Terms of Service

By accessing or using Whimbel (“we,” “our,” or “us”) at whimbel.com, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use our services. You must be at least 18 years old or the age of majority in your jurisdiction to use Whimbel. By using our service to create a book featuring a child, you represent that you are the parent or legal guardian of that child, or have obtained consent from the parent or legal guardian.

Whimbel provides a personalized children's storybook creation service. Users share real family memories and moments, upload photos, and we create custom illustrated storybooks available in digital and printed formats. Our service uses artificial intelligence technologies to generate illustrations and story compositions based on the content you provide.

To use certain features, you must create an account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities under your account. You agree to provide accurate information and to update it as necessary.

• •Digital Preview: $4.99 — Full digital storybook with all illustrations. This is deducted from the final hardcover price.
• •Hardcover: $44.99 — Premium printed hardcover keepsake ($39.99 remaining after preview deposit)

All prices are in USD. Payments are processed securely through Stripe. Prices may change without notice; the price at the time of order applies.

• •Digital previews: Full refund within 24 hours if not satisfied
• •Printed books: Refund available before the book goes to print
• •Damaged books: We will replace any books that arrive damaged at no additional cost
• •Refunds are processed within 5-10 business days to the original payment method

By uploading photos and sharing stories, you grant Whimbel a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use this content solely for the purpose of creating your personalized book. This license includes:

• •Processing your photos through AI illustration services to generate custom artwork
• •Using face detection and face comparison technology on uploaded photos to ensure character consistency across illustrations
• •Transmitting your photos to our third-party AI service providers for processing
• •Storing your content on our secure servers for the duration of your account

You retain full ownership of all content you upload. This license terminates when you delete your content or your account. We do not use your content to train AI models.

The illustrations, designs, and story compositions created by Whimbel are provided for your personal, non-commercial use. The Whimbel brand, logo, and website design are our property.

You may not use our service to:

• •Upload content that you do not have the right to use
• •Upload photos of children for whom you are not the parent or legal guardian, unless you have obtained explicit consent from the parent or legal guardian
• •Create content that is harmful, abusive, or inappropriate for children
• •Attempt to reverse-engineer or copy our technology
• •Resell or commercially distribute books created through our service

Orders ship within 7-14 business days within the US. Shipping times are estimates and may vary.

Whimbel is provided “as is.” We make reasonable efforts to ensure quality but cannot guarantee that all content will be error-free. Our liability is limited to the amount paid for the specific order in question. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Whimbel shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Whimbel, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from your use of the service, your content, or your violation of these terms.

Whimbel is a service designed for parents and legal guardians. By using our service, you acknowledge and agree:

• •You are the parent or legal guardian of any child whose photos, name, or personal details you provide to Whimbel, or you have obtained verifiable consent from such parent or guardian
• •You consent to the collection, processing, and use of your child's personal information (including photos, name, age, and developmental milestones) solely for the purpose of creating your personalized storybook
• •You consent to the processing of your child's photos by our AI service providers, including the extraction of facial features for character consistency
• •You understand that your child's photos will be transmitted to third-party service providers located in the United States for processing, and you consent to this transfer
• •You may withdraw consent and request deletion of all your child's data at any time by contacting support@whimbel.com

We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. All interactions with our service must be performed by an adult parent or guardian.

Our service uses artificial intelligence to create personalized illustrations and story compositions. By using Whimbel, you acknowledge that your uploaded content (including photos) is processed by third-party AI service providers for the following purposes:

• •Story generation: Your memories and details are processed by an AI language model to craft your unique story text
• •Illustration generation: Your photos and story are processed by AI image generation services to create custom artwork in your chosen style
• •Face detection: AI-powered face detection identifies faces in group photos so characters can be correctly assigned
• •Character consistency: AI-powered face comparison ensures your child looks consistent across all illustrations
• •Quality assurance: AI-powered quality checks review each illustration before including it in your book

All AI service providers process your content under data processing agreements that prohibit the use of your content for model training or any purpose other than providing the requested service. Your photos and personal data are transmitted securely via encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS). A full list of our service providers is available upon request by contacting support@whimbel.com.

AI-generated content (illustrations) may contain imperfections. We employ automated quality checks and multiple generation attempts to ensure the best possible results, but cannot guarantee perfection in every illustration.

To ensure character consistency across your storybook illustrations, our service uses face detection and face comparison technology on the photos you upload. This section serves as our required disclosure under applicable biometric data privacy laws, including the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14).

What we collect:

• •Facial geometry data (face landmarks, bounding boxes) extracted from uploaded photos using face detection technology
• •Face comparison data (facial feature vectors) used to verify character consistency across illustrations

Purpose:

• •Face detection: To identify and distinguish individual faces in group photos so they can be correctly assigned to characters in your storybook
• •Face comparison: To verify that AI-generated illustrations maintain consistent character appearance across pages

Retention and destruction:

• •Face geometry data and face comparison results are processed in real-time during book generation and are not permanently stored in our database
• •Temporary face crop images (used during the generation pipeline) are held in memory and discarded after the book generation process completes
• •No biometric templates, faceprints, or facial geometry data are retained after your book is generated
• •In the event that any biometric data is temporarily cached, it will be permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the generation process completing, or within 3 years of your last interaction with the service, whichever is sooner

Disclosure and consent:

• •Biometric data is shared only with our third-party AI service providers for the purposes described above. A list of providers is available upon request.
• •We do not sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from biometric data
• •We do not disclose biometric data to any parties other than those listed, except as required by law or valid legal process
• •By uploading photos and proceeding with book creation, you (as the parent or legal guardian) provide your informed, written consent to the collection, use, and storage of biometric data as described in this section
• •You may decline biometric processing by choosing the “Describe” option instead of uploading photos, or by contacting us to disable face detection for your account

Biometric data is protected using industry-standard encryption during transmission (TLS 1.2+) and is processed with the same level of care as other confidential and sensitive information.

Whimbel is operated from the United States. If you are accessing our service from outside the United States, including from the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, your data will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

For EEA/UK/Swiss users:

• •Transfers to service providers certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) are made pursuant to the European Commission's adequacy decision of July 10, 2023
• •Transfers to providers not certified under the DPF are made pursuant to Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission
• •You may request a copy of the applicable transfer safeguards or a list of our service providers by contacting support@whimbel.com

By using our service, you consent to the transfer of your data to the United States and acknowledge that data protection laws in the United States may differ from those in your country of residence.

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

For EEA/UK residents (GDPR):

• •Legal basis: We process your data under Article 6(1)(b) (contract performance) for book creation, and Article 9(2)(a) (explicit consent) for biometric data processing
• •Right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, port, and object to the processing of your personal data
• •Right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal
• •Right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority

For California residents (CCPA/CPRA):

• •Right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose
• •Right to delete your personal information
• •Right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information (we do not sell personal information)
• •Right to limit use of sensitive personal information, including biometric data
• •Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

For Illinois residents (BIPA):

• •See Section 14 for our complete biometric data disclosure, including collection purposes, retention schedule, and your right to decline biometric processing

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@whimbel.com. We will respond within 30 days (or such shorter period as required by applicable law).

• •Active accounts: Your content is retained while your account is active
• •Biometric data: Not retained beyond the book generation process (see Section 14)
• •Deleted accounts: All personal data, photos, and generated content are permanently deleted within 30 days of account deletion
• •Order records: Transaction records retained for 7 years as required by applicable tax and accounting laws
• •AI provider retention: Our AI service providers do not retain your photos or personal data beyond the duration of each API request

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of Whimbel shall first be attempted to be resolved through good-faith negotiation. If unresolved within 30 days, the dispute shall be submitted to binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration shall take place in Delaware or, at your election, via videoconference.

For EEA/UK residents: Nothing in this section limits your right to bring proceedings before the courts of your country of residence or to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email to registered users at least 14 days before taking effect. Continued use of Whimbel after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms. If you do not agree with any changes, you may delete your account at any time.

For questions about these terms, email us at support@whimbel.com.