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Draft for release on [launch date]

Both Ends, a free app that gets a person's own small circle ready for a hard moment, opens to adults in the United States

The person writes their own instructions on a good day. On a hard day, one tap reaches three to five people they chose. Follow-up check-ins continue for eight weeks.

[CITY, State], [launch date]: Both Ends today opened a free web app at bothends.care for hard moments of any kind: panic, low days, grief, trauma responses, urges to use, urges to self-harm, burnout, loneliness and caregiving strain. It is for adults 18 and older in the United States.

Every hard moment has two ends: the person having it, and the people who would want to know. Both Ends has a side for each. On iAsked, the person writes My card on a good day: what a hard moment looks like for them, what helps, what not to say, and who to contact for what. On a hard day they tap "I'm having a moment" and choose the kind. Their helpers who are on are asked to reach out, with 988 beside the button.

On iAnswered, a helper sees the person's own card for that kind of moment, with plain do and don't guidance, and says "I've got this one" so the others can stand down. If nobody has answered after five minutes, the person is told plainly and shown 988 and other crisis lines. For eight weeks afterwards, helpers are reminded to send a few words that end with "No reply needed."

"[Quote from the founder, to be added at launch.]"

Both Ends is helper-first. Someone can join with nobody attached, read a five-minute guide, and hand a friend an offer link or printable card that says "put me in your circle". The offer only suggests a first name. The other person decides, and a helper can never add themselves. The invitation is: be someone's person. You may never be called.

What Both Ends is not

Both Ends is not an emergency service, not therapy, and not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition. Nobody at Both Ends is watching, and nobody is guaranteed to answer a moment. Helpers are friends and family the person chose. They are not professionals.

What is and is not known

Both Ends is an early release, version 0.1.0. An app that calls on a known person in the moment has never been tested in a trial, and the closest earlier app, notOK, appears to have closed. The part with the best evidence is the follow-up: short "caring contacts" that ask for nothing, sent over time, have been studied in trials. Guidance for helpers has been shown to raise their confidence; it has not been shown to change outcomes for the person helped. That is why the card and the check-ins get as much room as the button.

Key features

• My card: a section for each kind of hard moment, started from fitting examples. The person chooses which helpers see each section.
• I'm having a moment: one tap, then the kind, and optionally what would help: a text, a call, someone to come over, or someone to sit with them. There is nothing to type.
• Nobody has answered: backup helpers are asked after three minutes, and the person is told plainly after five.
• I've got this one, and "I can't right now", which needs no reason.
• Follow-up check-ins the next day, after three days, then after one, two, four, six and eight weeks.
• Be someone's person: a five-minute guide and an offer card.
• Front doors: panic and anxiety, grief, urges and recovery, trauma responses, burnout, caregiving, or anything else. People living with dissociation are pointed to the sister app, iDID, at idid.care.
• Helper hours: off hours, a backup setting, breaks, and a no-guilt way to step back.
• A circle of at least two: the moment button stays off until the circle has two helpers. Three to five is encouraged.
• A circle the person controls: invitations sent from their own phone, roles for each person, silent removal, and an encryption key that changes when someone is removed.
• Read-only views a person can choose to give a therapist or care team, and remove at any time.
• Around the moment: a safety plan, Check on me, Pause and grounding tools, Calm space, a comfort kit, appointments, quiet hours, Find support, and Quick hide.

Privacy

Everything a person writes is encrypted on their own device with a passphrase only they know. The online circle is end-to-end encrypted, so Both Ends's server stores only data it cannot read. The server can still see which accounts share a circle and when records change, and Both Ends treats that as health data. There are no ads, trackers or data sales, no location, "last seen" or read receipts, and no scores. Notification text is always generic. Both Ends never texts anyone, and no AI talks to anyone.

Availability

Both Ends is free at app.bothends.care on any modern phone, tablet or computer, and can be added to a phone's home screen. It is for adults 18 and older in the United States.

People in crisis in the US can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, at any time, or text HOME to 741741. In immediate danger, call 911.

About Both Ends

Both Ends is a free, private app where a person's own circle of three to five people looks after them in a hard moment. It is a sister app to iDID. Learn more at bothends.care.

Media contact

The Both Ends team
press@bothends.care
bothends.care/press

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