This Privacy Policy explains how Lntrns LLC ("Heldearly," "we," "us") handles information when you use Heldearly (heldearly.com). Heldearly texts a person one question every few days, turns their answers into short written stories with the help of AI, and keeps those stories on a private timeline for their family.
We try to collect as little as possible and to be plain about the rest. If anything here is unclear, email us at hello@heldearly.com.
Who we are
Heldearly is operated by Lntrns LLC. We are the controller of the information described below. You can reach us any time at hello@heldearly.com.
Who this policy covers
Three kinds of people use Heldearly, and this policy covers all of them:
- Account holders: the person who signs up on our website, pays for the subscription, and invites the others. Account holders sign in with a code we text to their phone. Accounts created with an email address can still sign in with a code we email them.
- Storytellers: the people we text questions to. A storyteller has no web account. They take part only by text message, starting with a first text they send us from their invitation.
- Viewers: family members an account holder adds by phone number so they can read a storyteller's timeline. Viewers sign in with a code we text them.
An account holder can also be their own storyteller. This policy also covers anyone who visits heldearly.com.
Information we collect
We collect only what we need to run the service:
- From account holders: your mobile number, email address, name, and birthday (we use it to confirm you're an adult), your language and time zone, and your billing details. Payments are handled by Stripe, and we never see or store your full card number.
- About the people account holders invite: the details you give us about each storyteller, such as their name, how they're related to you, their birthday, and any other details you choose to add, and the name and phone number of each viewer you add.
- From storytellers: your phone number, which we receive when you send your first text, and everything you send us after that: messages, voice notes (and their transcripts), photos, and videos. We also keep the times and days you'd like questions to arrive.
- From viewers: a record of each time you sign in, including the IP address and browser you used.
- Created from what storytellers share: the stories we write, illustrations of objects that come up in them, and a private map of the people, places, dates, objects, and themes in the answers, which we use to ask better questions and write the stories.
- Collected automatically: technical information when you use the website, such as your IP address, browser, and device, the pages you visit and the buttons you use, and recordings of website sessions. See "Who we share it with" and "Cookies and similar technologies" below.
How Heldearly works
An account holder signs up and invites a storyteller with a personal invitation link. Nothing is sent to the storyteller until they open the invitation and send us the first text themselves. We never text anyone first. Sending that text is how a storyteller agrees to take part.
After that, we text the storyteller a question every few days. AI helps us understand each reply and choose what to ask next. When there's enough for a story, AI writes a draft, and a person on our team reviews it before it's published to the storyteller's timeline.
The timeline shows published stories, the photos a storyteller sent with them, and illustrations we create. It never shows the text conversation itself.
How we use your information
We use your information to:
- Provide the service: send questions, understand replies, write and publish stories, and show each timeline to the people allowed to see it.
- Send the messages and email that come with the service, such as sign-in codes, billing notices, a note when the first story is ready, and a heads-up to the account holder when a storyteller asks about billing or stops replying.
- Process subscriptions and payments through Stripe. A subscription is monthly or annual.
- Keep people safe. If a message suggests someone may be in crisis, we reply with information about free support lines and alert our team.
- Provide support, keep the service secure, fix problems, and understand how it is used so we can improve it.
- Measure visits to the website, including which ads bring people here.
- Comply with the law and enforce our Terms.
We do not use storytellers' answers or stories to advertise to anyone, and we do not sell personal information.
Who can see what
- Storytellers see their own conversation with us in iMessage.
- Account holders see the timeline of each storyteller they invited, the details they entered, and whether each storyteller has started. They don't see the text conversation.
- Viewers see the timeline of each storyteller they've been added to, and nothing else.
- Our team can see conversations, stories, and account details. We look at them to review stories before they're published, keep people safe, answer support requests, and fix problems, and only people who need that access have it.
An account holder can remove a viewer at any time. The viewer loses access the next time they load the page.
How AI is involved
We use AI to choose questions and follow-ups, understand what a reply is asking for (for example, a request to pause), pull out the people, places, dates, and objects in an answer, transcribe voice notes, decide which object in a story to illustrate, draw that illustration, and write each story's first draft.
To do this, the relevant messages, transcripts, and story drafts are sent to the AI providers listed below, which process them to return a result to us. We don't use anyone's content to train AI models of our own, and a person reviews every story before anyone else can read it.
Advertising and how to opt out
We use Meta's tools to measure which ads bring people to Heldearly, how far through sign-up they get, and whether that leads to a purchase. The Meta pixel never runs on invitation, timeline, or dashboard pages. Meta may combine this with other information it has about you, under its own privacy policy.
You can limit this tracking:
- Use your browser's tracking protection or a tracker blocker. Most of them block both Meta's pixel and PostHog.
- Control how Meta uses this information for ads in your Facebook or Instagram settings, at facebook.com/adpreferences.
- Opt out of interest-based ads from many companies at optout.aboutads.info (US) or youronlinechoices.eu (Europe).
How long we keep it
We keep information while the account it belongs to is active.
An account holder can delete their account from the dashboard. The deletion happens 7 days after the request, and it can be canceled until then. At that point we cancel the subscription and permanently delete the account, its storytellers, their conversations, stories, photos, voice notes, and videos, and any viewer who can't see another timeline.
An account holder can also permanently remove a single storyteller at any time, which deletes that storyteller's data right away. Archiving a storyteller instead keeps their timeline and can be undone.
We keep a short record of each deletion (such as the account holder's email address and name, masked phone numbers, and payment IDs) so we can show it happened, and we keep payment and tax records for as long as the law requires. Copies in backups and logs expire on their normal schedules.
Your choices and rights
You can:
- As an account holder: update your payment details or cancel from Manage billing on your dashboard, remove viewers and storytellers, and delete your account.
- As a storyteller: text STOP at any time and we'll stop sending you messages, and text START to begin again. For a shorter break, text something like "pause for two weeks", and text RESUME to come back early. To have what you've shared deleted, tell us in the conversation or by email, and a person on our team will follow up.
- As a viewer: ask the account holder to remove you, or email us.
- Anyone: email hello@heldearly.com to see, correct, delete, or get a copy of your information. We may need to confirm it's you before we act.
Depending on where you live, you may have other rights, such as objecting to how we use your information or complaining to a data protection authority. We won't treat you differently for using any of them.
Security
We protect information with encryption in transit, access controls, and one-time sign-in codes instead of passwords. We check every visit to a timeline against the person signed in, and we mask phone numbers in our logs.
Invitation links are personal. Anyone who opens one can send the first text and start the conversation, so share it only with the person it's for.
No method of transmission or storage is ever completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Where we process information
Heldearly is based in the United States, and most of our service providers process information there. If you use Heldearly from somewhere else, your information is transferred to and processed in the United States.
Children
Heldearly is not for children under 13. Account holders and storytellers must be 18 or older, which is why we ask for birthdays. Viewers must be at least 13, and an account holder may add a viewer under 18 only with permission from the viewer's parent or guardian. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has been added, contact us and we will delete their information.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the date at the top of this page and, for significant changes, let you know directly.
Contact us
Questions about your privacy? Email hello@heldearly.com. Heldearly is operated by Lntrns LLC.