Privacy Policy

Last updated: 17 August 2026

Talefern creates a new bedtime story each night for a child, based on a short profile a parent or guardian provides. We are built for children, so we collect as little as possible and keep parents in control.

What we collect

• From you (the adult): your email address, to sign you in and send stories, and — if you subscribe — billing details handled by our payment processor (we never see or store your card number). If you invite other caregivers or send a gift, we store the email addresses you give us for that.
• About your child: their first name, their birth month and year (never the exact date), and what you tell us they enjoy — interests, story genres, characters they like, and anything to avoid. Optionally, you can also add a reading level, a bedtime, their gender, a short description of how they look, and the first names of family members or characters you'd like to appear in their stories.
• Photos (optional): you can choose to upload a photo — of your child, a family member, or a pet — so we can draw a cartoon character that looks like them. See Photos below for exactly how we handle it.
• Created for you: the stories we generate, the illustrations and cartoon characters we draw, the read-aloud narration, and any feedback taps (loved / ok / not for us). Over time we build a light “taste” profile from what your child reads, to make future stories fit better.
• Technical & preferences: standard security logs; your approximate region and time zone (to set English spelling and delivery timing); and your choices about notifications and emails — a push-notification subscription and occasional product-news emails are both optional and off unless you turn them on.

Photos

Uploading a photo is always optional and asks for your confirmation as the parent or guardian first. When you upload one, we send it once to our image provider to draw a cartoon character, and then discard it— we do not store the original photo. The cartoon likeness we create is saved with your child's profile so it can appear in their stories, and you can delete it at any time.

We do not collect surnames, exact dates of birth, precise location, or any special-category data, and we do not show advertising or use third-party ad tracking.

How we use it

Solely to run the service: to generate age-appropriate stories, illustrations and narration tailored to your child, deliver them by email or the app, apply safety checks, and manage your account and subscription. If you opt in, we also send occasional emails about new features — you can turn these off any time on your account page; they are separate from the sign-in and story emails needed to run the service.

Who we share it with

We use a small set of trusted processors to run the service, under contract and only for the purposes below:

• Anthropic — generates and safety-checks each story from the profile and preferences you provide.
• OpenAI — draws the illustrations and cartoon characters (this is where an appearance description, and any photo you choose to upload, are sent — see Photos).
• ElevenLabs — creates the read-aloud narration (this receives the story text, which includes your child's first name).
• Resend — sends your sign-in links and story emails.
• Stripe — processes subscription and gift payments.
• Expo, with Apple and Google — delivers push notifications if you opt in (this receives only a device notification token, used for notifications and never for advertising).
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) — hosts the application and database (London, UK region).

We never sell your data or your child's data.

International data transfers

Some of these providers are based in the United States. When we transfer personal data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards under UK data-protection law — the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, held in each provider's data-processing agreement, and where applicable a provider's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension.

• Anthropic and OpenAI (story text and illustrations) — protected by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses as amended by the UK Addendum.
• ElevenLabs and Resend (narration and email) — protected by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK Addendum.
• Stripe (payments) — protected by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and UK Addendum, and Stripe's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension.
• Amazon Web Services (hosting) — your data is stored in the UK (London) Region; for any access from outside the UK, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses as amended by the UK Addendum apply.

How long we keep it

Stories are kept for up to a year and then deleted. Everything else is kept while your account is open. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from your account page — this is immediate and permanent.

Children's privacy

Talefernis operated by an adult on a child's behalf. A parent or guardian sets up and controls the account, chooses each child's plan, and manages billing — a child can never reach account settings or payment details, and can never buy anything.

There is one thing a child can do, if you have given them their own sign-in: spend stars you have already bought. Stars are tokens for small extras, like redrawing a picture or turning a story into a Dream Weaver adventure. No money changes hands and nothing is charged to your card — a child can only ever use up a balance you chose to buy, and can never top it up. This is switched on by default for each child, and you can switch it off for any child at any time on their settings page. If you have notifications turned on, we tell you when a child spends stars and how many are left, and your remaining balance is always on your account page.

A parent may optionally give a child aged 13 or over their own sign-in on the child's own device, using a one-time code. A child signed in this way can read their own stories and give simple feedback — a “loved it” tap, a choice within a story, or a nudge for what tomorrow's tale is about — which we use to tailor their future stories. We also keep a simple record of what they did — a redraw, a re-told story, a Dream Weaver upgrade, including where that uses your stars — and when they last used their sign-in, so you can see their activity and end it at any time. We don't collect anything else from them, and none of it is used for advertising. Children under 13 do not sign in; their stories are managed entirely by the parent.

Photo uploads always require a parent's confirmation first. We follow a data-minimisation and best-interests-of-the-child approach consistent with the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code and COPPA.

Your rights

You can access, correct, export or delete your data. Deletion is available directly on your account page; for anything else, email us. You may also object to processing or lodge a complaint with your data protection authority.

Contact

Questions? Email hello@talefern.com.