Terms of Service — Murmurtale

Scope

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of Murmurtale’s online services — accounts, word-count metering, the optional Pro cloud features (cloud transcription and cloud cleanup), and billing (the “Service”). Use of the Murmurtale app itself is also governed by the EULA; your privacy is governed by the Privacy Policy. By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms.

You can dictate up to 10,000 words with no account at all, entirely on-device. Beyond that, a free account (sign in with Apple, Google, or email) is required to keep dictating — it gets you 10,000 local words a month at no cost. The account exists for identity, billing, and word-count metering; it is never given your dictation content. Pro is the paid tier on top of the same account.

1. Eligibility & accounts

You must be able to form a binding contract and be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, if greater). You are responsible for your account credentials and for activity under your account. Provide accurate information and keep it current. An account is required once your free, no-account allowance (10,000 words, one-time) is used, regardless of whether you ever subscribe to Pro.

2. Founding Beta Program

While Murmurtale is offered through its invitation-only Founding Beta Program, these additional terms apply:

Personal access. Your approval code and beta access are personal and non-transferable. Do not share approval codes or restricted download links. We may limit, suspend, or end beta access for security, misuse, capacity, legal, or program-management reasons.
Pre-release software. Beta features are still being tested. They may contain errors, change without notice, or be unavailable. Keep independent backups of important work and do not rely on the beta as the only copy of anything you need.
Feedback is voluntary. If you choose to send suggestions, bug reports, or other feedback, you grant us permission to use that feedback to evaluate and improve Murmurtale without payment or restriction. This permission does not transfer ownership of your manuscript, audio, dictated text, or other content; Your Content remains yours under Section 6.
No private work required. Participation never requires you to send us manuscript pages, dictated text, passwords, or other sensitive material. A short description is enough when reporting a problem.
Beta changes and conclusion. Features, limits, eligibility, and any future pricing may change as the program develops. Beta access does not guarantee continued access, a particular feature, or a particular future price. We will provide reasonable notice of material changes when practicable.

3. The Service

Word-count metering. Your account tracks a monthly word count for local dictation (10,000 words/month on the free tier; unmetered on Pro) so we can enforce plan allowances. Only the count is tracked — never your dictated words.
Cloud cleanup and cloud transcription process your submitted audio/text and return a result. These features are opt-in and available to Pro subscribers, subject to a generous monthly fair-use cloud allowance; if that allowance is reached, dictation continues automatically on the on-device engine rather than stopping.
No logging, no persistence on our servers. We process your content transiently, in memory, and do not store or log it or use it to train models — this is how the backend is built. Our cloud subprocessors process your content transiently too; a subprocessor may retain it briefly — up to 30 days — for trust-and-safety monitoring before automatic deletion, and never uses it to train models. See the Privacy Policy for the full data-handling detail.

4. Subscriptions, billing & renewal

Pro is a paid subscription billed through Stripe at the price shown at purchase ($12/month or $99/year).
Subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled. You can cancel anytime; access continues through the end of the current billing period.
Refunds: discretionary. Fees are otherwise non-refundable except as required by law.
We may change prices prospectively with reasonable notice; changes don’t affect the current paid period.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to: use the Service unlawfully or to process content you lack the rights to; attempt to exceed, circumvent, or abuse rate limits or entitlement checks; reverse engineer, scrape, or resell the Service; use it to generate content that is illegal or infringes others’ rights; or interfere with or overload the Service’s infrastructure. We may enforce rate limits and reasonable usage bounds to keep the Service healthy.

6. Your content & rights

You retain all rights to the audio and text you submit (“Your Content”). You grant us only the transient, limited right to process Your Content to provide the requested result; that right ends when the request completes (we retain nothing). You represent you have the rights necessary to submit Your Content.

The Service uses artificial intelligence (AI): speech-to-text and cleanup are performed by AI models — on your device by default, and in Pro cloud mode by the subprocessors listed in our Privacy Policy. Transcripts and cleaned-up text produced from Your Content are also Your Content. Your writing is yours: we claim no ownership or creative rights in anything you dictate or in the Service’s output from it, and we do not use it to train AI models.

7. Availability & changes

The Service is provided on an “as available” basis. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features (including cloud vendors) with reasonable notice where practicable. Dictation itself is designed to keep working on the on-device engine even if cloud features or the Service are unavailable; the free, no-account allowance (10,000 words, one-time) does not require the Service at all.

8. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party subprocessors and payment processors, each under its own terms. Our cloud processors handle your content transiently; a subprocessor may retain it briefly — up to 30 days — for trust-and-safety monitoring before automatic deletion, and never uses it to train models (see Privacy Policy).

9. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind. Transcription and cleanup are AI-generated and can be wrong: we do not warrant that output is accurate or error-free or that the Service will be uninterrupted. Review important output before relying on it.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Murmurtale will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or loss of data/profits/goodwill. Our total liability for claims relating to the Service will not exceed the amount you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the claim.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify Murmurtale against claims arising from your misuse of the Service or violation of these Terms, to the extent permitted by law.

12. Termination

You may stop using the Service and cancel anytime. We may suspend or terminate access for breach or to comply with law. Sections that should survive (content rights, disclaimers, liability, governing law) survive termination.

13. Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Exclusive venue for any dispute lies in the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and each party consents to their jurisdiction.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms; we’ll revise the version and date and, for material changes, provide reasonable notice. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

15. Contact

Brad Pierce Enterprises LLC, 1399 Kimblewick Rd, Potomac, MD 20854, USA · support@murmurtale.com — support routes are also on the Contact page.