July 16, 2026
What's New: Stories That Teach, Painted Portraits & Earning Free Months
Z Tales is still built by one person, and the last two weeks have been busy ones. Here's everything new at bedtime.
Curious minds — stories that teach
The lesson picker now has two shelves: Heart (kindness, courage, and friends) and Curious minds — gentle discovery topics like the moon and stars, how plants grow, and how rain is made. Pick one and a few true, simple facts get woven into the story's adventure — your child's hero notices and wonders, never gets lectured. Calm wonder only; it's still a bedtime story first.
Your storytellers, painted
Save a child profile and Z Tales now paints their own little watercolor portrait from your one-line description. Your kids' faces greet you in the library, and every new story remembers exactly who its hero is.
The story can read itself — now on Plus
Narrated voiceover was our top-shelf feature; it now comes with Plus. Pick narration and the story begins reading aloud the moment the cover appears, music dipping politely under the storyteller's voice.
Simpler prices, and a free week of everything
Plus is now $9.99 a month and Premium $19.99 — and Premium comes with a 7-day free trial, so your first week of interactive tales, music, and keepsake PDFs costs nothing.
Share the magic, earn free months
Every family now has a personal invite link in their library. Send it to a friend: they get 14 days of full Premium, and you get 2 weeks added to yours the moment they join. And if your friend loves it enough to subscribe? You earn a whole month — free Premium time, or if you're already a subscriber, a month credited straight to your bill. Your invite card keeps score.
The hero looks like your child — from story one
The "describe them" option now appears for everyone, including your very first story before signing up. One line about curly hair and favorite overalls, and the illustrations follow.
Faster, calmer, kinder
The site loads about twice as fast on phones now. If your device is set to reduce motion, Z Tales quiets its twinkles and sparkles automatically. And on iPhone, downloading a PDF keepsake now opens the share sheet — straight to AirDrop, Files, or grandma's inbox.
From the maker's desk
I'm Damon Scaife — founder of Z Tales, and the one person building all of this, shipping improvements nearly every night. Everything above started as a parent's suggestion, so keep them coming: the Feedback button in the menu lands directly with me.
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