Terms of Service

Last updated 26 October 2026

These terms apply when you use OwnWords ("we", "us"), a reading and study app for listening to documents, learning vocabulary and turning reading material into lessons. By using OwnWords, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the app.

What OwnWords offers

• Reading and vocabulary. Import supported books, documents, photos, scans and web articles; read or listen to them; and save reading progress, highlights, notes and words.
• Read-aloud voices. Use browser voices, downloaded voices that run on your device, or cloud streaming voices that need an internet connection.
• Scanning. Recognise text on your device with standard or offline scanning, or use online AI scanning to arrange text for reading and listening.
• Study and courses. Request explanations of passages or pages, feedback on your notes, illustrated and narrated videos, quizzes and book-based course chapters. Supported videos can also be generated in another language.
• Saved work and sync. Keep a local library, use account-based cloud features within your plan's limits, and revisit saved study notes and videos. Completed explainers and individual course videos can be shared by link.

Feature availability depends on your plan, supported language and file format, device, browser and internet connection. Downloaded voices and offline scanning need their resources downloaded before use without a connection. Choosing a local voice for a study video only makes its narration local; the lesson's AI generation and saving still use online services.

Accounts and storage

You can use some reading features as a guest. Sign-in is required for account features such as cloud sync, online AI preparation, purchases and saved study work. Keep your sign-in account secure and contact us if you believe someone is using it without permission.

OwnWords uses both browser storage and online storage. Cloud library sync can be set to all books, selected books or paused. Reading annotations and listening statistics sync separately when you are signed in. Pausing library sync does not turn off those account features or uploads needed for an online scan, lesson or course you request. Online preparation may upload an original file or send the relevant text, notes and images for processing, and save the results to your account.

Cloud storage, file sizes and the number of synced books are limited by your plan. Sync requires a connection and may take time. Keep separate copies of important originals and exports: clearing browser storage, removing a book or deleting an account can remove data, and locally stored work that has not synced may not be recoverable.

Plans, trials and subscriptions

OwnWords offers Free access and a paid Premium subscription. The price, currency, billing interval, included features and applicable limits are shown in Plan & billing and at checkout. A plan marked as a preview is a proposal, not a change to your current subscription.

Eligible accounts can start the free trial offered at checkout, currently seven days. A payment method is required. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your subscription automatically becomes paid at the displayed price and renews each billing period until cancelled. Trial eligibility is limited; creating another account does not entitle you to repeat a trial or bypass usage limits.

You can cancel renewal through Manage or cancel subscription in Plan & billing. Access continues until the end of your trial or paid period, as shown in your account. Signing out, stopping use or clearing browser data does not cancel a subscription. When Premium access ends, Free limits apply; readings and annotations already saved on your device remain there unless you remove them.

Payments are processed through our payment service provider. Review the final price and renewal terms before confirming a purchase. Credit packs and book bundles are separate one-time purchases and do not start or renew a subscription.

Usage allowances and shared credits

Plans have separate limits for features such as dictionary lookups, active vocabulary spaces, cloud storage, online listening, AI scans and new study videos. Daily allowances reset at midnight UTC; other allowance periods are shown in the app. Free cloud listening is shared by guests and Free accounts on the same network, while Premium listening is shared across the account's devices. Voice previews count toward online listening. Downloaded and browser voices used for reading, and standard on-device scanning, do not use the online listening or AI scan allowances.

Shared credits can pay for eligible AI scans, course chapters and study videos. Purchased credits do not expire. Included daily scan pages are used before shared credits. Rates, estimates and available balances are shown in the relevant feature; different activities may use different amounts. Credits are account usage units, not a deposit or a currency you can trade.

Starting preparation can reserve or consume credits or an allowance before a result is ready. For videos charged by narration length, the displayed estimate is settled against completed narration at the applicable rate per started ten seconds. Longer narration can automatically use additional shared credits, up to the displayed maximum; unused reserved credits are returned after successful settlement. Page videos and note lessons may also use shared credits for narration beyond their included duration. If your balance cannot cover the difference, the prepared video remains locked until you top up and unlock it.

Replaying a saved, unlocked study video does not generate it again or use another generation allowance or online listening allowance. Requesting another language version, a further part or a new chapter is a separate preparation request with its own charge or allowance. Free introductory courses and other offers are subject to the eligibility and limits shown in the app.

Book courses and bundles

Course plans let you review topics and choose which lessons to prepare. Planning has its own limits, and pages that need scanning may use scan allowances or credits before a plan can be made. Preparing lessons uses the payment option shown, such as an included allowance, shared credits, a chapter pass or a scan and course bundle. Background preparation can continue after you leave the page; local narration requires the page to remain open.

A scan and course bundle applies to the selected book and does not expire. Its scanned-page, scan-character, lesson-source-character and chapter quotas are separate limits. A dense book can reach a character limit before its page or chapter limit; a bundle does not promise to cover every book in full. Top-ups add capacity for the same book, and completed work is kept.

When completed lessons cover the whole book, unused bundle value is automatically converted to shared credits using the allocation shown in the app. Each allocation is used in proportion to its most-used quota, and converted value can no longer be used as bundle quota. This conversion is a usage-credit return, not a cash refund.

Preparation problems and refunds

Scanning and AI preparation can fail or pause because of source quality, service errors or exhausted limits. Closing a window or deleting a result does not automatically cancel background work or restore a charge. Failed preparation can remain counted against an allowance or credit reservation. Saved progress may let you retry without repeating completed work.

Where the app offers a stop and refund-review option for an unfinished charged course video, the request is reviewed before any credits, allowance units or bundle capacity are restored. This review is not an automatic cash refund. For a failed service, an incorrect charge or another refund request, contact support@readownwords.com with your account email and purchase or job details.

These accounting and review rules do not limit any right to a repair, replacement, refund, cancellation or compensation under the Australian Consumer Law or another applicable law. A credit return does not replace a monetary refund where the law entitles you to one.

Your content

You retain the rights you hold in the documents, notes and vocabulary you bring to or create in OwnWords. Importing a book does not transfer its author's or publisher's rights to you or to us. Only import, upload, process or share material you have permission or another lawful basis to use in that way.

You give OwnWords permission to store, copy, process and display your content as needed to provide the features you use, including scanning, speech, AI lessons, sync and sharing you enable. This includes processing by service providers that help deliver those features. We do not claim ownership of your source material. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle information.

Sharing lessons

Sharing is optional. When you enable a share link for a supported explainer or individual course video, anyone with that link can view its video, transcript and quiz without signing in, and can pass the link to others. The underlying saved note and original book excerpt are not separately published, but the generated lesson may include quotations, details from the source or feedback about your note. Check the entire lesson and your right to share it before enabling a link.

Stop sharing disables future access through the link. Media access already granted may continue for up to one hour, and disabling a link cannot remove copies someone has already saved. Generating or sharing a lesson does not grant new rights in copyrighted source material.

Books, suggested sources and copyright

Books and other third-party works remain subject to their own copyright, licence and source terms. Suggested sources link to official author, publisher or library pages; OwnWords does not host copies of those suggested textbooks. Free access does not necessarily permit commercial reuse, redistribution or adaptation. Check the licence for the specific edition, including any exceptions for images or other material.

The included classics retain their original source credits and licence notices. See the book and cover source credits. Check each edition’s source and licence before reusing it; copyright rules differ by country.

Publisher names identify sources and do not imply affiliation or endorsement. Landing-page photographs are credited to their photographers and used under the Unsplash licence; see the source credits in the library. To report a copyright concern, email support@readownwords.com with the work, the OwnWords URL concerned, your relationship to the rights holder and a way to contact you.

AI output and learning

AI scans, summaries, explanations, illustrations, translations, quizzes and narrated lessons can contain mistakes, omit context or misrepresent the source. Dictionary definitions, pronunciation and read-aloud speech can also be inaccurate. Check important information against the original work and reliable sources, especially before sharing or relying on it.

OwnWords is a reading and learning aid. It does not promise a particular learning result, qualification or exam outcome, and its generated content is not professional advice. Generated material may resemble other output, and we do not promise that it is unique or that you can claim exclusive rights in it.

Acceptable use

Please do not:

• break the law, infringe intellectual property or privacy rights, or share material you are not entitled to share;
• interfere with the service, introduce malicious code, overload it, or use automation in a way that disrupts other users;
• access another person's account or private content, or bypass payment, security, trial or usage controls;
• resell access to OwnWords or redistribute restricted service assets without permission. Open-source software and voice assets remain subject to their own licences.

We may restrict content, sharing or account access where reasonably necessary to address a breach, fraud, a security risk or a legal requirement. Where practical, we will explain the reason and give you an opportunity to resolve it; urgent restrictions may take effect immediately. You can contact us to ask for a review. Restrictions do not remove consumer rights that cannot be excluded.

Third-party services

OwnWords relies on providers for sign-in, payments, hosting and storage, background processing, AI generation, cloud speech, usage analytics and email delivery. Online features send those providers information needed to perform their functions, as described in our Privacy Policy. If you opt in to a course completion notification, we can email your account address when preparation finishes or stops.

Dictionary fallback can send a selected word to an external dictionary service. Web article import sends the article URL to an extraction service. Opening an external source, search or pronunciation link connects you to that service under its own terms and privacy policy. Third-party availability and terms may affect a feature, but do not remove our responsibilities to you under applicable law.

Availability and changes

We work to keep OwnWords available, but processing times, device support and uninterrupted access are not guaranteed. Maintenance, provider outages, connectivity or browser storage limits can interrupt reading, sync or preparation.

We may change features as the service develops. For a material change to a paid service, its price or its limits, we will give reasonable advance notice and explain your options, including cancellation before a changed renewal. Changes will not take away rights attached to an existing purchase or any remedy required by law. Urgent legal or security changes may need to take effect sooner.

Consumer rights and liability

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies consumer guarantees or other rights and remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded, including under the Australian Consumer Law. The descriptions of AI limitations, storage risks, third-party services and availability above are subject to those rights. We remain responsible to the extent required by applicable law.

Ending your use

You can stop using OwnWords at any time and cancel renewal through Plan & billing. For help deleting your account or online data, contact support@readownwords.com. Clearing this site's browser storage removes local data; it does not by itself delete your account, online copies or subscription.

Keep copies of the material you want to preserve before deleting it or your account. Account deletion ends access to account-based content and balances, and cancels active subscriptions as part of the deletion process. Contact us about any unresolved purchase or refund before closing the account; deletion does not remove your statutory rights.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms to reflect changes in OwnWords or legal requirements. We will update the date and explain significant changes on this page. Where a change materially affects existing users, we will give reasonable notice through the service or account contact details, state when it takes effect and seek agreement where required by law. If you do not agree, you can stop using the service and cancel renewal. An update does not retrospectively remove your rights for an existing purchase.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws in force in Australia, without taking away any mandatory consumer protections that apply where you live.

Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to support@readownwords.com.