Privacy Policy

2.1 How you agree to receive texts

Housemate texts only members who have agreed to receive messages from us. When you join and add a mobile number, we ask once whether you want texts from Housemate, with an optional box, “Text me about my home”, that starts unticked. You can join without ticking it, or without giving a number at all, and still use Housemate on the web. Before you agree, we tell you the program’s name, what we’ll text you about, that message frequency varies, that message and data rates may apply, how to reply STOP and HELP, and where to find this policy and our Terms. We record your consent, including the phone number, the date and time, and the wording you agreed to, and it takes effect when you set up your account. You can see that step, word for word, at myhousemate.co/texts.

• Your consent is to Housemate only. It isn’t transferred to, shared with, or used by any other business.
• You don’t have to agree to receive texts to use Housemate, or as a condition of buying anything.
• Texting us is also a request for a reply. When you text Housemate, we reply to that message.

If you text our number without an invitation, we send one automatic reply saying Housemate is invite-only, and nothing else. We will not text that number again unless you are later invited and agree.

2.2 What we send, and how often

We send these kinds of texts:

• Conversational replies to messages you send us. These are most of our texts.
• Reminders you asked us to set, and reminders about upcoming appointments.
• Follow-ups on important issues, such as a payment that needs your confirmation or a problem with a booking.
• One-time codes to confirm your number when you set up your account, and when you sign in, whether or not you’ve agreed to other texts. If you haven’t given us a number, we email them instead.

Our texts may include links to the Housemate web app and vendors’ websites, and vendors’ phone numbers. We do not send marketing or promotional texts.

Message frequency varies with how much you use Housemate. We do not send unprompted texts (reminders and follow-ups) between 9:00 PM and 7:30 AM in your home’s time zone. Replies to your own messages can arrive at any time.

Message and data rates may apply, according to your mobile plan. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

2.3 How to stop texts, or get help

To stop

• STOP
• STOPALL
• UNSUBSCRIBE
• CANCEL
• END
• QUIT
• REVOKE
• OPTOUT

Reply with any of these to any Housemate text. You’ll get one text confirming you’ve been unsubscribed, and nothing further. An opt-out applies to texts from Housemate over SMS, MMS and RCS alike.

Any other reasonable way works too. If you tell us in your own words (“please stop texting me”) or email john@myhousemate.co, we’ll treat it as an opt-out and honor it promptly, and in any case within 10 business days.

To start again

• START
• YES
• UNSTOP

For help

• HELP
• INFO

Or email john@myhousemate.co.

Because texting is how Housemate works, stopping texts means Housemate can no longer act on requests by text. You can still use the web app, signing in with a one-time code. We keep a record that you opted out so that we honor it.

2.4 What we collect through texting

When you text Housemate, we collect and store:

• The content of your messages, including text, photos, videos, voice notes and other files you send.
• Message information: your phone number, the time each message was sent and received, and its delivery status (for example, delivered or failed).
• Consent records: when and how you agreed to receive texts, and any opt-out or opt-in afterwards.
• Information derived from your messages, such as a reminder, an errand, a service appointment, a vendor’s details or an item added to your home’s inventory. Each of these records notes the message it came from, so you can always see why it exists.

Photos and other media you send are stored in private storage that is not publicly accessible.

2.5 How we use messaging information

We use your mobile number, your messages and your consent records only to run Housemate for you: to reply, to carry out what you ask, to send the reminders and follow-ups described above, to sign you in, to honor your opt-out, and to keep records of your consent. We do not use them to market to you, and we do not use them for anyone else’s purposes.

2.6 How messages travel

Your texts pass through our messaging provider (currently Twilio) and your mobile carrier. For RCS messages, they may also pass through the RCS platform provider for your device (for example, Google). These parties process your messages to deliver them, under their own terms and privacy policies. Standard text messages are not end-to-end encrypted, and they are only as secure as the mobile networks that carry them. If you would prefer not to send something by text, you can send it through the web app instead.

2.7 What we never do with your mobile information

3.1 Information you give us

• Waitlist: your name, email address and home address, the version of our Terms you agreed to, and, if you give them, your mobile number and whether you agreed to texts. We keep these in our database so you don’t have to enter them again when there’s room. Your name, email address, city and state, and, if you gave them, your mobile number and whether you agreed to texts, also go to a spreadsheet and an email notification in our team’s Google account so we can follow up. Your street address stays in our database.
• Account information: your name, email address, home’s address and, if you gave one, mobile phone number, carried over from the waitlist when you set up your account. You sign in with a one-time code sent to your number or email; there’s no password. We also record the version of our Terms you agreed to. We use the address to schedule services and errands, and to work out your time zone.
• Address search: while you type your address, what you’ve typed is sent to Google to suggest matching addresses and draw a map of the one you pick. We keep the address you pick and Google’s identifier for it, and nothing you typed along the way. You can type your address in yourself instead.
• Home information: what you tell us about your home, such as appliances and equipment, their models and service history, paint colors, the vendors you use, and photos of your home or its contents.
• Requests and tasks: what you ask us to do, and your answers to our questions.
• Payment confirmations: your explicit “yes” to a cost before we spend money on your behalf.
• Corrections: changes you make to records in the web app.
• Feedback: anything you tell us about how Housemate is working for you.

3.2 Information created when Housemate works for you

• The agent’s activity. Housemate’s assistant keeps a record of what it did and why, including the vendor websites it visited, the bookings it made or attempted, the messages it sent on your behalf and the steps it handed back to you. Every real-world action is logged. This is what lets you see and correct everything Housemate has done.
• Browser session records. When Housemate uses a web browser to book or research something, we may keep screenshots and step-by-step records of that session so you and our team can review what happened. Payment card numbers and saved logins are filled in by our systems outside the assistant’s view and are kept out of those records.
• Record history. When a record changes, we keep the earlier version and who changed it (you, the assistant, or our team), rather than overwriting it.
• Visit and errand records. When our team visits your home for an errand, we record what was picked up, dropped off or done.

3.3 Information collected automatically on our website and web app

• Technical information that any web server receives, such as your IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the time. Our hosting provider processes this to deliver the site and protect it from abuse.
• Cookies. We use only the cookies needed to keep you signed in to the web app and to keep it secure. We do not use advertising cookies, cross-site tracking or third-party analytics. Because we don’t track you across sites, there is nothing to opt out of; we also treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing, which we don’t do in any case.

3.4 Information from others

• Vendors and service providers may send us confirmations, quotes, appointment times and invoices about work done at your home.
• Payment processing: our payment provider tells us whether a payment or hold succeeded. It does not give us your full card number.
• Connected accounts (planned). We plan to let members connect their email inbox and calendars so Housemate can find appointment confirmations and schedule around them. That will be optional, will require your separate permission, and will be described here before it launches. Today, Housemate does not access your email or calendar.

6.1 With vendors, to do what you asked

To book or arrange a service, we give the vendor what it needs: typically your name, phone number, address, the problem, and relevant details about your equipment. Where a vendor’s website or form requires it, we enter this on your behalf. Once a vendor has your information, its own privacy policy governs how it uses it. We will not share your information with a vendor you haven’t asked us to contact about a task, and we do not accept payment from vendors for sending them business.

6.2 With Housemate's team

A small Housemate team supports the service. Team members may see your information to run errand visits, help when something goes wrong, monitor the texts we send first, check costs and review the assistant’s work. Team members who visit your home receive what they need for the visit, such as your address and the errand. Access is limited to people who need it, and they are bound by confidentiality obligations.

6.3 With our service providers

We use a small number of companies to run Housemate. They process information only on our instructions and only to provide their service to us:

Twilio

Sends and receives text messages; sends the one-time codes that confirm your number and sign you inInvolves: Phone number, message content and media, delivery status

Supabase

Database, account sign-in, and private file storageInvolves: All member and home records, messages and media, and waitlist details

Vercel

Hosts our website and web appInvolves: Technical information such as IP addresses; the details you give us, in transit

Fly.io

Runs the servers where the assistant and its browser workInvolves: Task and record information needed for each task

Anthropic

Provides the AI model behind the assistantInvolves: The parts of your records the assistant needs for a task

Stripe

Processes payments you approve, including single-use card numbersInvolves: Payment details you give Stripe, and payment amounts and outcomes

Google (Maps Platform)

Suggests addresses as you type yours when you set up your account, and draws a map of the one you pickInvolves: What you type in the address field, and the address you pick

Google (Workspace)

Sends our emails from john@myhousemate.co: the link to set up your account, and one-time codes if you sign in by email. Also keeps our waitlist list and notifies our team of new sign-upsInvolves: Your email address and first name, and the link or code in each email; for the waitlist list, your name, email address, city and state, and, if you gave them, your mobile number and whether you agreed to texts

Your mobile carrier, and for RCS your device’s messaging platform, also handle your texts as part of delivering them (Section 2.6).

6.4 Payments

When you approve a payment, Housemate places a hold on the card you saved with our payment provider, Stripe, then pays the vendor with a single-use card number created for exactly that amount. Your own card number is stored only by Stripe, never by Housemate, and is never given to the vendor. Stripe’s use of your payment information is governed by its own privacy policy.

6.5 Legal and safety reasons

We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that the law requires it (for example, a valid subpoena or court order), or that it is necessary to protect someone’s safety, to prevent fraud, or to protect Housemate’s rights. Where the law allows, we will tell you before disclosing your information in response to a legal demand.

6.6 Business changes

If Housemate is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. The recipient will be bound by this policy for information collected under it, and we will notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

6.7 With your permission

We will share your information in other ways only if you ask us to or agree to it.

8.1 Rights every member has

Whatever state you live in, you can ask us to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you, and receive a copy in a portable format.
• Correct information that’s wrong. Most of it you can correct yourself in the web app.
• Delete your information or your whole account.
• Stop texts at any time by replying STOP.
• Leave the waitlist at any time.

To make a request, email john@myhousemate.co or text us. We’ll verify that the request comes from you, usually by confirming it from the phone number or email address on your account, and respond within 45 days. You can use an authorized agent to make a request; we may ask for proof of that authorization. We will not treat you differently for exercising any of these rights.

Deleting information may mean Housemate can no longer do some things for you. For example, it won’t remember a vendor or appliance that has been deleted.

8.2 State privacy rights

Residents of California and several other states have rights under state privacy laws, including the rights to know what personal information we collect and how we use and disclose it, to access, correct and delete it, to opt out of its sale or sharing and of certain profiling, and to limit the use of sensitive personal information. Those rights are summarized above and we honor them. In particular:

• We do not sell or share personal information, and have not done so in the past 12 months.
• Sensitive personal information. We collect your precise home address and the contents of your messages, which some state laws classify as sensitive. We use them only to provide the service you asked for, which is a permitted purpose under those laws, and not to infer characteristics about you.
• Categories of information we collect, and their sources and purposes, are described in Sections 2 through 4. The categories of recipients are described in Section 6.

If we deny a request, you may be able to appeal. Reply to our decision to ask for an appeal and we’ll respond within the time your state’s law requires. If you’re not satisfied, you may contact your state’s attorney general.