Legal

Text message and call terms

Draft. Last updated TODO: date of publication

1. Who sends these messages

StandingBy is a personal safety check-in app made by Straight A Software LLC, a Massachusetts limited liability company ("we", "us"). We send all StandingBy texts and automated calls, under the StandingBy name.

Each person we contact is given one StandingBy phone number, used for both texts and calls. We keep using the same number for that person, so a number they have saved keeps working.

2. What we send

Alerts to people a user added

A StandingBy user (the "user") sets up a schedule of check-ins and chooses people to contact if a check-in does not arrive. If you are one of those people (a "contact"), we may send you:

• Alerts saying the user has not checked in and asking you to try to reach them. The first alert explains what StandingBy is. Later ones say they are follow-ups.
• Automated calls that use an artificial or prerecorded voice to say the same thing. Some alerts are two calls a few minutes apart.
• False alarm messages when the user checks in or stops using StandingBy. They go out the same way you were last contacted, so if you were called, the false alarm also comes by call.
• Replies to keywords such as STOP, START and HELP.

Check-in reminders to users

A user who cannot get notifications from the app can choose to get check-in reminders by text on their own phone instead. These are optional, and only go to the user's own number.

No marketing

We do not send marketing or promotional texts or calls. If we ever want to, we will ask for separate consent first. Consent to StandingBy alerts will never be treated as consent to marketing.

3. How we get consent

Contacts

1. The user adds you. Under our terms of service, users may only add people who know them and have agreed to be contacted, or who would reasonably expect to be.
2. The user introduces you. The app drafts a short introduction that the user sends from their own phone, as an ordinary personal message. It includes a unique link to a page at app.standingby.io. We do not send the introduction and we never send a first message to a stranger on our own initiative.
3. You read the consent page. It tells you:
   • who added you,
   • what StandingBy is,
   • what you may receive and when,
   • the StandingBy number that will contact you, and your own number,
   • that alerts can come at any hour, can include automated calls with an artificial or prerecorded voice, and can include repeated calls in quick succession,
   • what we store about you,
   • how to stop.
   It offers a contact card so you can save our number.
4. You agree, or you do not. Agreeing means ticking an unticked box and submitting the page. You do not have to agree, and you do not have to buy anything. We keep a record of your agreement, including when it happened and the exact version of the wording you saw.

TODO: link to a sample consent page once app.standingby.io is live

If you were added but never introduced

A user may add someone without sending the introduction. If that user then misses a check-in, we still contact that person when a step fires. A safety app that refused to tell someone the user deliberately chose would fail at its only job. In that case:

• we contact you only because the user missed a check-in, never for any other reason,
• the first message explains who we are, why you are hearing from us, that we are not an emergency service, and how to opt out,
• that message includes the link to the consent page, where you can agree or withdraw.

The introduction the app drafts

The user can edit the wording before sending it, but not the link. As drafted:

Hi - I have added you as one of my safety contacts on an app called
StandingBy. If I am ever out on my own and do not check in, it will
text or call you from a number you will not recognise.

Could you open this and save the contact it gives you? Takes a second,
and it means the call will actually get through:
app.standingby.io/c/7Kq2mR

Nothing is wrong. I am just setting it up.

Users

Users turn on text reminders themselves in the app, for their own phone number, and can turn them off at any time.

4. When, and how often

Contacts hear from us only when a user who added them misses a check-in, and then when that is resolved. When an alert is sent:

• Message frequency varies. One missed check-in can mean several texts and calls within about an hour. Each step can mean up to one text and two calls, followed by a single false alarm message when it is resolved.
• If the user checks in and later misses another check-in, the process can happen again in the same session.
• Alerts can arrive at any hour, including overnight. Late at night is when going unnoticed is most dangerous, so alerts are not held back.

Users who turn on text reminders get one each time a check-in is due during a session. How often depends on the schedule they chose, for example every 45 minutes.

5. Sample messages

These examples use a made-up user named Sarah Chen. The wording may change, and this page will be updated when it does.

First alert

Sarah Chen has not checked in.
This is StandingBy, a safety app. Sarah Chen asked for you to be told if
they stopped checking in. Their last check-in was 25 minutes ago.
Please try to reach them.
This is not an emergency service. In an emergency call 911.
What this is: app.standingby.io/c/7Kq2mR
Reply STOP to opt out.

The link is left out for someone who has already agreed on the consent page.

First alert, when others were already contacted

Sarah Chen has not checked in, and others were told 20 minutes ago.
This is StandingBy, a safety app. Sarah Chen asked for you to be told if
they stopped checking in. Their last check-in was 45 minutes ago.
Please try to reach them.
This is not an emergency service. In an emergency call 911.
What this is: app.standingby.io/c/7Kq2mR
Reply STOP to opt out.

Follow-up

Still no check-in from Sarah Chen.
It has now been 45 minutes. You were told 20 minutes ago.
Please keep trying to reach them.

After an earlier false alarm

Sarah Chen has missed another check-in.
They checked in after the earlier alert, but have not checked in since.
It has now been 30 minutes.
Please try to reach them again.

False alarm, still checking in

Sarah Chen has checked in. False alarm.
StandingBy is still watching, so you may hear from this number again.
Nothing to do now.

False alarm, stopped

Sarah Chen has checked in and stopped monitoring. False alarm.
Nothing further will come from this number about this. Nothing to do.

False alarm, with a request to confirm

For some sessions, false alarm messages also ask the contact to call the user, because an all-clear can be sent under pressure. The first such message in a session reads:

Sarah Chen has checked in. False alarm.
StandingBy is still watching, so you may hear from this number again.
An all-clear can be sent under duress. Please call Sarah Chen and confirm
they are safe.

Later ones in the same session are shorter:

Sarah Chen has checked in. False alarm.
Still being watched. Call if you can.

When the user stops monitoring:

Sarah Chen has checked in and stopped monitoring. False alarm.
An all-clear can be sent under duress. Please call Sarah Chen and confirm
they are safe.

Automated call

Calls use an artificial or prerecorded voice. The message plays twice, then the call ends. It is the same whether you answer or it goes to voicemail, and there is nothing to press.

Hello. This is an automated call from StandingBy, a personal safety app.
Sarah Chen has not checked in.
Sarah Chen asked for you to be contacted if this happened.
Their last check-in was 45 minutes ago.
Please try to reach Sarah Chen.

The second of two calls close together begins: "This is a second attempt to reach you."

What our messages never contain

Other contacts' names or numbers, the user's phone number, the name of the user's profile or why they set it up, any claim that the user is in danger, or any request for money, passwords or codes.

6. Opting out: STOP

• Reply STOP to any StandingBy text. STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT work too. This stops both texts and automated calls to your number. We send one text confirming it and nothing after that.
• Withdraw on the consent page, if you have the link the user sent you.
• Or tell us any other reasonable way, for example by emailing support@straightasoftware.com with your number. We act on requests promptly, and within the time the law requires. TODO: counsel to confirm the stated deadline (FCC revocation rules)

Once you opt out, we cannot contact you, even if the user misses a check-in. We tell the user straight away that you can no longer be reached, so they can choose someone else.

To start receiving messages again, reply START or agree again on the consent page.

Users: reply STOP to a reminder text to stop reminders, or turn them off in the app. Your sessions keep running, and your contacts are still contacted if you miss a check-in.

7. Help: HELP

Reply HELP to any StandingBy text to learn what StandingBy is and how to stop our messages. You can also email support@straightasoftware.com. Our messages are automated and replies are not read by a person as they arrive, so please do not reply with anything urgent.

8. Rates and delivery

• Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile plan.
• Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
• Delivery is not guaranteed. Texts and calls pass through phone carriers and can be delayed, filtered or lost. Phones may silence calls from unknown numbers. Do not rely on StandingBy as your only safety measure.
• StandingBy is intended for US phone numbers. TODO: confirm supported countries before launch

9. Your phone number and privacy

We never sell phone numbers and never share them for marketing. Mobile information, text messaging opt-in data and consent are not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We share phone numbers only with the providers that deliver our texts and calls, and only to deliver them. The privacy policy explains what we store, how long we keep it, and how to have it deleted.

10. Changes and contact

If we change these terms in a way that matters, we will update this page and the date at the top.

Straight A Software LLC
TODO: postal address (resident agent's office)
support@straightasoftware.com