Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Hinvel ("Hinvel", "we", "us") and apply to the website at https://hinvel.com and every related service (together, the "Service"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms, the Privacy Policy, the Content Policy and the Sparks & Refunds terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

1. Who can use Hinvel

• Hinvel is for adults only. You must be at least 18 years old, and old enough to enter a binding contract where you live.
• We ask for your birth year and month when you sign up (and before guests start a story). If you are under 18, you may not use the Service and we will refuse or close the account.
• Giving false age information is a breach of these Terms. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it and delete its data as described in the Privacy Policy.
• You may not use Hinvel if you are barred from doing so by applicable law, or if we previously terminated your account for a serious breach.

2. Your account

• Keep your login details secure and tell us at hello@hinvel.com if you think someone else has access to your account. You are responsible for activity on your account.
• One person per account. Accounts are personal and may not be sold, shared or transferred.
• Keep your email address current so we can reach you about your account, purchases and changes to these Terms.

3. What Hinvel is

Hinvel lets you read and play illustrated, branching visual novels; create your own stories with an AI-assisted pipeline (story bible, character sprites, backgrounds, CG images, cover and chapters); and talk with fictional characters that can remember previous conversations ("Talk").

• Choices are free. Reading and picking author-written choices does not cost anything.
• Some features use Sparks, our virtual credits — for example Talk turns beyond the daily free allowance and story generation. Sparks are governed by the Sparks & Refunds terms.
• AI-generated content. Much of what you see — images, story text and character replies — is generated by artificial intelligence. Read About AI content to understand what that means, including its limitations.
• We are continually improving Hinvel. Features may change, be added or be removed. Some features are labeled preview or beta and may be less reliable.

4. Your content

"Your Content" means what you submit or create on Hinvel: premises, prompts, edits, messages, comments, and the stories you generate and publish.

• You own Your Content, including the stories you create, to the extent permitted by law. AI-generated output may not be protected by copyright in every country; to the extent we have any rights in output generated for you, we assign them to you.
• Licence to us. You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process, adapt (for example resize or translate), display and distribute Your Content only as needed to operate, secure and promote the Service — for instance, showing your published story to other users or featuring it on Discover. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except where others have already saved it under a feature that allows that, or where we must keep it for legal reasons.
• No training without permission. We do not use Your Content to train AI models unless you opt in for a specific published story. That option is off by default and you can withdraw it.
• Your responsibility. You confirm you have the rights needed for Your Content and that it follows the Content Policy. Don't upload or prompt for material that infringes someone else's rights.
• Visibility. Published stories are visible to others according to the visibility you choose (public or unlisted). Messages you send in Talk are private between you and the character, subject to moderation and safety review described in the Privacy Policy.

5. Acceptable use

You agree to follow the Content Policy. In addition, you must not:

• break the law, or use Hinvel to harm, harass, defraud or exploit anyone;
• try to obtain content that our safety systems block, including by jailbreaks, prompt injection or deliberately misleading prompts;
• access the Service by automated means (scraping, bots, mass account creation) except via interfaces we provide for that purpose;
• interfere with, overload, probe or bypass the security of the Service, or reverse-engineer it except where the law allows;
• resell the Service, Sparks or accounts, or use the Service to build a competing product;
• misuse reporting tools or impersonate Hinvel staff or other people.

6. AI output and characters

• AI can be wrong, inconsistent or surprising. Don't rely on AI output as fact, and nothing on Hinvel is medical, legal, financial or other professional advice.
• Characters are fictional. They are not real people, and they are designed not to claim otherwise. Any resemblance to real persons is unintended.
• Similar prompts can produce similar output for different users; you may not have exclusive rights in output that is not original to you.
• If something in Talk worries you, or you're going through a hard time, see the crisis resources in About AI content.

7. Sparks and payments

Sparks are a limited, revocable licence to use certain features. They have no cash value, cannot be transferred or exchanged for money, and are not a deposit or e-money. Prices are shown before you buy. Purchases, refunds and failed-generation refunds are covered by the Sparks & Refunds terms. Payments are processed by a third-party payment provider.

8. Moderation and enforcement

We use automated filters and human review to keep Hinvel safe. We may remove or restrict content, limit features, or suspend or terminate accounts that break these Terms or the Content Policy, or where we must do so by law. Where appropriate and lawful we will tell you why and how to appeal. You can appeal a decision by emailing hello@hinvel.com.

9. Intellectual property

The Service — its software, design, logos, the "Hinvel" name, and content we create — belongs to Hinvel or our licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Service as these Terms allow. Copyright complaints are handled under our Copyright Policy.

10. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties, such as AI inference and payment providers, and may link to other websites. We are not responsible for third-party sites or services we don't control. See the Privacy Policy for the providers that process your data.

11. Ending your use

You may stop using Hinvel and delete your account at any time in Settings. Deletion is final after the grace period described in the Privacy Policy, and unused Sparks are forfeited except where the law or the Sparks & Refunds terms say otherwise. We may suspend or terminate the Service or your account under section 8, or if we discontinue the Service — in which case we will give reasonable notice where we can and handle unused purchased Sparks as required by law.

12. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not promise that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or that AI output will be accurate, appropriate or fit for a particular purpose. Nothing in these Terms limits rights you have as a consumer that cannot be limited by contract.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hinvel is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data or goodwill. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and USD 50. These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

14. Indemnity

If you are using Hinvel for business purposes, you agree to compensate Hinvel for reasonable losses and costs arising from Your Content or your breach of these Terms. This section does not apply to consumers where local law prohibits it.

15. Changes

We may update these Terms, for example to reflect new features or legal requirements. We will post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify you by email or in the app before they take effect. If you keep using Hinvel after changes take effect, the new Terms apply; if you don't agree, you can delete your account.

16. Law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the operator is established, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you may bring proceedings in your local courts. Before starting a formal dispute, please contact us at hello@hinvel.com so we can try to resolve it informally. EU consumers can also use their national alternative dispute resolution bodies.

17. General

If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. These Terms, together with the policies linked above, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service. The English version of these Terms prevails over any translation.

18. Contact

Hinvel · hello@hinvel.com · Contact page