Last updated September 13, 2026
Welcome to Hearthside. These terms cover your use of the Hearthside website, accounts, profiles, story generator, narration features, and related beta features (the "Service"). By using Hearthside, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.
Hearthside is built for families, including children, but Hearthside accounts are intended to be created and managed by adults. You must be at least 18 years old to create or manage a Hearthside account. Parents, guardians, or teachers may create optional profiles and set up Hearthside experiences for children in their care.
Hearthside is currently being tested with a limited group of early users. Beta features may change, break, be added, or be removed as we learn. Founding Families are encouraged to use the product actively and provide candid feedback about bugs, story quality, narration, usability, and ideas for improvement.
Beta participation does not guarantee any particular future feature, price, discount, or subscription benefit unless Hearthside explicitly promises it in writing.
Hearthside generates original stories and retellings using artificial intelligence, based on choices such as story category, age or grade range, reader mode, and topic. Hearthside is a storytelling product first. Some stories are designed to encourage learning, curiosity, reading, or family discussion, but Hearthside is not a substitute for a teacher, doctor, therapist, or other qualified professional.
Stories are generated in real time by an AI model. Hearthside includes safeguards for age-appropriateness, tone, safety, and factual care — especially for History, Wonders of Science, and Myths & Legends — but no automated system is perfect. AI-generated content can contain errors, omissions, or unexpected material.
Parents, guardians, and teachers remain responsible for deciding what is appropriate for the children in their care. If a story seems inaccurate, inappropriate, unsafe, or simply wrong, please report it through Hearthside's feedback form so we can investigate and improve the product.
You are responsible for the account you use to access Hearthside and for information you add to optional profiles. Please provide only the information Hearthside needs to personalize the storytelling experience and avoid entering unnecessary sensitive personal information about a child.
When Ember narration is available and you choose to use it, Hearthside may send the story text to a third-party voice provider to generate audio. Narration availability may be limited during beta because voice generation has operational costs and service dependencies.
The Founding Families beta is currently free. Hearthside may introduce paid plans later. If that happens, pricing, included features, renewal terms, cancellation terms, and the payment provider will be shown before you purchase anything. Hearthside does not currently promise a specific subscription price or permanent beta-tester discount.
Please don't use Hearthside to:
You're welcome to save, print, and share stories Hearthside generates for personal, family, or classroom use. Because the stories are AI-generated, Hearthside does not claim exclusive ownership over the text of an individual generated story. Hearthside's app, branding, design, code, prompts, and underlying technology remain protected by their applicable rights.
Hearthside is provided "as is" during beta. We work to keep it reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access or that every feature will work perfectly. Planned maintenance, provider outages, safety changes, cost controls, and beta experiments may affect availability.
To the fullest extent the law allows, Hearthside and its operator are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from use of the Service. Where a liability limitation based on payments is permitted, Hearthside's total liability for a claim is limited to the amount you paid Hearthside, if any, during the twelve months before the claim arose.
Questions, concerns, bugs, or a story that didn't seem right? Use the Hearthside feedback form or email hearthsidestory@gmail.com.
Hearthside will evolve during beta, so these terms may change. The date at the top of this page shows the most recent revision. Material changes will be reflected here before they apply to future use of the Service.
This page is a working beta terms draft and has not yet been reviewed by an attorney. It is intended to describe Hearthside's current beta accurately, not to substitute for professional legal advice. Formal legal review is recommended before a broad child-directed commercial launch or paid subscriptions.