Welcome to Hearth. These terms are the agreement between you and Hearth for using the app. By creating an account, you agree to them.
What Hearth is
Hearth is a journal that remembers — an encrypted journaling app with an AI companion (Inkling) that can reflect on what you write and, if you connect your own AI assistant, answer questions about your journal. It is not a medical or mental-health service, not a crisis line, and not a substitute for professional care. If you're in crisis, please use the crisis resources linked in the app.
Eligibility
You must be 16 or older to use Hearth. AI features start off for accounts registered as 16–17 and require your explicit opt-in.
Your account and your key
Your entries are always stored encrypted. In the default managed mode, Hearth keeps a sealed spare copy of your key so that signing in unlocks your journal — which means access to your account is access to your journal: protect your sign-in, and tell us if you suspect unauthorized access.
If you switch to Private Vault, only your passphrase (and recovery key) can open your journal. If you lose your passphrase and your recovery key (and any passkey you set up), we cannot recover your data — by design. We can't reset what we can't read. Please keep your recovery key somewhere safe.
Acceptable use
Use Hearth lawfully. Don't attempt to break its security, access others' data, disrupt the service, or use it to store or transmit unlawful content, and don't abuse the AI features, the AI connector, or the registration endpoints. Our Acceptable Use Policy has the details.
Plans, billing, and cancellation
Hearth offers a free tier (Ember — one entry a day, with a daily AI allowance) and paid tiers (Glow, Bonfire — unlimited entries, deeper AI memory, and the AI connector). Paid plans:
- Include a 7-day free trial, then bill monthly or annually.
- Are sold and processed by Dodo Payments, our Merchant of Record. Dodo Payments is the seller of record for your purchase and handles payment, billing, invoicing, and applicable sales tax; its Buyer Terms also govern the transaction, and your receipts come from Dodo Payments. (That is the same document its checkout links, so the terms you agreed to there are the terms here.)
- Can be cancelled anytime, effective at the end of the current billing period; you keep your paid features until then.
- Are eligible for a full refund within 7 days of any charge — see our Refund & Cancellation Policy.
- One plan per account.
Prices and what each plan includes are shown on our pricing page and in the app, and may change with notice. AI features have fair-use daily limits by plan; writing is never blocked by them.
Automatic renewal. A paid plan starts with a 7-day free trial and then renews automatically — monthly or annually, whichever you chose — at the price shown, and keeps renewing until you cancel. Cancel any time before the trial ends and you are not charged.
If you're in the EU or UK: your 14-day right to change your mind. For a digital service bought online you normally have 14 days to withdraw from the contract without giving a reason. Because Hearth is available to you immediately, by starting your subscription you ask us to begin providing the service straight away and acknowledge that you lose that withdrawal right once it is fully performed — you keep it for the part not yet performed, and if you withdraw within 14 days we refund you pro rata for the unused remainder. Our own 7-day full-refund policy sits on top of this and takes nothing away from it. To withdraw, cancel in Settings → Plan or email hello@usehearth.ink.
Online dispute resolution. If you are an EU consumer and we can't resolve something between us, you may be able to use your national consumer ADR body; the EU's ODR platform can point you to one.
The AI features
AI features are on by default for adult accounts, behind a consent screen shown before your first entry, and governed by that disclosure and our Privacy Policy. You can turn them off anytime in Settings, or switch to Private Vault to make server-side AI processing impossible. With the connector, what your assistant reads enters your history with your own AI provider; that's your choice to make and to revoke.
Your content
Your content is yours. We store it as ciphertext, and we process it transiently only to provide the features you've consented to — never to train models, never for advertising, and never to browse. In Private Vault mode we cannot process it at all. You grant us only the limited permission needed to host, deliver, and (where you've consented) process it.
Disclaimers and liability
Hearth is provided "as is." To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties and are not liable for indirect or consequential damages, or for data loss arising from your loss of your Private Vault passphrase and recovery key (which, by design, we cannot recover). Nothing here limits liability that can't be limited by law.
Suspension and termination
You can delete your account at any time (this crypto-erases your data, including the managed spare key). We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or the law.
Changes
We may update these terms; we'll update the date above and, for material changes, notify you in the app. Continued use after a change means you accept it.
Governing law & contact
These terms are governed by the laws of Nepal. Nothing in this section takes away rights you have as a consumer under the law of the country you live in: if you are a consumer in the EEA, the UK, or anywhere else whose consumer law applies to you regardless of what a contract says, those protections — including your right to bring a claim in your local courts and to use your national consumer ADR or the EU ODR platform — continue to apply, and the mandatory ones prevail over anything here that conflicts with them. This mirrors the savings clauses in the liability and refund sections above.
Questions: hello@usehearth.ink.