Terms of Service

This is an English translation provided for convenience. The Japanese version is the legally binding text.

These Terms of Service ("these Terms") set out the conditions on which Kazoku Nikki ("the Service") is provided, and the rights and obligations between the operator of the Service ("we") and you. Please read these Terms in full and agree to them before using the Service.

These Terms constitute standard terms of contract under Article 548-2(1) of the Civil Code of Japan and apply between us and you in relation to your use of the Service. By registering an account or using the Service, you are deemed to have agreed to these Terms.

Article 1 (Definitions)

• "the Service" means the iOS app Kazoku Nikki, its API (api.familynikki.com), the website (familynikki.com) and related services, collectively
• "you" means anyone who uses the Service having agreed to these Terms
• "family group" means a unit of sharing within the Service that you create and to which you invite other users by invite code
• "your content" means all information you enter or upload to the Service, including childcare records, diary entries, photos, videos, comments, plans, tasks and the wish list

Article 2 (Nature of the Service; charges)

• The Service is developed and operated by an individual. We do not promise to provide support, uptime guarantees or monitoring equivalent to a company's
• The core features of the Service are provided free of charge. In order to keep providing the Service, we may introduce paid plans (monthly, yearly or otherwise) or show advertising. If we introduce a paid plan, its price, scope and payment methods will be shown separately in the app or on this website
• Before making a change of that kind, or changing the scope of what is provided free of charge, we will give notice in advance by one of: displaying it in the app, sending it to your registered email address, or posting it on this website
• The Service exists to share records, photos and plans within a family. It does not provide medical, health, legal or other professional advice. Childcare records (temperature, feeds, sleep and so on) are reference information for keeping and sharing within the household, and must not be used as the basis for medical decisions. For decisions about your child's or family's health, always consult a doctor or other professional

Article 3 (Registering an account)

• Registering an account requires a valid email address. Please enter true and accurate information
• If you are a minor, obtain the consent of a parent or other legal representative before using the Service. By registering or using it, you are deemed to have that consent
• An account may be used only by you. It may not be transferred, lent or shared

Article 4 (Looking after passwords and invite codes)

• You are responsible for looking after your password, invite codes and other credentials. If you give an invite code to someone else, they can join your family group and view the records and photos within it
• Except where we act intentionally or with gross negligence, we are not liable for loss you suffer through inadequate management of credentials or their use by a third party. Use of the Service via your credentials is treated as use by you
• If you learn that your account may be being misused, please contact us promptly

Article 5 (Sharing within a family group)

• Members of a family group can view and edit content in that group — including records and photos of children — according to the group's settings and permissions. Deciding whom to invite, and what permissions to grant, is your responsibility as the group's admin
• Disputes over viewing, use or retention of content arising from changes in the relationships between members or former members (divorce, separation, estrangement and the like) are to be resolved between the parties. We are under no obligation to become involved
• We cannot technically prevent a group member from saving or screenshotting content they have permission to view and using it outside the Service

Article 6 (Rights in your content)

• Copyright and other rights in your content belong to you (or to the rightful owner). We acquire no rights in your content
• You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to store, copy, convert (generating thumbnails, changing formats and so on) and transmit your content, strictly to the extent needed to provide, maintain, improve and troubleshoot the Service. We will not use your content beyond that scope — not for promotion, not by providing it to third parties, and not as training data
• You warrant that you have the lawful right to post your content and that it does not infringe the rights of others. Where you upload photos, videos or information featuring others, including children, obtain the necessary consent first

Article 7 (Prohibited conduct)

In using the Service you must not:

• act unlawfully or against public order and morals, or in connection with criminal activity
• infringe the intellectual property, likeness, privacy or other rights and interests of us or of others
• post another person's personal information, photos or videos without their consent (or, for a child, their guardian's)
• post content that infringes children's rights, or any other unlawful or harmful content
• place excessive load on the Service's servers or network, gain unauthorised access, reverse-engineer the Service, or otherwise interfere with its operation
• use another user's account, or publish or sell invite codes to the public
• use the Service for commercial purposes other than its intended purpose of recording and sharing within a family
• do anything else we reasonably judge to be inappropriate

Article 8 (Data retention and backups)

• We take reasonable care to preserve data in the Service, but we do not guarantee that data will not be lost or damaged. Please back up important data yourself and regularly, using the export feature the Service provides
• Photos and videos are protected by end-to-end encryption. Only your family's devices hold the decryption key; we do not hold it. If every family device is lost or reset and the key is gone with them, it is technically impossible for us to restore the encrypted data, and we are under no obligation to do so
• Once an account or data deletion has completed, data cannot be restored after the recovery window (30 days for photos and videos) has passed

Article 9 (Changes, suspension and discontinuation)

• We may add to or change the content and features of the Service without prior notice to you
• We may suspend all or part of the Service without prior notice to you where:
  • we are carrying out maintenance, inspection or updates
  • provision is difficult due to force majeure such as an earthquake, fire, power cut, communications failure, or a failure at a cloud provider (Cloudflare, Inc., Apple Inc. and the like)
  • there is an urgent need, such as responding to a security problem
• We may discontinue all or part of the Service. If we do, we will as a rule give notice on the Service or the website at least 30 days beforehand, and endeavour to allow a reasonable period for you to export your data — unless circumstances make that impossible
• Except where we act intentionally or with gross negligence, we are not liable for loss you suffer from changes, suspension or discontinuation under this Article

Article 10 (Restrictions and removal of registration)

• We may delete content, suspend use or delete your account without prior notice where you:
  • breach any provision of these Terms
  • are found to have given false registration information
  • fail to respond to our contact for a considerable period
  • have not used the Service for a long time (two years or more) since last use
  • are otherwise, in our reasonable judgement, not suitable to use the Service
• Except where we act intentionally or with gross negligence, we are not liable for loss you suffer from measures under this Article

Article 11 (Disclaimer of warranties)

• We provide the Service as is. We make no warranty, express or implied, that the Service is free from defects in fact or in law — including as to safety, reliability, accuracy, completeness, effectiveness, fitness for a particular purpose, security flaws, errors, bugs or infringement of rights
• The Service runs on iOS and iPadOS, but we do not guarantee that it works on every device, OS version or environment. Some or all features may become unavailable following changes to an OS or a cloud provider's specifications

Article 12 (Damages and limitation of liability)

• Even where you suffer loss in connection with your use of the Service, we bear no liability for breach of contract, in tort or otherwise at law, except where we act intentionally or with gross negligence
• Notwithstanding the above, where we are liable to you in damages — including where the paragraph above does not apply because of the Consumer Contract Act or another mandatory provision — and absent intent or gross negligence on our part, the damages we pay are limited to direct and ordinary loss actually suffered by you, up to a total of 10,000 yen. Lost profits, indirect loss, special loss, emotional distress and the cost of losing or restoring data are not covered, absent intent or gross negligence on our part
• If you breach these Terms, or cause loss to us or a third party in connection with your use of the Service, you will resolve and compensate for it at your own responsibility and expense

Article 13 (Disputes with other users or third parties)

Disputes arising in connection with the Service between users, or between a user and a third party — including disputes about how content within a family group is handled — are to be resolved at the parties' own responsibility and expense. Except where required by law, we are under no obligation to become involved, and bear no liability for not doing so.

Article 14 (Assignment and succession)

• You may not assign or pledge your position under these Terms, or your rights and obligations, without our prior written consent
• If we transfer the business relating to the Service to a third party — by business transfer, merger, incorporation or otherwise — we may transfer to the transferee our position under these Terms, our rights and obligations, and registration and other user information, and you agree to this in advance

Article 15 (Changes to these Terms)

• Under Article 548-4 of the Civil Code of Japan, we may change these Terms without your individual consent where:
  • the change is in users' general interest
  • the change is not contrary to the purpose of the contract and is reasonable in light of the need for it, the appropriateness of the changed content and other circumstances
• If we change these Terms, we will publicise the changed content and the effective date on this page or within the Service, a reasonable period before that date. For significant changes we will endeavour to notify you in the app as well
• If you use the Service on or after the effective date, you are deemed to have agreed to the changed Terms

Article 16 (Contact and notices)

We contact you by sending to your registered email address, displaying in the app, or posting on this website. Please contact us by the method given on the support page.

Article 17 (App Store and Apple)

Where you obtained the app from the App Store, the following apply.

• These Terms are concluded between us and you. Apple Inc. ("Apple") is not a party to them. Responsibility for the app and its content lies with us, not Apple
• Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app
• If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple for a refund of the purchase price (not applicable where it is free); Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app
• Apple is not responsible for investigating, defending, settling or discharging any third-party claim that the app infringes intellectual property rights
• Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance Apple has the right to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary
• You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo, and are not on any US Government list of prohibited or restricted parties

Article 18 (Severability)

If any provision of these Terms, or part of one, is held invalid or unenforceable under the Consumer Contract Act or other law, the remaining provisions and the remainder of the partly invalid provision remain in full force and effect.

Article 19 (Governing law and jurisdiction)

• These Terms are governed by the law of Japan
• If a dispute arises between us and you concerning the Service, we will first seek to resolve it through good-faith discussion. If discussion does not resolve it, the district court or summary court having jurisdiction over our address shall be the exclusive court of first instance by agreement

Established: 24 July 2026
Last revised: 31 July 2026 (added provisions on charges and advertising to Article 2)