Privacy policy

Who we are

Aks (“we”, “us”) runs the Aks service at aksstory.com. If you have a question about this policy or your information, contact us at privacy@aksstory.com.

What we collect

From you, when you use Aks

• Your account: your email address and password (stored only in a scrambled form we can't read), or your name and email from Google if you sign in with Google.
• What you record and add: your spoken and written answers, recordings of your voice and their transcripts, stories, photos, videos, daily log entries, what you tell Viora, the voice guide, and messages from a WhatsApp chat if you choose to import it (only your own messages leave your device).
• Your voice: if you choose to create one, a model of your voice made from your recordings, and the consent statement you record and sign first.
• Your personality profile: a summary of your likes, values and way of speaking, drawn only from your own words, which you review and approve.
• Your family: the names, relationships and email addresses of the people you invite, and how you'd like your voice to greet them.

From your family, when they use Aks

• Their account, their conversations with your story, and questions they send you.

Automatically

• Counts we need to run the service fairly, such as how much voice time someone has used today, and how many family questions were answered (the numbers only, not the questions).
• Server logs used to find and fix problems, which can include an account ID or email address.

We don't use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. Your browser keeps you signed in and remembers small preferences (like a tab you had open) on your device only.

How we use it

• To keep your story and share it with the people you invite, when you've chosen their access to begin.
• To let your family ask questions and get replies drawn only from what you recorded, clearly labelled as your words or as a guess.
• To speak replies in your voice, if you created one and allowed it.
• To send the emails the service needs: sign-up and password codes, and invitations you send.
• To keep Aks secure, prevent misuse, and fix problems.

We use your information only to provide Aks to you and your family. We never sell it, never use it for advertising, and never use it to build profiles of anyone who hasn't signed up.

Who can see your story

• You. Everything, always.
• The people you invite, from when you've chosen, until you remove them. There are no public profiles and nothing is searchable.
• Your family's conversations are private to them. The one thing that reaches you is a question about your life that nothing you recorded could answer: it's passed to you with the asker's name, and they're told this happens. When you answer, you choose who hears it.
• Your Legacy Contact, if you choose one, can see and do nothing while you're alive. Later they can invite or remove family and download everything, but never change what you recorded.

Services that help run Aks

A few trusted providers handle specific jobs for us. They receive only what their job needs, and process it on our behalf under their business terms:

• Amazon Web Services stores your information, turns speech into text, runs the app, and sends our emails.
• Anthropic (Claude) reads a question with the relevant parts of your recorded words, to write a reply.
• Voyage AI turns text into search data, so the right parts of your story are found.
• ElevenLabs makes and speaks your voice, if you create one. We remove each spoken reply from their history shortly after it's made, and delete your voice there when you delete it.
• Google signs you in, if you choose “Continue with Google”.

We may also share information if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety.

Where it's kept, and how it's protected

Your information is stored in the United States, with Amazon Web Services. It's encrypted where it's stored, links to your recordings and photos are temporary and expire quickly, and every request is checked on our servers against who you've invited.

How long we keep it

• Your story stays until you delete it, or delete your account.
• Deleting something removes it at once. Our encrypted backups are replaced within 35 days.
• Server logs, which can include an account ID or email address, are deleted after 30 days.
• Messages you send to privacy@aksstory.com are forwarded to us and deleted from our servers after 30 days.
• Deleting your account removes everything you recorded, your voice, every conversation anyone had with your story, and your family's access.
• If you've passed away, your story is kept, read-only, for the family you invited, and your Legacy Contact can download it.

Your choices and rights

• See and correct: everything you've recorded is on your profile, where you can edit it.
• Download: take all your recordings, photos and words with you, at any time.
• Delete: anything you've added, or your whole account, from Profile, then Your account.
• Withdraw consent: stop sharing a note, remove family, or delete your voice whenever you want.
• Depending on where you live, you may have more rights, such as to object or to complain to your data protection authority. Contact us and we'll help.

Other people in your story

Your stories may mention family and friends. Please share only what you're comfortable sharing about them, especially about children. Anyone who appears in your story can ask us to remove something about them.

Children

You must be at least 13 to create an Aks account. If you're under the age of digital consent where you live, a parent or guardian needs to agree to your use of Aks.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and its date, and tell you in Aks before the change affects you.