Terms
These are the terms for using Sidenote. They are short because the product is.
What Sidenote is
A journaling service that lives in your Messages app. You text a number; Sidenote stores what you send, replies occasionally, checks in around lunch and in the evening, writes a nightly entry from your own words, and answers questions about your past entries.
What Sidenote is not
Sidenote is not therapy, counseling, medical care, or a crisis service. It does not diagnose, score, or advise. If you are in a bad spot, call or text 988 in the US or your local emergency number. Sidenote will tell you the same thing.
Eligibility
- You must be 18 or older.
- iPhone with iMessage. Sidenote is invite-only in this version and capped in size; we may decline new sign-ups.
- One person per number. Group threads are ignored.
Price and billing
- 14-day free trial, no card required.
- Then $10 per month or $80 per year, billed by Stripe.
- Cancel any time by texting billing or replying to any billing message. Access continues to the end of the period you paid for.
- Refunds: email us within 14 days of a charge and we refund it in full, no questions.
- If your trial ends without a plan, Sidenote keeps saving what you send but stops replying and writing entries. Your data is kept for 90 days, then deleted.
Your content
Your journal is yours. You give Sidenote a license only to store, process, and send it back to you as the service requires, using the providers named in the privacy page →. We never train models on it. Export and deletion are always one text away.
Acceptable use
- Don’t send content that is illegal or that you don’t have the right to share.
- Don’t use Sidenote to message anyone but yourself; it is a private journal.
- Don’t try to abuse the service (flooding, probing, reselling). We rate-limit and may close accounts that do.
Availability
Sidenote depends on iMessage delivery and third-party providers. We aim for reliability but do not guarantee uninterrupted service or that any message is delivered. If the service ends, we will give at least 30 days’ notice and an export link.
Changes
If these terms change materially, we will text you before the change takes effect.