Safety

If tonight is hard, start here.

Free and Sober is a wellness app, not an emergency service. If you might be in danger, a real person is one call or text away, any hour, for free.

In danger right now?

Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. For a medical emergency, call 911.

Help lines

Real people, one call or text away.

Free lines in the US, run by public and nonprofit services. Tap a number to call, or text where a line takes texts.

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

988

For anyone in emotional distress, thinking about suicide, or worried about someone else. Free and confidential, any hour.

Or chat at 988lifeline.org/chat.

Emergency

911

An overdose, a seizure, chest pain, someone who won't wake up, or anyone in danger right now. For chest pain or signs of a stroke, call 911 instead of driving.

Crisis Text Line

741741

Text HOME to 741741 to reach a trained crisis counselor, any hour. Good for when talking out loud isn't possible.

SAMHSA National Helpline

1-800-662-4357

Free, confidential help finding treatment and detox near you, any hour.

Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-7233

If someone at home is hurting or threatening you. If your phone might be watched, a call can be safer than a text.

RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline

1-800-656-4673

For sexual assault or abuse, recent or in the past. Free and confidential, any hour.

Childhelp Child Abuse Hotline

1-800-422-4453

For a child who is being hurt or neglected, or an adult worried about one. Free and confidential, any hour. It is not a reporting line: if a child is in danger right now, call 911.

Poison Control

1-800-222-1222

For an accidental swallow or a medicine mix-up. If someone took something on purpose, or won't wake up, call 911.

Quitline

1-800-QUIT-NOW

Free help to quit nicotine, from your state's quitline. That's 1-800-784-8669.

Veterans Crisis Line

988, then 1

For veterans, service members and the people who care about them. You can also text 838255.

Outside the US? findahelpline.com lists free, confidential lines in your country. If you are in danger, call your local emergency number.

Safety page in the app with crisis lines
The safety page, with 988, 911 and SAMHSA
Help opened from any screen
Help at the top opens it from any screen
Crisis panel inside a mentor chat
Crisis lines inside every chat
App lock setting
App lock keeps the app private

Sample content shown.

The home screen's If tonight is hard section, with Call 988, Text 988 and Call 911 buttons

In the app

If tonight is hard, help is at the top of every screen.

Tap Help at the top of any screen, even when the app is locked: Call 911, Call 988, Text 988, Chat with 988 and Call SAMHSA. Tap Hard in the check-in on Home, and Call 988 and Text 988 come up there too, with the other lines one tap further. Free, any hour, with or without a subscription.

Two taps, never a pocket dial

A call takes two taps, so it never dials by accident.

Works without data

Calling 988 or 911, and texting 988, use your phone's cell signal, not the app's connection.

Your own safety plan

Build it on a steady day: your warning signs, what helps, who to call. Add one trusted contact, who is only ever texted when you agree.

Always open

Crisis tools, your count, your capsules and your data stay open to you, subscribed or not.

Before you stop

Talk to a doctor before you stop.

If you drink or use every day, please talk to a doctor before you stop, or today if you already have. The SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357, can help you find treatment, free, any hour.

This is a referral, not medical advice.

If it could be an emergency, call 911 right away.

The mentor in a crisis

When something sounds like danger, it points you to 988 and 911.

The mentor is an AI, not a therapist, counselor or crisis service. So when something sounds like danger, it doesn't try to handle it alone.

1

It notices

Every message is checked by our own safety code, not just the AI.

2

It stops and says so

It stops what it was saying and tells you plainly that a person should help with this. It doesn't assess or counsel.

3

It shows the crisis lines

Call or text 988, call 911, call SAMHSA's helpline at 1-800-662-4357, or reach your trusted contact. The numbers are shown as text too.

4

The conversation stays open

Text or call 988, and the conversation is still there when you come back. It never hands you a number and leaves.

It will never

Pretend to be a person

Say it called someone when it hasn't

Hang up on you, or hand you a number and leave

Talk about methods, doses or mixing

Ask you to keep a secret

Held to a written protocol

A clinician signs off before it talks to anyone.

The mentor follows a written crisis protocol, and it doesn't talk to anyone until a licensed clinician has signed it. A crisis conversation is never counted, capped or sold to.

In an emergency

Call 911 first.

If anyone can't be woken or is struggling to breathe, call 911. The 911 dispatcher will tell you what to do.

In an emergency

Call 911 right away.

Call 911

Many states have Good Samaritan laws that may protect someone who calls for help during an overdose.

Privacy and safety at home

Quiet on your phone. Private in your home.

If someone at home might look at your phone, or might hurt you, the app is built to stay out of sight and on your side.

Reminders

Reminders that don't say what they're for

A calendar reminder reads “Something on your calendar at 2:30 p.m.” A daily note reads “A note for today.” The details stay inside the app.

App lock

A lock on the whole app

Lock the app with Face ID, your fingerprint or your passcode. It's free in every plan.

Email

Emails that don't give you away

If you share milestones with people in your corner, the subject line never says sobriety or recovery. Remove anyone the same day, with no notice sent.

Alerts

Nobody is told behind your back

People in your corner are never alerted about a slip or a crisis. Your trusted contact is only texted when you agree or press the button.

Your people

Only people who are safe for you

Only you can add someone to your corner, and the app asks you to add only people who are safe for you.

Your data

No ads, no trackers, ever

Your recovery is never used for advertising and never sold. A capsule stays sealed until its day.

If someone at home is hurting you

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is free and confidential. If your phone might be watched, a call can be safer than a text. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Outside the US

Help is local. Start here.

Free and Sober launches in the US first, and 988 is a US line. If you are somewhere else, call your local emergency number, or find a free line in your country at findahelpline.com.

Keep help close

Help, one tap away.

In the app, Help at the top of every screen, the lock too, opens 988 and 911, and every mentor screen shows them, free, subscribed or not.