In a lecture
It answers, finds out who it is and what they want, and tells you whether it can wait until you are out.
For your own phone
You cannot answer.
It can.
In a lecture, at the gym, driving, asleep, two hours into a film. Your phone rings and you cannot pick it up — so something answers in your place, finds out who it is and what they want, and tells you one thing you actually need to know: does this need you now, or can it wait?
$12 a month after the trial. Keep your own number. Cancel any time.
The moments your phone rings anyway
None of these are emergencies. They are just the ordinary times you cannot have a conversation.
At the gym
Your phone is in a locker. You come back to who rang, what about, and their number — not three missed calls.
Asleep
Nobody wakes you for a delivery. Something that genuinely cannot wait until morning is flagged as exactly that.
At the cinema or a concert
On silent, and still answered. You find out afterwards whether stepping out would have been worth it.
Driving
You do not touch the phone. It handles the call and you read it when you have stopped.
In a meeting you cannot leave
The call still gets picked up by something that sounds like a person, instead of ringing out.
Your phone already has voicemail. Why this?
Because voicemail, and the newer versions of it built into your phone, hand you a recording and leave the thinking to you. That is fine at your desk. It is useless in the third row of a lecture theatre, where the only question that matters is whether to walk out.
Voicemail gives you
Whatever the caller chose to say, if they said anything. Most people hang up.
This gives you
- Who called, and a number read back and confirmed
- What they actually want, because it asked
- Whether it needs you now — and most of the time, that it does not
- Spam and robocalls hung up on, with no message taken
- A caller who got a conversation instead of a beep
Set up in about five minutes
Once, from your phone. Nothing to install.
Tell it who you are
Your first name, roughly when you are usually unreachable, and anyone who should always get through. Three fields, about a minute.
Forward your mobile
Set your phone to forward when you do not answer, using the number we give you. Your own number stays the one people call.
Put your phone down
Calls you cannot take get answered. You get the name, the number, what it was about, and whether it needs you now.
It does not talk about you
Something answering your phone is only acceptable if it is careful. These are instructions it is given on every single call, not preferences you have to remember to set.
- It says you are unavailable. It never invents a reason and never says where you are.
- It never confirms a personal detail to a caller — not your address, not your date of birth, not where you bank, not whether you are at home. It takes information; it does not give it out.
- Anything automated, recorded or an obvious sales call gets hung up on, with no message passed to you.
Questions
- How is this different from iPhone Live Voicemail or Google Call Screen?
- Those answer the call and show you a transcript, and they are free — if a transcript is all you want, use them. The difference is judgement. This one asks questions, so it comes back with the caller's number and what they actually need rather than whatever they said into the void. Then it tells you whether it is worth interrupting what you are doing, which is the part you cannot do yourself while you are in a lecture.
- Do I need a new phone number?
- No. You keep your own number and your own SIM. You set your phone to forward calls you do not answer to the number we give you, and you can turn that off from your handset whenever you like.
- Will it say where I am?
- No. It will say you are unavailable and nothing more. It is explicitly instructed never to invent a reason and never to say where you are, and never to confirm personal details to a caller — not your address, not your date of birth, not whether you are at home. It takes information; it does not give it out.
- What stops it treating everything as urgent?
- It is told plainly that most calls can wait and that saying so is the useful answer. Urgent means safety or health, a real deadline in the next few hours, family in difficulty, or money or property at immediate risk. A delivery, a chat and an appointment next week are not urgent. You can also name people who always get through.
- What happens to spam and robocalls?
- It hangs up politely and does not take a message, so they do not reach you at all.
- What does it cost?
- $12 a month for 40 minutes of answered calls, which is far more than a personal line usually uses. Every account gets 10 free minutes and a 7-day trial, and you can cancel before it ends without being charged.
- I run a business from the same phone. Does that work?
- Yes, and it is a setting rather than a second account. Pick “both” and it works out which kind of call it is before it does anything else — a customer asking for a quote gets the business treatment, and your mother does not get asked for a street address.
Stop coming back to missed calls.
10 free minutes and 7 days to decide, then $12 a month for 40 minutes. No card to start.
Run a business from the same phone? It handles both — pick “both” at setup.