Terms of Service

Last updated: April 21, 2026

1. Agreement to Terms

By sending an email to me@dearself.ai or by purchasing a subscription, you ("User", "you") agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the service.

Dear Self ("we", "us", "our") is operated from the European Union. These Terms are governed by EU law and the laws of the jurisdiction in which we are established.

2. Description of Service

Dear Self is an AI-powered personal journal that operates entirely through email. The service:

• Receives and stores journal entries you send via email.
• Generates AI-powered responses, reflections, and search results based on your entries.
• Sends periodic summaries and prompts to your email address.
• Provides semantic search across your personal journal history.

There is no dedicated application, website dashboard, or login. Your email client is the sole interface.

3. Account Creation and Authentication

Your account is created automatically when you first email me@dearself.ai or complete a Stripe checkout. Your identity is tied to your email address. There is no username, password, or separate login process.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your email account. Anyone with access to your email address can interact with your Dear Self journal.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use Dear Self to:

• Store, transmit, or process content that is illegal under EU law or the law of your jurisdiction.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, exploit, or interfere with the operation of the service or its AI systems.
• Use the service on behalf of others without their knowledge or consent.
• Send automated, bulk, or programmatically generated emails to our service address.
• Attempt to extract, scrape, or systematically download data from the service beyond your own journal entries.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

5. Subscription Plans and Payment

Dear Self offers both free and paid subscription tiers. All payment processing is handled by Stripe. We do not store your credit card or bank details.

• Free tier: Subject to usage limits as described on our website. Available without payment.
• Premium tier: Billed annually via Stripe. Prices are displayed in EUR and include applicable taxes.
• Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time. Access to paid features continues until the end of the current billing period. No pro-rated refunds are provided for partial periods.
• Price changes: We will notify you by email at least 30 days before any price increase takes effect.

6. AI-Generated Content

Dear Self uses artificial intelligence (Google Gemini) to generate responses to your journal entries. You acknowledge that:

• AI responses are generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies, biases, or errors.
• Dear Self is not a medical, therapeutic, psychological, or legal service. AI responses do not constitute professional advice of any kind.
• If you are in emotional distress or crisis, please contact a qualified professional or emergency service in your jurisdiction.
• We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any AI-generated content.

7. Your Content

You retain full ownership of all content you submit to Dear Self. By using the service, you grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to process your content solely for the purpose of operating the service (storing entries, generating responses, creating reflections).

We do not use your content to train AI models, build aggregate datasets, or share with third parties for their own purposes. See our Privacy Policy for full details on data handling.

8. Data Portability and Erasure

In accordance with GDPR and our commitment to your data ownership:

• Export: You may request a full export of your journal data at any time by emailing yordan@dearself.ai.
• Erasure (Right to be forgotten): You may request erasure of all your personal data at any time. Simply send a message to your Dear Self journal (e.g. "delete my data" or "I want to be forgotten"). The system will send you a confirmation email. Once you confirm by replying to that email, all your journal entries, memories, embeddings, and personal profile are permanently and irreversibly anonymized — typically within minutes. A two-step confirmation is required to prevent accidental erasure. Pending confirmation requests expire after 48 hours if not acted upon.
• What anonymization means: Your account row is retained with a deletion timestamp for database referential integrity; all personal content in that row (name, settings, journal entries, memories) is permanently overwritten with placeholder values. No personal information remains. Your Stripe and Resend contact records are also removed.
• Backups: Encrypted backups may retain anonymized data for up to 7 additional days before automatic rotation.

9. Service Availability

We strive to maintain high availability but do not guarantee uninterrupted service. Dear Self may be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, updates, or circumstances beyond our control.

We will make reasonable efforts to notify users of planned downtime. We are not liable for any losses arising from temporary service unavailability.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• Dear Self is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied.
• We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service.
• Our total aggregate liability to you for any claims arising from or related to the service shall not exceed the amount you paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim.
• Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death, personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any liability that cannot be excluded under EU consumer protection law.

11. Termination

• By you: You may stop using Dear Self at any time by simply not sending emails. To formally close your account and erase your data, send a message to your Dear Self journal requesting erasure, or email yordan@dearself.ai. Data erasure follows the process described in Section 8.
• By us: We may suspend or terminate your account if you materially breach these Terms. In such cases we will notify you by email and provide reasonable opportunity to export your data, unless the breach involves illegal activity.
• Effect: Upon termination, your right to use the service ceases. Data deletion follows the timeline described in Section 8.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email at least 30 days before the new terms take effect. Your continued use of the service after that date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

If you disagree with the changes, you may terminate your account before the new terms take effect and request deletion of your data.

13. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the European Union and the member state in which Dear Self is established. Any disputes arising from these Terms or the use of the service shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in that member state.

If you are a consumer in the EU, you also have the right to bring proceedings in your country of residence and to use the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform.

14. Contact

For questions about these Terms or the service:

Dear Self

Email: yordan@dearself.ai