Terms of service

App: Night Heron (on the App Store: “Night Heron: Lucid Dreams”)
Version: 1.0 · Effective from: 13 October 2026

In short

Night Heron is a practice and education programme for lucid dreaming, with a dream journal. It is not a medical device and it is not therapy.
We can't promise you a lucid dream. The techniques are promising, but they don't work for everyone.
It's for adults only. If certain conditions apply to you, we advise you not to use it, or to use it only after talking to a doctor (section 5).
Your dreams are yours. We use them only to make the app work for you. You can export and delete them whenever you want.
If you don't protect your account with Apple or your email and you lose your iPhone, you may lose your dreams.
The app is free, with no advertising and no purchases. Any future purchases will go through the App Store, under Apple's rules.
You keep all your rights as a consumer. Italian law applies.

1. Who provides the app

The Night Heron app is provided by:

Francesca Barchietto, individual
Strada Garella 78, 13900 Biella (BI), Italy
Email: info@nightheron.app

In these terms, "we" and "us" mean Francesca Barchietto. "You" means the person using the app.

2. These terms

These terms are the contract between you and us for using Night Heron: the iPhone app, the lessons, and the online services the app uses. If you download the app from the App Store, the app's licence is Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement; these terms add to it.

How we handle your data is explained in the privacy policy, a separate document: it isn't part of this contract and you aren't asked to accept it; it's there to inform you. Consent to process data about your dreams and sleep is asked for separately, in the app.

By using the app you accept these terms. If you don't accept them, don't use the app. If you already have data saved, you can delete it in the app (section 14).

Apple is not a party to this contract. Section 12 explains Apple's role.

3. What the app is, and what it isn't

What it is. Night Heron is a guided 30-night programme to learn the lucid-dreaming techniques that science has studied most. It gives you:

a short lesson each evening of the programme, with the scientific sources it comes from;
the night's intention and plan, with a night alarm on some nights, which you can always skip;
after night 30, practice evenings, with a short reminder of the technique you chose;
a dream journal: you record your dreams by voice when you wake up, your iPhone transcribes them, and you can correct them, add tags and export them.

What it isn't.

It isn't a medical device and it isn't therapy, including psychological therapy.
It doesn't diagnose and it doesn't treat, prevent or monitor any disease.
It isn't meant to treat nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, anxiety, depression or any other condition.
It doesn't promise to improve your sleep, memory, creativity or performance.
It doesn't replace a doctor or a psychologist.
It isn't an emergency service. Nobody monitors what you write or record in real time.
It doesn't suggest drugs or supplements. Substances such as galantamine are not part of the programme: if you're interested, talk to a doctor.

What to really expect.

With practice, many people manage to have lucid dreams more often. The lessons in the app explain what the studies say, with their sources.
The techniques are promising, but they don't work for everyone. Studies often involve motivated volunteers, and the results are reported by the participants themselves.
We can't promise you a lucid dream, by a given night or at all.

4. Who can use the app

You must be at least 18 years old. The practices can disturb sleep. If you start fresh, the app asks your age before creating your account. If instead you sign in with Apple to get your dreams back and the account turns out to be new, the app asks right after, before saving your data (see the privacy policy, sections 3.1 and 11).
The app is for personal, non-commercial use.
You can use it in the countries where it's available on the App Store or TestFlight.

5. Your safety

The safety check. At first launch the app asks whether some situations apply to you. Your answers aren't saved. You can repeat the check at any time from Settings › Safety & wellbeing.

When it's better not to use the app, or to use it only after talking to a doctor. If:

you have a psychotic, bipolar or dissociative disorder, or another diagnosed or suspected mental health condition (for example, major depression);
you have epilepsy or another neurological condition;
you have post-traumatic stress disorder or a trauma that disturbs your sleep now, or you're going through a very stressful period;
you have narcolepsy, insomnia or another sleep disorder, irregular sleep times, or you work shifts;
you've had sleep paralysis more than once in the last 6 months, or you have frequent nightmares;
thinking about your dreams feels unpleasant.

If something applies to you, we advise you not to use the app for now, or only after talking to a doctor. If you still choose to continue ("Continue anyway"), do so carefully and stop at the signs below.

The risks to know about.

Broken sleep. The night alarm (WBTB) and cues interrupt and shorten your sleep.
Sleep paralysis. Interrupting sleep can trigger it. The safety lessons explain what it is and how to handle it.
Lucid nightmares. A lucid dream can turn into a nightmare too. Frequent nightmares together with lucid dreams have been linked to more depressive symptoms. The lessons explain how to wake up.
Dissociation. A small study linked deliberate use of the techniques to an increase in dissociative experiences. The finding isn't certain, but we take it seriously.
Psychosis. Some researchers are concerned that, in people with a psychotic disorder, the practice could reinforce delusions and hallucinations: that's why it's on the list above.
According to one study, negative effects (paralysis, agitation, poor sleep) come mostly from failed attempts or from lucid dreams with little control.

When to stop. Stop practising and talk to a doctor if:

the line between dreams and waking life starts to feel blurry;
you sleep worse or feel very tired during the day;
your mood gets worse;
you have sleep paralysis, nightmares or distress that you didn't have before, or that get worse;
anything about the practice worries you.

You can stop whenever you want: "Skip tonight" is always available, and you can pause the path or your practice (Settings › Safety & wellbeing). There's no streak of nights to keep.

The night alarm and the next day.

Don't use the night alarm every night, or when you're tired. By default the app suggests it on 2 nights a week.
After a night with the alarm you've slept less. Don't drive, operate machinery or do work that needs attention if you feel sleepy.
Avoid the night alarm before a day when you need to be fully alert, for example before a long drive or a demanding work shift.
The app's alarms are for practice: to get up in the morning, use your usual alarm. Alarms also depend on your iPhone, its settings and its battery.

If you're unwell. If you're in danger or in crisis, call 112 or your country's emergency number.

6. Your account

If you start fresh, your account is anonymous. It's created after the age question, with no name or email. Your account and data are on our servers (see the privacy policy), but only this iPhone knows how to get into them.
You can protect it with Sign in with Apple or with an email and password. Then you can get your dreams back on another iPhone. We recommend it.
If you don't protect it and you change iPhone, lose it, or in some cases reinstall the app, you may lose access to your dreams. We can't recover them, because we can't check that the account is yours. If you don't want to protect it, export your data now and then.
Your credentials are yours. If you use an email and password, choose a password you don't use elsewhere and don't share it. You're responsible for keeping your credentials safe. If you think someone has got into your account, change your password and write to us.
One account per person. Don't share your account and don't use someone else's.
Signing out of an iPhone is possible only with a protected account. An anonymous account can only be deleted.
Your email is used only for your account (sign-in and password reset). Never for newsletters or advertising.

7. Your content

It's yours. Your dreams, recordings, transcripts, texts, tags and intentions remain yours. We don't become their owner.

The permission you give us. To make the app work for you, you give us a free, non-exclusive and limited permission (a licence) to:

store your content on the servers and make backup copies;
transfer it between your devices and the servers;
show it to you in the app and prepare your export;
delete it when you ask.

The permission covers only this, and it ends when you delete the content (with the technical backup times stated in the privacy policy).

What we don't do with your content. We don't publish it, sell it, give it to others, use it for advertising or use it to train AI. We don't read it, unless you ask for support and agree.

Your part. Your content is for your personal use. If you record by voice, take care not to record other people (for example someone sleeping next to you) without them knowing.

You can take it with you at any time with "Export my data".

8. How to use the app

Use the app lawfully and respectfully. In particular, you must not:

try to get into other people's accounts or data;
get around the servers' security rules or the app's checks;
overload or disrupt the servers, or create accounts and requests automatically;
decompile or modify the app, except where the law allows it;
copy, sell, rent or distribute the app or its lessons;
use the app to harm yourself or others.

If you breach this section seriously or repeatedly, we may suspend or close your account (section 14).

9. The lessons and their sources

They're educational content. Francesca Barchietto writes them, starting from published scientific studies. Each lesson lists its sources, with a link to the study (DOI or web address).
They simplify. A lesson summarises, and studies have their limits. If you want to go deeper, read the original study.
They may change. We correct and update them, even without a new version of the app. If you find a mistake, write to us.
Links take you outside the app, to publishers' and journals' websites. Those sites have their own rules, and we're not responsible for them.
Copyright. The lesson texts, the selection of sources, the design, the icon and the app's name are protected by copyright and other rights of Francesca Barchietto or of those who licensed them to her. You can read and listen to them in the app for personal use. You can't copy or distribute them, except for the short quotations the law allows, with the source. The studies cited belong to their authors and publishers.
The typefaces Fraunces and Figtree are distributed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (Settings › About Night Heron › Font licences).

10. Beta, availability and changes

The TestFlight beta is a test version. If you use it, it may have bugs, close unexpectedly or, in rare cases, lose data: export your data now and then. Apple's terms also apply to TestFlight, and each test build expires after 90 days.
The app changes, for specific reasons. We change the app and the lessons, including in the 30-night programme, only to: update lessons to their sources or correct them; fix errors; add or improve features, including based on what we learn from the beta; improve security; comply with the law or Apple's rules. Changes cost you nothing. If a change makes your use of the app noticeably worse, we'll tell you beforehand (as section 15 explains), and you can withdraw free of charge within 30 days: you export and delete your data.
Internet. The night works without a connection. You need internet for the first launch, restoring your account, protecting it, signing in and deleting your data. Without a connection, your changes are sent as soon as you're back online.
No guarantee of continuous availability. We do our best, but the app also depends on third-party services (Google Firebase, Apple) and may stop for maintenance or outages.
If we ever shut the service down, we'll tell you at least 30 days before, on nightheron.app and in the app's update notes on the App Store, so you have time to export your data. Then we delete it as explained in the privacy policy (section 8).

11. Price and purchases

Today the app is free. There's no advertising and there are no in-app purchases.
In the future some parts may be paid, with a one-off purchase or a subscription (not decided yet). Before asking you to pay, we'll tell you clearly what you get and what it costs. If we offer a subscription, the purchase page will show its name, length and price, with links to these terms and to the privacy policy.
Purchases go through the App Store, with Apple's payment system. Apple handles payment, invoices, renewal and cancellation of subscriptions and refunds, under its own terms (Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions). You keep the rights the law gives you, including withdrawal where it applies (section 13). For a refund, you can contact Apple.
Your data is never held hostage. You'll always be able to export and delete it, even without paying.

12. Apple

These rules apply to the app as distributed through the App Store, and restate those Apple asks developers to include.

The parties. These terms are an agreement between you and Francesca Barchietto, not with Apple. Francesca Barchietto alone, not Apple, is responsible for the app and its content.
The licence. The app's licence is Apple's standard one (section 2). It is non-transferable, and it lets you use the app on Apple-branded devices that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in Apple's Media Services Terms and Conditions. The app may also be used by other accounts associated with yours through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
Support. We alone provide maintenance and support (contact details in section 18), as stated in these terms or required by law. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for the app.
Warranty. We, not Apple, are responsible for any warranties on the app, whether set by these terms or by law. If the app fails to conform to an applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the app to you, if you paid for it. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation. Any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses attributable to any failure to conform to a warranty are our sole responsibility, not Apple's. Your rights against us remain those in section 13.
Claims about the app. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or by third parties relating to the app or its use. For example: product liability claims; claims that the app fails to conform to a legal or regulatory requirement; claims under consumer protection, privacy or similar laws, including in connection with HealthKit.
Third-party rights. If anyone claims that the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, we alone, not Apple, are responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of that claim.
Embargoes. You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
Third-party terms. When you use the app you must also comply with any applicable third-party terms, for example your mobile carrier's and Apple's.
Apple as third-party beneficiary. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these terms. Once you accept them, Apple has the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you.
Apple's usage rules. If these rules conflict with the App Store's usage rules, Apple's rules prevail.

13. Warranties and liability

Our commitment. We take care to make the app work and the lessons accurate. The app is free and, like any software, it may have errors; the TestFlight beta is a test version (section 10).

Your consumer rights. If you're a consumer, you have all the rights the law gives you, including the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and services under the Italian Consumer Code (Legislative Decree 206/2005, articles 135-octies and following), where it applies. Nothing in these terms limits those rights.

Causes outside our control. We're not responsible for damage caused by things that don't depend on us, for example:

outages of your network or iPhone, or of Apple's services;
iPhone settings that block alarms and notifications;
losing, replacing or reinstalling an iPhone with an account you didn't protect or export (section 6).

Your health. The app gives educational information, not medical advice: decisions about your health remain yours, together with your doctor. The safety advice in section 5 is there to protect you: follow it.

For everything else we're responsible as the law provides. In particular, we don't exclude or limit our liability for wilful misconduct or gross negligence, or for death or personal injury.

14. Ending and deletion

You can stop whenever you want. To delete everything: Settings › Privacy and your data › Delete all my data, or Settings › Delete account. Uninstalling the app does not delete your data from the servers. Withdrawing consent means deleting your data.

We may suspend or close an account if there's a serious or repeated breach of section 8 (for example an attack on the servers), or if the law requires it. When we can, we warn you first and give you time to export your data, unless the law or security prevents it.

After closure the licence ends, and we delete your data within 30 days, as explained in the privacy policy (section 8). Sections 12, 13 and 16 continue to apply.

15. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms only to: (a) adapt them to changes in the law or in Apple's rules; (b) describe new features or services; (c) fix mistakes or make the text clearer; (d) address security issues. We'll tell you about any change that isn't purely in your favour at least 30 days before it takes effect, on nightheron.app and in the app's update notes on the App Store, unless the law requires urgent changes. If you don't agree, you can withdraw free of charge: you export and delete your data.

Your consent to the processing of data about your dreams and sleep doesn't change with the terms: if its text changes, the app asks you again, separately.

The version in force is always at nightheron.app/terms. If you'd like an earlier version of these terms, write to us and we'll send it.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by Italian law.
If you're a consumer living outside Italy, you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of your country.
If you're a consumer, we can bring a claim against you only before the court of the place where you live or are domiciled. You can bring a claim before that court; if you live in another EU country, also before the Italian courts.
First of all, write to us: we'll try to solve it together. You can also turn to an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body, as the Italian Consumer Code provides.

17. Other clauses

If a clause of these terms isn't valid, the others remain valid.
If we don't enforce one of our rights straight away, it doesn't mean we've given it up.
You can't transfer this contract to someone else. We may transfer it to whoever continues to provide the app (for example a company set up by Francesca Barchietto), telling you beforehand and without reducing your rights.
These terms exist in Italian and English. If the two versions differ, the one more favourable to you applies.

18. Contact

Francesca Barchietto · Strada Garella 78, 13900 Biella (BI), Italy
Email: info@nightheron.app
Support: nightheron.app/support