

If you got the app from the App Store, Apple is not a party to these terms and has no responsibility for the app or its content. If you got it from Google Play, the same applies to Google. Both stores' own terms also apply to your download. [confirm the store-required clauses at submission]

15. Contact

Empty Bar LLC
18202 Minnetonka Boulevard
Deephaven, MN 55391
Legal: brian@emptybar.llc
Support: support@emptybar.app