◐Once Upon Earth
Privacy & Terms
Last updated: 8 June 2026
Once Upon Earth is a globe of the world's history that you read one story at a time. This page explains, in plain language, what data the app handles and the terms for using it. We try to collect as little as possible.
What we collect
- If you sign in with Google: your email address and your reading history (which stories you've opened), stored in our database so your progress syncs across your devices. That's it — we don't request your contacts, profile details, or anything else from Google.
- To prevent abuse: when you generate a new AI story, we record your IP address solely to enforce daily generation limits. It is not linked to your identity and is not used for any other purpose.
- Anonymous usage analytics: we use Vercel Analytics to count page views, device types, and referrers in aggregate. It does not use advertising cookies and does not track you across other websites.
- On your device: we use your browser's local storage to remember your reading progress, home country, and preferences. This stays on your device and is not sent to us.
What we don't do
- No advertising, and no selling or sharing of your data.
- No third-party trackers or advertising cookies.
- No collection of sensitive personal information.
Your choices
You can use the entire app without an account. If you signed in, you can sign out at any time. To delete the reading history and email associated with your account, email us at the address below and we'll remove it.
Terms of use
- The stories. Stories are either hand-curated or generated on demand by an AI language model grounded in public sources (such as Wikipedia and its references). AI-generated stories are clearly labelled in the reader. They can contain errors or omissions — please treat them as an engaging starting point, verify anything important against the cited sources, and do not rely on them as authoritative, academic, legal, medical, or professional advice.
- Images. Historical images are sourced from Wikimedia Commons under their respective licenses (Creative Commons or public domain) and are attributed in the reader with a link to the source.
- Availability. The app is provided "as is", as a personal project, without warranty. AI generation is rate-limited and may be temporarily unavailable; the curated stories are always free to read.
Contact
Questions, or want your data removed? Email gupta.yashv@northeastern.edu.
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