A phone number for our stories.

Yes. The Line is $99 a year, or $79 for the first year while the founding places last. Family Line covers two storytellers for $149 a year — each with their own extension and their own archive — and the Voice File adds a USB drive for each of them at the end of every year, for $249 a year. Monthly is $19. Every plan renews automatically, and you can cancel anytime. Whatever has been recorded stays downloadable in ordinary formats while the plan runs and for 90 days after it ends.

No, and that is deliberate. A greeting plays, then a tone, and the storyteller talks for as long as they like. Nobody is listening in, nobody is waiting, and there is no appointment to keep.

People generally say more to a recording than to someone sitting across from them. A pause to think is fine. If the line goes silent for about thirty seconds the recording ends, keeping everything they said, and they can call back and carry on.

A few minutes. You pay, enter the storyteller’s name and phone number on the next screen, and their number and extension are issued straight away. The card for the fridge is printable immediately.

After that there is nothing to set up. They call when they want to, and the archive fills at whatever pace suits them.

They’re a different product, and for some families the right one. Those send a prompt and wait for someone to sit down and write. Vividly is a phone line — the storyteller picks up any phone, a landline included, and talks, at whatever hour the thought arrives.

Writing something down captures the facts. It does not capture the voice saying them.

No. Vividly is audio only, on purpose. A phone call is the least intrusive way to have this conversation, and a camera changes how people talk — someone who is elderly, unwell, or telling you something difficult tends to say less with one in the room.

The voice is the part worth keeping.

Then it helps to know there is nobody to be uncomfortable in front of.

Nobody answers the Line. There is no interviewer, no appointment, and nothing to get right. They dial the number, enter their extension, hear a short greeting and a tone, and then talk. The recording does not interrupt and does not ask a follow-up. A pause to think is fine; about thirty seconds of silence ends the recording, and they can simply call back.

Most people who dislike the phone dislike being heard on it. There is nobody on the call at all — who can listen afterwards is a separate choice, and it is theirs.

The spoken prompts and the weekly questions are in English.

Nothing constrains what goes on the tape. A storyteller can record in whatever language they like, and it is kept exactly as spoken. The transcription attempts whatever it hears, but we have not tested it in languages other than English, so we are not going to tell you it works.

If you need another language, write and tell us which one. That is how we find out it is wanted. It is not a promise that we can provide it.

Nothing on the Line pushes. There is nobody asking a follow-up, so a subject that stays closed simply stays closed.

Any question can be skipped. On a call, they can press 3 to skip it for now, or 9 to skip it for good; a question that came by text can be skipped by replying SKIP. Skipped for good, it is not asked again. On the Line nothing is read out unless they press 1 to ask for a question. Anything they would rather nobody heard can be set to private in the portal. Family with access to the archive can also write questions of their own, and the Line says who asked.

Some of the best material arrives after a pause, and a pause to think is fine. About thirty seconds of silence ends the recording, keeping what was said, and they can call back whenever they are ready.

The storyteller, whoever paid for it. Once they have an email address the archive is in their name, and they choose who can listen, who can manage access, and who it passes to. Until then, the person who gave it holds it in trust for them. For a child under 18, their parent or guardian holds the archive until they turn 18.

Email hello@vividly.family with the storyteller’s name and the date of the recording, or the code or link printed beside it in the book. We’ll listen for your spoken consent on the recording. If it isn’t there, we’ll remove the recording, and its code stops playing, even in a book that’s already been downloaded.

Everything already recorded stays theirs — the audio, the transcripts and the archive, downloadable in ordinary formats.

When the paid time runs out the line stops taking calls. Listening, reading the transcripts and downloading carry on for 90 days after that, so there is time to download everything, and whatever has been downloaded is theirs to keep.

Yes. Buyer and storyteller are separate from the start: you get the receipt, they get the recordings and the archive.

If it is a surprise, a checkbox at signup holds back the email and text that would otherwise tell them about it, so you can hand it over yourself.

What cannot be held back is the consent. They agree to being recorded in their own voice on their first call, and nobody can do that for them. The one exception is a child under 18, where a parent or guardian agrees for them.

Yes, at any age. Until they turn 18, a parent or guardian has to agree before the Line will answer them.

Anyone can buy it. If that isn’t the parent, we email the parent, and the Line stays closed until they say yes.

Until the child turns 18, the parent looks after the archive: they can listen, delete any recording, or withdraw their consent, which closes the Line. At 18, we hand it to the child.