Terms and Conditions for Fern
Last updated: July 5, 2025
Welcome to Fern, a guided meditation app that generates personalized audio sessions based on your mood and journal input. These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of the Fern mobile application, website, and services (collectively, the “Service”).
By using Fern, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Service.
1. What Fern Does
Fern is a mindfulness platform that helps you:
Submit daily mood ratings (1–10) and journal reflections
Receive custom AI-generated meditations with binaural audio
Track emotional trends over time
Download and store personalized meditation files
Fern is designed to support emotional self-awareness and long-term well-being.
2. Data You Provide & How It’s Used
When using Fern, you may enter:
Free-form journal entries
A self-rated mood score
Metadata such as time, location (if enabled), and app usage patterns
We use this data to generate personalized audio meditations, power emotional insight tools, and improve the app’s performance.
You retain full ownership and rights to your journal entries and the audio files created from them. You can download and use your files without restriction.
3. Profile Building and Internal Use
To personalize your experience, Fern builds a longitudinal emotional profile over time using:
Your journal content
Mood history
Derived indicators (e.g. tone, sentiment, recurring themes)
This profile is linked to your account and used solely by Fern to:
Improve personalization
Provide emotional insight tools
Power future features, like daily prompts and long-term trend analysis
4. Derived Data and Commercial Use
Fern may create derived, pseudonymized data from your input (e.g. “User 1234 had rising anxiety signals over 6 weeks”) to:
Improve product performance
Conduct internal research
License aggregated, non-identifiable insights to third parties
Fern may sell or license derived insights, but we will never sell your raw journal entries, identifiable personal data, or audio files.
Derived data may include behavioral models, emotional trend indicators, and de-identified usage analytics.
5. Third-Party Services and Data Processing
Fern uses third-party services (e.g. for natural language processing and audio generation). To function, your input data (journal and mood) is transmitted to these services, but:
It is pseudonymized (linked to an internal user ID, not name or email)
No direct personally identifying information (PII) is shared
These services are contractually bound not to reuse, resell, or store your data beyond their processing role
You acknowledge and consent to this data transmission as necessary for the app to work.
6. Data Storage and Security
All input and generated data is stored securely on Fern’s servers. We use industry-standard encryption and access controls to protect your data.
You may request:
A copy of your data
Deletion of your data and/or your account
To do so, contact us at [insert contact email].
7. GDPR and Privacy Compliance
Where applicable, Fern complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including:
Right to access, correct, and delete personal data
Lawful basis for processing (your consent, contractual need, and legitimate interest)
Data minimization and security measures
Fern does not engage in automated decision-making that significantly affects users without human oversight.
8. User Responsibilities
You agree:
Not to use Fern for any unlawful or abusive purpose
That you are at least 16 years old, or using Fern with legal guardian consent
That you understand Fern is a wellness tool, not a substitute for professional medical or psychological care
9. Disclaimers and Limitations
Fern is provided “as is”, without warranties or guarantees of outcomes. We do not:
Guarantee any therapeutic or medical benefit
Accept responsibility for emotional or psychological effects of using the app
Ensure uninterrupted access or flawless performance
If you are prone to seizures, auditory sensitivity, or disorientation, consult a medical professional before using audio-based features such as binaural beats.
10. Account Deletion and Termination
You may stop using Fern or request account deletion at any time.
Fern may suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms or abuse the platform.
Upon deletion, Fern will either delete your personal data or pseudonymize it, depending on the nature of the information and applicable laws.
11. Modifications to Terms
We may revise these Terms from time to time. The “Last Updated” date will reflect the latest version.
Continued use of Fern after changes means you accept the updated Terms. For significant changes, we may notify you via email or in-app alerts.
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Privacy Policy for Fern
Last updated: July 5, 2025
Fern (“we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and share information when you use our mobile app, website, and services (“Fern” or “the Service”).
By using Fern, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
1. Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information:
a. User-Provided Information
Journal entries (text)
Mood ratings (1–10)
Email address or login credentials (if account-based)
Optional demographic info (if submitted)
b. Automatically Collected Information
App usage data (e.g. time of day used, session length)
Device info (e.g. operating system, model)
IP address (for service delivery and analytics)
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your data to:
Generate personalized guided meditations
Improve audio quality and user experience
Build an internal emotional profile to personalize features
Track trends and provide mood insights
Communicate with you (e.g., support, product updates)
3. Data Retention and Storage
All journal entries and audio files are stored securely on our servers.
You may request deletion of your data at any time.
We retain de-identified or derived data for research and service development.
4. Derived Data and Analytics
We may process your inputs to create derived indicators, such as:
Emotional tone
Longitudinal mood shifts
Behavioral patterns (e.g. journaling frequency, sentiment)
These indicators may be used internally for personalization and may be shared or sold externally in anonymized or pseudonymized form. We do not sell your raw input or identifiable data.
5. Third-Party Services
We use third-party APIs to process text and generate audio. These services may receive:
Journal content and mood ratings (pseudonymized)
Session identifiers (not your name or email)
We do not allow third-party services to retain or sell your data.
6. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
For users in the European Union, we rely on the following legal bases:
Consent: for collecting and storing journal entries
Contractual necessity: to provide the service
Legitimate interest: for app improvement and derived analytics
You may withdraw consent at any time.
7. Your Rights (GDPR & Other Laws)
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:
Access the data we have about you
Correct inaccurate data
Request deletion
Object to certain uses of your data
Export your data in a portable format
To exercise these rights, contact us at [insert contact email].
8. Children’s Privacy
Fern is not intended for use by children under 16 without parental consent. If we learn we’ve collected data from a child without proper consent, we will delete it.
9. Security
We use encryption, access controls, and secure data practices to protect your information. No system is 100% secure, but we take all reasonable steps to keep your data safe.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy. If we make material changes, we’ll notify you via email or through the app.