Help & FAQ

Tella makes personalized, illustrated, narrated stories starring your child. Each one is built around who they are: their name, how they look, what they love, and how they feel. They see themselves as the hero of the adventure.

Tella is designed for children roughly 2–10. You tell us your child’s age so stories match their reading level and interests. A grown-up sets everything up and stays in control: grown-up things ask for the account owner’s birth year.

Start by telling us one thing happening in your child’s world, then add a photo or a line about how they look, their name and what they love most. Their first story starts right away, and while it’s being made a few quick questions fill in the rest: their age, favorite color, what makes them special and who else belongs in their stories. Our storyteller reads all of it before every story, so no two children get the same story.

No. You can add a photo of your child and Tella draws them as a storybook character from it, or describe them in a line instead. A parent or guardian agrees first, and the photo is only used to draw your child: we don’t keep it. The drawing is what appears in their stories.

Almost anything with a screen. Tella works in your web browser on phones, tablets and computers, there are Tella apps on the App Store and Google Play, and Tella has its own TV app on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV. See “Watching on TV” below.

With your Google or Apple account, or with your email: we send you a 6-digit code to type in. There’s no password to remember. Sign in the same way on every device and your stories, children and plan are all there.

It’s how Tella knows a grown-up is there. Buying stories or a plan, deleting or sharing a story, removing a child’s data and leaving your child’s profile all ask for the account owner’s birth year first, so little hands can’t get to them. You enter it once, the first time it matters, and that’s it: no code to pick and nothing to remember. We keep only a scrambled version to check against, never the year itself, and a year that isn’t a grown-up’s is turned away and not saved. Typed it wrong that first time? Tap “Not working?” when Tella asks: you sign out, sign back in, and enter it again. Had a 4-digit code before? It’s gone: the next time Tella needs a grown-up, it asks for your birth year.

Yes. Switch to your child’s profile and Tella becomes theirs: they can read their stories, make new ones by tapping pictures, and choose what happens along the way. Buying anything, sharing or deleting a story, and leaving their profile all ask for your birth year first. See “Kid mode” below.

Open the create page and a story is already waiting: a starting point is picked for your child and the time of day, with a one-line idea for them. Keep it, pick another starting point and theme, or change the words to your own. Choose who joins, and tap Create. Tella writes, illustrates and narrates the whole thing for you. Your child can make one too, by tapping pictures: see “Kid mode” below.

Yes. Pick a lesson, a feeling or a theme, and Tella writes a one-line idea for it in a box on the create page. The story is really about what that box says. Like it? Tap Create. Want something different? Change any of the words, or clear the box and type or say your own idea.

It can be. A social story walks a child through something new or hard before it happens. On the create page, pick “Something happening soon,” “A big feeling” or “A lesson or habit,” or type the situation, and the story stars your child in it. See what a social story is.

Yes. On the create page, pick “Something happening soon,” then the change: a new sibling arriving, the first day of school, moving to a new home and more, or type your own. The story stars your child in that real moment, with your family and the places they know, so you can watch it together before the day comes. Afterward, “Continue a story” picks up from there. More on big changes.

Yes. On the create page, pick “A big feeling,” then the feeling: feeling worried, big anger, feeling shy, feeling sad and more, or type your own. The story stars your child in that moment, with your family, so you can watch it together and talk about it after. More on big feelings.

Yes. On the create page, pick “A lesson or habit,” then the habit: brushing teeth, trying new foods, telling the truth, listening the first time and more, or type your own. The story shows your child doing it, so you can watch it together and cheer them on. More on good habits.

The places your child’s stories have already been: the tree house, the moon, Grandma’s kitchen. Pick one and the new story begins there. It’s a row near the bottom of the create page that opens when you tap it, once your child has places to go back to. Leave it alone and the story starts somewhere brand new.

Tella now sets the mood for you, to match what the story is about. A bedtime story comes out calm and cozy, a silly idea comes out silly, and a big adventure moves fast. The music follows the mood, and you’ll see it on the story’s cover.

Most stories take about 30 seconds to a minute to create. The opening appears first so you can start reading while the rest finishes in the background, and longer stories take a little more time.

While you wait, Tella may ask one thing that makes your child’s next stories more personal: what a character is like, something about your child, or what is coming up for them. It is always optional, so you can skip it. Your answer is saved to your child’s profile or to that character, and what you write about your child or a character can be changed anytime in Settings. If your story finishes while you are still typing, Tella waits for you and lets you open it when you are done. In kid mode, Tella asks your child how they are feeling instead, and that answer is not kept. It asks before you make an account too, and your answers move into your account when you make one.

Every new story runs about 3 to 5 minutes, with around 15 illustrated scenes, one animated scene and a choice or two along the way. Want more for one sitting? Tap “Next adventure” at the end and the story carries on as a new chapter. Medium and long stories you made before keep their length.

A Mini was the shorter free story new families used to get, about 2 minutes long. Your first story is now a whole one, animated scene and all. Minis you already made stay in your library.

Yes. Every story includes one gently animated scene: a special moment that comes to life, your free first story included. Mini stories made before were illustrated and narrated, without the animated scene.

Yes, story by story: open “Pick an art style” at the bottom of the create page. Classic 3D is there for everyone. Comic Book and Bold Cartoon come with a subscription. Your child still looks like your child in every style.

Yes. Tap “Update Appearance” on the create page, or go to Settings → Child profile, to change your child’s look anytime. It updates how they’re drawn in every new story. You can update your child’s appearance up to 5 times a day, and your grown-up character up to 5 times a day as well. The limit resets at midnight (US Central Time), and updating appearance is always free: it never uses up a story.

Yes! Stories can be written and narrated in Spanish or English: the title, the words on the page and the narration. Pick your story language during setup, or change it anytime in Settings → Language. Each new story uses your current choice, and every story keeps the language it was made in, so a mixed shelf is completely fine. The Tella app itself is in English for now.

Yes. Your child is always the hero, and up to 3 friends can join each story: your grown-up character, their favorite animal sidekick, brothers and sisters, and the story friends they’ve met in earlier adventures. Pick who joins on the create page. Someone you add is picked for the next story right away; if three are already picked, the one picked longest ago sits that story out, and you can swap them back with a tap. Everyone keeps the same look from story to story.

Yes. Go to Settings → Grown-up profile and switch on “Create your character.” Say how you look and, if you like, what you are like, and Tella draws you. After that you can pick yourself on the create page like any other character.

The people and pets you name when you set up Tella, like a sister, a grandpa or the family cat, are there from the start, with their own picture, and they are picked for your first story. When a story introduces a memorable new character, like a kitten who kept knocking things over or a helpful dragon, Tella remembers them too. They all show up on the create page as story friends your child can invite into future stories, drawn the same way every time. Before you make an account they are kept for this browser, and they move into your account when you make one.

Yes. Open the character from the create page, or from Settings → Tella’s Memory, to rename them or describe how they should look. If the dog came out a golden retriever and yours is a scruffy beagle, fix it once and every new story remembers. That goes for the favorite animal sidekick too. Stories you already made stay as they are.

Yes. Tap “Add” beside “Who joins” on the create page, or go to Settings → Tella’s Memory. It can be a person or an animal, real or imaginary: give them a name, say what they look like, and pick them for the next story. You can also say what they are like (shy, silly, always running late), and the story has them act that way.

Any story can become a series. Choose “Continue a story” on the create page (or tap continue at the end of a story) to write the next chapter. It picks up where the last one left off, with the same characters, the same look, and a “previously on” thread connecting the adventures. Chapters are grouped together in your library.

The first two chapters can introduce new story friends. From chapter 3 on, the cast is settled. The story deepens with the characters your child already knows, the way a favorite book series does.

Tella with your child in charge. Their home becomes their own world: the places from their past stories, plus a few doors to somewhere new. They tap a place, who comes along and what happens there, picked from ideas made for that place, and Tella makes it. Tella talks them through every step out loud, so they don’t need to read to use it.

There is no setting to find. Tap the profile picture at the top of the app and switch to your child: that is kid mode. To leave, tap the picture again and switch back to your own profile, which asks for your birth year, so only a grown-up can. You can try it before you make an account: Tella asks for your birth year the first time, and it moves into your account when you make one.

Yes, once you turn it on. After Tella asks a question in kid mode, like where to go or what should happen, she listens for a few seconds and your child can answer out loud instead of tapping: a place they know or somewhere brand new, who comes along, and what happens there. A glow behind the Tella logo shows when she is talking and when she is listening, and tapping always works too. Once the story is planned she asks if they are ready, and a yes starts it. If your child goes quiet, says no or says to stop, Tella stops listening; the microphone button brings her back. No recordings are kept: what your child says is turned into words, checked like anything typed in Tella, then thrown away. Tella offers it the first time kid mode opens on a device for a child aged 3 or older, and you can turn it on or off for each device in Settings → Kid mode.

A story your child makes counts like any other story, and a new family’s first story is still free. When there are no stories left, Tella asks your child to go get a grown-up. Nothing can be bought from a child’s profile: buying a story or a plan always asks for your birth year.

Every new story has choices. A few times along the way, more often in longer stories, it shows two pictures and asks what happens next. One tap and the story carries on the way your child chose, and the last choice decides how it ends. Stories made before October 2026 read straight through, as they always did.

Right where you left it. A story left at a choice waits with your child’s stories, with a question mark on it. Open it and it picks up where you stopped.

Settings → Kid mode shows the stories your child made and steered. You can also get it by email: after a week with kid mode stories, a Sunday note tells you where your child went, what they chose, and one thing to try together. Turn it on or off in Settings → Notifications.

Yes, on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV. The story stops, Tella asks, and two pictures fill the screen with one of them highlighted. Press Left or Right on the remote to move to the other, then OK to pick. If the same story is open on a phone at that choice, a pick there carries the TV on too. If you do not see it yet, update the Tella app on your TV. On Samsung, a story that is waiting for a choice stays off the TV until your child picks on a phone, tablet or computer, then it appears and plays the way they chose.

Yes. Every story is read aloud with each word highlighted as it’s spoken, so early readers can follow along. You can also switch to reading it yourself and turn the pages at your own pace.

New stories are read by a warmer, more natural voice. Tella picks one of two storytellers for each story, and keeps her own voice for the questions she asks along the way. Stories already in your library keep the voice they were made with.

Press your browser’s Back button (or swipe back on Android) and the story steps back one page at a time, all the way to the cover.

Every story you make is saved to your child’s shelf to enjoy again anytime. Settings → Story history lists every story your family has viewed.

Yes. Tap “Save for offline” on a story in your library or on the story page and the whole thing is kept on that device: the words, the pictures and the narration. On a plane, in the car, anywhere with no signal, it reads just like at home. Each device holds up to 10 saved stories, and you choose which ones in Settings → Offline stories, where you can also choose whether to save the animated scene (about 15 MB more per story).

Yes. Tap share on a story and send the link by text, email or anywhere you like. Whoever you send it to can read the whole story, pictures and narration included, without making an account. Sharing makes that story public: anyone can view it, and it can show up in search engines like Google. Only the stories you choose to share go out; everything else stays private to your family.

Yes. On the grown-up profile, open a story’s options in the library and choose Delete. Your child’s profile has no delete option, so a story can’t disappear by accident.

Tella remembers the characters from your child’s stories, so they look the same next time, and learns from your feedback at the end of a story what your child loves and what to avoid. You can see all of it, edit it or clear it in Settings → Tella’s Memory, and turn off “Remember across stories” if you’d rather it didn’t learn from feedback.

Yes. Tella has its own TV app on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV. Every story your family has made is there, read aloud with the pictures full screen. No TV app? You can cast a story from your phone, or open tella.kids/tv in your TV’s web browser.

Search for “Tella” in your TV’s app store:

• Roku in the Roku Channel Store.
• Apple TV in the App Store.
• Amazon Fire TV in the Amazon Appstore.
• Google TV and Android TV in Google Play.

A Samsung TV app is on the way.

No typing passwords with a remote. Open Tella on the TV and it shows a short code. Enter that code at tella.kids/link on your phone, or in the Tella app under Settings → Watch on TV, and the TV is connected. It stays connected after that.

Yes, a few ways:

• Chromecast. Open a story, tap “Watch on TV” and pick your TV. The story plays on the TV while your phone becomes the remote.
• Your TV’s web browser. Open tella.kids/tv, then connect it with the code, as above. Works on LG, Samsung and most smart TVs, and even a laptop plugged into the TV.
• AirPlay, from an iPhone or iPad. Screen mirror to an Apple TV or an AirPlay-ready TV, then start the story.
• Screen cast, from an Android phone. Use Screen cast or Smart View in your quick settings.

It’s built for the couch. Your stories line up as big cover art you move through with the remote, and with more than one child you pick who’s watching first. Stories are narrated with the words highlighted, just like on a phone, and when one finishes the next one rolls in on its own.

No. The TV only plays the stories your family has already made, so nothing can be bought, changed or deleted with a remote. Make a new story on your phone or computer and it shows up on the TV on its own, no refreshing needed.

You pay for stories. A plan gives you new stories every month (4 or 8), or you can buy one story at a time. Every story is a whole adventure starring your child, with pictures, narration and an animated scene.

Yes. Your first story is free, no card required. Make it within 14 days of signing up.

Open the invite link you were sent, or go to tella.kids/redeem and type the code. It adds free stories to your Tella account.

Every plan is the full Tella: new stories every month, every art style, every child can be the hero, up to 2 unused stories carried into the next month, and faster story-making. The plans differ only in how many stories you get. A story bought on its own is just that story, in the default art style for one child, and it never expires.

On the website, Starter is $8 a month for 4 new stories and Plus is $14 a month for 8, a little less per story. One story on its own is $3. Families already on Max or a yearly plan keep it at the price they signed up for.

In the iPhone, iPad and Android apps, prices are set through Apple and Google, so they can differ a little from the website. Whichever way you pay, your stories and plan work everywhere you sign in.

On the plan, up to 2 unused stories carry over into the next month. Stories you buy on their own never expire.

No. A story you buy never expires, and it stays yours even if you cancel the plan.

Yes. Each child gets their own profile: their own look, their own favorite things, their own characters, and their own shelf of stories. Every plan gives every child their own stories (up to 8 children). Without a plan, one child can be the hero. To add a child, tap the profile picture at the top of the app and choose “Add a child.”

Tap the profile picture at the top of the app and pick a child. Tella switches to their look, their colors, and their stories. Each device remembers its own choice, so two tablets at home can be on two different children.

Yes, with or without a plan. On the create page, your other children show up in the list of characters who can join the story, with their own look. Without a plan, only one child can be the star of their own stories.

Nothing is ever deleted. Without a plan, one child can be the hero, so the profiles you added later are paused: their stories are still there to read, and they can still appear in their sibling’s stories. They star in new stories again as soon as you have a plan. Switching between plans changes nothing: every plan includes every child.

Yes. Your stories can be made for any child on the account.

No. Changing how your child or your grown-up character looks is always free and never uses up a story. To keep things running smoothly, appearance updates are limited to 5 per day each (your child and the grown-up), resetting at midnight (US Central Time).

When you press Create, Tella offers a plan or one more story. Once you pay, the story you asked for starts by itself. Everything you’ve already made stays in your library.

Go to Settings → Plan & stories and manage your plan. Cancelling stops future charges, and you keep access through the end of the period you’ve already paid for. If you subscribed in the iPhone, iPad or Android app, cancel in your Apple or Google account instead.

Plans and stories are generally non-refundable. Cancelling stops future charges but doesn’t refund the current period. Purchases made through the App Store or Google Play follow that store’s own refund policy.

Yes. Both plans include everything, so switching only changes how many stories you get each month. Go to Settings → Plan & stories and tap “Change plan”. If you subscribed in the iPhone, iPad or Android app, change it in the app.

On the web, payments are handled securely by Stripe (major cards). In the iOS or Android app, purchases go through your Apple or Google account.

Purchases made inside the iOS or Android app are managed in your Apple or Google account subscription settings.

If we ever change pricing, we’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice, and you can cancel before it takes effect.

Add the friend or relative on Create, under “Who joins” (the small Add button). When you add a friend your child’s age, Tella offers to tell their family right away, with a card that says your child added them. Make a story with them in it and the end of that story offers to send it too: tap “Send to” with their name. When nobody in the story can be sent it, the end of the story asks who should be in the next one instead. Tella shows you the picture and the link first, then opens your phone’s share sheet so you send it yourself. You can also tap Share under a friend on Create, or open Settings, then Invite friends. Trying Tella without an account? You can add people right away, and sending asks you to sign in first (it is free). We never ask for anyone’s phone number or email.

A picture of their character and a link to the story they are in. They can read the whole story without an account. A child’s grown-up is then invited to make that child the hero of their own stories, starting from the picture you made (they can change anything). Your child is picked to join their first story, and they can tap your child off if they would rather not. A grandparent or other grown-up who is in the story is invited to give your child more stories.

When a new family joins through your link and finishes their first story, you each get a free story, which never expires. You can earn this for up to 10 families a year. A family that already uses Tella gets your child as a story friend instead, with no free story either way.

Yes, the same as sharing it: anyone can view that story, and it can show up in search engines like Google. Nothing is public until you press Send or copy the link, and Tella tells you first. Sending is on your own profile only: your child’s profile never shows it. You can make the story private again any time from Share on the story.

Because you joined through their link. Their child is on Create under “Who joins”, marked “From a friend”, and picked for your first story (tap them to take them out). It is your own copy: changing it changes nothing for them. To put it away, tap Edit under their picture, then Archive.

Yes. That character was drawn from what the other family typed, and it lives only in their account and in the stories they made. Ask them to remove it, or email hello@tella.kids and we will remove it for you.

Anyone can send one at tella.kids/gift: $30, $50 or $100. You add a personal note, pick today or a date, and we email the gift to the child’s parent. You don’t need a Tella account to send one.

We email it to the parent’s address you typed, right away or on the date and time you chose (in your own time zone). You get a receipt, a note when a scheduled gift goes out, and another when the family opens it.

Open your receipt and tap “Update or resend your gift”. Until the gift is opened you can correct the parent’s email there and we send it again. If your own email was the typo, fix it from the page you see right after paying and we send your receipt again. Can’t find your receipt? Email hello@tella.kids from the address you paid with.

Email hello@tella.kids before it goes out and we’ll move it for you.

Tap the button in the gift email. It opens in your browser. Sign up, or sign in if you already use Tella, and the gift is added to your account. Each gift link works once. If the email is lost, ask the person who sent it to resend it from their receipt, or email hello@tella.kids.

Yes. Open the gift in your browser first, then sign in to any Tella app with the same account. Your stories are waiting there.

The person who sent your gift can add themselves to your child’s stories. You’ll find them on Create under “Who joins the story”, marked “From your gift”. Tap Edit to change how they look or act, like any character, or to play the message they recorded.

Gift cards never expire. If a gift hasn’t been opened yet, the person who bought it can email hello@tella.kids within 30 days of buying it for a full refund.

Only if you say yes, and only in the Tella app on a phone or tablet. After your child’s first story, Tella asks whether you would like a short note before bed with where the next adventure could go. Say yes and you get two of those a week at most, plus good news, like someone watching a story you shared. Nothing is ever sent between 8:30pm and 8am, and a notification never asks you to buy anything.

In the app, open Settings → Notifications. “On this device” turns every Tella notification off for that phone or tablet, and the switches under it turn off only bedtime ideas or only good news. You can also turn them off in your phone’s own settings. Signing out stops them on that device too.

With notifications on, a reminder comes as a notification and its email stays home, so you are never told the same thing twice. Receipts, notices about your plan and anything with a price still come by email. If the app is not opened on a device for a month, we go back to email.

We follow COPPA. Only a grown-up creates and manages the account, and data is encrypted. Tella shows no ads, and we never sell your child’s information or use it to target ads at children. Our Children’s Privacy Notice at tella.kids/childrens-privacy lists everything we collect and who receives it.

Only your family. Your stories are private unless a grown-up chooses to share one. A shared story is public: anyone can view it, and it can show up in search engines like Google. You can make it private again any time from Share on the story. Sharing from a story’s Share menu asks for the account owner’s birth year, and sending a story to a friend who is in it is only on your own profile, never your child’s.

Yes. Every Tella story is written for a young audience, tuned to your child’s age, and runs through multiple safety checks before and after it’s made. A grown-up stays in control, and we always recommend reading along.

Each story passes through several layers before it reaches your child:

• Kid-first prompts. Every story is built from instructions we’ve written specifically for a young audience and tuned to your child’s age, so the tone and content fit where they are.
• Safety-tuned AI. We generate with leading AI models that carry their own built-in content safety filters, on top of ours.
• Input screening. Details entered during setup or story creation are screened and cleaned first, so nothing stray or off-limits carries into a story.
• Post-generation review. Once a story is made, a separate AI reviewer re-reads the text and checks the illustrations for identity slips, off-tone moments, or real-world logos and characters. Character artwork is vision-checked and regenerated if something off slips in.
• A grown-up in the loop. Everything is set up by an adult, and grown-up things ask for the account owner’s birth year. No system is perfect, which is why we always recommend reading along, especially the first time.

You can remove your family’s data anytime, straight from the app:

• Delete your whole account.Go to Settings → Account & privacy and tap “Delete account.” This permanently removes your account and everything tied to it: every profile, story, image, and audio file we hold for your family.
• Delete a single child’s profile.Open Settings → Account & privacy → Privacy & data, choose the child, and tap Delete to remove just their profile and stories. Your other children and their stories are not affected.
• Can’t sign in? Email us at hello@tella.kids from your account’s email address and we’ll delete your account and data for you.

Deletion is permanent. We remove your data from our systems within 30 days, and any backup copies are purged within 90 days. If you’d like a copy first, you can export everything from Settings → Account & privacy → Privacy & data before you delete.

Yes. Go to Settings → Account & privacy → Privacy & data and tap Export to download everything we store about your family as a file, anytime.

Email us at hello@tella.kids or use the form at tella.kids/support. We’re a small team of parents, so we do our best to get back to you as quick as we can.

Include the story link (or a screenshot) and a quick note about what went wrong. You can also flag a scene right from the story. The more detail you can share, the faster we can sort it out.

Every new feature gets a short write-up at tella.kids/whats-new.

Absolutely. We build Tella together with parents, and we’d love to hear your ideas. Your suggestions go straight to the team.