Terms & Privacy

TERMS OF USE AND SERVICE CONDITIONS – “Tellie”

Last updated: 29 October 2025

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the “Tellie” application (the “App”) and our services (the “Service”), you agree to be legally bound by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you must not use our Service.

2. Nature of the Service and Critical Disclaimer

What is Tellie?
Tellie is a conversational companion and entertainment application that uses artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology to interact with you. The AI agent you communicate with is an automated software system.

What Tellie is NOT:
THE SERVICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE MEDICAL, MENTAL HEALTH, OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVICE, NOR IS IT A CRISIS OR EMERGENCY SERVICE. THE AI AGENT IS NOT A HUMAN, THERAPIST, OR HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, AND DOES NOT PROVIDE DIAGNOSES, MEDICAL ADVICE, OR TREATMENT.

Your Responsibility.
You agree that we are not responsible for any consequences resulting from your interactions with the AI, decisions you make based on those interactions, or the Service’s inability to meet your expectations. You acknowledge that AI may occasionally generate inaccurate, biased, or inappropriate information.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to use our Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet this requirement.

4. Your Account and Data Rights

Registration.
You may use parts of the Service without registering, but full access requires creating an account.

Your Rights (Transparency and Control).
We respect your rights regarding your personal information.

• Registered Users: You may request access to, or deletion of, your personal data at any time by contacting privacy@tellie.me. Your request will be handled in accordance with applicable laws.
• All Users: We collect certain technical and usage data as described in our Privacy Policy.

5. Intellectual Property and Data Licence

Your Conversations.
You retain ownership of the text and content you input into the Service (“User Content”).

How We Use Your Data.
By using the App, you grant us a licence to use your User Content for the following purposes, to which you give your explicit consent:

• Personalisation: So the AI agent can offer more empathetic and personalised conversations in future interactions.
• Service Improvement: To enhance and train our AI models in aggregated and anonymised form, improving quality for all users.
• Security: To detect and prevent unacceptable or abusive uses of the Service.

6. Acceptable Use and Prohibited Conduct

You are solely responsible for your behaviour when interacting with the AI agent. You must not:

• Incite violence, self-harm, or harm to others.
• Harass, threaten, or create content that promotes illegal activities.
• Generate sexually explicit content. (Note: This prohibition is critical for app store compliance and AI API usage.)

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access immediately if, in our sole discretion, you violate these standards — even if the unacceptable conduct is directed only at the AI agent.

7. Privacy and Sensitive Data

Use of your personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy. Because conversations may reveal information about your mood or emotional wellbeing (considered “sensitive data” under many laws), your use of the Service implies your explicit and informed consent for us to process this information solely for the purposes detailed in Clause 5 above.

8. Wellbeing Protocol and Crisis Resources

You acknowledge that Tellie is an entertainment service and not a crisis service.

If you experience severe emotional distress, thoughts of self-harm, or any type of emergency, you must immediately contact local healthcare professionals or emergency services.

As a support resource, the App includes a “Help Resources” section with international helpline listings. The AI agent may, at its discretion, suggest you visit this section if it detects language indicating severe distress.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Tellie, its operators, officers, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use or inability to use the Service.

This limitation applies regardless of whether such damages are based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), or any other legal theory, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

10. Modifications to the Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. Registered users will be notified of material changes via the email associated with their account. For unregistered users, the current version of the Terms will always be available at https://tellie.me/terms.
Continued use of the Service after any updates constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.

11. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Queensland, Australia, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service shall be:

1. First resolved amicably through direct negotiation between the parties within 30 days of written notice.
2. If unresolved, the dispute shall be submitted to binding arbitration under the rules of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA).

The arbitration shall take place in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in English, and the decision shall be final and binding.

If arbitration is deemed inapplicable under local law, the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland, Australia.

Contact

For questions regarding these Terms, please contact our legal or privacy team at:
📧 privacy@tellie.me

PRIVACY POLICY – “Tellie”

Last updated: 29 October 2025

Introduction

At Tellie (“we”, “our”, “the App”), your privacy is our priority. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your information when you use our AI conversational companion application. By using our Service, you agree to the practices described in this policy. This app is not a mental-health service and does not provide medical or crisis advice.

Information We Collect

We collect the following information to provide and improve our Service:

• Conversation Content: The text of your interactions with our AI agent. We acknowledge this content may indirectly reveal information about your mood or emotional wellbeing, which is considered sensitive data.
• Account Information (for registered users): Your email address.
• Technical and Usage Information: For all users (registered and unregistered), we automatically collect data such as IP address, device type and operating system, unique device identifiers (e.g., IDFA or GAID), and usage metadata (such as session time and duration).
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookie-equivalent technologies to store preferences and analyse usage. See section 7 for details.

How We Use Your Information (Purposes of Processing)

We process your information based on your explicit consent and, for certain technical data, on our legitimate interest in operating and securing our service. Specific purposes include:

• Provide the Service: To enable you to converse with the AI agent.
• Personalise Your Experience: To allow the AI agent to remember conversation context and offer more empathetic, relevant interactions (primarily for registered users).
• Improve and Train Our AI Models: We use your conversations in aggregated and anonymised form (so you cannot be identified) to improve the accuracy and quality of our AI agents in general.
• Operate and Maintain the App: To manage your account, analyse performance, and troubleshoot.
• Security and Compliance: To detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, or activities that violate our Terms of Use.

Legal Bases for Processing

• Explicit Consent: For processing your conversations and sensitive data for personalisation and service improvement.
• Performance of a Contract: To provide the Service you request.
• Legitimate Interests: To operate, secure, and analyse use of our Service (technical and analytics data).
• Legal Obligation: Where required to comply with the law.

Sharing Data with Third Parties

We share your information with the following types of service providers, who are required to protect your data:

• Cloud Infrastructure Providers (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud): Store and process data so the Service can function. We share all data necessary to deliver the Service.
• AI Model Providers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic): Process the text of your conversations in real time to generate responses. We share conversation content.
• Analytics Providers (e.g., Google Firebase): Help us understand how the App is used. We share anonymised usage data and technical information.

We do not sell your personal data.

International Data Transfers

6.1. Scope of Transfers

Tellie operates globally. To provide the Service, the information you provide (including, critically, the content of your AI conversations) may be transferred to, stored in, and processed on servers located outside your country of residence, including the United States and other jurisdictions that may not have data-protection laws equivalent to those of your country.

6.2. Legal Safeguards for Transfers

We take data protection during international transfers very seriously. We implement the following safeguards to ensure your data receives adequate protection under applicable laws such as the EU/EEA and UK GDPR:

• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs): Our primary basis for transfers outside the EEA and the UK is the use of European Commission-approved SCCs. These legally bind our service providers (such as cloud platforms and AI model providers) to protect your data to European standards. We require all service providers outside the EEA to sign these clauses.
• Additional Transfer Assessments: Where we use US-based providers, we rely on vendors participating in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which provides an additional legal basis for transfers to certified US companies.
• Supplementary Technical Measures: In addition to contractual guarantees, we apply robust security measures such as encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest, helping ensure that during transfer and storage your information remains inaccessible to unauthorised third parties.

6.3. Your Rights Regarding Transfers

By using Tellie, you expressly consent to these international transfers under the conditions and safeguards described above. You have the right to obtain a copy of the specific safeguards we use for transferring your data. To request a copy, contact us via the email address provided in the “Contact” section of this policy.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookie-equivalent technologies for different purposes:

• Essential
  Technical example: Local storage (SharedPreferences, SQLite)
  Purpose: Maintain your session and basic preferences
  Management: Necessary for core functionality
• Analytics
  Technical example: SDKs (Google Firebase)
  Purpose: Analyse aggregated App usage for improvements
  Management: You can disable these in your device or app settings
• Functionality
  Technical example: [List specific third-party SDKs, e.g., for social login]
  Purpose: Integrate third-party services
  Management: You can manage consent in the app settings

Data Retention

• Registered Users: We retain your personal and conversation data while your account is active. If you request account deletion, we will delete your personal data within a maximum of 30 days. Aggregated and anonymised data may be retained indefinitely.
• Unregistered Users: Conversation and technical data are retained until the end of each session. Aggregated and anonymised data may be retained indefinitely.

Your Rights

• Access your personal data.
• Rectify inaccurate data.
• Erase your data (“Right to be Forgotten”).
• Object to certain processing.
• Port your data.
• Withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise these rights, send a written request to privacy@tellie.me. We will respond within a maximum of 30 days. We recommend using a form available at https://tellie.me/terms. Otherwise, an email request with the subject “Exercise of Data Rights” and your name and registered email is sufficient.

Data Security

We implement robust technical and organisational security measures, including encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest, strict access controls, and periodic security reviews, to protect your information against unauthorised access, alteration, or destruction.

Security Breach Notification

In the unlikely event of a security breach affecting your personal data, we will:

1. Investigate and contain the breach.
2. Notify the competent data-protection authority within 72 hours, where required by law (such as under the GDPR).
3. Notify you without undue delay if the breach poses a high risk to your rights and freedoms.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy. We will notify registered users of material changes by email. For all users, the updated policy will be published on our website. Continued use after changes indicates acceptance.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy, contact our privacy lead at: privacy@tellie.me.