Privacy

Short version: we collect your phone number and the recommendations you send us. We use them to run RecText. We share information only with the service providers needed to run the service, plus the limited cases described below. You can opt out of SMS anytime by texting STOP, and you can delete your account from the dashboard or by emailing us.

Who this applies to

RecText is operated by Bendwater Labs LLC (“we”, “us”, “our”). This policy covers rectext.co and the RecText SMS service, and applies to anyone who submits their phone number, texts our toll-free number, or uses the dashboard. Because RecText is operated by Bendwater Labs alongside other current and future products, we may use the contact information you give us (such as your phone number or email) to send occasional product updates and announcements about other Bendwater products and services. Every non-essential message includes a way to opt out (such as replying STOP to SMS or using the unsubscribe link in email).

What we collect

• Your phone number, when you submit it through rectext.co or text our toll-free number.
• The text messages you send us, and the recommendations parsed from them (name, category, source person, location, notes).
• Your interactions with the dashboard, including which recommendations you retrieve or delete.
• Standard server logs (IP address, user agent, timestamps, page views) for security, abuse prevention, analytics, and product improvement.

How we use it

• To run the service: saving your recommendations, sending you confirmations, returning your lists, signing you into the dashboard.
• To keep RecText reliable and secure (rate limits, abuse prevention, debugging).
• To send you the SMS confirmations and welcome message you opted into by submitting your number.
• To analyze usage patterns, measure performance, improve features, and develop new ones.
• For internal research, business planning, and reporting.
• For marketing and partnership purposes, in accordance with this policy.

How we share it

We may share your information with the following categories of third parties:

• Service providers who help us operate RecText. Today this includes Twilio (SMS delivery), Anthropic (message parsing via their commercial API), Supabase (database), and Vercel (hosting and logging). These providers process your data on our behalf and are bound by their own privacy obligations.
• Aggregated, de-identified, or anonymized data may be shared with third parties for product improvement and trend analysis. This data cannot reasonably be used to identify you.
• Businesses and partners, in aggregate form only. A business may claim a partner page showing statistics about saves of its name (such as counts and dates) and clicks on its link. These pages display aggregate numbers, not who saved or clicked.
• Successors in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or part of our assets. Your information may be transferred as part of those transactions.
• Law enforcement or government authorities when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, legal process, or to protect our rights, the rights of others, or public safety.

We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under applicable privacy laws. If our practices change, we will notify you and update this policy.

Marketing communications

We do not send marketing SMS messages unless you separately opt in where required. The text messages we send are direct responses to messages you send us, plus a one-time welcome when you sign up. Reply STOP to any RecText message to opt out; Twilio enforces this at the carrier level.

Your rights and choices

• Opt out of SMS. Reply STOP to any RecText message.
• See your data. Sign into rectext.co/dashboard to view what we have saved for you.
• Delete your data. Delete individual recommendations from the dashboard, use the “Delete account” link at the bottom of the dashboard to wipe everything (cannot be undone), or email us to request deletion.
• Export your data. Use the “Export my data” link at the bottom of the dashboard to download your full record as JSON. Or email us if you'd prefer.
• California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right to know, delete, correct, and opt out of certain disclosures. Email us to exercise these rights.

Retention

We keep your recommendations as long as your account is active. If you stop using RecText, we may delete inactive accounts after a year of no activity. If you ask us to delete your account, we remove your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal, regulatory, accounting, or security purposes.

Cookies and tracking

The dashboard sets a session cookie (rectext_session) to keep you signed in after phone verification. We may also use cookies, pixels, or similar technologies for analytics, performance measurement, or marketing in the future. We will update this section if we add tracking that requires consent.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access will never happen. If we become aware of a breach affecting your data, we will notify you as required by law.

Children

RecText is not intended for anyone under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children. If we learn we have collected data from a child under 13, we will delete it.

International users

RecText is operated from the United States. If you use the service from outside the US, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the US, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top. Material changes will be communicated to active users via SMS or email.

Contact

Questions, deletion or opt-out requests, or anything else: contact@bendwaterlabs.com.