Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 20, 2026
Hotline Thing is a personal SMS assistant.
What it accesses
When you connect an account, such as Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, the assistant accesses only what you authorize: it reads your calendars to show your schedule, and creates events you ask it to add. Google Calendar access uses the narrowest scopes that work: calendar.calendarlist.readonly to list your calendars, and calendar.events.owned to read and create events on calendars you own. Gmail and other IMAP inboxes are reached over IMAP or SMTP with an app-specific password you provide, not through Google’s API. HEY works differently: you sign in to HEY and it hands back a token. Either way, mail is read or sent only when you ask.
What it stores
Encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM: the tokens and app-specific passwords for the accounts you connect, any API keys you add in settings, your saved home and work addresses, and everything the assistant remembers about you. That last part covers both the facts you ask it to keep and the short notes it writes on its own after an exchange.
Stored as written, not encrypted: your message history, your phone number, email, and name, your lists and reminders, and your digest settings. Message history is deleted automatically after 90 days. Deleting your account clears the rest.
Calendar and email content is fetched when you ask and isn’t stored on its own. What the assistant texts back does land in your message history, so a gist of an email or an event can live there. None of it is sold, shared, or used for advertising.
Who else sees it
The assistant is a Claude model, so your texts and any photo you send go to Anthropic to generate a reply. Telnyx carries the SMS and hosts a photo you text for a short while. Beyond that, a request goes to whoever can answer it: Google Maps for places and directions, 511 for transit, the National Weather Service and Open-Meteo for weather, Brave for photo search, and a web search when you ask about a link or something current. Weather and “near me” send your saved location. Each one gets only what that request needs.
Limited use of Google data
Hotline Thing’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google Calendar data is used only to provide the calendar features you request over SMS. It is never sold, used for advertising, or used to train models, and it is not transferred to others except as needed to provide the service.
Your control
You can disconnect any connected account at any time from the settings console, which deletes the stored token. You can also revoke access from your Google Account security settings. Contact the operator to have your data removed. That deletes your messages, memories, settings, and connected accounts. Two things stay behind: the per-message token counts kept for cost tracking, which still carry your phone number, and an invite request if you ever sent one from the home page.