The hotline is not 911. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, dial 911.
Not 911
The hotline is not 911. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, dial 911.
The hotline is not an emergency dispatch service. It does not contact police, medical, or fire response. It rings the family members the household chose, in the order they chose, and that is the whole of its job.
What it does
When a tap on the kit's card fires, our service rings the family members the household configured, in the order they chose, until someone answers. That is the entire function.
Inbound vanity line
We publish 1-888-643-WORD (1-888-643-9673) for press, partner, and workshop inquiries. It is not the customer routing line. It is staffed Mon-Fri 9am-5pm US Eastern and otherwise routes to voicemail.
Calling hours
The routing service operates 24 hours a day, every day. The press line operates Mon-Fri 9am-5pm US Eastern.
Caller ID and authenticity
Outbound calls from our routing infrastructure originate from carrier numbers we own through Twilio, attested under the SHAKEN/STIR framework. On participating carriers the "verified caller" indicator should appear. We never spoof caller ID. We never call asking for money, gift cards, or codes.
Recording
We do not record routing calls by default. If recording is ever introduced for support purposes, we will disclose it before the recording starts and obtain consent consistent with the most restrictive applicable state law.
Privacy of the routing list
The family-member phone numbers you list are used only to route calls when a tap fires. We do not share, sell, or rent them. See the privacy policy for the full data map.
Geographic scope
We reliably reach US and Canada-numbered phones at launch. International numbers can be added as routing targets but reliability is best effort.
What we are not
- Not a medical-alert service.
- Not a security-monitoring service.
- Not a substitute for 911 or any emergency response.
- Not a caller-identity-verification service. That screening lives in the family's own routine with the physical kit.
Outages
If routing has a partial outage, we post on the homepage and email customers in the affected region. If we ever permanently discontinue the routing service, we give 30 days notice and pro-rate any paid renewal.
Contact
Hotline operations: hotline-ops@thefamilyword.com (or hello@thefamilyword.com).
Questions? Contact us.