The practical things, answered plainly.

Your archive is private by default. You decide who to invite and what to share. Public-story and contribution links are controlled by the family; contributions are reviewed before publication. See the Privacy policy for details.

Yes. Invite them with your family code or link. They read the memories the family keeps and add their side, with photographs. There is no fee per relative.

No. Each person adds what they remember, under their own name, through one link and with no account needed. Nothing replaces anything else, and nothing appears until the storyteller says yes.

Today, A Story rings on an iPhone. On other phones, it reminds them to write instead.

A Story helps families build a living archive through conversation. Guided calls become memory cards to read and full transcripts. Photographs and family contributions add context, and you can turn part of the archive into a hardcover book.

An AI-guided interviewer asks from 620 questions across 11 chapters and follows up on what the storyteller shares. You can explore the scripted sample on How it works.

A Story starts with the A Story iPhone app, which is in a private beta. Ask for an invite, and we help you set it up. Once your family is in, everyone reads and adds through the family’s code or link, in any browser, with no card.

To be called, yes. The calls ring in the A Story iPhone app, which is in a private beta. Your parent installs it once on their iPhone, and we help you set it up. After that, the app rings at the hour your family picked and they answer and talk. To read or add to the archive, no app is needed: any browser works, through the family’s link.

Yes, once your family is in. At app.astoryapp.com you can write, read the archive, see the family tree and read the book, in any browser. The calls ring in the A Story iPhone app.

Yes. Start with a guided conversation or write a memory yourself. You choose where to begin and who, if anyone, you invite to read it.

Leave it for another day. The storyteller can decline a question, pause, or change the subject. There is no obligation to tell a memory before they want to.

No. The memory card is a short summary. The full verbatim transcript stays underneath it, and the call audio is kept. Photographs and other relatives’ memories can sit alongside the story.

Individual is $119 per year; Family is $229 per year. Express is $79, one time · 30 days. Monthly is $19.99/mo, and Free is free. Individual, Family and Express include a Classic Hardcover; on Free and Monthly you can print at home free or order from $39. The Pricing page lists call minutes.

No. Free never runs out. No card and no time limit. One ten-minute conversation with A Story, once your family is in the iPhone beta, then three guided questions a day and unlimited writing for as long as you like. A plan adds A Story doing the calling.

Printing the whole book at home is free. Printed editions run from a $39 Softcover to a $149 Heirloom Edition, and a $499 Full-Service Legacy Edition with an editor of ours; the print-ready Digital Edition is $19. Individual, Family and Express include a Classic Hardcover - or its $69 toward a finer edition - and the Digital Edition. You pay only the shipping. Monthly includes the Digital Edition. One a year on Individual, one a year for each storyteller on Family, one with each Express pass, with no page limit. Printed editions ship to the US and Canada, with shipping included when you buy one. Printed editions open for ordering soon. The whole book can always be saved as a PDF or printed at home, free.

You ask for an invite to the A Story iPhone app, set up the archive for your relative, free, and choose a good time for the first call. There is nothing to redeem and no gift card: your relative comes in through the family's six-letter code, or the link that carries it. Express is the one-time plan, $79, and nothing renews; the annual and monthly plans renew.

Only your family hears the recordings. Nobody at A Story reads, listens to or looks at your memories, unless you ask us to help or someone reports something. The storyteller owns it, not the person who paid for the gift. They decide who can see, hear or download anything.

Your account returns to Free. Your recordings, transcripts, and photographs remain yours, your archive stays open, and invited family members retain access. Paid guided calls stop; you can keep writing and export your archive.

Yes. You can request a PDF or an archive of your audio and transcripts. Your recordings remain yours to keep.

An AI-guided interviewer asks the questions. Nobody at A Story reads, listens to or looks at the memories unless you ask us to help or someone reports something.

The storyteller. Not the organization that set it up, and not the person who paid. They decide who can see, hear or download anything, and they can change their mind at any time.

Only the people the storyteller and their family invite. Whether an archive stays private, is open to the participants' own families, or is public is agreed with you before anyone is called.

A Story obtains the storyteller's consent before recording begins and before their stories go into an archive or a book. Each person agrees before their first call and can stop at any time. If you set A Story up on someone's behalf, you are responsible for making sure they understand and agree to being recorded. How that works for a resident who cannot decide alone is a question we answer on the demo, for your setting.

That is fine. It is an invitation, never a test of what someone remembers. A Story reads what has already been told and asks to go deeper instead of asking again.

A Story records personal stories. It is not a clinical assessment or treatment. A resident can decline a question, pause, or change the subject, and stop at any time; a story told twice is fine, and nothing appears until they say yes.

For as long as the account or archive is active. Deleting the account in the app, or asking us, removes it within thirty days. The archive stays for as long as the account does, with or without a paid plan; a plan covers the guided calls, and everything already recorded keeps working.

Yes. A full export of audio, transcripts and photographs, in open formats, whenever you ask; a PDF of the book as well. Which formats, and any metadata your catalogue needs, we go through on the demo.

Today, A Story rings on an iPhone, so each storyteller needs one, and we help install the app. Where a resident has none, a staff member can start a conversation together with them. Shared devices for a floor or a class: ask on the demo.

Your information is stored and processed in the United States (privacy policy, section 13). For HIPAA and a BAA, bring them to the demo, or write to contact@astoryapp.com; Daniel answers every message himself. The privacy policy, section 13

It is quoted on the demo, for the program you describe: one floor, one class or one team to begin with. Relatives who read and add to an archive pay nothing.