Clear promises.
Fair expectations.

Using Box of Whispers

Box of Whispers helps grandparents make private gifts of words, photos, voice and video for their grandchildren. It is provided by Tony Charles Smith, who can be contacted at contact@tonycsmith.com.

These terms explain the intended use of the app and website. For an App Store download, the app licence is governed by Apple’s Standard End User Licence Agreement, unless a different agreement is expressly supplied with that download. These terms do not replace Apple’s purchase rules or your mandatory consumer rights.

Your stories remain yours

You retain your rights in the content you create. By using a sharing or handover feature, you instruct the app and Apple’s services to copy and deliver that content to the selected accounts. You do not grant us permission to use your family’s recordings in advertising or AI training.

Only share material you are entitled to share. Respect the people shown or heard in it, obtain appropriate permissions and take particular care with children’s information. Do not use the app to harass, threaten, exploit, impersonate or share unlawful material.

Accounts, invitations and family control

The current Apple family experience uses the Apple account on your device; there is no separate Box of Whispers password. Keep your device and Apple account secure and check who you invite. A parent or guardian should manage a younger child’s invitations and purchases.

A displayed grandparent name is attribution, not proof of control. The verified Apple account that published a gift controls its eligible edits and removal. Each grandparent should use their own account for their own recordings.

Opening dates and notifications

Choose the full intended opening date, including year, and check it before sending. Future dates are ordinary app restrictions, not cryptographic secrecy. Notifications need permission, a successfully synced gift and compatible iOS settings. We cannot promise every newly uploaded gift will trigger an alert while a device is offline or the app has not synced.

Free gifts, Plus and Apple purchases

The planned public app lets a creator send five distinct gifts free. A gift addressed to several grandchildren counts once. Receiving and opening an existing gift does not require Plus.

Plus is planned as a one-off purchase to send more than five gifts, with a UK launch price of £29. Check Apple’s live localised price before buying. There is no Box of Whispers subscription in this plan; iCloud storage may have a separate cost charged by Apple. Normal recording and storage limits still apply.

Purchases and restoration use Apple’s systems. Refund requests can be made using Apple’s refund process. Your applicable statutory rights remain unchanged. This prelaunch website does not accept payments.

Removing or changing a gift

The original sender can request removal of their own eligible gifts. Updated recipient apps apply removal at their next successful connection. Local deletion or stopping a share alone does not recall preserved copies. Files exported outside the app cannot be recalled.

A correction to a future opening date is applied when the recipient syncs; it does not reliably make a copy already available to them secret again. See Your data & choices for the practical limits.

Keeping memories for years

Long-term access depends on your family’s Apple accounts, iCloud storage, devices and future app compatibility. One purchase is not a promise of unlimited storage, permanent support, or thirty years of unattended delivery.

Keep account recovery information current. Check recipient saved-copy confirmations, make author recovery backups, and save ordinary copies of opened gifts outside the app. A guardian handover passes existing gifts; future messages need direct invitations to the child’s new account.

The website, changes and contact

Website examples are fictional and do not create accounts or send real gifts. Downloaded prompts are for your own planning. Your privacy is explained in the privacy policy.

We may update features and these terms as the product changes. The date at the top identifies the current version. Nothing here excludes liability or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded. For questions, complaints or help, use Contact & support.