01Who provides the app
Firstlings: Baby Journal ("Firstlings", "the app") is provided by Barrens Soft (trade name), the independent software studio operating under the name Barrens Soft ("we", "us"). Your contract is with Barrens Soft. Postal address: Barrens Soft, Mihaylovo village 6051, Bulgaria. If a company takes over the app, we will tell you in the app and update these terms. You can reach us at apps@barrenssoft.com.
02These terms
These terms apply when you download and use Firstlings. Our Privacy Policy explains how data is handled. When you buy something, the terms of Google Play or the Apple App Store also apply to the purchase itself. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under the consumer law that applies to you.
The parts of these terms about purchases, subscriptions and ads apply in the versions of the app that offer them.
03What is free
Firstlings is free to download and use. The core of the app is free and stays free: the diary, firsts, the free sleep sounds, backup to your own Google Drive or iCloud, and export of your own data. You need no account, and there is no paywall when you start.
You can always read, edit, back up, restore and export what you have already written, whether or not you have bought anything, and also after a subscription ends or a purchase is refunded.
04Optional paid extras
The app offers these optional extras. You never have to buy them to use the app.
- Firstlings Plus, subscription: monthly or yearly. The yearly plan comes with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Plus includes the extras listed in the app (such as siblings, more photos per moment, longer voice notes, more sleep sounds and book styles) and removes all ads.
- Firstlings Plus Lifetime: a one-time purchase of Plus, with no subscription (see section 7).
- Siblings: a one-time purchase for diaries of children from later births. Your first child, and twins or more born together, are always free. A baby on the way counts as a later birth. Siblings does not remove ads.
Plus also lets you keep diaries for more children while it is active. If a Plus subscription ends and you have neither Siblings nor Lifetime, you can still read, edit, back up and export every child's diary and use the counters, but adding new diary entries for children from later births pauses until you buy Siblings or Plus again. Items you already made or unlocked with Plus, such as exported books or avatar outfits already worn, stay.
On iPhone and iPad, Plus and Siblings can be shared with your Apple Family Sharing group. Google Play has no family sharing for in-app purchases.
What each extra includes, its price and, for a subscription, its billing period are shown in the app and in the store before you pay. The price in your store is the price you pay, including any VAT the store charges. All purchases are made only through Google Play or the Apple App Store. We do not sell anything on the web, and we never see your payment details.
05Subscriptions, renewal and trial
- Automatic renewal: a subscription renews automatically at the end of each period (a month or a year) at the price you agreed to, and your store account is charged, unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends.
- Free trial: the 7-day free trial on the yearly plan is for new subscribers only. If you do not cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, it becomes a paid yearly subscription and your store account is charged at the yearly price. Two days before the trial ends the app reminds you on the Today screen (and in the daily reminder, if you have it on).
- Price changes: if we change a subscription price, Google or Apple will tell you before the change applies, as their rules require. Where those rules or the law require it, the new price applies only if you agree to it; otherwise you can cancel before it applies.
- Payment problems: if a renewal payment fails, the store may retry it for a while. If it still fails, the subscription ends. If the app cannot reach the store to confirm your subscription, Plus stays on for up to 7 days while it tries again.
06Cancelling and refunds
You cancel a subscription in your store account, not in the app. Uninstalling the app does not cancel a subscription.
- Google Play: open the Play Store app, tap your profile picture, then Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → Firstlings → Cancel subscription. Google's help: Cancel a subscription on Google Play.
- iPhone and iPad: open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions → Firstlings → Cancel Subscription. Apple's help: Cancel a subscription from Apple.
When you cancel, Plus stays active until the end of the period you have already paid for. Then it ends, and the rules in section 4 apply.
Refunds are handled by the store you paid, under its refund policy: Google Play refund policies or Apple refund requests. For purchases on Google Play we can also refund an order ourselves, so if something went wrong, write to us. For App Store purchases only Apple can issue the refund, but we will help you with the request. Your rights under section 8 are not affected.
07What "Lifetime" means
"Lifetime" and "one-time" mean that you pay once and there is no subscription or renewal. The extra stays unlocked on the store account you bought it with, for as long as we offer and maintain Firstlings in that store. It is not a promise that the app will exist forever, or that it will run on every future phone or system version.
If we ever stop offering the app, we will tell you in the app in advance where we can. Because your diary is stored on your device and in your own cloud, and export is free, you can always take your memories with you. You can restore your purchases on a new device signed in to the same store account.
08Your rights as an EU consumer
- Right of withdrawal: if you live in the EU (the UK has a similar rule), you can withdraw from a purchase within 14 days without giving a reason. The 14 days start on the day of the purchase or, for the yearly plan with a free trial, on the day the trial starts. A paid extra starts working as soon as you buy it. We do not ask you to give up the right of withdrawal when you buy, so it stays with you for the full 14 days.
- How to withdraw: tell us within the 14 days, for example by email to apps@barrenssoft.com with the subject "Withdrawal", stating the product, the date of purchase and the store order number (or simply: "I withdraw from my contract for [product] bought on [date]"). For App Store purchases you can also use Apple's reportaproblem.apple.com. We or the store will refund the full amount you paid within 14 days of your notice, using the same payment method; the extra is then switched off. Your diary is not affected.
- Conformity: under the EU rules on digital content and digital services (Directive (EU) 2019/770) and the national law that implements them, the app and the extras you pay for must work as described and as you can reasonably expect. A subscription must do so for the whole period you pay for. If they do not, you are entitled to have the problem fixed and, if it is not fixed, to a price reduction or to end the contract, as the law provides. Write to us first: most problems we can fix quickly.
- Updates: we provide the updates needed to keep the app and your paid extras working as described, for the periods the law requires.
- Changes to a paid extra: if we change a paid extra in a way that affects you negatively more than in a minor way, we will tell you clearly in advance, and you can end the contract free of charge within 30 days of the change and get back the part of the price for the period after it.
09Apple devices
If you use Firstlings on an iPhone or iPad, Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement applies in addition to these terms. If the two differ, Apple's agreement applies to the licence of the app itself, and these terms apply to everything else to the extent the law allows. Apple is not responsible for the app or its support; we are. On Android, Google Play's terms apply to your purchase.
10Your content
Everything you put in the diary (moments, photos, voice notes, letters, words and keepsakes) belongs to you. It stays on your device and, if you turn backup on, in your own Google Drive or iCloud. We do not receive it, and we claim no rights in it.
Because only you hold your diary, only you can back it up. We recommend turning on backup or exporting a ZIP from time to time. We cannot recover a diary from a lost or reset phone that had no backup.
The app itself, its design, texts, sounds and code belong to us or our licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive licence to use the app for your family's own diary.
11A diary, not a health app
Firstlings is a diary for memories. It is not a medical device and gives no medical, health or developmental advice. Firsts and moments are for remembering, not for checking whether a child is developing "on time". If you have a question about your child's health or development, ask a doctor or another qualified professional. Use the sleep sounds at a low volume and keep the phone at a safe distance from your baby.
12Fair use
Please use Firstlings lawfully and with respect for others. Do not use it to store or share content that is illegal or that violates someone else's rights, respect the privacy of other people when you share moments, and do not try to break, copy, resell or get around the purchases in the app, except where the law allows you to.
13Ads
Without Plus, the app shows ads: banners on browsing screens, at most one full-screen ad a day when you finish editing an avatar, and optional reward videos. Ads are never shown while you write, at night, while sleep sounds play, or when you share. With Plus there are no ads; Siblings alone does not remove them. Something you unlock by watching a reward video stays unlocked as the app describes, but it is not a purchase and cannot be restored through the store. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland we ask for your consent first; you can choose "Consent", "Do not consent" or "Manage options". The Privacy Policy explains the details.
14Liability
We build Firstlings with care, but like any software it may sometimes have errors. We are liable under the applicable law for damage we cause. We are fully liable for intent and gross negligence and for death or personal injury, and nothing in these terms limits liability that the law does not allow to be limited. For ordinary negligence, we are liable for the damage that was foreseeable when you started using the app or made the purchase. Because your diary is kept only on your device and in your own cloud, please back it up: where a loss could have been avoided by a backup or export, that is taken into account as the law provides. Your statutory rights as a consumer, including those in section 8, are not limited by these terms.
15Changes and ending
We may update these terms when the app or the law changes. The effective date at the top shows the current version. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app before it applies. A change never takes away an extra you have already paid for during the period you paid for. If you do not agree with a change, you can stop using the app and cancel your subscription before the change applies.
You can stop using Firstlings at any time by deleting the app; remember to cancel any subscription in your store account. We may end your use of the app if you seriously break these terms, as far as the law allows.
16Law and complaints
These terms are governed by the law of Bulgaria. If you are a consumer living in another country, you still keep the protection of the mandatory consumer law of your country, and you can bring a claim in the courts of your country.
If you have a complaint, please write to us first at apps@barrenssoft.com; we answer within a few working days. You can also contact a consumer protection authority, such as the consumer authority of your country or, in Bulgaria, the Commission for Consumer Protection. For out-of-court settlement of a dispute you can turn to the conciliation commissions for consumer disputes at the Commission for Consumer Protection, and for a cross-border dispute in the EU to the European Consumer Centre in your country. Taking part in out-of-court settlement is voluntary for both sides and does not affect your right to go to court.
17Contact
Barrens Soft, Mihaylovo village 6051, Bulgaria · apps@barrenssoft.com