Terms of Service

Terms of Service

Version 2026-08-11. Effective 11 August 2026. Replaces version 2026-08-08.

1. Accepting these terms

These Terms are an agreement between the adult parent or legal guardian who creates or joins a FamOwl household ("you") and FamOwl ("FamOwl", "we", "us"). By creating an account, accepting a material revision or using FamOwl, you agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree, do not provide child information or use the service. A material new version is shown in the app and must be accepted before continued use.

2. Who we are

FamOwl is a New Zealand-based service. General support: hello@famowl.app. Legal and privacy: compliance@famowl.app.

3. Eligibility and country availability

You must be at least 18 and have legal authority to administer the household and provide the child information you enter. FamOwl is a family tool, not a service for a child to open independently.

The Family Reset service is available only in countries that FamOwl has expressly activated after the applicable privacy, consumer, provider and store checks. You must declare the family's actual country during setup and update us if it changes. Do not use a false country or technical workaround to bypass a country block.

United States: new child-profile onboarding, including for a child under 13, is currently unavailable. FamOwl will not enable that path until it has implemented and reviewed an appropriate verifiable-parental-consent process. Availability elsewhere may be added or removed where needed to meet law, provider or App Store requirements.

4. Accounts, households and child devices

• A parent account owns or joins a private household and is responsible for keeping its sign-in credentials secure.
• Only invite another adult if they are authorised to see and administer the household information made available to their role.
• A child profile is not a public account. A paired child device receives a narrow, revocable identity for one child in one household.
• Pairing may be revoked, replaced or invalidated by the server. A stale child credential does not create a continuing right to the household.
• Tell us promptly if an account or paired device may be compromised.

FamOwl may require reauthentication, re-pairing or fresh acceptance of legal notices after a security, data-reset or major-release event.

5. How Family Reset works

5.1 Nest, Wings and Flight

• Nest covers ordinary family responsibility. It earns zero XP and no money.
• Wings covers capability-building missions. It can earn XP, levels and access to parent-approved rewards, but no money.
• Flight covers genuine economic work under parent-approved, locked deal terms. It is the only money lane. Nest or Wings cannot create a cash payout.

5.2 Agreements and the child's choice

Before a Wings mission is offered, the family approves child-specific Comfy, Stretch and Brave targets, any checklist, the separate genuine-attempt condition for a Brave miss, and the verification method. Immediately before a run starts, the child alone chooses:

• Comfy: already reliably achievable for that child;
• Stretch: beyond the child's usual performance but reasonably achievable with deliberate effort; or
• Brave: the child might genuinely fail even after an honest attempt.

A parent and Hoot may explain the options but cannot choose, require, relock or change the child's selection. Once the run starts, the choice, targets and policy snapshot are locked for that run. Approved changes apply only to future runs.

5.3 Verification and outcomes

Verification records real-world facts. It does not ask a parent to judge courage or calculate XP. The server applies the approved policy deterministically:

XP settlement is server-owned, atomic and retry-safe. A child may challenge a recorded fact and a parent may correct a fact through the documented correction path. This is not a tier appeal: the selected challenge and settled history are not silently rewritten.

5.4 Form and rewards

Form reflects the family's approved window, opportunities and thresholds. Poor Form never removes XP or achieved levels. It places use of available rewards on hold until the displayed recovery condition is met.

A reward is not a promise to a child until a parent approves it. A parent may approve, replace or decline a proposal. Once an approved reward is earned, ordinary catalogue changes do not erase the entitlement. Cost-bearing family treats can be rewards, but Wings rewards are not cash-out and do not create Flight money.

5.5 Flight

Flight projects use separate parent-approved economic terms. Once approved for the relevant work, those terms are locked and the server applies the selected formula. FamOwl records the agreement and settlement; the family remains responsible for the real-world work, payment, tax, employment and child-safety obligations that apply to them.

6. Parent responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• having authority to provide the child and household information you enter;
• using an appropriate display name or nickname and avoiding unnecessary sensitive information;
• setting safe, lawful, age-appropriate missions, proof methods, rewards and Flight terms;
• checking real-world facts honestly and correcting errors;
• reviewing Hoot suggestions before approving any future change;
• supervising a child's device use and revoking a device that is lost, shared or no longer authorised; and
• meeting any local legal obligations for allowances, paid work, tax, health and safety, education or child welfare.

Do not use FamOwl to pressure a child into Brave, disguise ordinary family responsibility as paid work, or use rewards, Form or Hoot output in a harmful or humiliating way.

7. Hoot and AI

Hoot is optional software and can be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, unavailable or unsuitable. It is not a counsellor, doctor, lawyer, financial adviser, emergency service or substitute for the judgement of a responsible adult. If anyone is in danger or distress, use local emergency or professional services.

Subject to the applicable parent consent, Hoot may propose future missions or targets, prepare parent briefings, answer questions, and assist with a documented genuinely ambiguous Brave curveball. Suggestions do not change family state until the parent uses the ordinary confirmation path.

Hoot cannot select a challenge, invent a fact, determine an ordinary outcome, calculate XP, change an active run, move money, or silently modify a mission, target, setting or reward. If required facts are missing or Hoot is unavailable, an ambiguous run may remain visibly pending.

The child-facing Hoot experience, where enabled, is moderated but moderation cannot eliminate every unsuitable or incorrect response. Parents remain responsible for supervision. Usage limits, approved providers and model availability may change to protect safety, reliability or cost. The Privacy Policy explains what is sent and retained.

8. Your content

You keep ownership of the names, mission text, checklists, proof, photos, messages and other content your household enters. You grant FamOwl a limited licence to host, copy, process and display that content only as needed to provide, secure and support the service and meet the law.

You confirm that you have the right and authority to provide the content, including any image of a child or another person. Do not upload more personal information than the family journey needs.

FamOwl may use aggregate information that no longer identifies a person or household to operate, secure and understand the service. We do not sell personal information or use children's personal information for advertising.

9. Acceptable use

Do not use FamOwl to:

• harm, threaten, harass, exploit, shame or unlawfully monitor a child or anyone else;
• upload illegal, sexually exploitative, hateful or seriously harmful material;
• impersonate someone, provide a false country, or claim authority you do not have;
• access another household, bypass a pairing or paid-feature boundary, probe security, scrape the service or disrupt its operation;
• misuse Hoot, including automated abuse, attempts to extract protected instructions, or sending unlawful content; or
• resell, reverse engineer or use FamOwl to build a competing service except where a non-excludable law permits the specific act.

We may remove content, restrict a feature or suspend access where reasonably necessary to protect a child, household, third party or the service; investigate a suspected breach; or comply with law.

10. Subscriptions and billing

FamOwl may offer free functionality and a FamOwl Premium subscription. The current feature comparison, trial (if any), billing period and price shown in the iOS purchase screen are the authoritative offer presented to you.

• Apple processes purchases through the App Store. FamOwl does not directly receive your payment-card details.
• A subscription automatically renews unless cancelled through Apple's subscription settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, subject to the terms Apple shows for the purchase.
• Premium remains available until the end of the paid period after cancellation, unless Apple grants a refund or law requires another result.
• Use Apple's purchase-history and refund process for refund requests. Apple decides App Store refunds, without limiting non-excludable consumer rights.
• Use Restore Purchases while signed in as the entitled parent if Premium does not appear.

FamOwl may change a future subscription price or feature boundary with the notice and consent required by Apple and applicable law. Existing entitlements are handled under the purchase terms and consumer law that apply to them.

11. Changes and availability

FamOwl is actively developed. We may add, change, pause or remove a feature for safety, legal compliance, provider availability, reliability or product reasons. We may block a country or build version where continuing would create a privacy, security or compatibility risk.

If these Terms change materially, the app requires fresh acceptance. If a paid feature is materially withdrawn, we will provide the remedy required by applicable consumer law. We do not promise that Hoot or any particular model will always be available.

12. Ending an account

You can cancel a subscription without deleting the account. To close FamOwl, use the account-deletion control in Settings → Legal & privacy. Deletion is permanent once applied and is subject to the limited retention described in the Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or terminate access for a material breach, a serious privacy or safety risk, fraud, unlawful use, or a legal requirement. Where practical and safe, we will explain the reason and give an opportunity to correct it. If FamOwl discontinues the paid service, we will give reasonable notice and provide any refund or other remedy required by law.

13. Warranties and liability

Except for rights and guarantees that cannot lawfully be excluded, FamOwl is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not guarantee uninterrupted operation, that every bug will be fixed, or that Hoot output will be accurate or suitable.

To the maximum extent the law permits, FamOwl is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profits or expected savings, or a decision made in reliance on Hoot output. To the same extent, our total liability for claims connected with the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid for FamOwl in the previous 12 months and NZD $100.

These limits do not apply where liability cannot be excluded or limited, including any mandatory consumer guarantee, fraud, wilful misconduct, or other category protected by applicable law.

14. Consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies a right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded. For New Zealand consumers, this includes rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and Fair Trading Act 1986 where they apply. Consumers elsewhere retain the mandatory protections of their country of residence.

If FamOwl fails to meet a non-excludable guarantee, contact hello@famowl.app. We will provide the repair, replacement, refund or other remedy the applicable law requires.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by New Zealand law. The courts of New Zealand have jurisdiction, except that a mandatory consumer law may let you bring a claim in your country of residence.

Please contact compliance@famowl.app first so we can try to resolve a dispute. These Terms do not require arbitration and do not waive a right to participate in a group or representative claim where the law permits it.

16. Apple terms

If you obtained FamOwl from Apple's App Store:

• these Terms are between you and FamOwl, not Apple;
• Apple is not responsible for FamOwl, its content, maintenance, support or warranties;
• FamOwl, not Apple, is responsible for addressing claims about the app, including product, legal, consumer-protection and intellectual-property claims;
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce the Apple-specific provisions; and
• Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement and App Store purchase terms also apply where relevant.

17. Contact

• General support: hello@famowl.app
• Legal, privacy and terms: compliance@famowl.app