The golden age, handed down.

Please read before participating. This Agreement governs your participation in an early-stage hardware and software test program. The device and software you receive are pre-release, experimental, and provided for evaluation purposes only. By checking "I agree" and completing payment, you accept the terms below.

Version 2026-07-05 · Provider: Sean Ahrens ("we," "us," "Provider") · Contact: f@inventsean.com

This Agreement ("Agreement") is between the Provider and you, the individual who accepts it and is identified by the email address you provide ("you," "Tester"). Effective date: the date you accept it.

1. The Test Program

1.1 We are developing a voice-messaging device, "Funkle Fone" (the "Product"). You are invited to a limited early test program (the "Program") to evaluate pre-release hardware, firmware, and a hosted backend service, and to provide feedback.

1.2 The Program is experimental. The Product may not work as intended, may change or stop working at any time, and may be discontinued in whole or in part without notice.

1.3 Ordering for others. You may order devices for delivery to yourself and/or to other people and addresses. You are the contracting party for every device on your order, including devices shipped to other people. You are responsible for ensuring that each recipient and user complies with this Agreement, and for the consents described in section 6.

2. What You Receive

2.1 Hardware. Off-the-shelf, individually-certified development modules (currently M5Stack AtomS3R and Atomic Echo Base, or successors) plus any accessories or enclosure we include (the "Hardware").

2.2 Software. Our pre-release firmware and any over-the-air ("OTA") updates, together with the hosted backend service the Product connects to (the "Service"). The Software is licensed, not sold (section 7).

3. Nature of the Transaction; Loan & Refundable Deposit

3.1 This is a loan, not a sale. Your participation is a test-program enrollment. We lend you the Hardware for evaluation, and title to the Hardware remains with us for the duration of the loan. This is not a retail sale of a finished consumer product, and the deposit below is not payment for a warranted, finished, or market-ready product.

3.2 Refundable deposit. At checkout you place a refundable deposit of $45 per device (multiplied by the number of devices you order) to secure the loaned Hardware. Payment is processed by Stripe; we never receive your card details. We charge no rental or usage fee, and there are no other charges.

3.3 Loan term; return for a full refund. The loan runs for approximately 5 months. If you return the Hardware to us in reasonable working condition on or before the end of that period, we refund your deposit for that device in full to your original payment method. You arrange and pay for return shipping.

3.4 If a device is not returned. If a device is not returned by the end of the loan term — or is kept, lost, or returned damaged — that is entirely fine: you keep it, and your deposit for that device is retained and applied as the full purchase price, completing a sale of that device to you at that time. The $45 deposit is the entire amount due for that device and is inclusive of any applicable sales tax; you owe nothing further.

3.5 Shipping. We ship free within the United States and do not ship elsewhere. Estimated delivery is 5–20 business days from order; this is an estimate, not a guarantee. If you return a device, you arrange and pay for return shipping to us in California.

3.6 Except for the deposit refund described above, participation does not entitle you to any warranty, support, replacement, or continued availability of the Hardware, Software, or Service, except as we may choose to provide at our sole discretion.

4. Regulatory and Compliance Status

4.1 The Hardware modules are individually authorized by their respective manufacturers under applicable FCC rules; however, the assembled Product, as a finished combination, has not completed a Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) or other equipment authorization as a finished product. It is provided solely for development and evaluation in this Program and is not authorized for resale or general public distribution.

4.2 You will not resell, lease, redistribute, or transfer the Hardware or Product to any third party, and will not market or represent it as a certified or finished consumer product.

5. Assumption of Risk; Safety

5.1 Experimental hardware. The Hardware is development-grade and may contain defects, behave unpredictably, overheat, or have exposed electronics. It is not a consumer-safety-tested finished good.

5.2 Battery and electrical safety. If the Hardware contains a lithium battery or is USB-powered, you agree to keep it away from water, heat, and flammable materials; not crush, puncture, short, or modify it; use only the power source we specify; and immediately stop use, disconnect power, and contact us if you observe swelling, heat, smell, smoke, or damage.

5.3 Use at your own risk. You assume all risks associated with handling, powering, and operating experimental hardware and software, to the fullest extent permitted by law.

6. Privacy, Voice Data, and Consent

6.1 Voice capture and retention. The Product is a voice device. When in use it captures audio, transmits it to our Service, and stores it on our servers (third-party infrastructure such as Cloudflare) only for delivery. Messages travel encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and are stored encrypted at rest (AES-256); they are not end-to-end encrypted (readable server-side for delivery). They are automatically deleted approximately 30 days after delivery (adjustable in the Parent Portal; see the Privacy Policy's retention schedule).

6.2 How we use it. Data we process includes voice messages; first names and connection codes; contact lists; device identifiers and configuration; diagnostic and error logs; and feedback you provide — solely to operate, debug, and improve the Product. Nobody at the Provider accesses or listens to recordings or messages unless the account holder (or, for a child's device, their parent) grants time-boxed support access in the Parent Portal after contacting us, or where a specific safety/abuse report or legal obligation requires review; every such access is logged.

6.3 Consent of others is your responsibility. You must obtain the consent of every person whose voice may be captured (including household members, recipients you order for, and guests) before the Product records or transmits their audio. Some jurisdictions require all-party consent; you agree to comply with all applicable recording, wiretapping, and privacy laws, and you will not record anyone unlawfully.

6.4 Children — the setup parent completes consent. The Product is designed for use by children. Buying it does not by itself authorize a child's use. Each device requires, at first setup, that the child's own parent or legal guardian (who may not be you — e.g. you are gifting to a niece or a friend's child) reviews the children's-privacy notice on their phone and completes verifiable parental consent; the device does not activate, and no child data is collected, until they do. You agree to (a) deliver each device only to a household where that parent/guardian will perform setup, and (b) inform them that the device records voice. If YOU are the child's parent/guardian, you will complete that same setup step yourself.

6.5 Adults-only apps. The companion phone/web apps are for adults (parents, family members); creating an app account or linking a phone requires confirming you are not a child. Children use only the hardware device, behind the parental-consent gate above.

6.6 Security. Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and at rest (AES-256), access tokens are scoped, and every operator access to messages is logged. We take reasonable measures to protect data, but no early-stage system is fully secure; you accept that risk for non-essential, test use.

7. Software License; Intellectual Property

7.1 License. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Software and Service solely to participate in the Program for its duration.

7.2 Restrictions. You will not (and will not permit others to): (a) reverse engineer, decompile, or extract source code, except where this restriction is prohibited by law; (b) copy, distribute, sublicense, sell, or publish the Software or any firmware image; (c) extract, publish, or reuse any keys, tokens, endpoints, or credentials used by the Software; or (d) use the Software or Service to build a competing product.

7.3 Ownership. We and our licensors retain all right, title, and interest in the Software, Service, Product design, and related intellectual property. No rights are granted except as expressly stated.

8. Feedback

8.1 You may provide feedback, bug reports, and suggestions ("Feedback"). You grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use Feedback for any purpose without restriction, attribution, or compensation. You represent your Feedback includes nothing you are not free to share.

9. Confidentiality

9.1 The Program, the Product, and non-public information you learn through it are confidential. You will not publicly disclose, demonstrate, photograph for publication, benchmark, or write publicly about the Product or Program without our prior written consent, except that you may discuss your participation generally with household members. This does not apply to information that is or becomes public through no fault of yours.

10. No Warranty

10.1 THE HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND SERVICE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

10.2 We do not warrant that the Product will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, available, or fit for any particular use, or that data will not be lost.

11. Limitation of Liability

11.1 TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, arising out of or relating to this Agreement, the Program, or the Product, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

11.2 Our total aggregate liability will not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you actually paid us, or (b) $50.

11.3 Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations; there, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law (such as for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or personal injury caused by our proven negligence, where non-waivable).

12. Indemnification

12.1 You will indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, and expenses arising from: (a) your misuse of the Hardware, Software, or Service; (b) your violation of this Agreement or applicable law, including recording-consent and privacy laws; or (c) your resale or transfer of the Product in violation of section 4.

13. Term; Termination

13.1 Term. The Program runs from the Effective Date until either party ends participation on notice. We may modify, pause, or end the Program at any time.

13.2 Hardware; return or keep. At the end of the loan (or if participation ends earlier) you may either return the Hardware for a full deposit refund or keep it, in which case the deposit is retained as the purchase price — as described in section 3.

13.3 Service discontinuation. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service or OTA updates at any time, which may render the Product partly or wholly non-functional. You accept this as inherent to an early test program.

13.4 Your data. You may request deletion of your data at f@inventsean.com; we will delete it within a reasonable period except where retention is required or data has been anonymized.

14. General

14.1 Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in California.

14.2 Entire agreement. This Agreement (with the referenced Privacy Policy) is the entire agreement on this subject and supersedes prior discussions.

14.3 Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect and the provision is limited to the minimum extent necessary.

14.4 No waiver; assignment. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign this Agreement; we may assign it freely.

14.5 Amendment. We may update the Program's terms on reasonable notice; continued participation after notice constitutes acceptance.

14.6 Independent parties. Nothing here creates an employment, agency, partnership, or joint-venture relationship.

Acceptance

By checking "I agree" and completing payment, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to this Agreement, that you are at least 18 years old, and that you are authorized to accept it on behalf of anyone you are ordering devices for. Placing your deposit authorizes the order — it is not the child's parental consent: each device's setup collects verifiable consent from that child's own parent or guardian (section 6.4). We record your email address, the agreement version, and the date and time of your acceptance.

Funkle Fone Privacy Policy & Children's Privacy Notice

Version 2026-07-05 · Operator/Contact: f@inventsean.com

This policy explains what we collect and how we use it. It supplements the Tester Agreement (section 6) and serves as our direct notice under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), since Funkle Fone devices are designed for use by children.

What we collect, and why

• Voice messages sent and received — stored only to deliver them (voice is treated as sensitive/ biometric-class data). We run no transcription and no content analysis; the only processing is acoustic (loudness normalization and the waveform display).
• A first name and short connection codes (a "Friend Code" to connect, a "Support ID" for help requests) — the display identity contacts see.
• The contact list and connection approvals — who each account may exchange messages with. Message delivery requires the recipient's (or their parent's) standing approval; strangers cannot message a device, even with its code.
• Device identifiers and diagnostics (hardware id, firmware version, last check-in, connection health) — to run the service, deliver updates, and fix problems.
• Order information (buyer name, email, shipping addresses, family-contact emails/phones you enter) — to fulfill and communicate about your order (adults only).

We collect no precise location, no advertising identifiers, show no ads, and never sell or share personal information. Wi-Fi credentials stay on the device; the server sees only an anonymous network fingerprint. We collect no more than is reasonably necessary for a child to use the service, and a child's participation is never conditioned on collecting more.

Children: parental consent, review, and deletion (COPPA)

A device used by a child activates only after their parent or legal guardian completes verifiable parental consent at first setup (via our parental-verification partner). The parent then holds a Parent Portal where they can: review what is collected; approve or block every contact; set the message-retention window; grant or revoke time-boxed support access; report a problem; revoke consent and delete the child's account and all its data at any time. Consent can also be exercised, reviewed, or revoked by emailing f@inventsean.com. If consent is not given, the device does not activate and no child data is collected. The companion apps and website are for adults only.

Who can listen

Messages travel encrypted in transit (HTTPS) and are stored encrypted at rest (AES-256) on our infrastructure. They are readable server-side for delivery (not end-to-end encrypted), but no person at Funkle Fone accesses or listens to messages unless (a) the account holder or parent grants time-boxed (72-hour), logged support access from the Parent Portal after contacting us, or (b) a specific safety/abuse report or legal obligation requires review — each such access is recorded in an audit log.

Processors we use

Cloudflare (hosting, storage, and the database that holds messages and order records), Stripe (payment processing — card details never reach us), Expo push services / Apple / Google (delivery of new-message notifications to companion apps), and our parental-verification partner (Kids Web Services) for the consent step. Each receives only what its function requires.

Retention schedule & deletion

• Voice messages: deleted automatically ~30 days after delivery (parent-adjustable, 7–90 days); deleted immediately when an account is deleted.
• Keepsakes (opt-in): a parent may choose, per conversation, to keep those messages as keepsakes past the normal window. This is a deliberate, disclosed, revocable choice (it takes effect only when both parties opt in); turning it off, or deleting the account, lets the messages be deleted. It is never the default.
• Account data (name, codes, contacts): kept while the account is active; deleted on account deletion (self-serve in the Parent Portal, or by email).
• Consent records and audit logs: retained as legal proof of the consent lifecycle.
• Order records: retained as required for tax/commercial obligations.

Nothing is retained indefinitely by default. You may request deletion of any of your (or your child's) data at any time at f@inventsean.com; we will delete it within a reasonable period except where retention is legally required.

Your responsibility

Because the Product records voice, you are responsible for obtaining the consent of everyone whose voice may be captured, including people at any address you order for (see Tester Agreement section 6). If you buy for a child in another household, that child's own parent/guardian completes the consent step at setup.

The short version — the full Privacy Policy has every detail.

Funkle Fone connects over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (not 5 GHz) — the band virtually every home router already broadcasts, so you're almost certainly set.

Some routers give their 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks separate names. If yours does, pick the 2.4 GHz one when you set up the device — it's usually your network's name or one labeled “2.4” or “2G” (the 5 GHz one typically ends in “5G”).

Nothing to buy, nothing to change. Stuck? Email me at f@inventsean.com.